Nice, France.


From May 17th to May 22nd ATP players gather on the clay courts of the  Nice Lawn Tennis Club a week prior to Roland Garros to play the Open de Nice Côte d’Azur. While 2010 is the first year this tournament will be held (Replacing the tournament held in Kitzbuehel, Austria the same week) Nice, France has always been a place I've wanted to visit since I was a little kid. 

Why Nice? Why not Roland Garros? London? Flushing Meadows? Melbourne?


The reason for Nice tracks back to me growing up as a kid I always watched the Monaco Gran Prix and wondered where it was.. initially I always thought it was somewhere far off in a distant land, then as I got older (like..12) I came to find out it was held in France! And when I narrowed it down to this nice costal town where it was held on the street course known as Côte d’Azur, I knew someday I'd have to go!

Now that the ATP has scheduled an event there, all the more reason to go! The Monaco Gran Prix is held the week of May 14th, and the Open de Nice Côte d’Azur is the following week!


Wonder if I could take two weeks off of work next year... hmmm

I've been through a lot of strings in the time I've played tennis, from beginning with the most basic Head Synthetic Gut in my first racquet, to the current hybrid setup of Pro Supex Blue Gear and Babolat Xcel.


You name it, I've probably tried it, from Pro Hurricane Tour and ALU Power back in high school when I was constantly breaking strings and my parents just got tired of paying for string jobs, to the current hybrid setup I use now since I don't play as frequently and having had shoulder surgery.

But I think my favorite string of all time has to have been the Babolat Pro Hurricane hands down, the amount of durability and bashing that string took and still held up like it was fresh the next day is what made it my favorite string of all time. Had I not had shoulder surgery I'd probably still be using it today, but after trying it once post-surgery I had to go to something a bit softer which led me to the current hybrid I have today, sometimes I change it up and replace the Xcel with Wilson NXT Tour, but that's occasionaly these days, I've grown to like the feel the Xcel provides over the NXT Tour.


What's your favorite string to use currently?

The 2009 French Open was a great tournament for sure. Roger Federer won the slam that had eluded him to complete a career grand slam. Rafael Nadal was shockingly upset by a well-playing Robin Soderling in the semi-finals, the first time Nadal had failed to reach the Roland Garros finals since he'd won the title from 2005-2008.

Is this Rafa's year to conquer the red clay again? Or does the dark horse of the tournament, a one Ernests Gulbis have what it takes to keep Rafa from raising the winner's trophy for the second year in a row?

The men's draw is going to be an exciting one, 2009 French Open Women's Champion Svetlana Kuznetsova will be drawing the 32 men's seeds while 2009 French Men's Champion Roger Federer will draw the 32 women's seeds.

The women's draw is going to be an interesting one, the Williams sisters occupy the #1 and #2 spots in the rankings, with Serena at #1 and Venus at #2. Kim Clijsters has withdrawn due to a prior injury, but don't count out the other half of the returning Belgian duo: Justine Henin, in the time before her retirement Roland Garros was HER tournament, winning it in 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007 before announcing her retirement.

My picks?

Men:
Winner: Rafael Nadal
Runner-Up: Ernests Gulbis

Women:

Winner: Justine Henin
Runner-Up: Serena Williams

 

Your picks?

 

 

I've always been curious to know what people keep in their bags.

What do you keep in yours?

My Babolat Team line 12 pack contains the following:

 

4x Babolat Pure Drive Roddick Plus
1x Nike Air Max Breathe Cage II
1x Asics Gel Resolution
1x Nike Wristbands
1x Nike Headband (occasionally I wear it..haha)
1x change of clothes post match
1x Nike Slide Sandals
2x 20oz Gatorade ( I prefer Strawberry Kiwi)


One of my frames I got bored and painted:

Roland Garros has been the site of the French Open since its before it became an open tournament in 1968.

The current size of the Roland Garros grounds is 1/2 the size of the All England Lawn Tennis Club where Wimbledon is held.

The French Tennis Federation announced plans to expand the current site and add a roof to the stadium in the coming years, but if they cannot gain financial support for the proposed renovation then they will consider moving the site.

Where would they move the tournament to from its long-time home in Paris? A new site in Versaille or Euro Disney would be where players would gather for the French Open from this point forward.

But what about the history of Roland Garros? The pages and pages of history that reside on the red clay there are priceless, and some players consider it an honor to be able to play on the same courts that greats like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have played on.


What do you think? Should the French Tennis Federation move the French Open from it's fabled site at Roland Garros? Or should the French government give them financial support and they can expand Roland Garros to accomodate the growing crowds.

The image shows it all, Pete Sampras playing with a frame other than his K Pro Staff 88!

American men famously went 0-for-9 at Roland Garros three years ago; after today the US has five guys (including American #1 Andy Roddick) with a chance to reach the third round of the French Open, and so do the US Women!

My wonder has always been why US men's tennis players fear the red clay of Europe so much?

Do US Tennis development centers not place emphasis on playing on this slower surface? Do they focus solely on the fast hard courts to really bring out the big shots most American players like to hit?

But apparently despite all the short comings in the past few years during the European Clay swing during the summer, the US players have adjusted to it, the finals at the Serbia Open just a few weeks ago featured two rising stars from the new generation of men's American tennis players: Sam Querrey and John Isner!

Hopefully maybe this year, or in the coming years an American will raise the title in Monte Carlo, Madrid, and Roland Garros! But then of course there's one obstacle that stands in every ATP player's way during a clay court tournament: Rafael Nadal.