Weeks 22 & 23 - French Open, Roland-Garros, Paris (clay)

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

RE: Weeks 22 & 23 - French Open, Roland-Garros, Paris (clay)

Mervatron2 · Challenger qualifying

Good win for Heather. Confidence booster.

Whatever happens in round 2. Hopefully a win or at least a solid performance, things are looking better for the grass season.

indiana · Tennis legend

L64: Heather Watson WR 80 (CH 38 in January 2015) vs (16) Elise Mertens (BEL) WR 16 (=CH)

H2H 2-0 to Mertens, winning 6-4 6-4 in Luxembourg last year and 6-4 1-6 6-2 in the Hobart SF at the start of the year, both on hard.

That good start to the year rather tailed off for Hev but continued for Mertens. She won the Hobart title, reached the SF of the Aus Open, calmed down for a period ( and was beaten 6-2 6-1 by a very good on the day JoKo in Miami ) but has won two clay WTA International titles in the last couple of months and lies 7th in the race. Two TB sets vs Lepchenko but won the interrupted final set 6-0 so hope she gets that well out of her system. And Hev retains her own 6-0 form!

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Issy Wallace had a tough time, losing 6-1 6-0 to Van Uytvanck. Suppose it would have been a good experience (bar the result) as the circa £40k windfall will obviously come in handy.

Peter too · Tennis legend

Summary:-

R1: WATSON, Heather (GBR) 80 def DODIN, Oceane (FRA) 139 6-3 6-0
R1: KONTA, Johanna (GBR) 21 lost to PUTINTSEVA, Yulia (KAZ) 98 4-6 3-6

R2: WATSON, Heather (GBR) 80 v MERTENS, Elise (BEL) 16 16

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

Tell me, is Serena wearing a leotard? It certainly doesn't look like traditional tennis gear.........

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Im assuming Serenas outfit may be something to do with motherhood in one respect. Youve got to give it to her at 37 and with her natural bodyshape and the illness after giving birth to be anywhere near in shape to compete on clay is something remarkable. Wish her all the best, she is a true role model to all black women, in fact women in general. Love to see her win a Slam this year.

scottie1 · Futures level

Jaggy1876 wrote:
Im assuming Serenas outfit may be something to do with motherhood in one respect. Youve got to give it to her at 37 and with her natural bodyshape and the illness after giving birth to be anywhere near in shape to compete on clay is something remarkable. Wish her all the best, she is a true role model to all black women, in fact women in general. Love to see her win a Slam this year.

She is a great player and seems to have mellowed but sorry I am not a fan it's time for the other ladies now to step forward Pliskova had no movement and neither had Serena if she meets a more nimble opponent it will be curtains

flamingowings · All-time great

Neither Pliskova twin is particularly good at the moving about thing on court.

indiana · Tennis legend

With just Halep to get underway belatedly tomorrow, 26 of the other 31 seeds came through R1, which is probably rather surprising.

As per earlier one particular eighth of the draw provided 3 of the seed losses ( Ostapenko, V Williams and Konta ) with the other two being Sevastova and Mladenovic.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Don't know whether anybody reads the Daily Mail, but Charles Sale who writes a Sports Agenda obviously doesn't like Johanna Konta very much because he has made a pretty awful comment I think. He describes Jo as hugely over-rated and unlikeable. This is the only British female to reach Grand Slam semi-finals in the last 35 years. His own paper has built up Jo's prospects in the past. As for unlikeable has he ever met Jo? No wonder Jo described journalists with a word that had to be bleeped out.

Oakland2002 · All-time great

I dont read it but increasingly I have less time for Tennis journalists although Kevin Mitchell wrote a good piece on Kyles win yesterday.

Samson · Lower Club Player

The Optimist wrote:
Tell me, is Serena wearing a leotard? It certainly doesn't look like traditional tennis gear.........

Catsuit. She says it helps with her circulation, what with her history of blood clots.

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

Samson wrote:
The Optimist wrote:
Tell me, is Serena wearing a leotard? It certainly doesn't look like traditional tennis gear.........
Catsuit. She says it helps with her circulation, what with her history of blood clots.

Yes, I figured that out eventually from the photos in the newspapers. Initially, I thought it looked like a leotard over leggings and T-shirt. In either case, I was surprised it had been allowed as the outfits have to be approved and generally you can't wear anything which looks like warm-up gear. The history of blood clots explains that though, she must have got special permission. As Jaggy says, certainly shows off a remarkably toned post baby body. She must have all the other 37yo mums in tears!!

telstar · Strong Club Player

The Optimist wrote:
Samson wrote:
The Optimist wrote:
Tell me, is Serena wearing a leotard? It certainly doesn't look like traditional tennis gear.........
Catsuit. She says it helps with her circulation, what with her history of blood clots.
Yes, I figured that out eventually from the photos in the newspapers. Initially, I thought it looked like a leotard over leggings and T-shirt. In either case, I was surprised it had been allowed as the outfits have to be approved and generally you can't wear anything which looks like warm-up gear. The history of blood clots explains that though, she must have got special permission. As Jaggy says, certainly shows off a remarkably toned post baby body. She must have all the other 37yo mums in tears!!

One rule for everyone-except a different one for the chosen few!