Full of Surprises

The big day is upon us. One of my favourite things about Roland Garros is that there is no boring Sunday - that day before a Slam starts when there is no tennis and you're not quite sure what to talk about, because you've talked through most of that week's actual tennis with predictions. Or maybe this is something only suffered by me. Who knows.

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Anyway, Roland Garros does indeed start tomorrow, with its Sunday start so beloved by me and so loathed by the players, as I understand, and the draw came out yesterday. The player to watch closely here was Djokovic, and - much to the dismay of Roger Federer, I would imagine, though he'd never admit it - he landed in the Federer half. This means that Rafa has world number #3 Andy Murray to negotiate, but on clay, you wouldn't like Andy's chances. Not that you'd really like anyone's chances much against Rafa on clay.

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This means that we're going to be deprived of a rerun of Madrid, where Rafa played that excellent semi against Djokovic before backing up to play a close one with Federer. It's a shame that the King of Clay won't meet both his close rivals in this tournaments - from a viewing perspective - but I think we can safely say he'll meet one of them. And I'm of the opinion that will be Federer, though others might think differently.

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Not that Rafa's got a cakewalk. Oh no indeed. He's got potential match ups with Dr Ivo Karlovic and David Ferrer before what could be an absolute blockbuster against Fernando Verdasco. After the fantastic semi at the Aussie Open, I would love to see a rerun there! Then there's the possibility of Murray in the semis, with Cilic, Gonzalez, Simon and Safin also in contention. (Yes, I put Safin in there. I'm determined. After Wimbledon last year, Marat can do anything.)

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Now to the other half, beginning with the Djokovic quarter. This one looks the easiest of the quarters to my mind, though you never know - a real test, I think, will be Tommy Robredo in the fourth round. I picked Tommy to make the semis a while back, and while I'm not exactly sure whether I still think that, Tommy's got the game to give Novak a run for his money. One never knows what's going to happen with Novak, after all... though he's already got the Roland Garros jewel in his quest to win the retirement Slam.

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Also lurking in that Djokovic quarter is Juan Monaco, and we know what a surprise package he's been over the claycourt season. He could be a dark horse contender to go deep. Juan Martin del Potro and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are also hanging out in this quarter, and both are capable of doing well.

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Then we come to the Federer quarter, where all the Americans seem to be hanging out. Blake and Roddick are both in this quarter, as is Berdych, which could be interesting after the way the fourth round at the Aussie Open almost turned out. Gael Monfils is also hanging out in this quarter. I think this'll be a relatively all right draw for Fed until the semis - but who knows what will happen in the world of tennis?

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Still, I would like to re-affirm that I do believe in the Mighty Fed. Will Rafa win Roland Garros? Probably. But can Federer do it? Absolutely.

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We'll take a look at the women's draw tomorrow. Early impressions? The Williams sisters are in opposite halves, but I still don't like their chances of meeting in the final!

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Meanwhile, brief detour to the world of tennis actually happening now - who on earth is Alexandra Dulgheru? What is she doing in the final of Warsaw? And is she playing Roland Garros? Should I be keeping my eye on her? Where in the world did she pop up from? And it looks like my Mikhail prediction has gone south - Youzhny went out to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who'll now face lucky loser Julien Benneteau in the final in Kitzbuhel.

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Tennis. Full of surprises.

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Today's Results

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ARAG ATP World Team Championships (Dusseldorf)

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Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Andreas Vinciguerra, 6-1 6-2

Janko Tipsarevic def. Francesco Piccari, 6-2 6-3

Maximo Gonzalez def. Evgeny Korolev, 6-3 3-6 6-3

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Interwetten Austrian Open Kitzbuhel (Kitzbuhel)

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Guillermo Garcia-Lopez def. Mikhail Youzhny, 6-3 1-6 7-6 (7-5)

Julien Benneteau def. Oscar Hernandez, 6-3 6-4

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Warsaw Open (Warsaw)

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Alexandra Dulgheru def. Daniela Hantuchova, 6-4 6-7 (2-7) 6-1

Alona Bondarenko def. Anne Keothavong, 6-2 7-5

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Internationaux de Strabourg (Strasbourg)

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Aravane Rezai def. Viktoriya Kutuzova, 6-4 6-2

Lucie Hradecka def. Ayumi Morita, 6-0 1-0 retired