Translated material
Parisian roof
The organizers of the French Open decided to think about protection from rain
At the French Open in Paris yesterday, the second round matches in singles for men and women were completed, and competitions in the doubles combination also began. If the day before nine representatives of Russia played in the first session, that is, they entered the clay courts of the Roland Garros stadium at 11 a.m., then yesterday most of the meetings with the participation of our athletes were scheduled for the evening.The first of the Russians to appear on the site was Vera Dushevina. For the fourth season in a row, they have been unable to advance beyond the second round at the French Open. Yesterday Vera lost to Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik - 4:6, 2:6. A little later, Maria Sharapova confidently dealt with American Jill Craybus - 6:2, 6:1. Our prima made all eight attempts at the net, preferring to sharpen the game whenever possible. Maria’s next opponent is “qualified” and Roland Garros debutant Alla Kudryavtseva, who in a protracted match snatched victory from Argentine tennis player Gisela Dulko - 7:5, 1:6, 8:6. Our other girls, Dmitry Tursunov and Igor Andreev, completed their meetings late in the evening.
The day before, we reported that American Venus Williams, in a victorious match with her compatriot Ashley Harkleroad, by the way, the wife of the son of the famous former Soviet tennis player Alexander Bogomolov, set a new record for the speed of a ball on serve - 206 km/h. It is necessary to clarify that this is the highest achievement for matches in the main draws of official competitions under the auspices of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and the International Tennis Federation (ITF).
However, if we talk about the absolute record, it still belongs not to Williams Sr., but to 36-year-old Dutchwoman Brenda Schultz-McCartney. This season she competes mainly in tournaments with a small prize fund - the so-called “challengers”, and in July last year, in a lost match of the first round of qualifying competitions in Cincinnati (USA), she served against American Julia Cohen at a speed of 209 km/h . Moreover, what is most interesting is that before her return to the WTA tour, Schultz-McCartney had not performed anywhere for seven years. This is how she accumulated the strength for that very record serve.
The American media continue to discuss the unprecedentedly weak performance of US tennis players in the men's singles. None of the nine players made it to the second round. During the “open era” (counting back to 1968, when professionals and amateurs were equal in rights) this happened for the first time at Grand Slam competitions. There were two occasions when Americans simply did not come to the Australian Open. But for none of those who entered the fight to overcome the barrier of the starting round, this has never happened before.
In the 1/64 finals in Paris, Michael Russell, Amir Delic, Justin Gimelstob, Sam Querrey, Robbie Ginepri, Vincent Spady, Robert Kendrick and even such famous and titled players as James Blake and the third racket of the world Andy Roddick suffered defeats in Paris. Igor Andreev. American tennis is clearly in a state of crisis. New names for women are not appearing either; Stars and Stripes fans can only rely on the sisters Venus and Serena Williams, who still continue to maintain a certain level of skill, despite numerous health problems.
French Open chief executive Francois Vilotte said yesterday that a retractable roof will be erected over the center courts of the Paris tennis stadium by 2011. Work should begin in the 2009 season. The organizers of the French Open felt the need for protection from bad weather especially urgently at the current tournament, when almost all matches of the first and second playing days had to be postponed due to rain.