Promised land. Filippo Volandri sees Roland Garros as his big chance R O L A N D G A R R O S S P E C I A L. June 2005

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1 R O L A N D G A R R O S S P E C I A L June 2005 Communication and External Relations Department Promised land Filippo Volandri sees Roland Garros as his big chance 1

2 Enfants prodiges The 86 kids Rafael Nadal, Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils were all born the same year and are promising to reach the top of world tennis before long Rafael Nadal T 2 ennis is like wine there are good years and years to forget promises to go down in history as the year that three players all set for glorious futures were born. And it wouldn t be a risky bet, seeing that two of them Post scriptum have already proved they are the stuff of champions. Top of the list is Rafael Nadal, 18, native of Majorca, who this year has won two ATP Masters Series on clay (Monte Carlo and Rome), thus catapulting himself to no. 2 in the INDESIT ATP 2005 Race and effectively becoming the main Gael Monfils challenger of Federer in the struggle for the no. 1 spot at the end of the year. Rafael starts as logical favourite at Roland Garros, the only doubt being his stamina in a Grand Slam tournament, having only played five in his career. Last year an injury kept him of the courts of Porte d Auteuil, but this year he ll be the terror of the usual favourites, whether they be Argentinian, Spanish or the top seed Federer. But will he manage to maintain high level play over seven matches in 14 days and if necessary for 35 sets? Given the energy he showed in the final in Rome, it would seem he will. And he ll need it straightaway, seeing that in all probability he ll have to face Richard Gasquet in the third round. Technically the opposite of the Spanish phenomenon, Gasquet is a natural talent with few equals. When Federer started doing his magic on various courts round the world, the experts all agreed that, You get one like this every 50 years. Only months later and we re already singing the praises of a kid that has little to envy the Swiss for in terms of technique and style. Kissed by the god of tennis, he has a backhand destined to outshine the beauty and efficacy of Rosewall s, Edberg s, Connors and Kuerten s, the highest rated backhands to date. Hard to say if he ll outdo Nadal, because as with all geniuses you have to wait and The ATP has signed a three-year agreement with Stanford Financial Group, which ia already sponsoring the Delta Tour of Champions rankings The Tennis Channel, the world s only TV channel dedicated exclusively to our sport, has celebrated its 2 nd birthday

3 The Ten Best Years What are the ten best years in the era of modern tennis? Taking the players who played in the Open Era (since 1968), here are the cream. Jimmy Connors Bjorn Borg Ivan Lendl Mats Wilander Boris Becker 1952 Jimmy Connors Guillermo Vilas Brian Gottfried Harold Solomon Wojtek Fibak John Alexander Most of the fame went to Connors and Vilas. The former won at Wimbledon and the Us Open more than once, the latter the French and Australian Opens. Together they did the Grand Slam. Then Solomon, finalist in Paris, Fibak who proved Poland could produce champions too, and Alexander, who has a fine record in the Davis Cup Bjorn Borg Gene Mayer Bill Scanlon Steve Denton The Swedish Bear would suffice on his own. Borg won 11 Slams, of which five consecutive Wimbledons. Then Gene Mayer, one of the most talented and entertaining players of all time (McEnroe s bête noire) and Steve Denton, a middling sort of player who once won the Australian Open because most the champions were absent Ivan Lendl Yannick Noah Andres Gomez Tim Mayotte The only thing Lendl s career lacked was a Wimbledon title. If he d had the volée of Gentleman Tim Mayotte or even that of Noah (winner in Paris in 1983 and a Platinum disk in France for his musical apré-tennis), he d certainly have won. Rounding off the batch is Andres Gomez, who won in Paris in 1990 beating Andre Agassi in the final Mats Wilander Miloslav Mecir Jimmy Arias Martin Jaite Jakob Hlasek Hendrik Sundstrom Wilander is the only one who can boast a Slam (seven in fact) but Mecir is one of the best players never to have won one. The others won some important titles and were all Top 10s without having extraordinary talent, which is even more to their credit Boris Becker Thomas Muster Aaron Krickstein Becker was for years an icon of the German people, ever since he won his first Wimbledon at 17. Muster, on the other hand, serves as an example to us all limited talent but a will to win that enabled him to take the Paris title. Krickstein was one of the first enfants prodiges out of Bollettieri and lost to Connors in the US Open in what was one of the most exciting matches of the last 20 years. Andre Agassi Pete Sampras Roger Federer Andy Roddick Rafael Nadal 1970 Andre Agassi Jim Courier They grew up together at the Bollettieri Academy and even though Agassi has won more, Courier started winning first and beat his former academy mate in a final in Paris. With Agassi and Chang, they represented the best in US tennis in the 90s Pete Sampras Goran Ivanisevic Sergi Bruguera Pistol Pete would be more than enough: 14 Grand Slam titles, 7 Wimbledons. But no one will ever forget Crazy Horse Ivanisevic or that Sergi Bruguera who may not have been much to watch but won two Roland Garros anyway Roger Federer Lleyton Hewitt Currently the top two players in the world. Federer promises to become the greatest of all time and Hewitt is a worthy companion, having already closed two years in his career in the no. 1 spot Andy Roddick Guillermo Coria David Nalbandian Joachim Johansson Roddick has already won the US Open and been a Wimbledon finalist; Coria came to within a hairsbreadth of winning at Roland Garros, as did Nalbandian at Wimbledon and Johansson in New York. And that certainly won t be the last of them Rafael Nadal Richard Gasquet Gael Monfils These are the stars of the future and to a certain extent of the present too. Nadal has won two ATP Masters Series, Gasquet s talent is ranked equal to Federer s... and Monfils promises to catch up with them soon. Richard Gasquet see what his degree of indiscipline is. What is certain is that he ll be entertaining. His encounters with king Federer they re the best one could aspire to as far as technical talent goes. In Paris a lot will depend on how he reacts to the enormous media pressure on him, but to become no. 1 he ll have to get over the media hurdle pretty soon. Different again the case of Gael Monfils, who isn t a real enfant prodige. He played amongst the juniors till the end and he s doing well in his first year as a pro-, albeit without performing miracles. What impresses so much is his potential: his margin for improvement is vast, technically, physically and mentally. He serves like Roddick, slogs the forehands like few others and physically resembles a playmaker filched from the Nba. But he s got a lot of maturing to do, as people on the circuit with him, and especially his coach Thierry Champion, will tell you. Lumped together though they make a formidable troika, the like of which hasn t been seen for years. You d have to go back to 1971, the year Pete Sampras, Goran Ivanisevic and Sergi Bruguera were born to dominated clay, grass and cement. The 1986 trio suggest that history is about to repeat itself. Nick Bollettieri, after 48 years following his players round tournaments, has taken up a new challenge: he s opened Camp Kaizen, a no-profit centre fighting obesity on the increase amongst young people Tickets are now on sale on-line at for the year-end event in Shanghai, where the eight best players in the world will fight it out 3

4 Personality Profile Filippo Volandri On clay he s a tricky customer even for the top players. A consistent performer, he aims to surpass Andrea Gaudenzi, the last Italian to break into the world s Top 20. From Roland Garros on, Volandri will be an Indesit Company player. Filippo Volandri Filippo Volandri Roland Garros Roland Garros is another sport. Five sets on clay is very hard going. You need a spirit of sacrifice, extreme athletic fitness and force of mind. Just the quarter finals would be an excellent result. Home sweet home My favourite tournament is Rome. I like the people, the fans, the warmth of the public. And it s in Italy too.. Clay Clay is a formidable adversary. It forces you into long rallies, brings out the fighter in you, the will to suffer, the winning mentality. On cement you can get away with just talent, on clay no. Faster and... faster I must improve my serving and get used to playing the fast game too. From zero to 17 I played on clay all the time. Now I have to make up lost time. But if pure clay specialists like the Argentinians have managed it, so can I. It s just a question of time. Favours returned Moya has a wicked forehand but with my backhand I m not giving away anything to anyone. As for volleys, well, I wouldn t mind borrowing Federer s. Number 1 Being number 1 in Italy is important if you re no. 30 in the world. But what s the good of being no. 1 in Italy, if you re not even in the world Top 50?. Beginnings I grew up in the Livorno Tennis Club. I started playing when I was 7, following the example of my sister Veronica. I played basketball too because I had two uncles who were national players, but since my mother couldn t take us to two different places, I had to choose. Father and son My relationship with Fabrizio Fanucci is pretty well father and son. I started with him when I was 16; the following year he took me to Florence and since then we ve practically lived together. Hard graft People say we Italians are cosseted and have too many distractions. Well, that s certainly not my case, seeing I m sometimes on court eight hours a day. Money speaks Money or glory? To tell the truth, if I put them both on the scales, maybe I play more for money. But having said that, playing for Italy, for example, is always a big thing. But earning money is important for any sportsman. Inspiration In Italy I always saw Renzo Furlan as a model. We have similar characteristics on court, similar mentalities. Green with envy! The sportsmen I envy most? Footballers. They have a simpler life, they earn much more and, in my opinion, don t have so many sacrifices to make. Mixed doubles The woman tennis player I d like to play doubles with? My friend Flavia Pennetta. Iron will I m an easygoing sort of guy but determined. I understand what I want and am doing my utmost to achieve my objectives. Maybe I should be a little less rational and bit more impulsive. Personal best... The best match of my life was last year, against Moya in Umago. It s amazing how on certain days every ball you touch is a good one. The problem is, not everyday s like that. Putting yourself across Your public image is very important. Look at Agassi. That s what he s best at and in fact he s managed to earn the most without winning the most. Role model The sportsman I admire most? Paolo Maldini. Progress report The last two months on cement have improved him. He plays more in the court and his forehand too is getting dangerous. He could make the Top 20 this year. Paolo Bertolucci, former champion and Sky commentator Top 10 On clay Filippo is Top Ten material. Corrado Barazzutti, Davis Cup captain Post scriptum Andy Roddick has gone European by signing up with sponsor Lacoste Phenomenal Federer has chalked up his 19th consecutive finals victory, an alltime record The Long Island tournament preceding the US Open at the end of August has been staged in New Haven, in parallel with the women s tournament 4

5 Special Ranking INDESIT ATP 2005 Race 1 Roger Federer (Swi) Age 23 Race Points wins/2 defeats He missed Rome but was back to win the ATP Masters Series in Hamburg. This makes three this season, seven in his career. Only Agassi and Sampras have done better, but their records are now looking under threat. 6 Guillermo Coria (Arg) Age 23 - Race Points wins/10 defeats The Wizard is playing extraordinarily well, at times. But at the end of the day, he lost to the top duo - Nadal in Rome and Federer in Hamburg. His declared objective is Roland Garros, where he will be difficult to beat. In the meantime, qualification for Shanghai draws closer. 2 Rafael Nadal (Spa) Age 18 Race Points wins/6 defeats He won his second ATP Masters Series of the season in Rome, launching him as the real alternative to Roger Federer in the battle for the number 1 spot. If he hadn t been forced to miss Hamburg, he could have had a shot at overtaking Federer. 7 Nikolay Davidenko (Rus) Age 23 - Race Points wins/14 defeats The Russian continues to surprise and shows great versatility. After excellent results on cement, he made the semi-final on clay in the Hamburg ATP Masters Series. He ll fight to the very end for his Top 10 placing. 3 Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) Age 24 Race Points wins/3 defeats Injury kept him out of the entire clay season, including three ATP Masters Series. A real shame seeing the brilliant start to the season he had. On the positive side, he announced the arrival of a baby boy. 8 Gaston Gaudio (Arg) Age 26 Race Points wins/9 defeats Better things were expected of the Roland Garros title holder in the ATP Masters Series on clay but he cut a rather sorry figure. He ll find it hard to repeat his 2004 exploit in Paris and with the clay season over he won t be so certain of survival in the Top Marat Safin (Rus) Age 25 Race Points wins/7 defeats An enigma if ever there was one. At the start of the season he looked phenomenal, now he s floundering. In Rome he lost to Almagro, in Hamburg he lost (again) to Ferrero, who d already beaten him in Monte Carlo. More indiscipline than genius. 9 Ivan Ljubicic (Cro) Age 26 Race Points wins/11 defeats After a surprising start to the season, the giant Croat has slowed down somewhat, partly due to the clay circuit where he doesn t feel quite at home. His eyes are on the Masters Cup but he ll have to do far better in the ATP Masters Series and the Slam tournaments. 5 Andy Roddick (USA) Age 22 Race Points wins/6 defeats Clay isn t his favourite surface and his results in Rome and Hamburg confirm this. But his gesture of fair play at the Foro Italico, where he corrected an umpire s call at his own expense (on his own match point!) and went on to lose against Verdasco, does him great honour. 10 Andre Agassi (USA) Age 35 Race Points wins/8 defeats Never one to give up, he got to the semi-final in Rome even though clay has never been his favourite surface. Still seeking a suitable swansong opportunity, he is in the meantime well placed for the Tennis Masters Cup at the end of the year. 1 Ranking in the INDESIT ATP 2005 Race 1 INDESIT ATP Entry Ranking Tennis tycoons The earnings of the top tennis players make interesting reading. Who s earned the most in their career, considering tournament winnings only? * millions of dollars Marcos Baghdatis Under 20 ranking At nearly half way through the season, here are the under-20s in the Top 100 of the INDESIT ATP 2005 Race. Race Pos. Player Year 2 Rafael Nadal Richard Gasquet Nicolas Almagro Tomas Berdych Gael Monfils Marcos Baghdatis Stanislav Wawrinka 1985 Pete Sampras Gulliermo Coria Player Nation Career prize money* Pete Sampras USA 43,280,489 Andre Agassi USA 29,857,841 Boris Becker Germany 25,080,956 Yevgeny Kafelnikov Russia 23,883,797 Ivan Lendl Czech Rep. 21,262,417 Stefan Edberg Sweden 20,630,941 Goran Ivanisevic Croatia 19,876,579 Michael Chang USA 19,145,632 Roger Federer Switzerland 16,271,433 Lleyton Hewitt Australia 15,259,405 Ranking by nation Argentina continues to lead the field, with Spain and the USA fighting for second place. In the meantime France has been given new breath by Gasquet hitting form *sum of top three players positions in the INDESIT ATP Entry Ranking Nation Points* 1 Argentina 25 2 Spain 36 3 USA 39 4 Russia 46 5 Sweden 67 6 Czech Rep Germany France Croatia Belgium 139 Federer won his third ATP Masters Series this season in Hamburg. No one s ever won four. He s got four chances left The Bryan brothers lead the doubles team rankings, while Jonas Bjorkman is the no. 1 in doubles single lists. The Spanish version of People has put the Argentinian David Nalbandian in its chart of the 50 world s most beautiful men 5

6 Indesit Party Filippo Volandri hunting Champion Russian We e saw desperate faces when it became known that Roger Federer wouldn t be delighting us with his divine tennis in the Foro Italico. And we saw others kissing photos of Rafael Nadal as if they were holy relics or amulets. We had to stand firm against hordes of young fans and ageing afecionados besieging our stand at the Italian Open to get autographs from the no. 1 local player Filippo Volandri. The more daring of the girls managed to steal a kiss, others (more practical) slipped their phone numbers in his pockets... The better informed soon gave up, feigning world-wisdom, Forget it. His girlfriend s that TV showgirl. You don t expect him to run after you, do you?. Rome isn t only a five-hour final, not all in a ball run down by Nadal or chopped by Coria. Rome is a stage Just for one evening, the champions abandoned the Foro Italico so we, and hordes of predatory fans, could admire them off-court as well. And in this context, the undisputed number 1 is still a handsome guy... Post scriptum In returning, Rafael Nadal heads the field in terms of points won against first and second serves. He s also the player who s won the highest percentage of breaks For a newly launched line of apparel called Urnab Tennis visit 20 nations have at least one player in the Top 50 of the INDESIT ATP 2005 Race 6

7 without paragon in the ATP circuit. Rome means a public that knows its tennis, passionate and also cruel. A public that, when one player was down in just 59 minutes, started shouting, get a move on, or they ll charge you for the second hour!. This was the sparkling, colourful world we Indesit Company people found ourselves in. But we didn t stop in the Foro Italico, on the contrary we took the Foro Itliaco out... Destination Red Restaurant, for a party with our friends the players and the press. They came in numbers but in the end it became clear what the insiders had known for ages. OK the Latin charm of a Moya or the strong personality of a Roddick, but the title of sexiest tennis player on the planet went, as usual, to Marat Safin. As son as the good looking Russian turned up at the party, the ladies went into action, or rather on the attack. Only that, while some fans chose the wrong tack ( Bravo Marat! Great tennis today after the Russian had got a hiding from Nicolas Almagro) and others merely shot seductive glances at him, Marat could think of nothing better to do than discuss backhands and forehands with Emilio Sanchez. To the joyous relief of the envious males who were hanging around watching. Safin wasn t the only good-looker at the Our survey Bjorn Borg s imitation Red though. Emilio Sanchez has always been a stealer of hearts but he s already found the right Italian girl for him and married her, in Barcelona. She s already given him two children, so nothing doing there. Next please. Fabrice Santoro, a slight French guy with a sweet look that often conquers the hearts of fans, who will have their reasons for calling him the Wizard. Pity that Fabrice turned up with his wife, who could well compete as Miss France, and their little daughter, who enjoyed herself by singing a Beatles song. An idyllic family situation, so even the Frenchman had to be passed over, unwillingly. So eyes were on Max Mirnyi, a true heartthrob, maybe because fans often misunderstand his nickname the Beast. Max even played the model for a laugh and the ladies were all full of admiration for his statuesque physique. Unfortunately Max is also a very scrupulous professional and his sporting commitments for the day-after dictated a hasty exit. After this poker of two of spades, Mirnyi wasn t the only one to leave. The evening came to a close to the notes of the group led by David Ekerot and the Bryan brothers and with the tennis champions ready to do battle again on the clay courts of the Foro Italico. During the Rome event we asked fans to fill in a brief questionnaire designed to break down respondents into traditional and modern fans. At the end of the 15 day tournament most of the respondents had said they wanted tennis to be more cool, more lively, less straight-laced. An attacking game was preferred to the defensive, racquets should perhaps flung away when a smash ends up in the net rather than staging a bout of Buddhist meditation. There were some exceptions of course. After all, replacing your old white polo shirt with a Nadal style single requires not only pluck but also an exceptional fisique du role. The Australian champion Mark Philippoussis, often out of the circuit through injury, will make his come-back for the Queen s Tournament, which he won in 1997 and which will be played in London after Roland Garros. Roger Federer has reshuffled his management team by replacing Thomas Werder with Hering Schuppener to look after the international promotion of his image 7

8 S P E C I A L ROLAND GARROS A poker of aces Paris will very probably crown a new clay court tennis champion. The favourites are four phenomena who ve played brilliantly in the three Masters Series leading up to the grand Parisian event. Tennis is anything but science, so making predictions isn t always easy. Who would ever have bet a cent on Gaston Gaudio winning in Paris last year? The same goes for Thomas Johansson, winner of the Australian Open 2002 and David Nalbandian, finalist at Wimbledon the same year. However, it wouldn t be too hazardous a guess to say that this year s Roland Garros will crown a new king of clay. A look at the results of the three ATP Masters Series tournaments on clay and how they affected the rankings should be sufficient. Four aces stand out from the crowd. The three pre-announced protagonists, Roger Federer, Guillermo Coria and Rafael Nadal, have now been joined by a prestige outsider who fully deserves favourite status in Paris. Richard Gasquet is keeping the aesthetes of the game in perpetual ecstasy his backhand knows no equal, but it s the whole ensemble that s so miraculous. The weightiest endorsement came Habitual winners Players in the Open Era (since 1968) who ve won at least twice in Paris. 6 wins Bjorn Borg 3 wins Ivan Lendl, Mats Wilander, Gustavo Kuerten 2 wins Jan Kodes, Sergi Bruguera, Jim Courier from the world s no. 1, Roger Federer, who in the Hamburg final seemed bothered not only by the 18 year-old French kid s strength but above all by the fact that the critics were praising his talent as the most brilliant on the circuit (alongside that of the Swiss of course!). But the feeling is that King Federer is no longer playing in a world of his own when it comes to pure technical talent. At only nine years old Gasquet got himself on the front cover of the French Tennis Magazine; at 17 though he seemed ready for an episode of Missing Persons. Probably oppressed by the enormous expectations of a whole nation hoping desperately for a French no. 1, his prodigious talent went into hiding. It needed the excellent French coach Eric Deblicker to get him back on track, with two victories in minor tournaments (Barletta and Naples in April) before breathing the rarefied air of world tennis in Monte Carlo and Hamburg. Of the four favourites he is perhaps the last because he ll have incredible pressure on him as the home player. It could be though that this pressure fires his spirit, as a theatre audiences can inspire actors and singers. What is certain is that this young player will be giving us plenty of entertainment in coming years. Someone who s already been delighting Post scriptum Rafael Nadal has won the last 17 games he s played on clay. At the start of the year he was no. 51 in the INDESIT ATP Entry Ranking; now he s no. 5 The June issue of Vogue will be featuring Marat Safin, described as as good-looking as a film star Roger Federer has won the Laureus World Sport Award, following Michael Schumacher in the record 8

9 G S ROLAND GARROS us for a couple of seasons, on the other hand, is Roger Federer. He himself realizes that clay will never be his favourite surface but his third consecutive success in Hamburg suggests that he has all the technical capacities needed to win in Paris as well. On German clay he beat Guillermo Coria, ie. one of the big favourites for Roland Garros, and Gasquet, three sets to nil in the final. Playing conditions are very different in Hamburg though. The final was indoors and anyone who s ever played tennis at all understands the difference between playing in the wind and sun and playing with a roof over your head. And in Paris it s three sets out of five from the first round on, so by the end of the tournament fatigue can be a big problem. History is full of great players who exhausted themselves in the run-up to the final. It s bit like getting to the last stage of the Tour de France wearing the yellow jersey and suddenly running out of steam effort down the drain. Fortune hasn t been too kind to Federer, who in theory will be playing Nico Almagro in the second round, Fernando Gonzalez in the third and Carlos Moya in the fourth. An extremely demanding run-up to the decisive stages of the tournament. A player who doesn t seem to know what tiredness means is Rafael Na- Rafael Nadal ATP Masters Series Ranking Three ATP Masters Series tournaments were played on clay before Paris: in Monte Carlo, Rome and Hamburg. Here are the highest points winners in those tournaments in the INDESIT ATP 2005 Race. Player Nation Points Best result 1 Rafael Nadal Spain 200 victory in Monte Carlo and Rome 2 Guillermo Coria Argentina 165 final in Monte Carlo and Rome 3 Roger Federer Switzerland 125 victory in Hamburg 4 Richard Gasquet France 122 final in Hamburg 5 David Ferrer Spain 71 semi-final in Rome 6 Nikolay Davydenko Russia 61 semi-final in Hamburg 7 Juan Carlos Ferrero Spain 60 semi-final in Monte Carlo 7 Filippo Volandri Italy 57 quarter finals in Monte Carlo and Hamburg 9 Gaston Gaudio Argentina 55 quarter finals in Monte Carlo 10 Andre Agassi USA 46 semi-finals in Rome Roger Federer Martin Mulligan was declared a Golden Racquet in Rome for his successes first as player (he won the Italian Open three times and was a Wimbledon finalist) and then as manager The player who s scored the most aces so far is Andy Roddick: 394 in 29 matches. The American is also the player who s saved the highest number of break points and lost the fewest serves 9

10 G S ROLAND GARROS dal. This Spanish champion played a final in Rome lasting five and a quarter hours and looked as though he could do it again the day after. Fortunately for him perhaps, excessive blistering forced him to rest in the meantime. It s easy to overtax the human machine and break it, maybe in the tournament that counts most. So after two weeks rest he should get to Paris in perfect shape and be the biggest threat to anyone s pretensions to the Musketeers Cup. Nadal has seemingly inexhaustible energy and will arrive in Paris with 17 consecutive wins to his record. This is better than anyone else since Thomas Muster, who turned up at the Porte d Auteuil in 1995 with 23 wins in row. The result? He won at Roland Garros too. Which bodes well for Nadal, whose Achille s heel is lack of experience. He s only played in five Slam tournaments so far in his career and has never got past the fourth round. Last year in Paris he was out with an injury but this time, if he manages to handle all the attention that will be on him and the fact of playing three out of five right from the start, it won t be at all a surprise to see him in the weekend final. Of our four favourites the one with the axe to grind is Guillermo Coria. Last year he came tantalizingly close to securing triumph when he was defeated by fear and cramp. This year he s back stronger than ever. He s changed a lot too - coach (now the Spanish Perlas), training centre (Academia Sanchez-Casal, Barcelona), racquet (the new Prince with holes ); the only thing he hasn t Mister Slam A player s career is judged by his performance in the Grand Slam tournaments. Here s who s won the most in recent history. David Ferrer changed is his beautiful wife Carla. With toned up muscles and a more incisive backline game, Coria threw away the final in Rome by wasting a huge advantage in the fifth set against Nadal. One gets the feeling though that it s all been Player Nation Slam titles Pete Sampras Pete Sampras USA 14 Roy Emerson Australia 12 Bjorn Borg Sweden 11 Rod Laver Australia 11 Bill Tilden USA 10 Fred Perry UK 8 Andre Agassi USA 8 Jimmy Connors USA 8 Ken Rosewall Australia 8 Ivan Lendl Czech Rep. 8 Richard Gasquet Post scriptum Only 44 points divide the no. 3 from the no. 9 in the INDESIT ATP 2005 Race The Us Open is tinged with blue this year The colour was chosen for the new scheme on all courts to improve ball visibility Wilson has signed a five-year contract with Tennis Australia and will be the new official ball in the Australian Open 10

11 Chileans. Mano de Piedra Gonzalez is always dangerous, as is Nicolas Massu, the Olympic champion who now seems fully recovered from the bad injury that s kept him off the courts for ages. And to close, a word on Marat Safin, who was phenomenal at the opening of the season but now wouldn t seem worth considering to judge from his performance on clay so far. But the handsome Russian is nothing if not above logical predictions. Bjorn Borg planned with a view to Paris, as if the previous tournaments were merely work-outs for a master-performance at Roland Garros. In the meantime, we ve been entertained by his chop shots (in this he s already no.1) and fans are thanking him for having brought tennis s most spectacular shot back into fashion. All this said, there shouldn t be much to say about outsiders, given we consider the four as untouchable. But surprises are always round the corner. In the shape of who? Again, the results of the three clay court ATP Masters Series give us some ideas. The Spanish, in particular, are the ones to watch. First of all, Juan Carlos Ferrero, who won in Paris in Then there s David Ferrer, who may not be the greatest talent in tennis but has no rivals in terms of willpower, courage and athletic stamina. Nor should we forget the current title holder, Gaston Gaudio, who hasn t particularly impressed us this season but who may hit form on breathing the Roland Garros air that spelt glory for him last year. Then there s Andre Agassi, who at 35 probably no longer has the energy to win the tournament but could always rise to the occasion in a single day. In the wings we have the likes of Nikolay Davydenko, Filippo Volandri, and Fernando Verdasco, who would all be content with the quarter finals and in getting there could seriously annoy the big fellas. Oustide the top 10 of this special ranking, watch out for the Juan Carlos Ferrero Andre Agassi Hall of Fame And here are all the winners at Roland Garros in the Open Era (since 1968) Ken Rosewall (Aus) 1969 Rod Laver (Aus) 1970 Jan Kodes (Cz. Rep.) 1971 Jan Kodes (Cz. Rep.) 1972 Andres Gimeno (Spa) 1973 Ilie Nastase (Rom) 1974 Bjorn Borg (Swe) 1975 Bjorn Borg (Swe) 1976 Adriano Panatta (Ita) 1977 Guillermo Vilas (Arg) 1978 Bjorn Borg (Swe) 1979 Bjorn Borg (Swe) 1980 Bjorn Borg (Swe) 1981 Bjorn Borg (Swe) 1982 Mats Wilander (Swe) 1983 Yannick Noah (Fra) 1984 Ivan Lednl (Cz. Rep.) 1985 Mats Wilander (Swe) 1986 Ivan Lendl (Cz. Rep.) 1987 Ivan Lendl (Cz. Rep.) 1988 Mats Wilander (Swe) 1989 Michael Chang (USA) 1990 Andres Gomez (Ecu) 1991 Jim Courier (USA) 1992 Jim Courier (USA) 1993 Sergi Bruguera (Spa) 1994 Sergi Bruguera (Spa) 1995 Thomas Muster (Aut) 1996 Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Rus) 1997 Gustavo Kuerten (Bra) 1998 Carlos Moya (Spa) 1999 Andre Agassi (USA) 2000 Gustavo Kuerten (Bra) 2001 Gustavo Kuerten (Bra) 2002 Albert Costa (Spa) 2003 Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spa) 2004 Gaston Gaudio (Arg) Marat Safin was voted sexiest tennis player in the world by the Britsh Ace Magazine. Following the Russian were German Tommy Haas and Australian Mark Philippoussis. I hope to be back soon as the no. 1 in the world rankings for tennis too said Safin Winning a tournament without losing a set is an awesome feat: this season, Federer has done it three times and Nadal twice The American James Blake is winning tournaments again. This time though it was a Challenger, at Forest Hills 11

12 Memorabilia Roland Garros s propeller 12 «Victory belongs to the most determined». These words are engraved on the aeroplane propeller of Roland Garros, the famous French aviator killed in the first world war whose name was given to the stadium where the French Open is held.