DrTagnian

Me neither. But I guess that's the advantage of an injury.

ForeverInLoveWithJus

Yeah I guess you are right!

Home hope Amelie Mauresmo believes that this year could be her best chance of lifting her first Grand Slam crown, the French Open women's singles title at Roland Garros starting on Monday.

Mauresmo is scheduled to take on defending champion and top seed Justine Henin-Hardenne in the semi-finals, although the Belgian world number one hasn't played for six weeks due to a virus.

Mauresmo believes she has finally tamed the demons which have prevented her from fulfilling her potential since bursting into the limelight with her runner-up spot at the 1999 Australian Open.

The 24-year-old's past mental frailities have cruelly been put under the spotlight by the notoriously fickle crowds at Roland Garros.

Three years ago she came to the French Open in the form of her life and choked horribly in the first round, stifled by the expectation.

The following year she tumbled in the fourth round to lowly Argentinian Paola Suarez and last year was booed off court after reaching the quarter-finals only to crumble 6-1, 6-2 in 64 minutes to Serena Williams.

But some difficult victories since have helped her toughen up mentally along with the premature death of her father in March aged 56 after a battle with cancer.

Her relationship with her parents had been tense in the past and she had spoken of the emotional trauma of being the homosexual child of homophobic parents.

But her father's illness put things into perspective and brought a new closeness with her mother.

"The death of my father has changed my life for ever. All the quarrels, all the disagreements fall into the background. Today I feel stronger, life has made me grow up."

"Mum came with me to Rome. She's been very courageous."

DrTagnian

And what happend in Straatsburg ... Claudine Schaul has defeated Davenport in the Final. *claps*

The match ended in a 2-6, 6-0 and 6-3 victory for the yet unknown player from Luxembourg.

I also think this could be Mauresmo's year. Her big opponents aren't 100% fit and she's playing in her home country which always helps.

Let the second Grand Slam of 2004 begin!

ForeverInLoveWithJus

Thats unbelievable, never heard of her!

MMB

I love surprises like that! Makes the sport exciting, keeps the competition fresh.

MMB

Justine Henin, Lindsey Davenport and Amélie Maursemo all qualified for the next round today

Agassi is already eliminated! He got his ass kicked by French qualification player Jérôme Haehnel: 6-4, 7-6 and 6-3.

PastyHusty

We've already had a great deal of action from the 1st round at Roland Garros today. Tim Henman was 2 sets down to unseeded Saulnier, but fought back brilliantly to take the match 4-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-3. This being the only the second time he's fought back from two sets down.
Agassi is out already. He was beaten in straight sets by Frenchman Jerome Haehnel. Coria and Moya had better fortunes, with Coria only needing 3 sets to defeat Davydenko.

Henin came through her first round match relatively easily, winning 6-4, 6-4.

ForeverInLoveWithJus

I see Henman struggled through!

MMB

She won't be on top of her game in the first couple of rounds. Her inactivity lasted too long for that. She'll steadily grow though in the tournament

MMB

Nice upset today by Xavier Malisse. The Belgian X-Man eliminated 7th seed Rainer Schuettler: 6-4, 7-5 and 6-4.
Good win for Xavier

He's very talented, but sometimes rather inconsistent and incredibly weak mentally.