Start of the French Open 2007

Greetings Readers

And we have our first winner of the day - Marat Safin. Yes, that is the picture of "the man with attitude" Boo- yah! I will say this again and again - Safin is an interesting player to watch, especially when he gets fucking pissed off. Rackets are thrown and broken, some damages usually ensues around the court. No one is safe from his temper. One may compare him to McEnroe, but I would highly disagree. Anyway, Congrats Safin.

Play was suspended to rain and will resume tomorrow with a full schedule, but the weather forecaster are predicting more rain. I have copied the schedule of the first day of play so you readers do not have to go looking for the information.

First Round - Men

Fernando Gonzalez (5) vs. Radek Stepanek suspended
Ivan Ljubicic (7) vs. Arnaud Clement suspended
Mikhail Youzhny (13) vs. Jan Hernych suspended
Juan Carlos Ferrero (17) vs. Amer Delic suspended
Marat Safin (22) def. Fernando Vicente, 6-1, 6-3, 6-1
Julien Benneteau (30) vs. Carlos Berlocq suspended
Janko Tipsarevic def. Dusan Vemic, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo vs. Stanislas Wawrinka suspended
Stefan Koubek vs. Christophe Rochus suspended
Potito Starace def. Ivo Minar, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)
Edouard Roger-Vasselin vs. Marcos Daniel suspended
Nicolas Lapentti vs. Alexander Peya suspended

First Round - Women

Justine Henin (1) def. Elena Vesnina, 6-4, 6-3
Serena Williams (8) def. Tsvetana Pironkova, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1
Dinara Safina (10) def. Yuliana Fedak, 7-5, 6-4
Na Li (16) vs. Sandra Kloesel suspended
Francesca Schiavone (23) vs. Yvonne Meusburger suspended
Venus Williams (26) vs. Alize Cornet suspended
Severine Bremond (31) vs. Michaella Krajicek suspended
Mathilde Johansson vs. Anna-Lena Groenefeld suspended
Tamira Paszek def. Aiko Nakamura, 6-4, 6-0
Oliva Sanchez vs. Shenay Perry suspended
Ashley Harkleroad vs. Aleksandra Wozniak suspended
Melinda Czink vs. Tzipora Obziler suspended

The only thing that you readers will find during the French Open 2007 will be one picture that I select each day for my blog. For the readers who have been with me for a while I usually have a story/match about the picture from what I saw with my own two eyes. I do, and will not, use another person's summary of the match(es) I see on TV. So if you are going to be needing to see other photos then you will have to "surf " the internet for them. Believe me, I wish I could post every picture here, but then I would selecting picture after picture and I would never stop. Hah hah. So, that is why I only limit one photo from each day of the Grand Slam on my blog.

The second day of the three day Memorial Day weekend. Sunny and a bit cloudy outside. I got a bit sentimental thinking about the soldiers that were killed on Normandy Beach decades ago. I could even say last century. I was thinking about "Saving Private Ryan" and the intense opening scene of the movie. I know not how close to the truth that is, but those soldiers on that beach died protecting freedom.

Stop. I am not going to talk about the Iraq/Gulf war so please do not ask. I have views and probably not in view with yours. Yes, I will talk in due time about it, but for now I will have to leave that subject alone.

I saw "28 Weeks later" this weekend. I found the first story/movie intriguing even though I did not see the movie "28 days later" until the movie premiered on FX. Now, the second movie was interesting. The movie was good, but not much of a movie for an hour and a half. The plot was simple and yes we have seen it time after time, but I was not bored. Unlike Spiderman 3 where I was tossing and turning in my seat trying to stay interested in the movie. If you like the first movie go see it, but if you have not seen it then you should skip the movie. The plot - trying to stay alive and sane.

Oh, I saw the teaser trailer on FX for McNamara / Troy - Hollywood - this fall. Yes, I know that the trailer showed nothing except the skyline of LA from the Hollywood sign on the Hill, but never-the-less I got excited. I have fallen for the characters of Sean & Christian and yes I will miss them in Florida. I am happy that the show did not get cancelled. I get an excuse to drink a glass of wine, stay up til 11 PM when the show starts and for an hour I get to immerse myself with those two doctors. Oops - the show is Nip / Tuck, but the teaser trailer had NcNamara / Troy - Hollywood

Until the next time

Daryl Charley
The Fallen Athlete