[Wsjltrhe]

Andy Murray has been issued a press card by RG. Says he's looking forward to asking Rafa some questions...

[Wsjltrhe]

One of our French speaking TATeurs can do a better job on translating this for us I hope, but it appears Gael Monfils is having knee issues again, and his participation at RG is in doubt

Le 24/05/2012 à 08:35:00
Tennis - Roland Garros (H) :
Monfils incertain

Gaël Monfil, battu à Nice par l'Américain Brian Baker mercredi, dit souffrir de nouveau du genou droit. Sa participation à Roland-Garros pourrait être remise en cause. «Je ne pouvais pas courir et c'est dur pour moi, (...) J'étais bien moins en jambes que d'habitude», confie-t-il ainsi dans L'Equipe de jeudi. Son kiné n'avait d'ailleurs pas l'air plus enthousiaste : «Ça fait un petit moment qu'il a mal au genou, et à la rotule aussi. (...) Il n'arrivait vraiment pas à appuyer dessus.» A la question, « Est-ce que ce contretemps remet en cause Roland ?», Monfils lâche : «Ben oui, complètement».

http://www.lequipe.fr/Tennis/Actuali...certain/286164

It's official re Monfils.

PARIS (AP) — Gael Monfils has withdrawn from the French Open because of a right knee injury.

The 13th-ranked Monfils was hurt in his second-round loss to Brian Baker at the Open de Nice on Wednesday. He is expected to need three weeks to recover.

Roland Garros organizers say the 2008 semifinalist will be replaced in the draw by a "lucky loser" — a player eliminated in the qualifying tournament. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012...Sets&seid=auto

[ViagraFeller]

Women's draw is UP!!! Men's going on now, I think.

Seeded Quarters:
Azarenka vs Stosur
Radwanska vs Bartoli
Kvitova vs Li
Sharapova vs Serena

[ViagraFeller]

Venus drew Ormaechea first round but would have to play A Rad in the second.

[Wsjltrhe]

The draws have not been posted on the official site. Once they are they'll be posted here shortly thereafter.

[tsamprasxx]

Will the draws even go up on the site quickly? I ask because the draw took place on a facebook app (which kept crashing) this year.

Excited about the women's draw. The bottom half is stacked.

[Wsjltrhe]

Will the draws even go up on the site quickly? I ask because the draw took place on a facebook app (which kept crashing) this year.

Excited about the women's draw. The bottom half is stacked.

In past years they've gone up on the official site about 7a Eastern. Even then time has to be given to transcribe them so I'm guessing it'll be around 7:30/8:00a Eastern before the separate threads are set up here.


ETA: Remember the FFT put the wrong draws up first and had to redo them a couple of years ago so waiting for them on the official site is the best thing to do.

[2puO4Rhf]

Grand Slam Virgin Report - Roland Garros 2012

Thought I would take a second to do a quick write up of the players who are playing their first Grand Slam matches at RG 2012. 6 women and 5 men got the honors.

Women

Dinah Pfizenmaier (Q) - The only victor among the maidens, taking out French Wild Card Caroline Garcia in 3 sets. I had never heard of the 20-year old German before this tournament, but I don't feel too badly since her singles ranking coming in is 198.

Kiki Bertens (Q) - The came-out-of-nowhere champion of the recent Fes tournament played Christina McHale.in the first round. I had predicted an upset in my Racquet Bracket picks, but the American onslaught was too much for the Dutch qualifier, who fell in three tough sets.

Karolina Pliskova (Q) - Lost in straight sets to eighth-seeded Marion Bartoli, putting up a reasonable fight in the process. With her debut, she equaled the Grand Slam main draw total of twin sister Kristyna, who competed at Wimbledon last year.

Lara Arruabarrena Vecino (Q)
Timea Babos
Victoria Larriere (WC) - Tough debuts for these players, as the three managed to earn one set's worth of games combined. To be fair, Arruabarrena Vecino and Larriere were playing mid-level seeds (Ivanovic and Kirilenko, respectively), but Babos losing 1 and 0 to lucky loser Sesil Karatancheva has got to hurt.

Men

Adrian Ungur - The Suicide Pool wrecking machine took out David Nalbandian in four sets on Monday. The 27-year old Romanian turned pro in 2003, and nine years later hits the big time. Nice to see a player work hard over a long period of time and achieve some success, even if he did put me into the Loser's Lounge in the process.

David Goffin (LL) - The Belgian made the most of his second chance, and completed his own share of Suicide Pool decimation by taking out twenty-third-seeded Radek Stepanek in five sets. Goffin came from behind to take the final two sets. I've been hearing about Goffin as an up-and-coming player, but hadn't noticed any strong results before now.

Joao Sousa (Q) - Here is your guide to the world of Joaos:

• Joao Sousa with an S is from Portugal. He qualified here for his first Grand Slam appearance. He is 23 years old.
• Joao Souza with a Z is from Brazil. The 24-year old got one of the last direct entries into this year's tournament.
• They both lost their opening matches, but SouSa managed to complete his match, losing in 4 sets to Marcel Granollers, while SouZa retired in the second set against Cedrik-Marcel Stebe.

Daniel Munoz-De La Nava (Q) - A 30-year old Spaniard who drew Marin Cilic for his first round match, falling to the 21 seed in three close sets. Another plugger who put in a lot of work for many years to get at least a brief taste of the big leagues.

Filip Krajinovic (Q) - The 20-year old Serb appeared to be a little overwhelmed in his first Grand Slam, falling to not-so-noted juggernaut Nicolas Devilder without putting up much of a fight. His Challenger and Futures record shows he at least appears to be capable of playing decently on clay, so hopefully he can regroup and play better in future slams.

[JulieSmithdccd]

Interesting...thanks mysterx!

[RalfDweflywex]

Really nice write up.

Joao Sousa (Q) - Here is your guide to the world of Joaos:

Thanks for the explanation. I had conflated them into the same person. And I expect it will happen to me again at some point.