Well Andy, I'm blooming disappointed! What the heck happened? You should be wiping the floor with JMP!!

agree deuce, it really surprised me when he lost. i feel like smacking him!!!

I am not worried about Murray. He better pray for the clay season to end as soon as possible. He is nowhere near Djokovic and far, far away from Nadal. I just want to see him give Nadal the challege Djokovic gave him on clay. That will never happen and we all know that. Let's be honest and not jump on the fake British bandwagoon. Murray's only weapon is defense, scoring on somebody elses' UE and British twisted media. I sincerly like Murray, byt he's been completely destroyed by the high British hopes. Too bad, Federer did not have a chance to teach him a tennis lesson on clay. I guess this time, Delpo was the one who had that honor.

I don't think true tennis fans who follow the game so closely (sometimes even closer than journalists) blindly jump on badwagons. Murray didn't chose to be born Brit. There are Muzz fans on this site so let's be sensitive. The legends always say rankings don't lie. If he's no. 2, he earned it. One clay court match last night doesn't change that. Muzz did well leading up to AO and he built up his points from there. Leave his passport details as it only sours discussions, out and give credit where it's due.

sorry aarailac, but u r talking rubbish. The British media counts for nothing in Murray's eyes and by the way all the LTA did for him was to pay for Brad Gilbert to coach, which proved a disaster. All Murray fans would agree clay is his least favourite surface and also agree that he has made excellent progress this year on it. Our expectations of him were not high. However,I completely agree with remi, a slap is needed cos he should've beated JMP.
And while I totally agree that Novak is playing tremendously well at the moment and is really pushing Rafa, you seem to have conveniently forgotten how badly he played last year between Wimbledon and Shanghai, when Andy was playing exceptionally well. Who knocked Rafa out of the US Open, by the way???

well apparently he's leaving on tuesday for paris to start training... so i think he's pretty serious about this tournament.

Getting into the second week must be Murray's primary target..anything more will be a bonus which will help his rankings in the later half of the year, where he is defending more points than the remaining 3.....

Well, last time I watched tennis, I vaguely recall it was Miami and somebody was beating a flummoxed Rafa, oh yeah , it was Delpo wasn't it? Clay courter debutante Delpo is coming of age, looking better all the time, is what I think. He is a longshot to win FO but it wouldn't be the first time an Argentine had a surprise win there. My prediction: Murray to win US Open this year. Nadal over anyone at the FO for his 6th

A-Rod wins Wimby at long last!! Completely dillusional here.

nadal over anyone at the fo for his 6th???????..........it would either be his 7th grandslam or 5th rolland garros...lolzzzz

oops, my bad.

i meant 7th. anyway, this is RG were talkin not a silly masters ( kidding) Rafa will be in no mood to give up a single solitary game point. Yes, this is his opportunity to win all 4 slams in 1 year. And wouldn't that accomplishment be a first? Anyone know?

A first since Rod Laver I guess.

Just got these from espn site:

Donald Budge did it in 1938, Rod Laver did it in 1962, and Federer in 2004, 2006, 2007 had he won the FO in these years. :-)

Thanks Danny, I get confused tho. Can't remember why Laver and Budge do or don't count? Something about the open era vs ancient history?

Fed missed 3 prime opportunities to clinch all 4 in one year, and Rafa is poised to take all this year.

I would think it is huge if a player can get all 4 in an entire carreer!

Never fails that I have to now go look up who managed to claim all 4 in the span of their carreer. And I don"t care about how old they were when they did it ( child prodigies / baby bloomers seems to hold special significance to some people )

Sorry, know this is about Murray, but thought this would make interesting read!!!

NADAL HANDED TOUGH FRENCH OPEN DRAW

"PARIS (AFP) ? Rafael Nadal's path to a record fifth successive French Open title looked more like a minefield on Friday when he was handed potential clashes with Lleyton Hewitt as well as Spanish compatriots David Ferrer and Fernando Verdasco.

Top seed Nadal will begin his campaign against a qualifier, but then could run straight into Australian former world number one Hewitt, who showed his claycourt ability in April when he won the Houston event.

Nadal, who has never lost at Roland Garros, beat Hewitt in the fourth round here in 2005 and 2006.

Hewitt, battling back from hip surgery last year, and now ranked at 50 in the world, first faces 26th seed Ivo Karlovic.

The giant Croatian shocked Wimbledon in 2003 when he knocked the Australian, who was the defending champion, out in the opening round.

Claycourt specialist David Ferrer, twice a quarter-finalist, is a possible fourth round opponent with Verdasco, the eighth seed, a likely last eight rival.

Second seed Roger Federer, still searching for an elusive Roland Garros title to add to his 13 majors, and having lost the last three finals here to Nadal, starts against Spain's Alberto Montanes.

Old American rival Andy Roddick is seeded to face him in the last eight.

Third seeded Scotsman Andy Murray renews his fierce rivalry with Argentinians when he meets Juan Ignacio Chela in the first round, while fourth seed Novak Djokovic, a semi-finalist in the last two years, faces experienced Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador in his first match.

If the seeding works to plan, then Nadal would face Murray in the semi-finals while Djokovic would take on Federer.

Nadal will be happy to see Djokovic in the other half of the draw having had to overcome three match points in a marathon four-hour, Madrid Masters semi-final against the Serbian last weekend.

That effort left the Spaniard exhausted by the time he played Federer in the final with the Swiss coasting to his first trophy of 2009 and ending Nadal's 33-match winning streak on clay.

Argentina's Gaston Gaudio, the 2004 champion and the last man to win the French Open before Nadal began his monopoly, has a wildcard and meets Czech 18th seed Radek Stepanek."



Vamos Rafa!!!!!

Laver completed the yearly GS twice, once as an amatuer and once as a pro.

Zoey, both Laver and Budge completed the Grand Slam on a combination of clay and grass courts -- while these were amazing accomplishments, they can't be compared to the achievement of the Grand Slam in this era since now you'd have to win on 3 different surfaces (clay, grass and hard courts).

Nadal has won Slams on ALL surfaces. Has Fed?