Last month, the Sony Ericsson WTA tour decided to shelve its two-year experiment with on-court coaching. No one was more relieved than I to learn the news. From its inception, I viewed that type of tinkering with the game as a colossal error. Witnessing the exceptional tennis at Wimbledon and the French Open this year only served to reinforce that argument.

Tennis experts and fans concur that July’s Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal was probably the best match they have seen or will ever see in their lifetime. What underscored the greatness of this contest was the fact that each man had to figure out for himself how to vanquish the other. Moreover, the spectator was riveted in trying to determine how each player would respond to an ever-dynamic court situation. Had coaching been permitted, this match’s grandeur would have been diminished. Can you imagine Nadal consulting with Uncle Tony as to how to approach the fifth set after losing his two sets to none advantage? Or Federer picking Mirkas’ brain as to how to deal with a dominant Rafa after two sets? Such interruptions or better-said intrusions would have taken away from the surreal moment the spectators and players were experiencing.

First, I need to make a disclosure. Although I have great respect for Rafael Nadal, he is both talented and affable, I must admit to being a Roger Federer fan. At Nadal’s young age, win or lose, spurious or sincere, he always has the most gracious of words to refer to his rival. Thus, regardless of where my allegiances rest, it is impossible not to be drawn in by such a character. But to be frank, Federer was there first. When Roger started out, his demeanor reminded me of Stefan Edberg, a player I revered. The fact that he possessed the right tools to become a great player made it easy to gravitate to his corner.

With Rafael Nadal’s convincing win over Federer at the French Open, the former not only cemented further doubt in Roger’s psyche as to whether he would ever win that particular major, but also placed uncertainties in his mind as to whether he could be dethroned at the All England Club. Moreover, after that fiasco, I strongly felt that Roger should consult a sport psychologist as a preemptive move in case these two should meet in the Wimbledon final again because I was concerned that the mental aspect would be his greatest opponent. When Roger went down two sets to none to Rafael, I was convinced that his goose was cooked. Thus, I was pleased to see Federer push the match to a decisive fifth set and I came to the realization that Federer is a far more ferocious competitor than people have given him credit for the past few months. Although the outcome was not as Roger desired, I whole-heartedly believe he will come out a better man for having gone through this experience. As such, I feel compelled to write him this message.

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No need to sugar coat it, this was the emphatic message that Rafael Nadal related to Roger Federer with his shellacking of the world number in French Open final 6-1, 6-3, 6-0.

Federer could not have dreamt of a worse start, he was broken in his very first service game. Although this was the commencement, Roger’s body language reflected the opposite. It was as if the match were a mere formality and the trophy had already been handed to Rafa in the locker room. On Nadal’s serve, Federer had the opportunity to level the set at 1 all, but it was eradicated right away. Despite Roger hitting first serves, Rafa ‘s returns were deep and on the money leading to multiple break chances. Thirty-two minutes was all it took for Nadal to break three times and wrap up the first set.

Roger’s dilemma persisted in the second set. Working from the baseline was not bearing fruit, coming to net was ineffective with Nadal was passing him at will. Roger’s first service game was a duplicate of the initial set with Nadal gaining the advantage. But, Federer came back in the subsequent game and equalized things 1-1. A pivotal stage in the match might have been when Roger had a break point for 4-3, his first opportunity to lead, but went on to net the volley. Nadal won the next three games to take a two set to none lead.

In the third set, Roger encountered no means to counteract his opponent’s brilliant play. Nadal kept coming up with ridiculous angles for winners while Federer could only shake his head. In short, the set was a Nadal highlight reel 6-0. The last time Federer lost a set at love was June 1999.

It is hard to embarrass Federer on any surface, least of all in the finals. But, this was exactly what Nadal managed to do. It took Rafa only 1hour and 48 minutes and 35 unforced errors from Roger to maintain his spotless record at Roland Garros. In winning his fourth straight title, Nadal wrote himself into the history books. Lamentably, so did Federer. This represented the fewest number of games won by a competitor in the finals since 1977 when Guillermo Vilas defeated American Bob Gottfried 6-0, 6-3, 6-0.

This was Federer’s third French final in a row.  Regrettably, there is an expiration date attached to his ultimate bite at this apple. With so many players improving and incredibly Nadal getting even better on the clay, Roger’s wish of holding the ‘Coupe des Mousquetaires’ may be wanting his entire career. Indeed, today may have been Roger’s last stand.

For Serbian Ana Ivanovic, this was her second consecutive French Open final and her third stab at a major title. In the end, experience proved to be the key, as Ivanovic triumphed 6-4, 6-3 over Russian Dinara Safina to hoist her first major’s trophy.

Last year, Ivanovic was in Safina’s shoes as a first time finalist. Unable to deal with the magnitude of the occasion, Ivanovic quickly submitted to give Justine Henin her third straight title. This time around, Safina was the newcomer to the big stage and it showed. Dinara opened the match by losing her serve. With Ivanovic’s strongest wing, her forehand, on target, she got off to a double break lead 4-1. Yet, after venting in her native tongue, Safina quieted her nerves and made headway by winning three successive games to equalize things at 4 all. With this shift in momentum, the championship had the potential of turning into a real contest. But, in the next game, Safina shot herself in the foot again and handed the break back to Ivanovic. Still, as Ivanovic served for the set, Safina had two chances to keep the set alive, but was unable to capitalize.

Now beaming with confidence, which Ivanovic ostentatiously demonstrated with her customary fist pumps, Ana began the second set as she had the last by breaking Dinara in the initial game. Luckily, Safina immediately erased the lead 1-1. Unfortunately, Safina’s pattern of losing serve after breaking back continued and Ivanovic was once more ahead. Habitually with an explosive temperament, Safina had succeeded in controlling her emotions throughout the tournament. But, Dinara cracked under the pressure resulting in an innocent racket getting hammered. After letting off some steam, Safina kept the match close at 3-2 and had deuce on Ivanovic’s serve to try to level things off. But errors took hold of her game, increasing Ivanovic’s lead to 4-2. Serving at 3-5 to stay alive, Dinara committed three unforced errors to give Ivanovic triple championship point. The Serbian gladly accepted the present and with a forehand winner, Ana concluded the match to win her first major.

For both women, this was an unforgettable fortnight. Perhaps, after defeating three top ten players en route to the finals including new world number one, Maria Sharapova, Safina was emotionally spent. After all, Dinara twice overcame match point and 5-2 leads in the second set, once against Sharapova in the round of sixteen, then in quarterfinals against Elena Dementieva. Regardless, all of Safina’s hard work will be rewarded; she will once again be back into the top ten. For Ivanovic, this was a double coronation. By defeating countrywoman Jelena Jankovic in the semifinals, Ana supplanted Maria at number one. Today was just her crowning moment with her capturing the ‘Coupe Suzanne Lenglen’.

There is good news to report for those who cannot get enough of the French Open. ESPN is providing a web portal for qualifying broadband internet subscribers to watch live coverage of French Open matches.

Those in the Miami area who subscribe to DSL service from AT&T (formerly BellSouth) are eligible and can watch live streams of matches on the terre battue at Roland Garros via the ESPN360 website.

Click here or point your browser to www.espn360.com to get access to the live streams. Once the page loads click on the “Launch Video Player” button. This will launch another window that brings up the ESPN360.com video player. Use the menus to navigate to the French Open coverage.

Once you navigate to the French Open coverage, you are able to watch any match that is taking place on court Chatrier, Lenglen, or Court 1. Replays are also available for any match that has taken place on any of the mentioned courts throughout the tournament.

In the lead up to this year’s French Open, the readers of USA Today were asked to submit questions to Michael Chang, the 1989 French Open Singles Champion. 

Six questions were selected including one which was submitted by MiamiTennisBlog.com.

Below is the question along with Chang’s response which can also be found in today’s sports section of USAToday.com.  

Q: What exactly makes the French Open the great equalizer of the 4 Grand Slams? Over the years we have seen this title elude some of the sport’s greatest players (McEnroe, Sampras, Edberg, Becker, Federer to name a few). Please provide us with a champion’s perspective on what makes it so difficult to conquer the red clay at Roland Garros.

—Dennis 

A:  The French Open is without question the most grueling grand slam of the four. It’s not uncommon for matches to last over 4 hours. With varying conditions, slower courts, longer matches and higher bouncing balls, it creates a different type of tennis that many of the greatest players have yet to figure out. Most try to just take their regular fast court style of tennis and play with a little more patience. The problem is that what would normally be a winner on any other surface, comes back at you with a kind of ‘is that the best shot you can hit’ attitude. And it’s only natural for the best players to try and go for more rather than have a mentality of hitting 3, 4, 5 or even 10 shots just to win one point. The best clay courters have this mentality and go into each match with a great deal of patience, working the ball and working the ball until you get the right opening or until your opponent is so far off the court they can’t recover. Granted, matches can be won with a go for broke type of style and game but over 2 weeks and having to win 7 tough matches each being 3 out of 5 sets is a tall order for pure attacking players to accomplish. In order for them to break through, they need just the right amount of fire power coupled with patience and a great strategy which includes just as much defensive play as offensive play. And to be honest, it’s tough for attacking power players to do that. They only really know how to be aggressive.

The smart players know that one of the best ways to beat the aggressive, attacking players is to either put them on the defensive somehow so they can’t play their best game or invite them to play on clay! 

This year’s men’s and women’s singles draw for the French Open will take place Friday May 23 at 11:30 AM Paris time and will be shown live on the official Roland Garros website. 

According to the website, Rafael Nadal will pick out the seeds for the women’s draw and Ana Ivanovic will do the same for the men. The non seeded players will be picked out electronically.

Miami tennis fans who want to watch the draw live will have to wake in the early hours on Friday to log on to their computers as the event will take place at 5:30 AM EST. 

The BBC Tennis website has posted an interesting interview with the 1991 Wimbledon Champion Michael Stich where he discusses Nadal, Djokovic, and Federer.

In this candid interview Stich states that although Nadal is the most competitive player, Djokovic is the more talented player and therefore Stich feels that he stands a better chance of surpassing Federer to become the world’s number one player. Stich also goes on the record with his predictions for this year’s French Open.

Click here to listen to the entire interview courtesy of the BBC.

Youth, age 21! Success, three French Open championships, the first player since Bjorn Borg to achieve such a feat! Despite all these accolades, I foresee that tennis sensation Rafael Nadal’s star may be dimming. True, Nadal has succeeded where no other tennis mortals have, he is the only player to have infiltrated ‘Fedland’ on a consistent basis. By blocking him from lifting the ‘Coupe des Mousquetaires’ the last three years, Rafa has been the boulder preventing Roger Federer from being exalted as the greatest tennis athlete of all time. Many experts may argue that this conclusion maybe a tad premature. After all, Nadal has reached the last two Wimbledon finals and played competitively. He was particularly impressive this year, if a few points had turned out differently, he may have been victorious in lieu of Federer; hence, why such a gloomy prediction. Although time may be his ally, longevity may not be in his horizon. The punishment that his style of game inflicts on his own body may be his silent adversary.

A rash of injuries has caused Rafa to look less than ordinary at the last few tournaments. His game appears to be taxing not only on his opponents but also to his own physique. Such a comment may seem odd if one examines the subject in question. Without a doubt, the first thing one notices about Rafa is his musculature which in essence gives one the illusion of indestructibility. Yet, it is painful at times to watch him play. One gets the sense of that he or she is in a boxing arena rather than a tennis court, with so much punching and counter punching, one invariably starts to cringe. At the US Open this year in his first round match against Australian Alun Jones, the Spaniard had both knees wrapped and his facial grimaces with each stroke were a reflection of the pain he was undoubtedly suffering. There is no question, Nadal works extremely hard at tuning his body, therefore, the riddle becomes how to find a balance between aggressive play and energy conservation for purely survival’s sake.

A couple years ago, fellow competitor Justine Henin came to such a crossroad. If memory serves me correctly, Henin was not only sidelined by mononucleosis, she blamed her physical ailments partly on over training, building too much muscles, as such, she fired her trainer. Since that period, Henin has recuperated her form and is dominating the women’s game. For Nadal, the solution lies in his modifying his game whereby he is converted into the astute matador with all the majesty and pageantry that is usually displayed in a ring while maintaining the built of a bull. By developing other aspects of his game, Nadal will be able to utilize his variety so that his matches are a bit shorter so that his body will not fail him regardless of the surface he is tackling. To me, this seems to be the formula that will give him continued success. Otherwise, the news of a premature demise to his tennis career may not be exaggerated.