RG Diary Wednesday May 25
Originally published on: 25/05/11 21:04
Today there are lots of prizes to award as well as our regular daily gong for Best Innovation at Roland Garros. Firstly for the loser who gets the biggest press conference attendance, that award goes to Japan’s Kei Nishikori, 17 journalists, though only 5 English questions. In a match watched by many Japanese fans, the 21 year old, ranked 59 in the world, was defeated today by world number 36, Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky, 61 36 63 76.
If there were any prizes for presser content, then Bethanie Mattek -Sands would probably take it for revealing all of her tattoos and her future plans to get another from tattoo artist to the stars, Lou Molloy. But they weren’t tattoos on the Americans face today as she explained they were functional,” it’s actually Eyeblack. At the beginning of the year, I was using the black zinc. I was having trouble because when I was sweating it was kind of rubbing off, so I switched to the sticker.” You can check it out at www.eyeblack.com. Can’t wait to see what BMS wears for her third round match against Jelena Jankovic.
And on the subject of tennis fashion World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki was in action against Canada’s Aleksandra Wozniak. Wozniacki, sporting blue Stella McCartney adidas dress had ruffles at her neck and matching nailpolish on her hands, who says we miss Venus Williams? The Dane, with a strapped left thigh (bandage coloured, not blue in case you were wondering) nearly dropped a set but managed to win the second set tiebreak to wrap up the match 63 76 (6).
Sam Stosur who dispatched Simona Halep for the loss of only two games in the second set must be the day’s strongest contender for self-belief. Asked after the match if she was getting into her stride early on she commented, “Well, I think after the way I played today, yeah, I would like to think so. But, you know, whether you play fantastic today or really good the next time, it doesn’t really matter as long as you’re getting through them”. She next faces Gisela Dulko, who would have won the award on Monday night for her Salsa dancing at the tecnifibre gathering to which tennishead had the pleasure of an invitation. The Argentinean, certainly had her dancing shoes on today when she overcame the No. 32 seed Tsvetana Pironkova 64 62 to hotfoot her way into the third round.
There were plenty of winners in the men’s event today too including a few French winners and losers. Gael Monfils, stunning in purple, dropped a set against fellow Frenchman Guillaume Rufin to advance, 63,16,61,63. Roger Federer, majestic in red dropped 5 games against Frenchman Maxime Teixeira, 63,64,62, Jo Wilfried Tsonga beat Igor Andreev 63 76(4) 63 and Richard Gasquet defeated Marcel Granollers 46, 63, 62, 64. Qualifier Stefan Robert fell at the hands of Italian Fabio Fognini.
But the real French prize is awarded to the person who dreamt up this idea on display at Roland Garros Boutiques around the Ground. For 18 euros you can purchase your own bit of Roland Garros, in a bottle to take home and admire. We wonder if Turkish player Marsel Ilhan might appreciate it. Today he had a marathon match against the number 30 seed Guillermo Garcia Lopez, which he finally lost 13-11 in the fifth, but had a great run here, you might recall he put out Tommy Haas in the first round. But on a day of gongs, today’s’ tennishead Roland Garros award for innovation, goes to the little bottle of clay -tres bien.
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