Day 15 June 11, 2006
CHASING A WHALE OF A FOE, ROGER CAN SYMPATHIZE WITH CAPT. AHAB

Was that Roger Federer masquerading as Capt Ahab? Or was it Capt Ahab masquerading as Roger Federer at a steaming playground called Roland Garros?

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Day 14 June 10, 2006
MITE-WITH-FIGHT JUSTINE WINS 3RD TITLE, MAKES UP FOR AUSSIE WALK

She departed Melbourne in January a marked woman. Marked lousy for walking out of the Australian Open final in the second set, handing the title to Amelie Mauresmo.

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Day 13 June 9, 2006
FEDERER, OVERCOMING NEGATIVISM, ENTERS FINAL PAST JINX NALBANDIAN

It was curious. The name was Federer, and he couldn't play. It was like Yo Yo Ma sawing away at his cello, but forgetting the notes.

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Day 11 June 7, 2006
GRANNY SAVES A DULL DAY, BUT NADAL CONFIRMS HIS CLAY MARK

On the dullest day of the tournament, I found sustenance in watching the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles. Because gracing the central court (named for the great French administrator, Philippe Chatrier), was the great "Granny" herself - Martina Navratilova.

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Day 10 June 6, 2006
GLITTER, GLITTER NEW TEEN-AGE STAR - VAIDISOVA CRASHES SEMIS

Maybe diamonds are a girl's best friend. But Nicole Vaidisova will tell you that a pair of Tiffany's platinum mesh earrings are solid companionship on the tennis court. And it doesn't hurt to have a couple of priceless legs to go with them if you're going to run into Venus in a clay pit at Roland Garros.

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Day 9 June 5, 2006
LUCKY GUY BENNETEAU BACKS INTO QUARTERS

Alberto Martin's back hurts, and Julien Benneteau is grateful. If anybody had picked No. 95 Benneteau to be the last Frenchman standing in the French Open, you'd better go to the race track with such a seer.

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Day 8 June 4, 2006
MARIA VANISHES BUT VENUS LETS EVERYBODY KNOW SHE'S HERE, HAPPY

She was waltzing by herself to a tune inside her strikingly-coiffed head, doing a number on an improvised dance floor of rusty dusty dirt. She was alone in one sense, but not another because 3790 people surrounding her were applauding and yelling congratulations at Venus Williams.

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Day 7 June 3, 2006
NADAL'S STREAK GOES ON TO 56, BUT IT TOOK A LONG, GRUELING TIME

The first week's gone by and Nos. 1-2 Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, Amelie Mauresmo and Kim Clijsters are still with us. Decent weather continued. The 2004 finalist, the lovely Elena Dementieva, vanished, taking her too many double faults with her, sent home, 6-4, 7-5 by an unfamiliar name Shahar Peer, a peppy Israeli just turned 19.

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Day 6 June 2, 2006
EX-HARVARDIAN BLAKE BECOMES CLAY SCHOLAR, LAST OF MALE YANKS

James Blake is as lonely as an Eskimo in Bali. Possibly a Democrat in Crawford, Texas. Maybe a typewriter salesman in a computer showroom.

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Day 5 June 1, 2006
PARKAS, MUFFLERS YET IN STYLE, BAGHDATIS MISSES AUSSIE SUNSHINE

June came in like a polar bear thinking it was January. Temperatures still in the 50s. Rain. Drizzle. And gone was the smiling boy of Down Under summer. Marcos Baghdatis, whose joyful demeanor and winning strokes brightened the Australian Open and the lives of his Melburnian Greek chorus on the sidelines as he bounded to the final, couldn't get out of the second round.

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Day 4 May 31, 2006
WEATHER OR NOT, THE SHOW WENT ON, OFFERING EQUAL CHILL CHANCES

Of course we all know the song "April in Paris," and many others like "I Love Paris." However on the last day of May I was ready to write "November in Paris," with lyrics like "Chestnuts too cold to blossom" or "It's no thrill for tennis in the chill."

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Day 3 May 30, 2006
A DIRTY SHAME: YANKS' PARIS BLUES AN INFECTION OF CLAY POISONING

"Paris Blues" was a some time ago movie starring young Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier as American jazz musicians having a lousy time in this town. What about a sequel, re-worked as the story of American guys hitting all the wrong tennis notes at Stade Roland Garros.

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Day 2 May 29, 2006
DIRTKICKING RECORD STREAK SHIFTS FROM VILAS TO NADAL

Less attention is paid to records in tennis than most sports. Few, including himself, realized that the Aussie great, Roy Emerson, had set a record when he won his 12th major singles title here in Paris in 1967.

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Day 1 May 28, 2006
TOILING, POUTING ON THE SABBATH, MARIA BARELY ESCAPES MASHONA

It was not a happy day for Maria Sharapova and Roger Federer, even though they won. Not easily. In fact Sharapova was indeed fortunate not to be trashed by No. 97 Mashona Washington, a 30-year-old American best known as the kid sister of 1996 Wimbledon finalist MaliVai Washington.

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Introduction May 28, 2006
FRENCH OPEN 2006

"We'll always have Paris," Bogie tells Bergman. It's a nice thought that keeps us going even if the weather can be merely miserable, and is tougher to take after three sunny weeks in Italy.

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