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Down and out in Paris

Only two advance at the French Open

By František Bouc
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
June 4th, 2008 issue

Czech tennis players may not have scored a major upset at the ongoing French Open championship in Paris (May 25–June 8), but they still made some exceptional marks on Roland Garros’ clay courts.
Radek Štěpánek and Petra Kvitová were the only two Czechs to survive in the men’s and women’s singles draw after the first week of play. At press time, Štěpánek was getting ready for his fourth-round match against Spain’s David Ferrer, and Kvitová was scheduled to challenge Kaia Kanepi of Estonia.
Štěpánek’s advancement in Paris had been expected. He played well before the French Open, with his crowning effort, a win against the world’s No. 1 player, Roger Federer, at a tournament in Rome in early May.
Kvitová’s march through the women’s singles draw was quite unexpected, however. With her debut at Roland Garros, the 18-year-old player backed up what has been a meteoric start to her career on the professional circuit. Kvitová stormed onto the WTA Tour earlier this year with a stunning defeat of U.S. star Venus Williams at a tournament in Memphis, Tennessee, in early March.
“Advancing in Paris has certainly boosted my confidence,” Kvitová said.
Similarly, 23-year-old Petra Cetkovská reached a personal best of her career in a Grand Slam tournament, advancing to the fourth round. Despite suffering a debacle of a loss in a game against the world’s No. 3 player, Ana Ivanović of Serbia (6-0, 6-0), Cetkovská remained upbeat.
“Our play was not the one-way traffic that the score suggests,” Cetkovská said.
Meanwhile, the country’s usual leading players performed poorly. Tomáš Berdych, the world’s No. 11 player, returned to the ATP tournament circuit after a month of recovering from an ankle injury. He swept away Australia’s Robert Smeets in the first round, 6-1, 6-0, 6-0. But in the following round he fell short in a five-set battle against French player Mickael Llodra. Berdych wasted four break points in the final set and later lamented the hostile atmosphere in the stands.
“I knew that the fans would support the home player,” he said. “However, as our match was entering the decisive stage, the crowd was becoming hostile and almost blamed me for winning points.”
Neither did Nicole Vaidišová, the top-ranked Czech on the women’s side, live up to expectations. Despite her struggles earlier this season, the French Open had been expected to rejuvenate the 19-year-old player. Last year, she advanced to the quarterfinals, and two years ago she made it to the semifinals.
However, Vaidišová’s French Open challenge lasted merely 76 minutes this year, when she lost to Iveta Benešová in the first round. She was philosophical in defeat.
“No one can win all the time,” she said.

František Bouc can be reached at fbouc@praguepost.com


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