Sunday, December 21, 2025
34.0°F

French Open glance

Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 13 years, 6 months AGO
| May 26, 2012 9:00 PM

PARIS (AP) - A look at the French Open, the year's second Grand Slam tennis tournament:

Site: Roland Garros.

Surface: Clay.

Schedule: The 15-day tournament begins Sunday (2 a.m., ESPN2). The women's singles final is June 9; the men's singles final is June 10.

2011 Men's Singles Champion: Rafael Nadal of Spain.

2011 Women's Singles Champion: Li Na of China.

Last Year: Nadal beat Roger Federer of Switzerland 7-5, 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-1 for his sixth French Open championship and 10th Grand Slam title overall. Federer had defeated Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, ending the Serb's unbeaten start to the season. It remains Djokovic's only loss in the last five Grand Slam tournaments. Li became the first Chinese player to win a Grand Slam singles title by defeating defending champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy 6-4, 7-6 (0).

Key Statistic I: 45-1 - Nadal's career record at the French Open. He will be trying to become the first man to win the tournament seven times; he shares the record with Bjorn Borg.

Key Statistic II: 43 - The number of years since a man won four consecutive Grand Slam tournaments, a feat Djokovic will be attempting to complete at Roland Garros. In 1969, Rod Laver won a calendar-year Grand Slam, one of only three in history (Laver also did it in 1962, and Don Budge did it in 1938).

On Court Sunday: No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. Andrey Kuznetsov; No. 9 Juan Martin del Potro vs. Albert Montanes; No. 14 Fernando Verdasco vs. Steve Darcis; Andy Roddick vs. Nicolas Mahut; No. 6 Sam Stosur vs. Elena Baltacha; No. 26 Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Mirjana Lucic; Venus Williams vs. Paula Ormaechea.

Sunday's Forecast: Sunny in the morning; cloudy with a chance of rain in the afternoon. High of 73 degrees.

Prize Money: Total is €18.7 million (about $23.5 million), with €1.25 million (about $1.6 million) each to the men's and women's singles champions.

Online: http://www.rolandgarros.com/index.html