Tennis French OpenSo Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has been called a "bigoted petrolhead" because he insists there is no such thing as global warming. Clarkson, who has been accused of perpetuating the worst type of stereotypes about environmentalists and has threatened to keep his patio heater lit 24 hours a day simply to annoy Greenpeace, might have a few supporters in Paris this week.
Waiting for the summer thaw to hit France and in the midst of the coldest French Open anyone can remember, the general consensus is a little greenhouse effect might not go astray in the southwest suburbs of Paris.
The world's top player, Roger Federer, was one of those affected yesterday as Roland Garros did a passable impression of Wimbledon. The tarpaulin is always expected in London but the Parisian spring is generally a factor 50, tee-shirts and shorts sort of thing. What we got was squalls and cancelled matches.
Federer was hustled off court three times in his completed second round meeting with the 139th ranked Colombian, Alejandro Falla, at one stage for an hour and 15 minutes. The fractured nature of the match, which Federer won in straights sets 6-1, 6-4, 6-3, was played with one eye on the clouds passing overhead and, inevitably, one eye on his place in history.
The statistics show his match lasted one hour 26 minutes but the clock indicated it was played over almost three hours. "It's not easy to come on and off. Conditions are really slow and wet. I sort of played really well in the first set and after that it was on and off," he said.
The Swiss player cannot pick up a newspaper in Paris this week without reading, in perfect English, German or French, about how he would become only the sixth player in history to win all four grand slams, if he can press home his case here over the next 11 days. With two matches down, the 24-year-old has five more to win before another benchmark is unearthed to accommodate his extraordinary talent.
The list he wants to get off is the one with 10 other names on it including that of Pete Sampras. That exclusive club belongs to the players who have won three of the majors but were unable to add the fourth. In every case the elusive grand slam has been either the French Open or Wimbledon.
More than in his first round match, which was unevenly finished and frustrating, Federer was able to demonstrate his gearshift and shot making, despite having to negotiate the wind and the rain. A novel part of playing on clay is that a little water is tolerated, as the clay, unlike the grass at Wimbledon, remains safe to play on.
When Falla, who got into the main draw as a lucky loser in the qualifying event, squeezed the Federer serve for the first and only time at 4-3 up in the second set, the world number one picked up his tempo. That was Falla's only glimpse in the entire episode and really he gave way quite easily, not unlike Clarkson driving his 4x4 through a virgin peat bog. What Federer did enjoy was the chance to play a left-handed player. As ever Rafael Nadal, also a lefty, was never far from the analysis.
"It's nice to face a lefty, maybe a different one from Nadal," said Federer. "All the righties play different and all the lefties play different. He waits for mistakes whereas Rafa (Nadal) goes much more after the shots. Makes it totally different to play. But this was a nice day. I could play freely."
As energy saving goes Nicolas Kiefer is firmly in the SUV class. His match against wild-card entry Marc Gicquel started at 11.13am and ended after five sets at 4.50pm. The fifth set went on for almost two hours as the 13th ranked German struggled to contain the 29-year-old French player. Given Kiefer is 28-years-old, that cannot do his body much good. He will also have realised when he dragged himself off court that if he wins his third-round match tomorrow, he is likely to meet Federer over the weekend.
Tim Henman was one of the last players to go on court last night against Russia's Dmitry Tursunov, a player who has beaten him twice in their two previous meetings. Eight years younger than the 31-year-old Briton, Tursunov took a 3-0 lead in the first set as Henman struggled. Thirty seven minutes later Henman was a set down and probably hoping the light would fade enough for him to pack up for the day. And that's what happened but not until he had also lost the second set 6-2.
While Henman wanted to come back today, his Russian opponent could see an end in sight. But following a protracted debate with the tournament referee, the last English player in the singles draw got his way and the match closed to be resumed today with Henman trailing 6-3, 6-2.
