TENNIS: Devilish gusts of wind whipped around Rue d'Auteuil, the main avenue leading up to Roland Garros. For the seeded players scheduled to practise yesterday on the shifting clay courts, it was not what they would have prayed for to start the first week of the second Grand Slam of the year.
Martina Navratilova, at 47, almost filled the main Philippe Chatrier Court. The tournament may not yet have begun, but in her red shorts and white top the 1982 and 1984 winner has already drawn nothing but amazement for her lean and radiant fitness.
"She's been in a couple of draws this year already. Everyone could take a lesson from her on how to stay in shape," said the world number seven Serena Williams.
"To even contemplate playing doubles, never mind singles is an unbelievable feat. I can tell you I won't be doing it. Just to stay in that shape at 47-years old is cool."
Navratilova has already made her point even if she fails to advance past unseeded Argentinian Gisela Dulko. It has been 10 years since her last appearance in the singles event at Roland Garros, her final memory being of Miriam Oremans dumping her out in the first round in straight sets. What makes the world ranked 9999 player return 10 years later with $21 million in prize money in the bank seems more to do with making a point about age than scorching her way through the draw.
With Martina Hingis retiring at 22-years-old and Anna Kournikova also prematurely melting from the tennis circuit, Navratilova's arrival back offers an interesting counterpoint in a sport populated by high-maintenance teenagers.
The former world number one entered clay tournaments in Amelia Island and Charleston in April, where she came up against Milagros Sequera of Venezula and American Amy Frazier. She lost both (6-1, 3-6, 2-6 and 4-6, 4-6) but the matches were sufficiently tight to convince her that to dip her toe into the French Open wouldn't be tempting an obvious embarrassment.
The first week is also fraught with nerves and that may help the 18-times Grand Slam singles champion. It's a matter of hurdling the first couple of fences, the local favourites, the wild cards, the Parisian weather and the qualifiers. In the second week the course is less cluttered with unseen traps.
Not surprisingly, Navratilova's name is not among the fancied group, where Serena and Venus Williams, Jennifer Capriati, Amelie Mauresmo and Justine Henin-Hardenne seem inseparable. It's a genuinely open draw with the Williams returning from injury and Serena playing in her first Grand Slam event since last year's Wimbledon. Her attitude is typically disconcerting.
"Yes, I was in Cannes. They had a couple of clay courts there. I stayed in a beautiful resort. I had a blast, went to a couple of film festivals," she said before adding: "I'm a perfectionist. I just put it on myself every day. It's just like I got to do better. I just load it on every day. I gotta learn how to relax."
With Capriati arriving in Paris with Serena's scalp from the Italian Open and French darling Mauresmo gracing the cover of Paris Match, having defeated Capriati in the Rome final, there has been a levelling effect. The weight of expectation has proven too much for Mauresmo in the past. Last year's winner, Belgium's, Henin-Hardenne, is also returning from illness.
Venus is struggling with an ankle problem and appears more hopeful than confident. "I hit (practised) a couple of days last week at home then practised here on Friday. That's pretty much it. I didn't have ideal preparation I'd like for this event but I feel confident enough," she said yesterday.
In the men's draw, one player who goes in with confidence frayed and threadbare is last year's champion Juan Carlos Ferrero. Fresh from Spain's royal wedding but laid low on pain killing injections, he will decide today whether to defend his title after falling on court and injuring his ribs.
The Spanish number four seed is due to face Germany's Tommy Haas but after hitting practice yesterday conceded the injury gave him less of a 50-50 chance of making it to the locker room.
Following last year's dream season, this one has been fractured by ill fortune. He couldn't play in the Masters series (ranked just below Grand Slams) and also missed events in Rome, Hamburg, Indian Wells and Miami. For the gifted and athletic champion, the tournament would be all the poorer without him.
Roger Federer, the top seed, second placed Andy Roddick, Argentinian Guillermo Coria and Andre Agassi, seeded sixth, will shed few tears for Ferrero in a men's draw that appears more volatile than that of the women.
Even the fluid talents of Federer, who lost here in the first round in 2002 and '03, will meet its match on the slower surface.
"There are a lot of players who can win the tournament," mumbled the downcast Ferrero yesterday. "Federer is playing good on clay courts. (Carlos) Moya is very good. South American guys are playing good. So there is a lot of players."
Last year Martin Verkerk punched his way to the final on his first visit to Roland Garros with 124 aces, only to reveal he had to honour a club match back home in Holland the following week. With that sort of outrageous fortune occasionally presenting itself in Paris, perhaps there is some precedent for a Navratilova run after all.
