India’s doubles ace Mahesh Bhupathi has pulled out of mixed doubles semi-finals of the French Open. The 34-year-old, who strained his calf muscle earlier this summer, aggravated the injury during the quarter-finals on Tuesday.

Bhupathi, partnering China’s Jie Zheng at the French Open, was scheduled to play the semi-final against top seeds Slovenia’s Katarina Srebotnik and Serbia’s Nenad Zimonjic on Thursday.

The Bangalore-based pro was struggling to even walk and pushing himself in the semis could have cost him the entire summer, which includes his favourite Grand Slam Wimbledon and the Beijing Olympics.

The French Open 2008, which began on the 26th of May has so far gone through the phase 1 of the first round and the results are in. Here is the complete schedule of the Roland Garros French Open 2008 for Indian Television.

The matches will be aired Live by Star Sports India with a duration of 8 hours each.
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The 2008 French Open started on a sombre note yesterday as the tournament bade farewell to one of its favourite sons. Brazil’s Gustavo Kuerten exited the 2008 French Open in first round, bringing down the curtain on a singles career which saw him claim the French Open title three times.

Kuerten went down in straight sets to Frenchman Paul Henri-Mathieu, losing 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. The Brazillian player’s 2001 victory at the French Open marked the last occasion that the 1st seed won the tournament. Kuerten will now participate in the doubles tournament at Rolland Garros before bowing out of tennis altogether.

Other first round matches at the 2008 French Open saw several top seeds advance, with Novak Djokovic, James Blake, Andy Murray and David Nalbandian all progressing to the second round of the tournament.

Carlos Moya was the only big-name casualty on the first day of the 2008 French Open. The 1998 French Open champion lost a tough five set encounter to Eduardo Schwank 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-7 (1), 4-6, 6-3.

The women’s draw saw two of the favourites for the title progress to the second round, as Serena Williams trounced Ashley Harkleroad 6-2, 6-1 and Ana Ivanovic defeated Sofia Arvidsson 6-2, 7-5.

Is India going to get any olympic medals this year? First we have the hockey team scandal. Now these two are acting up. The 10 Grand Slam doubles winner pair - Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi - are having communication issues.

Bhupathi says that he is uncomfortable playing with Paes at the Olympics due to the communication gap that has come about between them. They have not been on talking terms for the past few months, and a cold war has erupted between them.

Bhupathi said that this lack of friendship might hinder their ability to get any medals at the Olympics. “It’s too late for Leander and me to play together” said Bhupathi. “Leander and I are the best option for India but we need to go with some kind of preparation. We need to build a team. However, Rohan Bopanna and I are better prepared as a team,” Bhupathi said.

However, the All India Tennis Association (AITA) has ruled out any changes in the team for the Beijing Olympics and said that it’s not up to Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi to decide who goes to the Olympics. Reacting to Bhupati’s letter, AITA said that the two players cannot allow their differences to come in between.

“AITA’s position is extremely clear. We have already nominated their names as a team on February 28,” Khanna said.

Indian Olympic Association General Secretary Randhir Singh said that Khanna spoke to him for a fortnight-long camp before the Olympics. “Anil Khanna spoke to me about a 15-day camp before the Olympics. There is nothing to be reinvented between them. They just need some practice together before the Games,” he said. “They are the best players. They have been the world number one. I request them to play their best for the country. I firmly believe they have a great chance to win a medal in Beijing,” he added.

Bhupathi may have closed the door on their partnership but Leander Paes hasn’t given up hope. Speaking exclusively to CNN-IBN, Leander urged Bhupathi to reconsider his decision not to pair up for the Beijing Olympics.

“I find that Mahesh and myself have lot of differences of opinions off the court but when it comes to on court there is no hiding the fact that we are the best team. I urge Mahesh to reconsider his decision that he has made and to put our differences aside,” he said.

“While people who don’t really understand tennis are willing to force us to play together to win a medal, you will agree that we are not magicians and a medal will not happen just because we step on court. I would prefer to play with Rohan Bopanna in Beijing, we do have a good relationship and we are planning to play a couple of events over the next few months.”

“Lot of this comes as real surprise be it the Olympics comes as a surprise, be it the Davis Cup comes as a surprise - I feel that eight years that we have put together won so many grand slams together, being number one together, its really sad that this is going on and its unfortunate,” Leander said.

Bopanna seems to be quite in demand for the Olympics. Let’s see how this materializes in the coming two months left for the Olympics. We sure hope Bhupathi can get some perspective and patch things up with Paes. The two of them are a terrific duo.

Sania Mirza has pulled out of the French Open due to the wrist injury she suffered earlier in April. She will miss out on the season’s second Grand Slam, starting May 26 as she still feels considerable pain in the wrists. 

Sania, after playing 13 majors in a row, ranked 33 in singles and 19 in doubles, had undergone surgery to repair a capsule tear on her right wrist. She has been in rehab since May 5th when the cast was removed. Her coach and father says Sania hasn’t recovered completely from the surgery. Being not able to stretch her wrist beyond a point, hurting at certain angles when playing the forehand. She is comfortable with the backhand though.

She has not yet begun any court training instead just doing some shadow drills since her cast came off. She’s hhoping to start hitting in a week’s time, targetting the DFS Classic in Birmingham, the first grasscourt event of the season, starting June 9 for her return. 

The Indian pro’s wrist was badly damaged during the Indian Wells tournament in March after which she withdrew from the Miami event. The reason Sania decided to go in for surgery in April instead of taking a chance with rest and playing on till it hurt again was because she was hoping to be in top physical condition for the Beijing Olympic Games in August.

Being that she has a lot of free time now, without any practice schedules, Sania has been spotted watching IPL matches! Way to go Sania!

BBC: Rafael Nadal clinched his first Hamburg Masters title with an epic 7-5 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 win over the defending champion and top seed Roger Federer.

The world number two needed two hours and 52 minutes to beat the world number one in a gruelling and tense match. He came back from 5-1 down to clinch the first set, while Federer also let an advantage slip in the second only to clinch the set in the tie-break.

Nadal broke twice in the third as he claimed the 26th title of his career. The Spaniard has now beaten Federer on eight of the pair’s previous nine meetings on clay. The Swiss star’s solitary victory over the Spaniard came in last year’s Hamburg final when Federer ended Nadal’s 81-match winning streak on clay. Nadal is indeed the king of clay… Full report on BBC.

Watch the rerun of this match on 19th May, one at 8:00 a.m. and then at 2:30 p.m IST on ESPN India. There will of course be several reruns of this game at various times. 

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have reached the finals as expected. Their win on Saturday has set up a rematch of the 2007 final of the Masters Series Hamburg.

Federer literally stole the game over form Italian Andreas Seppi with 6-3, 6-1. Standing at No. 2 position Rafael Nadal bested Australian Open titlist Novak Djokovic 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 to lock up the other spot in the finale of the clay-court French Open tuneup. This came kind of a shocker since Djokovic was last week’s clay-court champion in Rome.

Catch the Finals of the Masters Series Hamburg 2008, Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal on 18th May at 6.30 PM IST on ESPN India.

While Andreas Seppi had to struggle to get into the semifinals, it was easier for the reigning champion Roger Federer, clay-court king Rafael Nadal and Australian Open titlist Novak Djokovic.

Standin at the No. 1 position, Federer blew past Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-3, while Nadal standing in the 2nd postion floored Carlos Moya 6-1, 6-3 and the third-seeded Djokovic took the game away from the Spaniard Albert Montanes 6-2, 6-3 on Day 6 at Rothenbaum.

Federer will face Italian Andreas Seppi on Saturday, who took out heavy German crowd favorite Nicolas Kiefer 6-3, 5-7, 7-5. The 26-year-old Federer is 1-0 lifetime against Seppi, with the win coming on red clay in Monte Carlo last year. The three-time French Open champion Nadal, who has to beat Djokovic on Saturday in order to retain his world No. 2 ranking, is 6-3 lifetime against the surging Serb, including a semifinal victory in a Masters Series tournament at Indian Wells earlier this season.

Semifinal Matches
Roger Federer (1) vs. Andreas Seppi
Rafael Nadal (2) vs. Novak Djokovic (3)

The Masters Series Hamburg Semifinals will be aired on 17th May at 4.30 pm and 6.30 pm on ESPN India.

With Andy Murray having his birthday on the day of his match did not do any good to him. Rafael Nadal had no birthday gift for him, winning in straight sets to join Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals of the Hamburg Masters.

Nadal won 6-3, 6-2 against Murray, while the defending champion Roger Federer breezed past Robin Soderling 6-3, 6-2. Djokovic defeated Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (3), 6-3 to stay on course for back-to-back titles after winning last week’s Rome Masters.

Although Nadal had to receive treatment for blisters on his left hand, he had already progressed ahead 4-1 in the second set. He did not seem to be in discomfort, unlike Murray who did not stand a chance against Nadal’s merciless treatment.

This tournament is a major warm up for the French Open 2008 later this month. 

Quarterfinal Matches

The Masters Series Hamburg Quarterfinals will be aired on 16th May at 4.30 PM, 6.30 PM and 8.30 PM on ESPN India.

The Tennis fans support ATP players’ demand for more influence in ATP decisions and changes to the ATP tour and calendar. 

To: Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP)

We, the undersigned tennis fans from around the world, support ATP players’ request for more participation in ATP decision making and changes to the ATP tour and calendar.

We do so because we are very concerned about the health of ATP players and the future of tennis as a sport.

We are concerned about the health of ATP players because of the ATP calendar for 2008. This calendar is overcrowded with tournaments in tight succession as well as back-to-back-tournaments. We feel that such a calendar threatens the health of the players… (Read full petition)

So if you care about the health of the ATP players, you might want to consider signing in on that petition. 

Associated Press: Justine Henin retired from tennis Wednesday, an abrupt ending to a career in which she won seven Grand Slam singles titles and leaves while ranked No. 1.

The 25-year-old Belgian made the surprising announcement at a news conference Wednesday, less than two weeks before the start of the French Open. She has won that clay-court major championship four times, including each of the past three years.

“This is the end of a child’s dream,” Henin said. “It is a new beginning for me. I feel like I already lived three lives. I gave the sport all I could and took everything it could give me. I take this decision without the least bit of regrets. It is my life as a woman that starts now.”

Henin is the first woman to quit the sport while ranked No. 1, according to the WTA Tour. Justine Henin steps away leaving a stellar legacy behind:

• 7 Grand-Slam singles titles
• In 1 year (2007), she won 10 tournaments (including 2 mayors)
• 4 French Open titles (including an active streak of 3-in-a-row; a WTA record)
• Won the 2004 Australian Open title
• Captured US Open titles in 2003, 2007
• Won over $20 Million in career prize money
• And, she spent more than 100 weeks ranked No.1 in the world (since November 13th 2006).

It was harder for Second-ranked Rafael Nadal to get into the third round of the Hamburg Masters, while Top-ranked Roger Federer and No. 3 Novak Djokovic did so with ease. While Nadal is known to have hold his No.2 player spot on the ATP tour for 147 consecutive weeks, Djokovic is trying very hard top surpass Nadal.

Nadal needed a tiebreaker to overcome Potito Starace 6-4, 7-6 (6). Federer won against Jarkko Nieminen 6-1, 6-3, and Djokovic downed Juan Ignacio Chela 6-3, 6-1. Federer was at ease from the start for his match, probably because Nieminen had never won a set in eight previous matches.

Nadal had to spend more than two hours against the 47th-ranked player to seize his win. Nadal recently lost to Juan Carlos Ferrero in the third round in Rome, when he had a blister on his right foot. It was Nadal’s second loss only over the past one year, the other being to Federer in the Hamburg final last year.

Third Round Matches

Quick Info.

Location: Rothenbaum Tennis Center
                Hallerstr. 89
               20149, Hamburg
Surface: Claycourt
Draw size Singles: 56
Draw size Doubles: 24
Format: Best of Three
Winner 2007: Roger Federer (SUI)
Centre Court capacity: 9.000