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The biggest headline of the tournament so far was Rafael Nadal‘s first round match against the 6’9” big serving American John Isner. Nadal’s 6-4 6-7(2) 6-7(2) 6-2 6-4 victory was the most challenging win he has ever earned at the French Open. It was the first time that the five time Roland Garros champion was pushed to five sets in Paris. After four hours, Nadal’s expressive celebration implied how much this victory meant to him.

Second seed Novak Djokovic cruised past his first two opponents in straight sets, proving his candidacy for this year’s championship. Roger Federer faced no threating opposition in the first two rounds, as he also won without dropping a set. However, fan polls have shown that Federer is out of the conversation for winning this year’s title.

The biggest upset on the men’s side so far was a five loss of six seeded Tomas Berdych to qualifier Frenchman Stephane Robert. Last year’s runner up Robin Soderling was tested in his first round four set victory against young American Ryan Harrison.

First seed Caroline Wozniacki advanced to the third round without losing a set so far, while second seed and crowd favorite Kim Clijsters enjoyed a 6-2 6-3 win in her opening round. Third seed Vera Zvonareva played one of the most dramatic matches on the women’s side so far. The Russian earned a hard fought 4-6 7-5 7-5 victory over qualifier Sabine Lisicki. After nearly three hours, the cramping Lisicski fell to the ground in tears and had to be carried off the court in stretchers as the Paris sun faded late into the evening.

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Since New Year’s Day, Novak Djokovic has been flying on a magic carpet all season long. The biggest surprise about the Serbian superstar is that he will walk into Paris as the heavy favorite to win the event. Djokovic made an impressive clay court season debut by winning the tournament in his hometown of Belgrade. A week later, he stunned Rafael Nadal 7-5 6-4 to capture the trophy in Madrid, Spain. Days later, Djokovic pulled another trick out of his magic hat by upsetting Rafael Nadal once again 6-4, 6-4 in Rome, Italy. These extraordinary efforts on the red clay have earned Djokovic a 39 match winning streak this year. Right now, Djokovic is without a doubt the best player in the world. Additionally, he has dethroned Rafael Nadal to become the new king of clay.

Rafael Nadal comes into the French Open with two championship trophies and two runners up trophies which he earned this clay court season. The five time French Open champion has got to be rattled by his recent consecutive losses to his new rival, Djokovic. However, the courts of the French Open will put Djokovic and Nadal to their biggest challenges, and will determine who the true King of Clay of 2011 is.

Roger Federer has bitterly tasted one of his worst clay court season performances since dominating the men’s game. The 2009 champion will arrive in Paris with little confidence taken from only six victories in three clay court events. Two times French Open runner up Robin Soderling is also a long shot at this year’s event, as he hasn’t advanced past the quarterfinals in the clay tournaments he played this spring.

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A couple of guys have already proven their abilities on the clay courts of Europe this year. Rafael Nadal has clinched back to back titles in Monte Carlo and Barcelona. Russian Nikolay Davydenko recently captured the title in Munich. Juan Martin Del Potro won his second title of the year in Estoril, Portugal.

Novak Djokovic made an impressive debut to his clay court season by winning the event in his hometown of Belgrade. Spaniard David Ferrer has been one of the hottest clay courters so far, reaching the finals in Monte Carlo and Barcelona.

All of these names will be contenders for the trophy in Rome. However, one name that’s been awfully silent this clay court season is Roger Federer. Heading into mid may, Federer has performed poorly, by his own standards based on the previous years. Federer comes into Rome as the third seed with little match experience. Andy Murray has limited match experience on the clay this season as well. Both Federer and Murray hadn’t played since their losses at Monte Carlo until entering the ongoing tournament in Madrid. In fact, Murray’s confidence has already been hurt by an early loss to Tomaz Bellucci in Madrid.

Speaking of Madrid, the tournament will play a major factor in the shape and morale of Nadal, Djokovic, Federer, and Murray going into Rome next week. Nadal will be the first seed in Rome, and he’s made the smart decision to skip some clay court events this season to avoid injuries due to excessive match play.

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For starters, top players Roger Federer and Andy Murray decided to skip Barcelona after competing in Monte Carlo last week. However, the world’s number one decided to continue his quest for clay court greatness after grabbing the trophy in Monte Carlo and coming to Barcelona. Nadal got a bye in the first round and then easily dismantled fellow Spaniard Gimeno Traver 6-1 6-1. So far, the fans in Barcelona had plenty to cheer for, with excellent performances from the Spaniards.

David Ferrer was the finalist in last week’s Monte Carlo final, hopes to continue his clay court run in Barcelona as he advanced into the quarterfinals without any trouble during his straight set victories. Jurgen Melzer, who upset Roger Federer in Monte Carlo, won the first match easily but had a tougher 6-7 6-3 6-2 victory in the following match against clay court veteran Albert Montanes.

Nicolas Almagro gave local fans more reasons to cheer on, as he broke into the top 10 for the first time after defeating Nikolay Davydenko. Almgaro will next face fellow countryman and 2003 French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero.

The biggest upset of the tournament in the first few days was when third seed and last year’s runner up Robin Soderling lost to Ivan Dodig 6-2 6-4. It was a poor 2011 clay court debut for Soderling, who stunned the tennis world by playing on championship day at the last two Roland Garros events.

Roy Emerson was the dominant player in the Australian Open on a yearly basis and had a great track record for winning Grand Slams and. Emerson had won the Australian Open for 4 consecutive seasons coming into the 1967 season, according to tennis news report. Emerson came out and played a fantastic tournament. To win the Australian Open for the 5th consecutive year this stellar play would be enough for him.

The French Open would be the next Grand Slam. In each of the previous 5 seasons the tournament had been won by a different player. Fred Stolle, Emerson and Santana were all among those players that had won it within the past 5 seasons. This would not be their year, while Stolle and Santana would have liked to get another Grand Slam in that tournament. Emerson came out with fire and managed to take home his second Grand Slam of the season.

Even though it was clear by John Newcombe’s play in the next tournament that he would have what it took to win, he had never won a Grand Slam coming into the season. He marched through the tournament en route to winning the first Grand Slam of his career. This would be the first of many for Newcombe, who would finish with 7 Grand Slams when all was said and done.

Emerson never would win another Grand Slam after winning the French Open. That victory was the 12th and final Grand Slam of his career.

The U.S. Open would be the last tournament. Stolle won this tournament, Santana and Emerson in the previous three years. While they all had success in the tournament previously, none of them were able to come through again in 1967. Instead the tournament was won by John Newcombe and he grabbed the attention of the men’s tennis world immediately.

These two players dominated men’s tennis major tournaments this year, winning all four between them. Nadal won the French Open, U.S. open and Wimbledon with Federer making it 16 major titles by winning the Australian Open title. The two competitors have combined to win 21 of the last 23 majors.

The victory in the ATP provides some sense of revenge for Federer, who has lost 14 of 22 matches played against Nadal. Rafael has also ended Roger’s long time dominance of the number one ranking in men’s tennis, and now holds the top position to Federer’s number two spot.

They have met three times in this season-ending tournament, with Federer winning all three. He dominated his service points on Sunday, only dropping 13 points in the entire match which was won in three sets by a score of 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. Nadal could only manage one break of server in the second set, and Federer appeared to frustrate the Spaniard by keeping the points short and staying on the offensive throughout the match.

A three-hour semifinal against Andy Murray the previous day may have contributed to Nadal’s loss, as he appeared to tire late in the match. To his credit, Nadal did not cite this as the reason for his loss and praised Federer for the way he played all week.

On the men’s side, bet on sports star, Rafael Nadal won his fifth French Open title with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Robin Soderling. Nadal claimed his seventh Grand Slam title and is now only one French Open title behind Bjorn Borg for the most won in men’s tennis history.

Nadal lost to Soderling last year and was able to turn around this year to recapture his dominance on the clay court.

While both the men’s and women’s finals were won in straight sets, neither were lacking in skill, excitement or defensive prowess.

Just a day after top seed Roger Federer was eliminated by Robin Soderling in the men’s quarterfinal of the French Open, the tennis community saw another early exit by a top seeded player. Number three Novak Djokovic was ousted by Austrian Jurgen Melzer in five sets, 6-3, 6-2, 2-6, 6-7(3), 4-6. Digging deep from a two set deficit, Melzer was able to rally in the third set, winning and giving him the confidence to challenge Djokovic for a spot in the semi-finals. The epic fourth set lasted an incredible 79 minutes. Melzer played quite well, hitting 68 winners in the set giving the French Open spectators some thrilling tennis.

Rafael Nadal from Spain moves into the semi-finals with a three set win over Nicolas Almagro, 7-6(2) 7-6(3) 6-4. The two Spaniards played a tight match with two sets ending in tie-breaks. Nadal, known by many as the Clay Court King, was able to successfully break Almagro in both tie breaks to give him the two set lead. Nadal was then able to break Almagro in the third set at 5-4 to move into the semi-finals

Other winners in today’s tennis matches were fourth seed Jelena Jankovic over unseeded Yaroslava Shevdova. Jankovic won in two sets, 7-5, 6-4. Sisters Serena and Venus Williams were able to rally from dropping an opening set to defeat Liezel Huber and A. Medina Garrigues in women’s doubles.

The French Open women’s semi-finals will have Stosur taking on Jankovic with Elena Dementieva playing Francesca Schiavone for spots in the women’s final. Men’s semi-finals action will include Nadal playing Melzer and Soderling versus Tomas Berdych, each vying for a coveted spot in the men’s French Open final.

Defending champion and number one seed Roger Federer cruised through his opening match by taking out Peter Luczak in three sets. Second seed Rafael Nadal also advanced in straight sets on his quest to a fifth Roland Garros title. Federer and Nadal are expected to keep on cruising, as their next opponents Falla and Zeballos don’t pose any threats.

Andy Murray and Andy Roddick have played the most dramatic tennis so far. After losing the first two sets, Murray defeated crowd favorite Richard Gasquet in a match that lasted over four hours. In the middle of the third set, it seemed that Murray was on his way to a straight set loss. However, Gasquet was visibly tired towards the end of the third set and Murray ultimately won the match due to better fitness.

Andy Roddick also had some trouble in his first round match against the Fin Jarkko Nieminen. After easily winning the first set, Roddick lost the next two sets. In the fourth set, Roddick was a few points away from elimination. However, Andy managed to pull out the fourth set in a tiebreak, and then comfortably won the fifth set 6-3.

On the women’s side, the only major upset was the elimination of last year’s finalist Dinara Safina by 39 year old Kimiko Date Krumm of Japan. Safina’s injured back, new coach, and the usual mental fragility was a formula for an ugly three set loss to one of the oldest players in WTA history. The Williams sisters and Justine Henin advanced through their first round matches comfortably in straight sets.

With her father coaching her, she began to play tennis when she was only five years old. She became the number one player in United States, in the 14-under girls divisions. She at 15, topped Margaret Court, the then top player in the world with a match score of 7-6, 7-6. As the young player ever on the Wightman Cup team, she was selected to represent the United States.

She won the 16-under girls division tennis national championship and was invited to play the US Open, at an age of 16. In straight sets against the then number 4 player in the world in a comeback, she impressively won her first match. She also defeated long time professional players. She faced tennis legend Billie Jean King in the semi finals of the same tournament and her Cinderella story came to a close.

In 1974, she became the champion of French Open and Wimbledon, going from runner up in the same tournaments in the previous year. These grand slam titles were the first of the amazing 18 Grand Slam Singles titles over the course of her career. She is also a four times winner of the WTA Championships between 1972 and 1977. In her professional singles career over the years, she amassed an amazing 1309 wins and 157 career titles. She had a 90% win percentage with a final singles record of 1309-146. She amazingly attained a number one world-wide ranking in 1975, in just three years of her professional career and was online sportsbook star too.

Evert had several options of romance, including public relationships with fellow athletes Jimmy Connors (never married, but dated in 1970s), John Lloyd (married in 1979), Andy Mill (married in 1988), and Greg Norman (married in 2008), throughout her life. Divorce, ended each of their marriage.

In 1989, her professional career ultimately ended and in 1995 she was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame.