Children’s day at Roland Garros – recap
Arnaud Clément vs Edouard Roger-Vasselin:
A pretty boring match between the two French players. Clément wins 6-3.
Michael Llodra vs Mardy Fish:
Next, a really entertaining set between hard courts specialists Michael Llodra and Mardy Fish, with spectacular serve and volley play by Llodra.
Nice gesture by Michael who gives his shirt to a young fan.
After that, a match between Marion Bartoli (2007 Wimbledon runner-up) and Julie Coin. I must have slept because I don’t remember anything of this match and I didn’t even take any photo…
Laurent Recouderc vs Gael Monfils:
A very nervous Recouderc against showman Gael Monfils, who throws ball in the crowd and let a ball boy play. 6-2 for Gael, semifinalist at Roland Garros in 2008.
Gianni Mina vs Teimuraz Gabashvili
First Grand Slam tournament for Mina, who was runner-up in the junior tournament in 2009 (lost to Daniel Berta).
Boetsch-Forget vs Bahrami-Grosjean
A spectacular doubles match with Arnaud Boetsch (former number 12, now tennis commentator for France Télévisions), Guy Forget (former world number 4), Sébastien Grosjean and the fantastic Mansour Bahrami.
It was Sébastien Grosjean last tournament (he takes part to the mens doubles competition with Richard Gasquet).
Grosjean won one Masters Series title (Paris Bercy in 2001) and reached 4 Grand Slam semifinals (Australian Open and French Open in 2001, Wimbledon in 2003 and 2004). He had his best at the 2001 Australian Open against his friend Arnaud Clément. Grosjean led two sets to love and had a match point in the fourth set before Clément prevailed. This is still considered one of the worst ‘choke’ in five-set history.
But of course, the real star of this match was tennis greatest entertainer Mansour Bahrami.
And the last match: Bob Sinclar vs Martin Solveig. You can watch here Martin Solveig’s Smash video.
Overall, I was disappointed by the schedule of play: no Nadal, no Federer, no big stars. But a great ambiance and a good surprise with the match between Bob Sinclar and Martin Solveig (even if this “match” was really boring).
Nadal is not on the court, but at least he’s on the scoreboard:
The complete results:
More French Open photos here.