Day 3 at the French

Yet another tough day for the home favorite, French tennis players. Indeed, Gianna Mina and Jeramy Chardy, proved to be no match for the veteran pros Rafael Nadal and Lleyton Hewitt, who stormed into round 2 without dropping a set.

Now, to be fair Gianna Mina, really did play great tennis under the circumstances. He's 18 years old, making his first appearance, in a grand slam tournament and he was up against the 4 time champion, in the first round. Nobody expected him to win, nobody gave him a chance and even though this match wasn't close, Mina, played amazingly well considering how new he is to the pro-tour. It's obvious this guy, has huge potential, think of him as James Blake, Gael Monfils, and Nadal all rolled into one. I'm almost certain, after what I saw today, that he's got a future in the top 10, maybe even the top 5. His ground strokes were explosively powerful and he's extremely fast. I think in a couple of years, he'll have the game needed to beat Nadal at the French Open. That's how much potential, I see in this guy and I'm sticking to that statement.

Now let's talk about Nadal. His performance, was relatively clean but definitely not his best. It looks like he's lost some speed or perhaps his aurora of invincibility. He's still a phenomenal clay courter but he's got a lot of room to improve. Also, his winners to unforced errors ratio, was a little pedestrian. Especially by Nadal standards.

Next up was the Lleyton Hewitt/Jeramy Chardy match, which turned out to be good. Hewitt was in great form and Chardy's forehand was a mess. He hit 20 unforced errors, off that side alone and lost the match 7-5, 6-0, 7-5. Chardy's, one break against Hewitt, came late in the third and by this point it, the tables were turned, so strongly in Hewitt's favor that it didn't matter. Hewitt took this one, without too much grief.

Ordinarily, based on Hewitt's solid performance, I'd favor him to make a deep run in the draw. The only problem is that he's scheduled to meet Nadal, in the third round, so his run in this years French Open, will most likely be short lived.

Well, tomorrow, we'll see Roger back in action against Alejandro Falla. Should be exciting, I'll be back to give my thoughts on it. Till, then. Peace out.