French Open Tennis Tournament

There was Rafael Nadal on Sunday after a shockingly disappointing upset loss to Robin Soderling at the French Open answering questions in two languages and manfully owning his disappointment and emotions. There wasn't LeBron James on Saturday night after his Cleveland Cavaliers exited the NBA playoffs being reminded that having the best regular-season record means, well, not so much after the playoffs start. There wasn't any James at the postgame media podium.

In the savage and deeply weird world of tennis, people make "comebacks" at ages when many humans haven't even thought about finding a direction in life. This French Open already specializes in such, so on Monday the hot air of Roland Garros rang with that familiar old refrain of "Come on!" with which Maria Sharapova always implored herself until she went missing after last year's Wimbledon.

PARIS -- When a Grand Slam loses both its Williamses in a single day before the first Saturday of the French Open even dawns, well, you know you've just lived through one freaky Friday. You know because you've seen Serena Williams at high noon in the high-tension portion of the second set, ready to smash an overhead so hard the ball might disintegrate, only to smash it into the net.

PARIS -- In the most riveting, stirring match of the tournament, the 2008 French Open on Monday might have connected us to another fine psychodrama of sibling tennis prominence. Sure, the wildly accomplished Williams sisters departed Roland Garros last Friday, but on Monday a decorated but mercurial male tennis player sent a text message to his gifted but mercurial sister reading, "Well done. Good play." Marat Safin, the Russian winner of the 2000 U.S.

PARIS -- Every so often, tennis conducts an unofficial Serbia day, a day of Serbian ubiquity, Serbian excellence, Serbian panache, maybe even a few Serbian flags in the crowd. The French Open had a Serbia day Tuesday, and it wound up promising two juicy semifinals that will be -- as if it weren't obvious -- Serbia-heavy. "It's getting better and better," Novak Djokovic said. "At least we have one Serbian for sure in the final," Ana Ivanovic said.

PARIS -- Eagerness for Federer-Nadal finals so pervaded the 2006 and 2007 French Opens that the other 126 male players seemed uncouth trespassers who needed to get out of here and stop trying to gum up the daydream. Well, the chatter has changed a little this year, as anticipation bloats at Roland Garros for a daydream semifinal coming Friday, thanks to a 21-year-old Serbian with an airtight game and a self-certain air.

PARIS -- A gathering of tennis spectators felt sorry for Roger Federer on Sunday, a downright weird sensation believed to be a global first. Every so often they tried to urge him on as if he were some hopeless, helpless, hapless straggler who had leaked into the draw from the qualifying, as they watched his ingenious game shrink to unrecognizable rubble opposite a Spanish Godzilla.

A multiyear agreement between the Tennis Channel and DirecTV will allow subscribers of the satellite service to watch matches during the upcoming French Open on six channels. The agreement, to be announced today, also calls for DirecTV to begin carrying the Tennis Channel on a permanent basis later this summer. "This is the day tennis fans have been waiting for," said Ken Solomon, chairman and chief executive of the Tennis Channel. The French Open begins May 27.

Long the weirdo of the men's tennis majors, the French Open has become a veritable homecoming king. It's the new global leader in intrigue and pertinence. Its three brethren -- the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open -- have become those tournaments Roger Federer always wins, and while only a devoted prude could yawn watching Federer play tennis, only the French Open retains the peerless mystery of an ongoing Federer climb.

So very long ago, when the Lakers took a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals, Venus and Serena Williams played a French Open final the next day. Both players won. Serena won by 7-5, 6-3, after trailing, 5-3. Venus won by grabbing a camera, joining the photographers' corps and snapping pictures of Serena with her trophy. Serena and Venus won with that unmistakable residue of good parenting plus their first assumption of the top two spots in the world rankings.