In The Baguette

Draws are out, Roger is happy, and Tatashvili may make history by being Serena's second first-round conquerer or by being blown off the court in the shortest match in history (I predict the latter)! Here are my picks for what will, yet probably won't, happen:

1. Serena Williams wins the French Open with Olympics 2012-style domination of the field. She is primed and ready to exorcise all demons from last year and should be a lock to accomplish her goal of winning a match at Roland Garros, plus an additional six more.

2. Novak Djokovic defeats Rafael Nadal in the semifinals in five grueling sets and goes on to complete his Career Slam with a win over Tomas Berdych in the finals. Nole has confidence in beating Nadal on clay once again and two surprise losses in Madrid and Rome won't break his focus for the most important tournament on his calendar this year.

3. Sloane Stephens repeats her fourth-round result. I know she is STRUGGLIN' right now, but I believe in her game and her draw is very manageable.

4. Benoit Paire pushes Nadal to his second ever five-set match at Roland Garros. Benoit is much like Gulbis with his power game. The French crowd will be behind him and should give him the push he needs to...not completely flop.

5. Stanislas Wawrinka is upset by Jerzy Janowicz in the third round. I see the stars aligning and Jerzy's game coming together to give one of the young guns a second-week breakthrough. This will be an especially impressive win given Stan's form this month.

Now that I look at it, these predictions aren't exactly groundbreaking. Oh well. I'm already anticipating an awesome third round. NADAL VS. ROSOL II.

Who do you have taking home the titles? Who do you have breaking through? Leave a comment and let me know! Enjoy Roland Garros, y'all!

Horsin' Around

Boooooriiiiiiing. Even they look bored by their own victories.

Here I was thinking we would have an exciting weekend of tennis full of surprise titlists, but we were thwarted by the usual suspects.

Serena winning the WTA Premier in Brisbane. Andy, Aga, Li Na, Tipsy, Gasquet winning the smaller events in their respective tours. I thought Dimitrov had a real shot against an out-of-form Murray, but it wasn't meant to be. There was one small upset with Spain winning the Hopman Cup over Serbia! One out of seven ain't bad...

This week am hopeful...nay, EXPECTING a dark horse to triumph! The fields the week before the commencement of a Slam are much more manageable for second-tier players, and those preceding the Australian Open this year continue that trend (except WTA Sydney, which is somehow a Premier event, but that's a complaint for another paragraph...).

I will take advantage of one of the four weeks out of the year when you can make what would normally be a dark horse pick and have a decent chance of being right! 

Sloane Stephens is obviously my choice for the Hobart title. She's going in with a lot of momentum and confidence. Benoit Paire is a good pick for Auckland. He's talented and is coming off a doubles title in Chennai. Dare I believe in Bernie Tomic once again? His road to redemption has been very encouraging in this early part of the season going 3-0 in his singles matches in Perth, including a huge win against Novak Djokovic. Hopefully he can keep his focus for an entire week to bag the ATP Sydney title.

I would pick a second-tier player for the WTA Sydney tourney, but the first SEVEN SEEDS are in the Top 10. Picking a dark horse would be silly.

Seriously, WTA, what is with the Premier events a week before Slams?? This happens at New Haven, too. Encourage these girls to focus on the real prize instead of a relatively unimportant tournament. Notice how out of those seven Top 10-ers, NONE are in the Big Three. Tells you what's on the minds of the 2012 Grand Slam winners. That's right, a GRAND SLAM. </rant>

Who wants to challenge these picks? Anyone think an even darker horse will raise a trophy? Anyone brave enough to go chalk (a risky pick in itself considering the abundance of dangerous floaters)? Leave a comment to make a bold selection or bash the WTA schedulers.