Toni Nadal calls French crowd 'stupid' after shock defeat‎

"The Parisian crowd is pretty stupid. The French resent the success of a Spaniard... To celebrate others' defeats seems like a bad philosophy."
~ Toni Nadal

Uncle Toni criticized the attitude of the French crowds, which cheered heavily for Robin Soderling instead of his nephew, Rafael Nadal the four-time defending champion at the French Open.

I guess the French people never like Spaniards since what... Napoleon Bonaparte's time?

I don't think I want to dig deep to trace the history to find out why.

Anyway, despite that comment, Uncle Toni still remain a nice guy.

Live Chat with Anna Kournikova on Tuesday (June 2, 2009)

Former Russian tennis world doubles no.1 Anna Kournikova will be hosting a live chat with her fans on June 2, 2009 on her official website.

Anna will be available to answer your questions on tennis, the WTA Tour, the French Open, her life, her recent travels overseas, her charity work, and any other questions you might have.

To participate, simply log on to www.kournikova.com from 3pm EST on Tuesday afternoon.

Please take note that a link will be posted on the homepage of the Kournikova.com website an hour before the event commences.

Alternatively, you can click the "Chat Live" link as a registered member of Anna's Official Community on SportsMates.com.

Thanks to Richie for this piece of info!

2009 French Open: Monday mourning cheer up

Let's put French Open disappointments aside and cheer up a bit.

Rafael Nadal finally decided to let his hair down and head for early vacation.

Roger Federer, the man to watch at Roland Garros... and I don't mean his hairy chest.

Fernando Verdasco should know that losing and that face aren't sexy.

Age is catching up with Andy Murray... according to the top players' standard, he should have at least a Grand Slam by now.

Nicolas Almagro shows he can spit better than any footballers.

The French Open should be made indoor. Go tell the Australians.

Portable milking machine for hardcore tennis moms.

For more photos go to menstennisforums.com under the thread "Funny Photos".

Rafael Nadal: It's not a tragedy

Many Rafael Nadal fans watched in horror as their tennis star defeated by Robin Soderling in the fourth round today.

Nadal’s unbeaten run at the French Open is finally over.

The four-time defending champion lost to Soderling 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-4, 7-6 (2), ending his record 31-match winning streak at Roland Garros.

In the post-match press conference, Nadal said, "He didn't surprise me, because I know how he play, how dangerous he can be."

"I didn't play my best tennis. I didn't attack in not one moment. I play very short, and I make him very easy to play at this level."

"So when one player [is] bad, must lose. That's what happened today. I have to accept with the same calm when I win than when I lose."

"This is not a tragedy, losing here in Paris. It had to happen one day, and this is an excellent season for me."

On the crowd rooting for Soderling: "It's a shame. I mean, this tournament is so important, such a beautiful tournament for me. Well, that's the way it is. Maybe at one stage they supported Soderling more than me, and that was a bit sad."

"But I wish when I'm back they can support me a bit more in key moments."

On who might win the tournament now: "I don't know. Davydenko or Verdasco is there. Del Potro I think is there. We will see. Federer is the favorite, in my opinion."

Here's the video of Nadal at the press conference. For the complete transcript, read it here.

As for Soderling, I'm not going to comment about his devilish crap here in my blog. And for god sake, I've removed his picture.

(Via tennis.com; Images by Reuters, Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images)