With the recently released draw for the 2011 French Open, speculation should be running high on who is going to do what this year. One of our staff writers gets in on the talk.
There are only three former champions in the 2011 Roland Garros draw and they are Ana Ivanovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Francesca Schiavone. Not one of those three women appear to be on good enough form heading into the French Open to threaten for the title again this season.
With Serena Williams not participating in the tournament and with Justine Henin recently retired, you have to wonder if the 2011 French Open will produce a first time champion this season.
If the following predictions to make the quarterfinals held up, then the French Open would definitely have a first time winner in 2011 as there is not one former French Open champion listed below.
2011 French Open Quarterfinal Predictions - Quarterfinals
(1) Caroline Wozniacki vs (17) Julia Goerges
(14) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs (29) Shuai Peng
(9) Petra Kvitova vs (4) Victoria Azarenka
(7) Maria Sharapova vs (2) Kim Clijsters
Goerges, Pavlyuchenkova, and Peng are probably the players that would strike most as controversial picks as their seedings are low for the quarterfinal round. However Goerges has had a great clay court season that saw her beat Wozniacki twice, including once for a tournament title, while Shuai Peng is enjoying great success in Brussels at the moment as she prepares for Saturday's final there on clay.
Pavlyuchenkova is a player who is constantly moving up in the rankings as the current Teen Queen nears her 20th birthday. She's more like a top 10 player right now and with a good performance at Roland Garros that is where she should find herself when the rankings update in June.
Wozniacki made the quarters last season in Paris and while it's hard for me to picture her winning the title, making the round of eight again does not seem like a stretcher. She has an easy draw through the early rounds that she should conquer with little drama as she is not losing to weak players at this point in her career.
Kvitova is a very dangerous player as the Czech star won in Madrid a couple weeks ago. She beat Azarenka in that tournament's final, another player who isn't losing too many matches right now to weak competition.
Clijsters is a bit of a question mark however it would be hard to leave her off a quarterfinal list as she's won the last two Grand Slams played and she's been to the Roland Garros final twice before.
Sharapova is also tough to leave off the list as she made the quarters two years ago fresh off of injury and this year she enters on the footsteps of a title from Rome.
There promise to be upsets and surprises as there are in seemingly all Grand Slam tournaments. But the eight players listed above are the ones who threaten to do the most damage in my view and it all suggests a first time champion in Paris.
