TENNIS FRENCH OPEN:ROGER FEDERER easily shot down Feliciano Lopez in the French Open first round yesterday before turning his guns on organisers for failing to give players adequate time to get used to this year's Roland Garros balls.
All the talk in the run-up to the year’s second Grand Slam had been about how Novak Djokovic could take Rafa Nadal’s title but third seed Federer showed he still has a part to play on the Parisian clay with a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 victory.
The thronging crowd was treated to the usual array of classy shots from the Swiss but he received an awful low bounce at a key point in the final set to show the idiosyncrasies of the surface.
“I’m hearing a lot of conversations about the balls, it’s just that they’re not the same from what we’ve just played for the last month,” an increasingly moody Federer said.
“That for us is the most frustrating part . . . the tournaments all changed to the Roland Garros ball after last year. Roland Garros has changed their balls again. Now we’re stuck with a different deal for all the different ATP Tour events.”
World number four Andy Murray has echoed Federer’s view that it is better to use the same balls throughout the clay season.
Federer, the 2009 winner in Paris, achieved a break in each of the first two sets to race ahead before triumphing in the tiebreak thanks to Lopez netting on his own serve and double-faulting.
The Spaniard almost beat Federer for the first time in Madrid this month but never really threatened on centre court.
Federer, who sealed victory with an effortless ace, next meets little known Frenchman Maxime Teixeira.
Djokovic extended his unbeaten run since the start of the season to 38 straight matches with a win over Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands. Djokovic won 6-2, 6-1, 6-3, to move to the second round, and closer to John McEnroe’s 1984 record of 42 straight victories to start a season.
The Serb has won seven titles this season and is trying to be the first man to take the French and Australian titles back-to-back since American Jim Courier in 1992.
The 24-year-old Djokovic will take the ATP World Tour’s top spot from Rafael Nadal if he reaches the final at Roland Garros. He has beaten Nadal in two clay court tournaments leading up to Paris.
Wimbledon finalist Tomaas Berdych was knocked out by French qualifier Stephane Robert, 3-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, 9-7. The Czech was seeded sixth in Paris.
Juan Martin del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion, defeated Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic 6-7 (7-9), 6-3, 7-5, 6-4. Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny the 12th seed defeated Japan’s Go Soeda 7-5, 6-2, 6-4.
