This week's "Champs & Chumps" takes on a different spin as we take an early look at this year?s French Open. We examine the four top-ranked players on each tour and the reasons why, and perhaps more fascinating, why they will NOT win this year?s clay court Slam.
Lleyton Hewitt
Champ: With nearly a 2000 point lead over his nearest competition in the entry-system rankings, the world?s #1 men?s player has proven that he can play on all surfaces (or at least stay relatively injury-free). His feisty play and attitude can never be ruled out.
Chump: Despite some decent results on clay in the past (last year reaching the quarters of the French and semis in Hamburg), Hewitt?s only clay court title came in 1999 in a smaller tournament in Delray Beach. Two early round Tennis Masters Series losses to the former French Open champ, Carlos Moya, and a straight set SF loss to Gaston Gaudio in Barcelona put up flags that Hewitt may not get far into the second week of Roland Garros.
Gustavo Kuerten
Champ: Not considering Guga as a favorite at Roland Garros is nearly unheard of. The latest ?King of Clay? has show some signs of life upon return to the circuit after hip surgery.
Chump: But are those signs of life good enough to win Guga a fourth French title? Kuerten seems happy just to be back on the courts again, but losses on clay to Callieri, Gaudio, and Montanes (along with a tough three-set match win over fellow hip-challenged Magnus Norman) all point to a probable early exit for Kuerten.
Juan Carlos Ferrero
Champ: The Spaniard has yet to take away the ?King? title away from Kuerten despite an impressive 34-5 record on the dirt last year. With his second career TMS title in Monte Carlo this year, Ferrero quickly appeared to be the prohibitive favorite for the French.
Chump: Since Monte Carlo, Ferrero has lost to Albert Martin and Ivan Ljubicic in his next two events. After the loss to Ljubicic at the TMS-Rome, Ferrero accused tournament officials about unfair treatment towards Spanish players. He also noted that his early loss had no effect on upcoming events in Hamburg and Roland Garros ? but all this talk seems to suggest that Ferrero may be mentally fragile and feeling the pressure of being a Slam favorite for the first time in his career.
Yvgeny Kafelnikov
Champ: The Russian captured his first Grand Slam at Roland Garros in 1996 and has reached the quarterfinals the last two years.
Chump: After saying Pete Sampras should throw in the towel on his
tennis career, Kafelnikov has not shown any evidence that he should
not do the same. One of the workhorses of the ATP Tour, the Russian
has yet to walk off the clay courts this year with a victory. His
only clay court victory this year was when Franco Squillari retired
from a first round match this week in Rome. Other losses have come
at the hands of relative unknowns (Markus Hipfl and Stefano Galvani)
and over-the-hill veterans (Nicolas Kiefer and Wayne Ferreira).
Venus Williams
Champ: Similar to her ATP #1 counterpart Lleyton Hewitt, it is hard to rule Venus Williams out of any tournament no matter what the surface is. With Roland Garros going to 32 seeds for the first time this year, Williams is virtually assured of improving on her first round loss at the hands of Barbara Schett last year.
Chump: Venus has never made it beyond the final eight at Roland Garros and is perhaps the lone surface where her opponents feel they stand a chance against her. A loss in the finals of Hamburg to the recently returned Clijsters was yet another clue of her Achilles heel (which I do not think was injured that day).
Jennifer Capriati
Champ: Last year?s gutsy French Open championship win over Clijsters ranked right up there with her incredible repeat this year in Australia. Her well-documented comeback and recent results have shown that the American is a fighter.
Chump: Although plowing through the early rounds this week in Berlin,
Capriati has displayed some hiccups in the later rounds of her two
clay court event this year ? a tough three set win over Sandrine
Testud in the Berlin quarters and a straight set loss to Patty
Schnyder at the Family Circle Cup. Capriati also still will bear the
firestorm of her recent ousting from Fed Cup and the public dissing
she took from her fellow American players and tennis legend Billie
Jean King. King stated she felt Capriati was feeling high pressure
to stay on top of the rankings and defending her French title.
Kim Clijsters
Champ: Clijsters has seen little court time since recovering from an injury sustained in Miami in March. But a tournament title in Hamburg last week over the formidable Venus Williams showed the Belgian?s run to the French Open final last year was no fluke.
Chump: In the ?you?re only as good as your last result? school of thought, Clijsters followed her Hamburg title with a first round loss to Anna Smashnova in Berlin this week. So with a few tournaments still to go prior to the French, we will have to keep an eye on Clijsters to see which result was the fluke.
Martina Hingis
Champ: With her most notorious French Open final results (the surprising loss to Majoli in 1997 and the nuclear meltdown to Graf in 1999) slowly fading from memory it is doubtful there will much attention on the Swiss Miss. Hingis will be a serious underdog at this year?s French and that might be a good thing. Despite missing this one jewel in her Grand Slam collection, Roland Garros may now be her best chance against the ?big babes? of women?s tennis.
Chump: The above paragraph is not exactly a ringing endorsement for the former #1. Her only clay court loss this year came at the hands of Venus Williams last week in the Hamburg semifinals ? but it has been her sole appearance on the dirt this year. Hingis pulled out of Berlin this week citing an ankle injury.
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