Opening day whets the appetite

On a beautiful first day at Roland Garros, the setting, the clothing and, of course, the tennis left an impression on our correspondent. Here's hoping for a little more colour at Monday's press conferences though.

Reuters

Roland Garros is unusual among the Grand Slams in choosing to start on a Sunday – the reasoning being I suppose that it is an extra day of revenue.

But it was still a cracking day – glorious sunshine, thousands of happy punters milling around the grounds, gorging themselves on Peach Melba and sporting designer versions of "kiss-me-quick" hats.

The tennis wasn’t bad either.

The big guns of the men’s draw don’t get firing until Monday but Robin Soderling – beaten by Federer in last year’s final – made a solid start. The number five seed from Sweden eased his way into the second round with a 6-0 6-2 6-3 win over Laurent Recouderc.

Pity it was such a dull press conference – he was obviously catering for the eight-second soundbite.

Svetlana Kuznetsova’s was marginally more interesting, if only because she has a better grasp of soundbite time. Hers were at least 30 seconds – we like that in radio.

This is, in fact, my first time at Roland Garros and very impressive it is too – apart from the lift not working in the press centre. Four floors up with sundry bags of equipment is no fun on a warm day.

The view from the broadcast box overlooking the Suzanne Lenglen court is almost worth the climb. The red clay below makes the court a wonderfully dramatic stage. Chuck in the Moulin Rouge black number – complete with lace and red piping – of Venus Williams and there is a real feel of the theatre.

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02:31

Roland Garros: Day 1 Review

Barney Spender

The crowd had even more to enjoy given the fine efforts of the French players.

Aravane Rezai, no slouch in her slinky black and gold, confirmed her growing reputation with a rapid demolition of the statuesque Heidi El Tabakh, while Julien Benneteau was equally impressive in knocking off one of my tips for the tournament Ernests Gulbis.

The Latvian had a bee in his bonnet from the start and his mood wasn’t helped by losing the first set and straining a hamstring.

Two sets down, he lost his opening serve in the third whereupon he threw in the towel. Questions are raised again about this lad’s temperament.

The match of the day featured another Frenchman, Jo Wilfred Tsonga, the number eight seed, who was taken to five sets by Daniel Brands of Germany.

Tsonga looked a bit heavy around the court – the hospitality at Roland Garros does carry a reputation – and, after blowing one match point, he was quite fortunate to go into the second round.

Monday’s line-up sees Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic all entering the fray as well as Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki. Match of the day? Probably Murray’s meeting with the new Nice Open winner Richard Gasquet.