NOTES ON A DRAW SHEET

Serena pleads for fan acceptance, recalls her Arantxa choke
Amelie is nobody's idiot; US women happily carry flag for fallen men

By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA

Russian teenager Maria Kirilenko almost knocked out past champion Serena Williams.

FROM ROLAND GARROS – It's been some time since two defending champs came into a Grand Slam as physically challenged as Juan Carlos Ferrero and Justine Henin-Hardenne were.

Henin-Hardenne looked positively sickly in her second round loss to Tatiana Garbin on Wednesday and Fererro looked like his sore ribs had gone 15 rounds with Lennox Lewis in his second round defeat to Igor Andreev. Credit them both with giving it for giving it go despite being about 50 percent. It's not easy to be wounded physically and consequently left wanting mentally.

Henin-Hardenne had little on the ball in her loss to Garbin. The vanquished little queen hasn't looked that impotent since she came here with the flu two years ago and sent dry heaving out of the tournament. She won her first match on guile. But, against Garbin, she couldn't think because she had nothing in the tank.

"I couldn't even count on anger, frustration, on the kind of thing that I use to play a match. I was feeling a bit empty. That's very frustrating," Henin-Hardenne said. The much-ballyhooed training magic of Pat Etcheberry and her alleged "wonderful team" of doctors better think of something fast before Wimbledon.

Amelie is nobody's idiot
Of course, with Henin-Hardenne's loss, Amelie Mauresmo draw opened up like a Parisian café when a crowd of British hoodlums charge in. "I'd have to be an idiot not to notice," the always-honest Frenchwoman said. Notice Lindsay Davenport licking her chops in the quarters.

Speaking of idiots, how about those fans at Suzanne Lenglen who have nothing better to do than to boo Serena Williams just because she doesn't fit into their idea of a cutesy champion. Of course Serena can be confrontational and cocky at times, but she is the '02 champion, has produced some delightful tennis here over the past six years and is really trying to make up for last year's meltdown against Justine.

After a very shaky 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 win over kewpie doll Maria Kirilenko in the second round on Thursday, Serena stood on court for a good 30 seconds smiled and waved while at last half the crowd booed her. (The other half did cheer.)

And why were they booing? Because she didn't lose. Some fine reasoning there. Frankly, it's the fans who are being extremely unsportmanlike. It's okay to be tough, but it's not okay to hate or despise without good reason. Sorry, the Henin-Hardenne incident wasn't severe enough to penalize a great fighter like Serena match after match. If she implodes again, boo. If not, cheer for your favorite, but not against her. The statues of the Four Musketeers were seen weeping in shame.

REMEMBERING the CHOKE
Speaking of shame, Serena shamed herself after a conservative and nervous performance where a girl who weighs a good 40 pounds less than she does dictated to her. Yes, Kirilenko is a fine ball striker and very good tactician for her age, but Serena looked like she hadn't been on court in months. In fact, when she was down 4-2 in the second set, USA Today and tennisreporters.net's Doug Robson and I were discussing Serena's debut here in 1998, when she horribly choked against Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and left the court balling after 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 loss where she was two points from the match twice. Williams served for the match at 5-3 in the second set, but committed four unforced errors to lose the game, all of them on shaky ground strokes. "It was inexperience. I'm only 16," Williams said at the time. "I didn't take the opportunities I had. I pushed too many balls I should have attacked."

Williams committed an amazing 68 unforced errors in the poorly played match, 35 of them coming in the second set. She was so upset by the defeat that she said she "couldn't remember" what transpired in the second set.

Serena's current memories of the gag: "I told myself, 'If I'm ever in the position again, I'm serving and volleying.' I'll never forget. I hit a big serve up the tee, she lobbed it back. I said, 'Run to net' and I didn't go. And I lost. I should have won that match and she went on to win the tournament. So now when I'm in a fix, I always try to go to net."

Maybe that theory served her in her six Slam runs, but she didn't employ it against Kirilenko, who largely choked herself. Serena was actually pushing late in the third set.

"I just had a bad day. I couldn't keep a ball in," Serena said. "It was one of those days. When I practiced I felt a little weird. I was just spraying balls. I made a thousand mistakes. I'm going to be out of the practice court all day tomorrow. I'm terribly disappointed."

Serena's next match is against the creaky veteran Silvia Talaja, whose smart and will give her a lot of junk – just like Arantxa "Moonball" once did.

VENUS PLAYED SLOPPY
Venus didn't' look that great either in her 6-3, 6-3 win over lefty Jelena Kostanic, but knew that the Croat would fall out of the zone and adeptly moved the ball around. But if Venus doesn't increase her foot speed and gain a little more confidence tomorrow in practice, there's going to be hell to pay against Mary Pierce in the third round.

"It's been a while," Pierce said of Venus. "She's one of the best players in the world, but I feel quite well."

Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA

Capriati takes out Kveta Peschke in straight sets.