Noah: Abolish the Code of Conduct Rule

Do the tango: Argentines Coria, Nalbandian favorites
ITF World Champions dinner is an extravaganza

By Sandra Harwitt
Special to tennisreporters.net

Susan & Fred Mullane/Camerawork USA

The Three Argentines: Guillermo Coria, top, Gaston Gaudio, middle, and David Nalbandian.

FROM ROLAND GARROS – Go ahead and call Tim Henman the Argentine spoiler if you'd like. If it wasn't for the Briton's surprising run to Roland Garros semifinals with an amazingly easy three-set win over Juan Ignacio Chela in the quarterfinals, the semifinals would be an all-Argentine affair.

As Wednesday's men's quarterfinals got underway, Henman and the third-seeded Guillermo Coria had already secured their berths in the semifinals. It marks Henman's fifth Grand Slam semifinal showing in his career, but the other four shots at a major final came on his preferred grass surface at Wimbledon. As for Coria, his 7-5, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 quarterfinal win over former Roland Garros champion Carlos Moya ushered him to his first Grand Slam semifinal.

Barring a miracle taking place right here in Paris, the former Wimbledon finalist David Nalbandian and the unseeded Gaston Gaudio virtually assured Argentina that they will have their first French Open champion since Guillermo Vilas captured the 1997 title. In fact, if Coria, Nalbandian or Gaudio score the title, they will be the first Argentine man since Vilas, who won four Grand Slam trophies in his career, to capture a major.

"It's incredible for Argentina," Nalbandian said. "It's great for the person who's actually going to win the French Open. But we know that it's always difficult to play our fellow countrymen, that that changes the way we play our match."

The No. 44 ranked Gaudio quickly took control of the No. 12 seeded Lleyton Hewitt, a former No. 1, in the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win. It was easy to tell that rankings had little to do with this match – Gaudio was born to be knee deep in red clay and, while the Australian had reached the Roland Garros quarters in 2001, it is definitely not his preferred surface.

NALBANDIAN NABS FIRST SLAM SEMI
In the more anticipated match of the afternoon, it was a battle between three-time Roland Garros champion Gustavo Kuerten and former Australian Open finalist David Nalbandian. In the end, the pugnacious Nalbandian prevailed, taking advantage of his one match point of the day, when the serving Kuerten smacked a forehand long on the final point of the fourth-set tiebreak.

For Kuerten, who had three set points to push the proceedings into a decisive fifth set, the match left disturbing questions as to how long the popular Brazilian can remain in the game. He came into the match with his right hip – the hip he had arthroscopic surgery on in February 2002 – aching. And during the match he seemed to injure it even a bit more. While it is a credit to Kuerten that his will to play and succeed allowed him to play through the pain, it's hard not to assume that his days in the sport could be numbered.

"I had a rough time out there and I surprised myself with how I played here," said Kuerten, as he left the court that he so adores. "I really suffered but I tried my best. You know, despite any pain I have, I always want to play and fight until the death."

When asked whether there is a resolution to his hip problem, Kuerten assessed the situation honestly, saying, "For me, what can stop the pain is if I stop playing. But this, I don't want to happen. For sure, it will never be 100 percent that I have no pain. The difficult thing is every day going out there and seeing what I have to face and deal with this pain. For me, it's been very, very frustrating."

CORIA SHOULD MOVE TO FINAL
Those who possess a sense of realism with be figuring on seeing Coria and the No. 8 seeded Nalbandian duke it out in the final come Sunday afternoon. Of course, strange things are capable of happening, but at some point in time the expected should prevail and a Coria/Nalbandian showdown is what can be anticipated.

While many might believe that Coria has the edge, not only because of the slight ranking advantage, but that his game actually stands a bit taller on clay. Still, it would be foolish to assume he's got the title in his grasp. Instead, it would be wise to acknowledge that if we're talking determination – like I'd run down anyone who gets in my path – that type of focus is a specialty that belongs to Nalbandian. And Nalbandian certainly has the game as well to become the Argentine male successor to Guillermo Vilas.

As Nalbandian made sure to stress after his win over Kuerten, "I know you have to win at all costs."

FYI: Vilas, playing in the veteran's event here, was an enthusiastic spectator in the crowd on Wednesday.

ITF World Champions dinner is an extravaganza
It was the second Tuesday night at Roland Garros which means it was the traditional evening that the tennis world gathered for the elegant ITF World Champions dinner in Paris.

One of the more interesting moments of the dinner came just prior to the most superb of desserts (the chocolate bombe was to die for) in the presentation of the Philippe Chatrier Award to Yannick Noah. The always charismatic Noah received the ITF's highest individual honor for not only his exceptional career in tennis, which was punctuated by his '83 Roland Garros title which made him the first Frenchman since Marcel Bernard in 1946 to hoist the trophy, but for his outstanding charitable commitment to two charities he's founded – Les Enfants de la Terre providing temporary housing for children in need and Fete le Mur which provides free usage of sports facilities to youngsters from underprivileged homes.

The true Noah came through during the evening as he offered humorous moments as well as a critical analysis of the game in his acceptance speech.

Noah was quick to mention the great influence Arthur Ashe had on his career by immediately going to French Federation de Tennis President Philippe Chatrier when he discovered the talented youngster in the Cameroons - the result was that Noah was able to live out his dream of playing tennis by moving to Paris to train, eventually becoming a Grand Slam champion.

That said, he was swift in thanking a very important person in the crowd who helped define his career, a moment that left one and all chuckling. The person he spoke of was Mats Wilander and the acknowledgement was in reference to the Swede losing to him in that memorable '83 Roland Garros win. To add extra humor to the situation he also thanked Wilander for choosing to beat fellow Frenchman Henri Leconte in the final, leaving Noah as the only Frenchman to lay claim to the Roland Garros title in recent times. As Noah clearly stated, "Mats, I think you made the right decision as to who to lose to and who to win against in those French Open finals."

Fred Mullane/Camerawork USA

Yannick Noah and ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti.

The never bashful Noah gave little regard to being politically correct on the occasion and addressed the subject of today's players not being considered as entertaining as the player's of his time. According to Noah, this is a misinformed opinion to have and he suggested in his speech that the problem stems from the stringent code of conduct, which prevents players from letting their personalities shine through because they're always worried about receiving a fine for overstepping the bounds. His solution was to abandon the code of conduct and infuse the game with the personality that's out there. Noah's perceptions did not seem to horrify the assembled audience as he did receive a standing ovation at the end of his acceptance speech.

The two other main recipients of the evening – Andy Roddick and Justine Henin-Hardenne as the '03 singles world champions - proved to be no-shows. Having lost early on at this year's RG – both Roddick and Henin-Hardenne fell in the second round – they headed home to practice for Wimbledon. Both sent taped acceptance messages, with Henin-Hardenne making mention that the day of the dinner was her 22nd birthday.

Other winners were Bob and Mike Bryan as the men's doubles honorees; Virginia Ruano- Pascual and Paola Suarez (having reached the women's semifinals early in the day, Suarez didn't make the scene) took home the women's doubles award; Marcos Bahdatis became the first person from Cyprus to be honored by the ITF as the boys' singles champion, Belgian Kirsten Flipkens won the girls' singles category, boys' doubles went to American Scott Oudsema, and girls' doubles to Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic. In the wheelchair tennis category, the ITF had repeat winners in David Hall from Australia and Esther Vergeer of the Netherlands.

Seen among the crowd was a host of former players: Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Martina Hingis, Leconte, Guy Forget, Ion Tiriac, Fred Stolle and Paul McNamee.