Go Robby!

I am SO pleased! Robby Ginepri has just become the first American male to make it into the second week at Roland Garros since Andre Agassi in 2003. It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Robby is one of those people that you always want to do well. He’s had his ups and lately his downs, but 6 weeks of intense training with taskmaster Jose Higueras seems to have helped him turn the corner. He’s raised his ranking from a career low of 171 in January to 93, and will certainly move up again after the French.

I’ve made it a point to go to all of his matches here, first round against up and coming American Donald Young, second 27^th seed, Igor Andreev, who took out Andy Roddick last year, and today Florent Serra of France.

The match was on Court One which is my favorite stadium, it’s smaller and more intimate than Court Philippe Chatrier or Suzanne Lenglen, the atmosphere in an important match is electric. Today the stands were at capacity with rowdy fans cheering the French player, but it didn’t seem to faze Ginepri who won in straight sets.

He’ll play the 30^th seed, Fernando Gonzalez next. Gonzo is a natural clay court player, having grown up in Chili, but I think Robby had a really good chance against him.

About the arm:”there's actually just the little piece of tape in between the two pieces. That's what kind of sets up the operation that's there. It's just for my triceps. I hurt it earlier this year in Vegas and actually had to take three or four weeks off” “But it's been feeling 100%, and we're just going to keep it going, I think. It's maybe a good luck charm now.”

About being the last American:” Last guy standing, it's a good feeling. I would definitely like to have a lot of the other Americans still in the tournament, of course, but really not trying to let that weigh on my shoulders as much. I know what I have to do, and I'm going to have to do it...

There is a wine tasting for the media this evening. Everyone love and looks forward to this annual event. Wines, cheese, sausage, and other delicacies are served in the media dining room and patio. It’s a great chance for a break, and a little socializing, which on day 7 we all need. I always make it a point to talk to someone that I’ve never met before. Tonight I met a young Japanese photographer who is just starting out on the tour. He tells me that he loves tennis and decided to specialize in shooting the Russian girls, so has learned to speak Russian to better communicate with them. Well, now I happen to know that a lot of Japanese men love tall blonds, so there may be more motive to the Russian language lessons that just photography, but he’s and interesting person, and I’m glad I met him.

Dinner tonight was at a small Brazilian restaurant with a group of Brazilian and French friends. The place is tiny so they closed the restaurant just for our group of about 16. The place is simple but charming and the food terrific. Conversation turned to American politics and I was impressed but not surprised at the level of knowledge these people had about our upcoming election. Europeans and even the Latin countries are much better informed on world events than American. I don’t want to sound like an American who bashes her own countrymen, but I’m willing to bet that the average U.S. citizen doesn’t even know who the President of France or Brazil is. (Nicolas Sarkozy for France, and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, for Brazil).

The consensus among this group of friends is that they would all hope to see Obama elected, but think the McCain will be the next President. They don’t think Americans will elect a black man. They feel that a public who would elect George Bush twice will go for the old conservative military man. One of the men has been to University in the U.S. and said that in his opinion, bigotry and racism was still strong in the States. Anti US sentiment has never been higher and they feel that the same policies will continue if McCain is elected. They also think Hillary Clinton’s claim to having more experience is ridiculous. They ask, “How does being first lady qualify you for President?” They were also appalled at her reference to the Kennedy assignation. I don’t mean to get political in this blog, but I think it’s interesting to hear viewpoint from people outside the US. People who work in the media and are well educated, people who travel the world as I do, people who have certainly had political problems in their own countries, people with a world view.

So with that thought I’ll close for tonight.