I guess we're going to have to watch center count on TV!! ;-)

Not this year.

Are any of our readers attending this year's French Open?

Nice report, st. germain. Just watching tennis played on a clay court makes you realize how different it must be, so I can imagine being there in person is truly a treat. And yes, it looked like a perfect day for le tennis!

Yesterday was a beautiful day at Roland Garros, as is today. There is, as always, a lot that is new. The colors for the linesmen and women change every year, the colors for the towels and hats and the colors for the shirts all had pink and green pastels. The linesmen and women had red and white stripes. There were also many new players, who fared better than before, such as Nicole Vaidisova, who was very poised and obviously much more consistent than Vanessa Williams. It is amazing to see how many women have developed ground strokes as good as, or better than, the William's sisters. Justin Henin-Hardenne, a crowd favorite put on a good show too and her semi-final with Clisters should be the premier women's match. The men ran over their competition yesterday.

There is more security at Roland Garros, including a check on tickets when you leave to make sure no one can re-use your tickets, and more electronics. More large TV screens for watching other martches and a photo exhibit of Lartigue in the museum. The food is the same, mostly just edible. Finally, I noticed more eastern european visitors, or voices that sounded eastern european. Clearly a diverse group.

Being at the only major clay tournament is always a treat for me but I can see there is a big shift in the names with many favorite players like Agassi passing it by or recognizing this is one tournament they can't win. All the more credit for Federer and Nadel who make watching them a real pleasure.

The seedings are holding on the men's side, with just one quarter-final match to go - and Ljubicic would normally be a strong favourite against Benneteau - to have the top four seeds in the semis for the first time in ages.

But, Ljubicic had never reached the quarter-finals of a grand slam tournament until Australia this year, his biggest weapons don't have the same impact on clay (although with it warming up in Paris, they may become more of a factor), and Benneteau shouldn't have the same level of expectation in the match, which often relieves some pressure (look at how well Hartfield played Federer in the first two sets of their match) and will most likely have the French crowd behind him. Edited to say - I still expect Ljubicic to win this match.

Nalbandian is one of the only players capable of regularly pushing Federer, and their semi-final could be a classic or it could be really ugly. The two have already met twice this year, and have had one match of each type. And now that it's happened, I will admit this was the semi-final I had hoped for, but was afraid Nalbandian would crack before this point and didn't want to hope for too much.

We're all looking forward to the reports! St. Germain is on trial. If he writes about the matches well enough, I think it's only fitting that he is BP's correspondent next year!

I don't watch much of the women, but did see Sharapova-Safina yesterday, as well as Mauresmo's loss.

The French have at least one quarter-finalist, Benneteau, after Martin had to retire early in their match. I'd love to see Monfils there as well, and even knocking Nadal out for the semi-final spot.

Ljubicic has recently wrapped up his match, and will face Benneteau.

Overall, it's been a bad tournament for my favourites! Ferrer, Acasuso, Grosjean, all out earlier than I'd hoped. Gaudio managed a round or two longer than I had hoped, though, which is good for him.

Does anyone think there's any chance of someone other than Federer or Nadal in the final? Who do you expect in the semi-finals?

St. Germain - I'm looking forward to the reports; enjoy yourself!!

Thanks. I am looking forward to tomorrow.

Did anyone see the Sharapova match today? She was upset by Dinara Safina, a fellow Russian in an entertaining final set. Looks like the weather was perfect for it. St. germain, enjoy the semi-finals.

I will be there next week, during the semi-finals and post a report.

How I wish I were attending. But, I suspect a few of our readers are at the matches. Let's see if we can elicit their impressions!

Will anyone be attending? Sadly, I only have the TV coverage this year, but look forward to taking in as much of it as possible this way.

The French men have started with mixed results - Grosjean celebrating his birthday with a win, as well as Gasquet and Gicquel, with Llodra and Santoro losing (Santoro in a long five-set battle), and Monfils, Mathieu, Simon, Mahut, and the many wildcards still to come.

I don't follow the women, but do enjoy Mauresmo and would love to see her add this title to her Australian Open victory.