FRENCH OPEN DAY 1: The brick orange clay, the renewed fire (and fear) in the players’ eyes, new drinking games based on Brad Gilbert-isms – what’s not to love about a Sunday start at Roland Garros?

Here are some random musings from the debut day on Paris clay:

1.  Sad face: 2004 champ Gaston Gaudio lost to Radek Stepanek. There goes my dream Gaudio/Nadal semi!

2. Sadder face: Amelie Mauremo was bounced out in straights against German Anna-Lena Groenefeld. But don’t worry, Amelie fans, she’s still hopeful for Wimbledon (via L’Equipe):

“It’s not terrible. It should not be exaggerated, there are things much worse. This is not pleasant. Simple as that. . . . Life goes on, the circuit continues and we will digest it quietly with a few days of rest. Then I’ll go to conditions that I like more.”

3. Ana Ivanovic beat Sara Errani in straight sets: 7-6 (3), 6-3 but the match could have been a three set scrapper for all the confidence it inspired. Her forehand’s working but her ball toss weaves and bobs like a drunk at a wedding reception.

4. When the World No. 3 beats someone ranked 180 places below him, does the win really qualify as a “tour de force“? The Times, U.K. thinks so.

5. Then what do you call it when a scrappy American like Wayne Odesnik (#87) takes a top-ranked Frenchman like Gilles Simon (#7) to a fifth set on Court Philippe Chatrier? A “tour de balls“?

6. Happy face: Darren Cahill is convinced that Marat Safin won’t retire in 2009. Super Coach said on ESPN today that he thinks Marat is working way too hard off-court to be seriously considering leaving the sport.

7. Speaking of Darren Cahill, how is he going to man both the ESPN booth and the players’ box during the same tournament? His charge, Fernando Verdasco, will be keeping him busy. The Spaniard beat Florent Serra today in straights.

8. Fernando Verdasco is hot:

9. Roger Federer’s hotter:

10. Ivan Ljubicic answers the ultimate tennis-geek question, “who is the best chair umpire?”: “Mohamed Lahyani. You either love him or you hate him.”

Put me in the love column! And be sure to check out more from the discerning Ljuby on the RG website (click here).

11. Rafael Nadal is blogging again at the Times U.K. (click here). His first Roland Garros post promises. . .not very much:

“I hope what I say is not taken too serious or too not serious. I am someone who doesn’t go too deep to talk about things openly. I can be very open with my team, with my family these weeks, but kind of reserved with the rest of the World.”

Here’s Rafa vs. the rest of the World:

12. Gael Monfils is fit to play the French Open, says his coach Roger Rasheed. As if we needed confirmation after seeing this photo from Saturday’s exhibition event:

13. Advantage, Tennis Channel! I can’t get it in HD, and I’m not a huge fan of its second tier commentators, but TC scores big with Martina Navratilova and John McEnroe. Also, love that the channel shows the action live and unabridged (ESPN comes on later and about half its broadcast is on tape.)

14: Speaking of watching tennis, here’s what’s on for Day 2: Safina, Nadal and Federer (in that order) in the main stadium and Venus Williams and Andy Roddick on Lenglen. Sharapova will play her first rounder in the Bullring. Interesting Day 2 matches include: Safarova vs. Lisicki, Bolelli vs. Berdych, Cibulkova vs. A. Bondarenko.

15. The full Day 1 results: Sunday, May 24, 2009

ATP – Singles – First Round
Andrey Golubev (KAZ)def Denis Gremelmayr (GER) 6-3 6-3 6-2
Mathieu Montcourt (FRA)def Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)6-2 Ret.
Dudi Sela (ISR)def Jean-Rene Lisnard (MON) 6-4 6-3 4-6 6-3
Marat Safin (RUS)[20]def Alexandre Sidorenko (FRA) 6-4 6-4 6-4
Fernando Verdasco (ESP)[8] def Florent Serra (FRA) 6-2 6-1 6-4
Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) def Ivo Karlovic (CRO)[26] 6-7(1) 6-7(4) 7-6(4) 6-4 6-3
Nicolas Almagro (ESP)[31] def Agustin Calleri (ARG)6-4 6-1 6-3
Marin Cilic (CRO)[13] def Jan Hernych (CZE)6-0 6-4 6-3
Josselin Ouanna (FRA) def Marcel Granollers (ESP) 7-5 2-6 3-6 7-6(2) 6-1
Gilles Simon (FRA)[7] def Wayne Odesnik (USA) 3-6 7-5 6-2 4-6 6-3
Andy Murray (GBR)[3] def Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG) 6-2 6-2 6-1
Radek  Stepanek (CZE)[18] def Gaston Gaudio (ARG) 6-3 6-4 6-1
David Ferrer (ESP)[14] def Frederico Gil (POR) 6-2 6-4 6-4
Robert Kendrick (USA) def Daniel Brands (GER) 6-7(7) 7-5 7-6(11) 4-6 6-3
Philipp Petzschner (GER) def Peter Polansky (CAN) 5-7 6-2 7-6(4) 4-6 6-3

WTA – Singles – First Round
(8) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) d. Sara Errani (ITA) 76(3) 63
(9) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. Roberta Vinci (ITA) 64 62
(11) Nadia Petrova (RUS) d. (WC) Lauren Embree (USA) 61 62
Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER) d. (16) Amelie Mauresmo (FRA) 64 63
(Q) Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) d. (19) Kaia Kanepi (EST) 76(2) 36 62
(25) Li Na (CHN) d. Marta Domachowska (POL) 64 62
(27) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) d. Ioana Raluca Olaru (ROU) 63 62
(32) Iveta Benesova (CZE) d. Julia Goerges (GER) 75 41 ret. (heat illness)
Gisela Dulko (ARG) d. Tamira Paszek (AUT) 61 63
Elena Vesnina (RUS) d. Severine Bremond Beltrame (FRA) 63 63
Julie Coin (FRA) d. Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP) 75 62
Kristina Barrois (GER) d. Maria Emilia Salerni (ARG) 36 61 62
Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) d. Varvara Lepchenko (USA) 63 63
Timea Bacsinszky (SUI) d. (WC) Emilie Loit (FRA) 46 64 61
(Q) Arantxa Rus (NED) d. (WC) Olivia Sanchez (FRA) 61 61
(Q) Vitalia Diatchenko (RUS) d. Mathilde Johansson (FRA) 26 62 108

Amelie photo by REUTERS/Bogdan Cristel (FRANCE SPORT TENNIS IMAGES OF THE DAY) via Daylife

Fernando “hot sauce” Verdasco by AP Photo/Laurent Baheux via Daylife

Roger “hot man” Federer photo by REUTERS/Benoit Tessier (FRANCE SPORT TENNIS) via Daylife

Rafa vs. World photo by AP Photo/Laurent Rebours via Daylife

Results via Great Tennis Photos.

Monfils tests his knee photo by CYRIL CADET/AFP/Getty Images via Yahoo! Sports

Argentine clay-courter, Roland Garros finalist and one-time World No. 3, Guillermo Coria, announced his retirement on Monday, CBS Sports reports. Here’s the scoop (click here for more):

“I didn’t feel like competing anymore,” Coria said in statements published on the Argentine Tennis Association’s website. “I’ve made the decision I will not play again.”

Coria won nine titles during his career, reaching his peak in 2004, when he lost in the final of Roland Garros to Gaston Gaudio, catapulting him to third in the world rankings.

Coria’s decline began a year later after he won the Umag tournament — his last title.

“In 2005 I began to feel less and less like competing,” he said. “My passion just wasn’t the same and it’s impossible to do things well when it’s like that. In this sport, you have to be at 100 percent,” added Coria, who is currently ranked 672.

Argentine super-blog, Fue Buena, has an interesting post (click here – in Spanish), describing how Coria stunned everyone by announcing his retirement plans on the radio, after the surprised interviewer asked him how he was planning to pull himself out of the tennis doldrums. Guess this is one way to do it.

I wasn’t a close follower of the Argentine, though I will always remember the 2004 Roland Garros final he choked away against the ultimate one-slam wonder and fellow Argie, Gaston Gaudio. This match doomed both of these fine players: Gaudio is now ranked 762 – exactly 100 ranking points behind Coria. (Just look at the above photo  from the final – why is Vilas the only guy smiling?)

On the upside, Gaudio did win his first ATP level match in almost two years last week, in the first round of Barcelona (he went out to Tommy Robredo in his next match.) And he’s seeking wild cards into various tournaments, including Roland Garros. When asked, recently, about his future plans, Gaudio said: “Tennis is bad business for me, but being away from it is even worse.” (via Tennis-x)

This isn’t the case for Coria.

One of Coria’s most celebrated matches (and losses) took place at the 2005 Rome Masters, where he extended Rafael Nadal to 5 sets and over 5 hours on court. Here are some of the highlights:

Coria’s only 27-years-old – it’s crazy to think how quickly things can slip away in tennis. It’s too bad he never could be  Rafael Nadal’s great clay court rival.

In other bad business for Argentine tennis – the AP reports that David Nalbandian may require hip surgery, leaving him in question for much of the rest of the season, including July’s Davis Cup tie against the Czech Republic

I guess it’s up to my favorite Argentine player, Juan Monaco, to finally fulfill his potential, and fill in the holes in his country’s tennis line-up!

Photo of Argentina’s crossed stars: AP Photo/Christophe Ena via ESPN