What do I know?
Andy Murray lost yesterday, within 24 hours of Federer's prediction that he wouldn't win the French Open. But I still think Federer's statement was ill-advised, and may yet come back to haunt him - perhaps at Wimbledon. Lately, Murray has been as successful against Federer as Nadal has been. And as loved as Federer is in England, you know the crowd will be pulling for the Brit.
So I'm happy to see him leave Paris, though the highlight yesterday - for all lovers of the underdog - was Dominika Cibulkova's upset victory over Maria Sharapova. It was a 6-0, 6-2 blow out, and as satisfying as the match was, the meeting at the net was even finer, as the 5'3" Slovak happily offered her hand to the 6'2" Russian. Dominika and Goliath. After acknowledging the crowd, she scurried to her towels, like someone who had watched countless other winners toss their belongings into the stands and couldn't wait to finally do it herself.
As a footnote, I first saw Cibulkova at the Sony Ericsson in Key Biscayne in 2008. It was an early round match on an outside court, and I sat in the small stands in front of her coach, who is also from Slovakia. Her father and his buddies - all shirtless as I recall - stood at the back and chanted, between points, "Dol-cia! Dol-cia! DO-mi-ni-ka!" At one point her opponent looked over at them and pleaded for mercy. The coach was not happy about it either. He seemed a very nice guy, and I was impressed that, while obviously focused on the play of his pupil, he graciously took time to talk to a stranger (me). I have been a Cibulkova fan ever since.
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