Marine of Tennis Notebook has become a regular contributor to Women's Tennis Blog. Now she's making French Open predictions. Do you agree with her?

As we are nearing Roland Garros, tennis enthusiasts are starting to make first predictions about who has got what it takes to win the title. What is interesting about this debate is that there is some hesitation about who to pick as a favorite. The reason is quite simple: No.1 player in the world has won all kinds of tournaments … apart from a Grand Slam.

When Kim Clijsters became a No.1 in 2003, "a No.1 player without a slam" was a new phenomenon in WTA. Her accomplishment was a beginning of the debate which starts off regularly when someone happens to be (un)lucky enough to make it to the top spot "slamless".

The debate opened again with JJ achieving that, and has become pretty intense during the time when Dinara Safina became No.1. We all know what pressure of expectations and constant criticism did with Safina and even though things changed with the arrival of more self-assured Caroline Wozniacki, many people still frown at the No.1 without a Grand Slam crown.

The question "who is the best player in WTA" has become somewhat difficult to answer and therefore it nowadays produces mixed answers, although people tend to select the same couple of names.

So, who is the best player nowadays and who is the most likely to win Roland Garros 2011?

Here are my picks:

1. Caroline Wozniacki– Her performance has shown that she is a No.1 for a reason. Wozniacki goes far or all the way in most of the events she enters and even in Grand Slams rarely leaves before quarterfinals. Read more »

As suggested by our loyal reader, Gregoire, I have written a transcript of my recent interview with one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Chris Evert, who believes that the upcoming French Open has all the right circumstances for world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki to win her first Grand Slam.

Question: Last year the United States Tennis Association started the US Open National Playoffs to allow anyone 14 or older a chance to earn a spot in the US Open singles qualifying tournaments. How much of an advantage do you think it is in tennis to be from a country that gives you an opportunity to earn such a wildcard?

Chris Evert: This is what we’re focusing on tennis in America in this one instance, the USTA is trying to open up into the inclusive of all tennis players. If you are a good college player, and you’ve always had that dream of playing in the US Open, but you never could, you never qualified, now it’s an opportunity to get into a tournament, a playoff, that if you play well and you qualify, you get a wildcard into the main draw. So, the beauty of it is that there are 16 tournament playoffs throughout the country and everybody has a chance, you just have to be over 14 years old. That’s why I’m playing in it, because Mike Greenberg , who is with ESPN’s "Mike and Mike", said it was always a dream of his to play the US Open, and he was a college player, and he asked me "Would you play with me, would you be my partner?", I said "Sure, let’s go and have some fun", and at the same time give it a little publicity, for the USTA, so that’s why I’m doing it.

Question: How likely is Caroline Wozniacki to win her first Grand Slam at the French Open this year?

Chris Evert: I think it’s her best chance to win any Grand Slam so far, because every other Grand Slam you’ve had Serena or Venus on the fast courts, and you’ve had Kim Clijsters, who has been really playing well and won a couple of Grand Slams [note that Clijsters is unlikely to play Roland Garros this year, because of an injury sustained at a wedding]. This French Open I think Caroline will be favorite to win, probably her first Grand Slam ever. The heat is on, everybody’s talking about the fact that ok you’re great, you’re consistent, you hit the ball well, but you’re world number one and you’ve never won a Grand Slam. So, I’m sure she’s feeling the heat and the pressure. This is a great opportunity for her, because you’ve got a couple of injured top players and I don't think Kim Clijsters, I think she’s maybe not quite as patient on the clay, so I think this is her tournament, if she really wants it, if she can really stay healthy and not play too much until then.

Question: What do you think her potential victory will depend on?

Christ Evert: I think she’s played a lot of tennis so far. She’s played the Australian Open, and she’s played some other tournaments leading up to Indian Wells and Sony Ericsson, she won Charleston… She’s got to be fresh. She’s in shape, so I would say stay fresh mentally, just to focus for those two weeks, because she will be the favorite and she’s just got to stay focused. That’s the key. She’s already a tremendous athlete. Stay focused and fresh. (Wozniacki photo: © Neal Trousdale)

As Marine of Tennis Notebook promised, she's extended her list of emotional WTA players, based on your suggestions. You're welcome to leave a comment on her guest post.

After the great feedback on the article "Top 5 emotional players in womens tennis", with many of you providing some perfect tips on other potential candidates, I have compiled a follow-up on the previous chart.

Dinara Safina

In any sport pressure of expectations and criticism can either make you or break you. Dinara’s story is unfortunately based on the second scenario. Hot temper runs in Safin family, just look at her older brother Marat who also could put on quite a "show" back in his playing days. Mental resilience is not Safina's strength. Especially her Grand Slam performances had shown how much the pressure can get to her head. Instead of a great triumph at several Grand Slam finals, fans saw her playing an unusually mediocre game after a series of great performances.

Victoria Azarenka

It is nothing more frustrating for the player than to lose a match which they started off in an impressive fashion or were very close to winning. There was a time when no lead was safe in Victoria’s hands and she often ended up in an emotional turmoil because of that. Sometimes venting helped because she raised the level of her performance, but sometimes she just broke a few rackets. Read more »

Music career is the new venture of Serena Williams. She's a tennis star, fashion designer, a part owner of the Miami Dolphins, but her interests have a far reach and rapping is the latest addition to her resumé. According to TMZ, Serena hit the studio last week and is working with a record label owned by Minnesota Vikings star Bryant McKinnie.

As the Boombox reports, we still don't know whether Serena is working on a music album, some charity song, or rapping is simply her leisure activity.

To get a glimpse into Serena's singing, check out the above interpretation of Madonna's "Like a Virgin". And, we also know Serena has the moves to accompany her rapping skills.

Members of Serbian Fed Cup and David Cup teams were handed over diplomatic passports by Serbian Foreign Minister, Vuk Jeremic, during the Serbia Open ATP event in Belgrade. WTA players Bojana Jovanovski and Ana Jovanovic were present at the ceremony, beside their male colleagues Janko Tipsarevic, Nenad Zimonjic, Viktor Troicki and Novak Djokovic. The best two Serbian WTA players, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic, did not attend the official event, but they will receive the passports. Read more »

Marion Bartoli accepted a wildcard for the Barcelona Ladies Open and was a top seed at the event, but fell in the first round to Magdalena Rybarikova 6-4 6-1, who scored her first real victory over the Frenchwoman in their six meetings (Rybarikova had defeated Bartoli once, but it was a retirement).

Both Rybarikova and Bartoli won just 48% of points on their first serve, but the 72nd-ranked Slovak was much better in converting break opportunities, especially in the second set, and hence the decisive scoreline.

By beating the world No.13 Bartoli, Rybarikova scored her best win, ranking-wise, since Tokyo 2009, when she defeated Nadia Petrova, who was also ranked 13th. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

In the battle of two players without WTA titles in their CVs, the more experienced one triumphed and 31-year-old Alberta Brianti defeated 19-year-old Simona Halep 6-4 6-3 in the final of the the Grand Prix de SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem in Fes, Morocco.

Interestingly, clay is not Brianti's surface of choice:  "It's not my favorite surface, but better late than never! I always try to improve my tennis and the last few years I've really been playing the best tennis of my career."

The unseeded Italian defeated Melanie Oudin 7-5 5-7 6-0 in the quarterfinals before having a walkover to reach the final as former world No.1 Dinara Safina withdrew with gastrointestinal illness.

The seventh-seeded Halep is now 0-2 in WTA finals – last year she lost at the same tournament to Iveta Benesova. Brianti was also playing her second final, her previous one was in 2009 in Guangzhou. (photo: Richard Fisher)

Julia Goerges thrilled the home crowd by upsetting world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki 7-6(3) 6-3, thus becoming a surprise titlist at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart. The 32nd-ranked German also defeated Michaella Krajicek, Victoria Azarenka (it was a retirement, though), Sabine Lisicki and fifth seed Samantha Stosur before coming to face the top-ranked player.

The big-serving Goerges never allowed Wozniacki to break her, and stunned the Dane by forcing her to play backhand and make errors. The first set went with serve until the tiebreak, which Goerges opened up with a 5-2 lead. In the second set, Goerges established a 3-0 lead and was always in advantage until clinching the Premier-level tournament.

Goerges is now 2-1 in career WTA finals. Her other tournament win came last year at Bad Gastein, while she lost the 2010 Luxembourg final to Roberta Vinci. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Yet another exciting giveaway has come to a close and we have our winners: P!nky and Joeowen will receive the Top Spin 4 tennis game for their PS3, Wii, or Xbox 360. Unfortunately, not many people joined the contest, mainly because it was restricted to the US readers. But the good thing about it is that those who joined had a much greater chance to become winners (which doesn't mean that those who failed to win this time should feel super unlucky ).

Of course, the answer about the controversial and sexy commercial was "Serena Williams".

P!nky and Joeowen, I will contact you regarding the delivery of the game. I hope you will enjoy it a lot! It would be awesome if you could give us a review of Top Spin 4 when you try it out. I will be glad to share it.

Once again in time for Roland Garros I had the opportunity to talk to tennis legend, winner of 18 Grand Slam singles titles and record seven French Opens, Chris Evert. Actually, I didn't really talk to her, because there was some confusion in the organization concerning time zones, and we failed to catch up, but fortunately, my questions did reach her.

I was excited to hear that Evert favors Caroline Wozniacki to win the upcoming French Open, in absence of Serena Williams (whom she favored last year) and Kim Clijsters. She thinks that Wozniacki is now in the perfect position to win a Grand Slam – both in terms of her form and with regard to the circumstances.

Evert also talked about the 2011 US Open National Playoffs and the opportunity young American players have. Enjoy the interview!