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!

What's this with off-court injuries? It's not only the busy schedule that's threatening players' health, restaurants and weddings are dangerous too. Kim Clijsters sustained a right ankle injury at her cousin Tim's wedding and "the consequences are rather dire", as her official website reports.

Clijsters’ ankle is completely immobilized and she will not be able to use her foot for a few days, while she faces a recovery of at least four to six weeks. Therefore, her participation at the French Open is very unlikely. The Belgian will use the time out to continue working on her recovery from shoulder and wrist injuries.

As you know, Serena Williams has been sidelined with an off-court injury for almost a year. The American stepped on broken glass at a restaurant in Munich, and she's since endured two surgeries and various complications. (photo: Tennis Buzz)

Adidas made a nice presentation of their designs for Roland Garros 2011 in the form of an e-magazine called Adizene. There our beautiful player photos accompanied by a short interview embedded on the page.

You are certainly already familiar with these outfits, we've been seeing them around for months already. Ivanovic will wear her beautiful Adidas Adizero, only the pink and orange version with green details this time. I always love when clothing brands match the unmatchable colors. I especially love when for the red clay they use colors that resemble the red color of clay, and you think it would bland too much, but what you actually get is an intriguing and compatible combination. Read more »

Emily of WTA Tour Insights notified me about the new dress Nike has in store for Maria Sharapova. The Russian debuted blue Cross Court Statement Dress at the Sony Ericsson Open where she finished runner-up on Saturday, but Nike already has a fresh design for her 2011 French Open appearance, a yellow dress that follows the same pattern as the blue one – pretty simple design without too many details and layers, decorative lines, and soft color.

When I talked about the Statement Dress I mentioned how the lack of extravagance in the recent Sharapova designs makes Nike lean towards adidas' approach, and this latest dress is reasserting that with the opening in the back similar to this year's adidas Adizero.

The light yellow is beautiful for spring and will match Sharapova's blond hair and the red clay of Roland Garros well.

Francesca Schiavone became the first Italian woman to claim a Grand Slam title by winning the 2010 French Open at the weekend and she deserves nothing less than to get recognition from Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Schiavone and Berlusconi met at Palazzo Chigi in Rome to celebrate the great moment for both Schiavone and Italian sport.

The victory propelled Schiavone into the Top 10 for the first time, precisely to No.6, which makes her the highest-ranked Italian ever. (via Down the Line)

The 2010 French Open title has insured Francesca Schiavone’s rise of 11 spots in the Sony Ericsson WTA rankings, and the first-time Grand Slam champion is now at a career-high of No.6, which makes her the highest-ranked Italian ever. And that’s not all. The new rankings are the first occasion that two Italian players are ranked within the Top 10, as Flavia Pennetta (the first Italian Top 10 player) rose from No.15 to No.10.

Samantha Stosur, runner-up at the French Open this year, hasn’t changed her position in the rankings and is still at No.7. Last year’s finalists Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina have suffered major slips. The 2009 champion Kuznetsova fell from No.6 to No.19 after her third round exit this year, while the 2009 runner-up Safina fell from No.9 to the last spot in the Top 20 after going out in the first round this year. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

When people were discussing possible favorites for the 2010 French Open, many players where mentioned, but Francesca Schiavone wasn’t really on top of anyone’s list.  The world No.17 Schiavone won the battle of the first time Grand Slam finalists against Australia’s Samantha Stosur 6-4 7-6(2) and became the first Italian women’s tennis player to win a Grand Slam title.

The seventh-seeded Stosur, who reached the final with high-profile victories over four-time Roland Garros champion Justine Henin, 12-time Grand Slam champion and world No.1 Serena Williams, and one of this year’s top favorites Jelena Jankovic, started the match strong by winning her service game to love. Actually, until 4-4 players were good on their serves and there were no break points. However, in the ninth game Stosur’s errors gave Schiavone triple break point. Stosur saved two of those, but double faulted on the third one to hand Schiavone the game and soon after the set. In the second set, the 29-year-old Schiavone rallied from 4-1 down and took the clinching tiebreaker on her first match point to become the oldest woman to win her maiden Grand Slam title since Ann Jones at Wimbledon in 1969 at age 30.

Schiavone’s road to title: Regina Kulikova, Sophie Ferguson, Li Na (11), Maria Kirilenko (30), Caroline Wozniacki (3), Elena Dementieva (5) [retired], and finally Samantha Stosur.

Interestingly, Schiavone and Stosur met at last year’s French Open, but at the completely opposite stage of the tournament, in the first round already. That encounter was won by Stosur, 6-4 6-2, who went on to reach the semis where she fell to the eventual champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. (photos: Stephane Martinache )

Top seeds Serena and Venus Williams defeated seeds No.12 Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik 6-2 6-3 in the French Open doubles final and became only the third doubles partnership in the history of women’s tennis to win four consecutive Grand Slams. The sisters started the succession with the 2009 Wimbledon doubles title, and followed it up with the 2009 US Open, 2010 Australian Open and 2010 French Open.

Not only did the Williamses win their 12th Grand Slam title together, and their second French Open one, but they have also assured to be ranked No.1 in the new doubles rankings. This implies that Serena will be top-ranked in singles and doubles at the same time, which is the feat that only five other women’s players managed to achieve.

Additional info: Katarina Srebotnik may have lost the women's doubles final, but she captured the mixed doubles crown with Nenad Zimonjic. (photo: © FFT)

Fourth-seeded Jelena Jankovic cruised to a 6-4 6-2 victory over seed No.23 Daniela Hantuchova and advanced to the French Open quarterfinals where she will play the winner of the match between world No.107 Jarmila Groth and world No.36 Yaroslava Shvedova.

Slovakia’s Hantuchova had only one break point during the match, which she didn’t convert, and Jankovic was steadily moving towards victory. The Serb broke Hantuchova for a 5-4 lead and then won her service game to take the opening set. In the second set, Jankovic broke Hantuchova in the first and third games, then established a 4-0 lead, and even though she blew one match point at 5-2 on Hantuchova’s serve, she used her service game to finish the match. Hantuchova made twice as much unforced errors as JJ, 16-8.

Jankovic has a perfect 4-0 record against Groth, and 2-1 record against Shvedova, whom she will more likely play in the quarters. Shvedova defeated Jankovic in the second round of the US Open last year, after three sets and two tiebreaks. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Seventh seed Samantha Stosur prevented four-time Roland Garros champion Justine Henin from winning her 25th straight match in Paris and defeated the Belgian 2-6 6-1 6-4 in the fourth round. It’s Henin’s first loss at Roland Garros since 2004.

The 22nd-seeded Henin, who dropped a set for the first time in five years in Paris against Maria Sharapova in the previous round, nullified Stosur's serve to break the Australian twice and win the opening set 6-2. But determined Stosur came out strong in the following sets, and fought her way past the seven-time Grand Slam champion.

Last year’s semifinalist Stosur will play world No.1 and top seed Serena Williams in the quarterfinals, who defeated Shahar Peer 6-2 6-2. Williams struggled to hold serve at times and was broken twice by the 18th-seeded Peer, but made an impressive six breaks of her own to advance to the last eight. (photo: Stephane Martinache)