Rafael Nadal crashed to the dirt in joy as he had so many times before, adding the another exclamation point onto his clay court resume with a dominant 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 win over fifth-seeded Robin Soderling to win his fifth French Open title and seventh grand slam overall.

Next to perhaps his 2008 Wimbledon title, this achievement has to be one of the most meaningful in Nadal's career.  He seemed far more overwhelmed with winning this title than he had on any of his previous four wins.  And why shouldn't he be? He beat not only his nemesis Soderling, but also the chorus of doubters that had cropped up over the last year, as his career was declared just about over by most every one of tennis' "experts."

Those naysayers had plenty of valid reason to doubt reasons to doubt Nadal.  His inefficient, grinding game seemed paralyzed by recurring knee injuries.  Those injuries robbed him of a chance to defend his Wimbledon title, and cut short his title defense in Melbourne earlier this year.

But his 2010 clay court season was an absolute revelation.  He played efficient, powerful tennis, never falling into the pure backboard style he sometimes reverted to in his youth.  He embarrassed the field at Monte Carlo, then backed that up with consecutive wins in Rome and Madrid to become the first player ever to sweep the clay Masters events, setting a new record for most career Masters titles at eighteen in the process.

His steamrolling continued into Roland Garros, where he never dropped a set and never faced so much as a set point.  He played only three tiebreakers during the entire tournament, two of which were against Nicolas Almagro in the quarterfinals.  Nadal's clay court game looks more complete than it ever has, and more durable than it ever has.  Which is the last thing his colleagues needed.

This magnificent clay court run puts Nadal back in the #1 spot of the ATP Rankings for the second time in his career.  What makes this feat even more impressive is that he reclaims it without even having points from Wimbledon to his name, since he missed it last year.  With Federer defending champion's points and Nadal defending none, his grasp on the top spot can only grow over the next month or so.

Nadal is still young, and if he can stay healthy, still in his prime.  Federer is a once in a lifetime type player, and I don't see any way Nadal threatens his records.  But if he finds his way around the fast hard courts of New York the way he previously learned his way around grass so effectively, there's no reason he can't at least get a career slam and a double digit slam count before he hangs up his racquet.

In the first final between two first-time slam finalists since 2004, #17-seed Francesca Schiavone stunned #7 Samantha Stosur 6-4, 7-6(2) to win the 2010 French Open Women's Singles championship.

Schiavone, who turns 30 later this month, had previously only won three titles in her 10+ years on the WTA Tour, none of which were more prestigious than a Tier III.  She had never before made it to the final four of a grand slam singles draw either, but once she arrived into the second week of Roland Garros her game reached a level it never before had.

Schiavone's road to the title was by no means a cakewalk, but it was not a minefield, either.  In facing Wozniacki, Dementieva, and Stosur in her final three matches, Schiavone faced no one with a tremendous winning percentage in the late stages of a slam.  None of her seven opponents had ever won a slam title, and only one (Dementieva) had made a final previously.

But winning a slam is just about winning seven matches in a row, and Schiavone was the only one of the 128 players in the Women's Singles Draw to do so.

Tennis is not golf, where players come out of nowhere to win important tournaments then fade back into obscurity just as quickly.  Winners like Lucas Glover, Michael Campbell, and Shaun Micheel don't happen in tennis, in large part because its head-to-head nature, which stops players from flying under the radar through an entire tournament.

So is Schiavone the most surprising women's Grand Slam winner of this century? I'd have to say so.  Going back further, the only other contender in this category that comes to mind is Iva Majoli, who won the French Open in 1997 by shocking Martina Hingis in the final.  But Majoli had won several prestigious titles previously in her career, whereas Schiavone had not.

Schiavone has been consistent of late (making the second week of four consecutive majors now), but for a journeywoman to break through like this so late in her career is nearly unheard of.

How late in Schiavone's career is this? To put it in perspective: Schiavone is even older than Martina Hingis, the woman who Iva Majoli beat to win Roland Garros back in 1997.

For Stosur (who ironically beat Schiavone in the first round of the 2009 French Open), this tournament can only be seen as a massive positive.  To beat Justine Henin, Serena Williams, and Jelena Jankovic back-to-back in a grand slam is an absurd feat, and her stock only appears to rising.  (Plus she comes off as classy to a nearly unparalleled degree in her post-match press conference).

I'm not as sure as everyone else seems to be about her momentum translating fluidly onto the grass of Wimbledon, though.  I talked to Rennae Stubbs, Stosur's former doubles partner, about how Stosur's game translates onto the lawns during an interview with The Daily Forehand last summer.

TDF: Were you surprised that she got knocked out by Ivanovic at Wimbledon?

Rennae Stubbs: No, look, grass is her worst surface.  It doesn’t lend itself…

TDF: But she’s a serve and volley…

Rennae Stubbs: Yeah, but she’s not a real serve and volley player—there’s big misconceptions about Sam.  She’s more a slow court, hard court player, a clay courter.  For one thing, her grip is very western on her forehand, and it’s very difficult to play that type of tennis on grass.  Her kick serve is not effective on grass, as it is on every other surface.  So, you know, the basis of her game is her serve, her kick serve, and her forehand, and those things don’t lend itself that great to grass.

Having said that, I think she can do a lot better on grass, I think she will learn over the years to do better on grass, and I think she did better this year.  But she’s going to be more of a force on a hard court, or on a clay court, than on a grass court.

If she's not justifiably burnt out, no reason why Schiavone couldn't make a run on the grass, either. She made the quarterfinals last year, and the serve and net skills she showed in Saturday's final bode well for a smooth transition.

Because everyone expected Groth-Shvedova and Melzer-Gabashvili to be the match-ups we'd be seeing in the second week.

The complete order of play for today's fourth round action can be found here.

Set your alarm, people.  The tennis today should be something worth waking up for.

The complete order of play (including Henin vs. Sharapova and Hewitt vs. Nadal) can be found here.

Sunshine on the forecast for Friday in Paris.  Things could get totally back on track today, as miraculous as that would be.

Complete schedule for today's mix of second and third round matches can be found here.

Will the rain ever go away?

In case of sunshine, the complete schedule of play can be found here.

Gael Monfils and many others are in action for the first day of second round action at the 2010 French Open at Roland Garros.

And remember: once you're in the second round, everybody's a winner.

Complete order of play can be found here.

Bonne chance a tous.

For the third consecutive Grand Slam, Phillipp Petzschner blew a two-sets-to-none lead on his way to crashing out of the singles draw.  

Petzschner's loss in Paris to wild card Carsten Ball (6-3 7-6(4) 2-6 5-7 7-9) follows losses at the 2010 Australian Open to Florian Mayer (6-0 6-2 4-6 2-6 2-6) and the 2009 US Open to Juan Carlos Ferrero (6-1 6-3 4-6 2-6 4-6).

The Ferrero loss is definitely the most respectable of the three, but still it can be fairly said that no player should ever lose a best of five match when he's lost only four total games in winning the first two sets.

You can talk all you want about Jana Novotna, Dinara Safina, or whichever other icon of mental frailty you want, but the real chokers are the ones who never even reach the upper echelons because their brains won't let them.

The complete order of play for Monday's action can be found here.

Yesterday's half-baked schedule gives way to the tournament starting in earnest on Day 2, highlighted by Federer, Djokovic, and an extremely enticing Gasquet vs. Murray match-up.  On the women's side, tricky matches lie ahead for Samantha Stosur and both Bondarenkos, as well as questions as to whether or not Serena Williams will be able to one-up her sister in terms of ridiculous outfits.