Tennis world in dismay entering French Open

There is a lot of bad news as the tennis world gathers for Sunday’s opening play.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Everything about tennis is topsy-turvy heading into the French Open.

Roger Federer, seemingly invincible against anyone but Rafael Nadal, is off to his worst start to a season since 2001. Nadal, meanwhile, recently lost a match on clay — for only the second time in three years.

Justine Henin, like Nadal the three-time reigning champion in Paris, suddenly retired this month at the age of 25, the first woman to walk away from the sport while ranked No. 1.

There’s more: Andy Roddick, the highest-ranked American man, is sidelined by a bum shoulder; new No. 1 Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams also pulled out of recent matches because of injuries; high-profile players are openly complaining about tour calendars and commitments; and the subject of gambling won’t go away.

It’s enough to make one wonder which way is up as the tennis world gathers at Roland Garros for the season’s second Grand Slam tournament, which begins Sunday.

Start with Federer, whose 12 major singles championships put him two shy of Pete Sampras’ career record. Consider this: Each of the past six years, Federer arrived at the French Open with at least two — and as many as six — tournament titles to his credit. The past three seasons, he was a combined 103-9 with 13 trophies entering the French Open.

And in 2008? He is 26-7 with only one title. He was upset by eventual champion Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open semifinals in January, ending Federer’s streak of reaching 10 consecutive Slam finals.

“For the first time, I get on a plane to leave Australia, and I have some doubt about who’s going to be No. 1 in the world at the end of the year,” U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe said. “Whereas in years past, there was no doubt that Federer was going to be No. 1 — it was just a question of how many majors he was going to win. This year, it’s very much in question.”

Nadal was hampered by foot blisters during his loss to Juan Carlos Ferrero at the Rome Masters two weeks ago, one of two defeats in his last 110 matches on clay.

That tournament had a record five withdrawals, and both semifinals ended with players quitting for health reasons, the first time that happened at any Masters Series event. One of the players who stopped was Roddick, and he later pulled out of the French Open, where he’s won two matches since 2002.

Injuries always crop up in sports, of course, but Nadal has been leading a chorus of criticism aimed at the ATP’s schedule — and its chairman, Etienne de Villiers. The European clay-court circuit was more compressed than usual this season, and in 2009 the ATP is unveiling a redrawn calendar, with new guidelines about mandatory events.

Henin’s out-of-nowhere announcement that leaves Williams as the only past Roland Garros champion in the women’s field.

It also gives more hope to someone such as Sharapova, trying to complete a career Grand Slam, or Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic, attempting to claim a first major championship.

“It just completely opens up the whole draw,” said 1989 men’s champion Michael Chang, elected this year to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. “I’m actually a little bit surprised that [Henin] maybe didn’t wait ’til maybe after one more French, because it’s a surface that she loves so much and a tournament that means a lot to her.”