Live from Roland Garros (IV)

Agassi waxes lyrical over Nadal
Andre Agassi has been regularly featured in the media over the past few days, with one of his favourite subjects being Rafael Nadal. "I never thought for a second that he would be able to turn his talents to Wimbledon, but he did," said the former world No1 of the current incumbent. "Now I think that he can seriously aim for the Grand Slam. I used to think that it was out of reach, but with him, anything is possible. As far as Roland Garros this year is concerned, he will be the hottest favourite there has ever been. Even Borg here in Paris or Federer and Sampras at Wimbledon were never favourites to this extent." High praise indeed…

Full Serbian contingent
2008 winner Ana Ivanovic had her first practice on Thursday on court No1, while fellow Serbian Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic was out on Philippe Chatrier court late in the afternoon. Scotland's Andy Murray, who recently overtook Djokovic in the rankings to rise to No3 in the world, had a hit-out away from the cameras on court No4, while French veteran Fabrice Santoro practised twice – on centre court in the morning and No1 in the afternoon. This is the 20th French Open for "The Magician" and also his last, as he prepares for retirement. King of Clay Rafael Nadal has still yet to be sighted in Paris, however…

Monfils still uncertain
Gaël Monfils is still hopeful of overcoming the inflamed patella tendons which have kept him off court for the entire European clay season. He came through a light training session on Thursday afternoon on Suzanne Lenglen court accompanied by his coach, Roger Rasheed. The world No11 was moving around very gingerly however, and has yet to decide whether he will be able to defend the points he won here last year when reaching the semi-final. He has asked the tournament organisers for the latest possible start – next Tuesday, therefore – to give himself every chance of being able to play.

Sharapova and Simon struggle for form…
Maria Sharapova's comeback in Warsaw came to an unceremonious end in the quarter-finals. This was the Russian's first singles tournament of the year after a right shoulder injury had forced her out of action for nine months. She recorded two very encouraging wins in the early rounds before coming down to earth with a bump against Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko, falling 6-2 6-2 to the WTA No39, looking out of practice and out of sorts on her least favourite surface.

ATP No7 Gilles Simon meanwhile slumped to his third loss in as many matches in Dusseldorf, with Sam Querrey being the latest player to defeat him at the World Team Championships. Thierry Tulasne's protégé will need all the encouragement the home crowd can muster once he starts his French Open campaign.