Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal

The most likely scenario this week is that Nadal will reach the semi-finals and beyond, and so hang on to the No 1 ranking. Even so, there is a strong possibility it will be Djokovic who will subsequently leave Roland Garros, and arrive at Queen’s Club next month for the start of the grass-court season, as the alpha male of the circuit. While Nadal will at Roland Garros be defending the points he won as last year’s champion, Djokovic was a mere quarter-finalist.

Roger Federer ran off 13 straight games to beat French wild card Maxime Teixeira 6-3, 6-0, 6-2 Wednesday in the second round of the French Open.

When Roger was up, Rafa was down, and when Roger was down, Rafa was up. Just to get this close to Nadal, Djokovic has had to put together the best start to a season for almost 30 years, with his undefeated sequence trailing only behind John McEnroe’s record of opening 1984 with 42 consecutive victories.
Federer was playing against a man who had won his first tour-level match in the first round, when he beat another French wild card. But Teixeira never really had a chance against the 16-time Grand Slam champion.

One effect of Djokovic’s form has been to marginalise Federer, who could find himself being a long-term No 3, and Andy Murray remains a distant fourth. Murray, who had a first-round bye, starts on Tuesday against Belgium’s Xavier Malisse.

My buildup has been weird, but it's been everything with my mind focused on trying to make it to the French Open," Clijsters said. "And when you're here now, yeah, you kind of just want to keep focusing and finish off on what I worked on in those few weeks."

Clijsters nearly didn't make it to Paris at all.

She hurt her ankle while dancing barefoot at the wedding and hadn't played a competitive match since.

"It feels steady and good. So it's important now when I get back to the hotel that I ice it a lot and that I take good care of it, and I will have treatment," Clijsters said. "Then tomorrow just make sure I keep mobilizing it so that I don't get more inflammation than I have already."

Even before Andy Roddick lost in the opening round to France's Gilles Simon, there was clay smeared all over the Stars and Stripes, as for the first time since the official rankings began in the 1970s, there are no Americans in the top 10 in either the men's or the women's game.