Lawn Tennis
Lawn Tennis The French Open The French Open - Roland Garros
May 25th-June 8, 2008
Paris, France
Lawn Tennis The French Open
Andy Roddick, Lindsay Davenport Out Of French Open
By Anton Lagani, Lawn Tennis Correspondent, Posted: Wednesday, May 21, 2008 5:40am CST USA
Andy Roddick, Lindsay Davenport Out Of French Open
Andy Roddick and Lindsay Davenport of the USA
PARIS, France (lawntennismag.com)—Tennis' second grand slam of the year, the French Open begins Sunday and America will be without two of its best title hopes as Americans and top players Lindsay Davenport and Andy Roddick both have withdrawn from the world's most prestigious clay court tournament; the French Open, known in many parts of the world including France as Roland Garros.
"He was optimistic about his draw in France and wanted to come over and try to play well. So for him it's disappointing," John Roddick said.

Monday Roddick pulled out of Paris with the same right shoulder injury which caused him to retire while trailing Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 0-3 in set one in Rome at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia semifinals.

"Andy had an MRI and there's some inflammation so he pulled himself from the French," Roddick's brother John Roddick said. "I don’t think it's going to be anything that's terribly long and I would be surprised if he was not ready to go for Queen's (Club Wimbledon warmup tournament). But as for now he needs to take a good 10 days, 12 days, just rest."

"He's been playing well all year and he was excited to be playing on the clay and really had a good frame of mind in practice and in his matches. He felt really comfortable on the clay this year, so he really liked his chances of doing better than he has, and he did it in Rome. He was optimistic about his draw in France and wanted to come over and try to play well. So for him it's disappointing."

Only one day after Roddick withdrew, Davenport yesterday announced she also would not be competing this year in Paris. Davenport was far less forthcoming about her reasoning for not playing however as tournament organizers said she had withdrawn for “personal reasons” without going into any details.

Roddick's best French Open finish was reaching the third round in 2001 while Davenport was a semifinalist in 1998. Davenport last played the French Open in 2005 when she lost to Mary Pierce of France in the quarterfinals. Roddick has lost in the first round at Paris the last two years.

Still in the field for the USA are 8th ranked James Blake, 2002 finalist Venus Williams and the last American to win the title, 2002 champion Serena Williams.

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