Trying to be positive

Now that the French Open has opened, I have decided to try very hard to stop myself from recording quotes from people with the habit of praising themselves and people who cannot bring themselves to say something positive about their opponents. Instead, I will try very hard to just stick to positive stuff.

So, Nadal won his first round match and has surpassed Vilas' 53-match clay court winning streak. Of this, he said:

'It is very difficult. Very, very difficult. A lot of tournaments, a lot of matches. It is not normal because one day you can have bad luck, anything. I am very happy for that.'

Nadal and Vilas, pic taken from Nadal's website

Marat Safin is back in action, after being out with injury. He also used the word 'difficult' when talking about getting back into the thick of things after laying off for months. It's good to see him back. I think it's just him, Nalbandian and Nadal who can offer any real challenge to Mr Federer.

Lleyton Hewitt is also back, after injury, fatherhood and marriage. Never much of a threat to Federer, but that's not going to stop him from coming back to the court. I wonder if he has cut his hair. He looked a lot better when he had a haircut last year. In fact, all the players mentioned so far could do with haircuts. What's with the long hair? Don't they find it gets in the way?

Just look at Tim Henman and his neat hairdo. It will do perfectly for a civil servant look. (picture from Henman's website)

Meanwhile, I managed to catch the last part of Zheng Jie's pretty competent victory over 23rd seed Tatiana Golovin. She and the rest of the Chinese ladies are all through to round 2, I think.

Finally, something else altogether.

You can drop off cash or cheque donations for the Java earthquake victims at any of the mosques in Singapore. Donations will be channelled to Mercy Relief.

I saw on the news footage of this shop that was damaged by the quake. People were helping themselves to the stuff from the shop. The owner, interviewed on TV, said they were welcome to whatever they thought would be help to those in need. That was very kind of him indeed. Very positive.

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