So. You look at the French Open draw, and think – aside from Federer-Nadal, where are the other contenders coming from? Answer: Serbia.
The semis draw is:
Roger Federer SUI (1)
vs
Nikolay Davydenko RUS (4)
Novak Djokovic SRB (6)
vs
Rafael Nadal ESP (2)
and in the women:
Justine Henin BEL (1)
vs
Jelena Jankovic SRB (4)
Ana Ivanovic SRB (7)
vs.
Maria Sharapova RUS (2)
Let’s be honest – no-one is seriously considering an all-Serbian trophy haul, or anything other than a Fed-Nad final. But it’s interesting how some countries catch the tennis vibe, and people talk of a wave of players. Not long ago it was the Spanish men. Then the Russian women. I’m going to take a closer look at some of the data on this, but my instinct is that there is no formula as such. It’s a mixture of training partners coming to the boil at the same time, supporting each other, and a whole lot of luck.
