1st....Ü

...I'm still thinking.... of Maria....(sigh:)

Thanks Steve, although the vignettes were Paris and Roland Garros for a moment they are a bit of all tennis tournaments. Enjoyed you French Open columns. Have a good trip back to the states.

Steve, 'been lurking here (and everywhere people talk tennis, more or less) for years. Un-lurking just to say that your dispatches this week have been superb. Really. I'm sadder about you leaving Paris than about Sharapova losing to Henin .

"To begin a point, they said “service” to a minion, who would do the menial task of serving for them"

jokes, please, here:

Steve, FYI: an Italian designer acquired the rights to Franklin and Marshall College's image for sales in Europe. It's popular in Italy, and most consumers have no clue where Lancaster, PA is. How did you perform against them in tennis competitions?

Disclaimer: I'm a South-Western European and I spent 3 semesters at F&M.

Thanks Steve for all the great articles you've written throughout the week! Makes me want to visit Paris badly...

They should let you write for both weeks of all four majors/grand slams.

I think that's "Avancez! Avancez!" actually

i was in paris for roland garros last year. work kept me from going this year, but your posts brought me there.

what can we do to convince the powers that be to let you attend every slam?

Steve, thanks for bringing us vivid images of Roland Garros this year. Your dispatches will be missed. What is your inspiration for your writing this time, who/what are you reading?

Steve,

Very enjoyable. Reminds me of the writings of Rex Bellamy. Well done.

I miss the Twin Towers as well.

Drat.

Even as someone who speaks French I've always thought of it as "men who are simple". (I know that's not right, just thought it was funny.)

Thanks for the posts. They've been great.

Enjoyed this atmospheric piece. Made me wish I was there!! :)

Dan Brack - you are right, it's "Avancez", imperative in plural.

stupis fellow,that steve.report on the tennis,not the backgound crap.where is his editor?hope they docl his pay foe this useless crud that nobody is interested in.did you also miss yourself in..diapers?

very, very nice articles this week. now I'd like to go to RG just to see if it is how you described it :). paris is the best city in the old world. it's THE city.

"Pete Bodo takes over at Roland Garros today. See you from New York on Wednesday."
--------------

I thought Serbs are taking it over. DJoko and JJ are in the Q/F. With great chances to make S/F tandem.
No other country achieved that.

"Pete Bodo takes over at Roland Garros today. See you from New York on Wednesday."

How very depressing to see him come and to see you leave, Steve. I have been enthralled by all your articles this week. They brought back so vividly the memories of Roland Garros from last year when I was there.

Waiting for your articles from the next grand slam.

Nice vignettes as usual, but this one - "One woman in flip-flops. I’ve never seen much of this standard U.S. clothing item here. I’ve learned, very rapidly, that I can live without its flapping sound" - made me laugh and nod my head in agreement. Luckily, we don't have to deal with them too much here in New York as compared to, say, Florida and SoCal.

Oh, and left out that that you touched a chord with your description of the Eiffel Tower and comparing it to the Twin Towers. Still remember pausing for several moments one night at reception in the office where I worked in Midtown at the time, on my way out after working late; we had a spectacular view, through the south-facing windows, of the towers. I thought to myself that I'd never grow tired of that skyline, even having grown up around here. That was on the 10th of September.

Thanks for the on-site reporting, Steve. Any revised guesses on the women's draw with Justine out? Hard to look past Serena but Jankovic seems to be getting her act together and took her out in Rome not long ago. Thoughts on the odds that Soderling or Djoko might interfere with the seemingly fated Federer-Nadal final?

Another intimate look at a beautiful city/tournament from a talented writer with a very observant eye. Well done!

Two things though; I hope your were not making yourself too visible ogling the people (mainly girls, which is understandable :)) you described in minute detail, which some may consider to be stalking lol! And easy with the inaccurate French spelling/translation :)

The author may know something about tennis, but the remarks make it clear that he is inexperienced and uninformed about Paris, France, Europe, tennis around the world, etc. These are the uninformed observations of someone who knows little about the world....

So U do the first week and Bodo gets the "red meat" week---
Geez I tire of his writing. I much prefer your style.
The changing of the guard is going to take awhile, I guess.
Welcome back to NY...U get Brooklyn, he gets Manhattan.
The schism is clear...in many ways.
Must make for some interesting staff meetings at Tennis.
Hang in there, your base is growing.

Steve, thank you for your wonderful reports. I will miss them. Agree with David above. Your readership is growing. Doesn't seem fair that you can't stay for the whole tourney. You bring much needed color and humanity to your posts.

Thank-You for another great post! I really appreciate the way you interpret your observations and it makes me want to go back to Paris. And to think, I didn't even get to take in the tennis when I was there.

One point of interest, Duece in French is "Quarrant à" It's only the subsequent "Deuces" which are égalité.

A week well spent I hope!

Thanks for the great work. I was in Paris three weeks ago and your posts made it seem like I was still there. Looking forward to your Wimbledon coverage.

Ahh Flavia...the sexiest woman in tennis. I bumped into her at a breakfast bar a couple of years ago during Indian Wells. I did not recognize her at first. She head sweats and tee shirt and a baseball cap pulled low over her eyes, but still oozing hotness.

Truly enjoyed your week in Paris, right along with you.

Although it wasn't your first time, you're still able to see it through a virgin's eyes.

Next year campaign for the entire two weeks!

i'll miss your posts steve... hopefully you'll do another for wimbly? :D keep writing.

Hve enjoyed these posts very much. Thank you.

Hi Steve, in addition to the F&M comment, I've got another one: I've been consistently gravitating towards your posts in an incremental fashion - I don't just mean on tennis.com, but in general (I probably read over half a dozen tennis journalists in a couple of languages).

It's a pity you're not continuing at Roland Garros. Your writing combines a number of rare qualities: it is accessible to a wide readership, but there is an incredibly sharp focus to the details you squeeze, and they are coherently placed into a narrative that is elegantly elliptical.

Case in point, your Paris/NYC dichotomy post. Being neither a Parisian or a New Yorker (and only having been a tourist in both cities for a limited amount of time), I still felt that you had led us through a point and counterpoint of these two rival cities, with tennis as an ever-present backdrop. Though the speaker is an East Coast American, the voice was one that probably every reader could adopt as their own (or like to adopt). Not to make individious comparisons, but Peter Bodo (likable as a lot of his writing is), tends to "Americanize" a bit too gratuitiously - he'll attribute thoughts and expressions such as "what the hail" (which is delightfully, parochially American) to foreign players.

The tennis, too, isn't half-bad. The bull-ring article, in which you basically pledge undying fealty to the professionals and their insurmountably greater skills (compared to us amateurs, who hit the ball as slow as it looks on TV), really reminded me of times when I suddenly had to play with people way above my level - it becomes a viscerally different proposition, and you don't even see the court (field, in my primary sport) the same way.

Thanks Steve. Say hi to New York for us.

Thank you, Steve. Hope you enjoyed your stay and had a good return flight.

Chrysler building tops the Twin Towers (rip)

GOAT of all buildings.

Steve, please believe the majority of the comments, which are overwhelmingly positive, and don't take note of the few that aren't. You have a growing fan base as Annie and others say. Being honest about confusion (and wide-eyedness) in a foreign country leaves you open to some criticism, but if you weren't honest, your writing wouldn't have the power and humor it does.

Mr Tignor,
Two things:

1 - My first beef with you. "The black woman in jeans" . ??? So how is it that we aren't given the ethnicity of all the other people you mention. Are we supposed to think that people unadorned is a term that mean white man or white woman?

2 - Your last Sunday? Wtf? You're one of the preeminent English language tennis tournament writers. Tell whoever pays you to pony up for the full two weeks - at every major.

Thanks for the great articles and check those racial/ethnic quirks.

"the same way “love” was a mispronunciation of the French word for egg, “l’oeuf,” slang for zero."
That is a completely unproven theory, most likely a myth. As if the French didn't have the word zero.
It is far more likely that the phrase originated in the concept that, since one hadn't won any points, they were only "playing for love (of the game)." This hasn't been conclusively proven either but currently seems more likely.

Thanks Steve. This kind of stuff is what makes tennis stand apart from our domestic sports. We don't get too many stories about the people at the basketball arena in Orlando--although it might interest the French.

I've always found it odd that the writers on this site don't stay for the full tournament. It's a shame--I realize it's expensive, but it really is too bad.

I'll join the many others who really enjoy your writing, Steve. It's rare to read beautiful, thoughtful sports writing. Football (American) is my first love, and I definitely never read lovely things about that! Personally, I appreciate your attention to the "non-tennis" parts of the tournaments. You're filling in the questions we never thought to ask, most likely because no other sports writers (few, anyway) take us to those places for other sporting events.

"That is a completely unproven theory, most likely a myth. As if the French didn't have the word zero."

I did find this funny, pov. Having a word for zero doesn't preclude slang for it, does it? There is obviously a word for zero in English too, but think how many slang terms there are for it: nada, zilch, nil, goose egg. Maybe it is a myth (etymology can be tough to trace), but don't get too worked up over it.

Steve: Thanks for all your lovely articles this week. I will truly miss your "sights and sounds"

Steve. Don't know if you read any of these comments but if Shakespeare came back as a tennis reporter this is what it would look like. Please don't ever stop.

great piece Steve - my fury at French tennis fans has even cooled a few degrees - all because of this report. And yes, it's criminal that you don't get to stay in Paris for the two full weeks.

oh, and for every person JMac tries to avoid, for sure there are about 937 who always try to avoid HIM

love it steve...

sorry just reading your articles now...