Marat Safin stares at his hands a lot, praying he won't spot another blister.
Little is more troublesome to a powerhitting player than pain from gripping the racket, something Safin knows well after getting blisters on both hands at last year's French Open.
Just the thought of it is alarming.
"I'm scared, actually," Safin said after his 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 first-round win over Raemon Sluiter. "I have no idea where they came from. I am praying they will not come back again."
During pauses in the match, the two-time Grand Slam winner stared intensely at the palm of his racket hand. But, no blisters this time around -- not yet, at least.
For now, the third-seeded Safin has other concerns.
"My knee hurts a little bit sometimes, if I spend a lot of time on the court," said Safin, who has a tendency to stretch into lengthy five-setters.
One of those came last year and, with it, the blisters. In the third round of the 2004 French Open, Safin played through the pain to beat Potito Starace in five sets. He exited in the next round, playing with thick tape wrapped around both hands.
This year, Safin has earned the distinction of being one of only two men to have beaten top-ranked Roger Federer. That was on Safin's way to the Australian Open trophy. Since then, the Russian has failed to move past a quarter-final in any tournament. But, he is not worried.
"I can't complain. I have been playing quite decent tennis," said Safin, who has said that Roland Garros is more important to him than any other tournament. "Hopefully, I will survive into the second week."
----
Wins for longevity
Andre Agassi didn't walk away from the French Open this year without making history.
Ousted in the first round, Agassi set an Open-era record for men by playing in his 58th Grand Slam tournament.
The 35-year-old, winner of eight Grand Slams, said he was not aware of the record and wasn't much in the mood to talk about it after losing to Finnish qualifier Jarkko Nieminen 7-5, 4-6, 6-7 (6), 6-1, 6-0.
"The more you play, the more chance you have to win, right?" Agassi said, forcing a smile.
Agassi edged ahead of Michael Chang, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl and Wayne Ferreira, all of whom played 57 Grand Slams before retiring.
Ferreira, of South Africa, holds a separate record of having played 56 consecutive Grand Slams.
----
A new outlook
Justine Henin-Hardenne says an illness that sidelined her for much of last year has changed her game, but not her spirits.
"I'm never going to be the same," said the former world No. 1 and 2003 French Open champion. "I don't want to compare myself [to how] I was before my illness or before a lot of chronic fatigue."
Henin-Hardenne has put behind her a seven-month absence to win three clay-court titles this spring. She extended her winning streak to 18 matches by beating Conchita Martinez 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 in the first round Tuesday.
Henin-Hardenne was dominant at first but shaky at the finish. She double-faulted nine times, and in the final set she nearly blew a 5-1 lead before closing out her first Grand Slam event since the US Open last summer.
Henin-Hardenne, who has won a trophy at every Grand Slam but Wimbledon, had a blood virus that sidelined her most of last year. She started playing again in December. A knee injury forced her to pull out of the Australian Open, ending her hopes of defending her title.
Illness and absence have given the Belgian a new perspective on matches that would have rattled her before, like the one she survived on Tuesday.
"I'm not going to cry ... that I could have done it in two sets," Henin-Hardenne said. "I'm much cooler than I used to be."
Photograph: AP Photo/Francois Mori
