Roland Media Day 6: The French + The Furious

Cornet’s Trumpeting Triumph

The first Friday of the French Open peaked pretty early for most tennis fans. Queen of All Media Alizé Cornet had a big stage and captive audience and, for three sets against unseeded bombshell Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, put on a show few are soon to forget.

Down a set to the resurgent Croat, Cornet pulled out her full arsenal of tricks and twists throughout the tumultuous affair to level the match and fight off multiple break points late in the third. When the Frenchwoman wasn’t playing her brand of fearless tennis, she was, well, being the Alizé Cornet the tennis world has come to know:

Ne change jamais, Alizé…

Benoit Paire’s Belly Flop

Though he took a set from No. 4 seed Tomas Berdych in the Bullring, Benoit Paire wasn’t able to roll back the years to the form that once took him within striking distance of the Top 20.

But you can’t say he didn’t try:

Benoit was a rolling stone, indeed…

Gaelificient or Monfoolish?

With the sun setting on Stade Roland Garros, we’ve come to expect a fighting Frenchman trying to overcome both elements and opponent. With predictable enigma Gael Monfils, we’ve come to expect a fighting Frenchman trying to overcome that and just about everything else.

The winner of the 2008 French Open semifinalist’s match with No. 21 seed Pablo Cuevas would face a fresh Roger Federer in the fourth round, yet Monfils hardly had a sense of urgency for most of his second straight five-setter. But unlike other years, the veteran showman managed to get the job done — with most of the trademarks we’ve come to expect from a Monfils marathon:

Where the Parisians lack a major champion, they make up for in cross-tour entertainers guaranteed to keep us all talking during (and after) the fortnight in France.

What was your favorite media moment of Day 6? Sound off in the comments!