Game Point is Busted Racquet's roundup of facts, figures and links from around the web.
Love -- Fresh on the heels of his loss to Novak Djokovic in the Madrid final, Rafael Nadal returned to the court on Wednesday and struggled with an Italian qualifier, Paolo Lorenzi, ranked No. 148 in the world. Two lengthy weekend matches against his top rivals clearly played a role in Nadal's difficulties as did the fact that he couldn't have expected Lorenzi to put up much of a fight. The Spaniard entered the match with his guard down, a dangerous proposition when playing a guy that has both nothing to lose and the backing of a partisan crowd.
Flipping that switch isn't easy. Nadal didn't look focused when the match began and wandered through the first two sets like he was waiting for things to get in gear. That took longer than anyone expected. It never felt like Nadal was actually going to lose, but there was one moment in the second set when Lorenzi was five points away from the win and folks on Twitter starting debating where the upset would rank on the all-time list. (The consensus: high.) Then Nadal broke, bageled the third set and order was restored. It was fun while it lasted though.
15 -- Venus Williams is doubtful for the French Open. If she doesn't, it would be the first time since 1996 that the eldest Williams sister wasn't in the field at Roland Garros. VEnus would be wise to stay on the sideline. Wimbledon is her best chance to win a Slam and she should focus her efforts on preparing for that tournament. She's never done well at the French (only one career appearance in the semifinals) so why rush back?
30 -- Andy Roddick isn't a fan of birds in Italy.
40 -- Don't forget about Roger Federer in the race for No. 1, says Roger Federer.
"It's important for me to get to back to being No.1.�I said this at Wimbledon and it is still very real and very possible. I still have the World Tour Finals in my pocket and I don't have any Grand Slams yet. If I maybe got one of those, things will change drastically all over the place."
All over the place, people.
Game -- The Petkodance may be retired but Andrea Petkovic's on-court celebrations aren't. The German celebrated a win in Rome over Maria Kirilenko by moonwalking on the red clay. Andrea, break out the "Smooth Criminal" dance in Paris and you'll have a fan for life.
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