Serena and the Clay Court

Serena Williams won the Family Circle Open. Yes, she did it again. She now has three titles for 2008 - from Bangalore, Miami, and now Charleston, SC.

I know it's silly to call the titles the names of the places where she won the events. But that's how the tennis commentators refer to them. They are all part of WTA tour anyway.

Family Circle Cup is on clay court. I know Serena, who is now 24 years old, is trying to get a lot of practice on clay surface because of the coming French Open.

French Open is also called Rolad Garros. That's because it's the name of the place in France where they hold it. I'm not sure if it's a name of a town or just the tennis park.

Another top player whose eyes is on the French Open throphy is Maria Sharapova. This is understandable because she has no French Open title yet. She recently won the Bausch and Lomb Championship, which is also on clay court.

Serena beat Sharapova in the quarterfinals of Family Circle Cup in three sets. It was a great match, like watching the championships. Both Serena and Sharapova have least liking to the clay court but they have to overcome it. They should, if they are aiming to win the French Open.

Clay court is really hard to play on. I say this out because not too many players like it. In fact, Roger Federer has never won any championship at Roland Garros even if he has 12 grand slams, five of which are in Wimbledon.