MOST every morning this fortnight I have been logging onto rolandgarros.com (as I do at all grand slams) and surfing through the interviews. Roddick is always fun, Federer direct, Nadal full of rhetorical "no's".

In newspaper reports, space is usually short, and often so much of what a player says, sometimes in wonderfully fractured English, gets left on the cutting room floor. But I found some intriguing thoughts which are worth a quick read.

FIGURING OUT ROGER
Players see things we obviously don't, they feel the subtleties of spin and pace and positioning. Gael Monfils, his language showing his age, was asked what it was like to play Federer and provided an interesting explanation (which has been edited for space).

Said Monfils: "Well, how can I say? Well, when he plays against me, what he does is that he changes. He varies the way he plays.

"Sometimes he's very aggressive. And when he hits the ball just after the bounce (i.e taking it early), I don't really know where to place myself on the court. You know, he's one of the only guys who can make me slide a little.

"I sometimes hesitate. He plays a lot of really wrong-footed balls. Even though I know this, it's so fast. He hides his shots, you see. You know, his short (backhand) chip is like, oh, a pain in the ass, a real pain in the ass.

"At the end of the day, it gets on my nerves. I think I'm going to get it. I'm going to get it. And, oh, like it's the rotten shot again. It pisses me off. I can't do anything."

THE GONZO FOREHAND
Forget those 200kmh serves, that's so old school. Now television has to start timing forehands.

Part skill, part racket, part strings, the modern forehand is a work of explosive art, and its finest practitioners this tournament have been Fernando Verdasco, Robin Soderling, Fernando Gonzales, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Monfils.

But Andy Murray, a fine counter-puncher, explained best why Gonzales' stroke, this fortnight, has been magnificent.

Said Murray: "His forehand is the biggest. I mean he, yeah, can hit winners from anywhere on the court. That's why it's dangerous. Some guys can hit huge forehands when they're in the middle the court. Some guys hit huge forehand returns. But he can hit huge forehand returns. He hits it great on the run. He can hit his forehand from anywhere on the court. That's why it's very dangerous.

"If you look at some of the shots he's hit, he's hitting forehands from like a meter wide of the tram line on some points and hitting winners off them. Even if you try to hit a ball to his backhand, then he makes his sort of mind up that actually I want to hit a forehand on this shot, and he runs around and spanks a winner. You can't do a whole lot with it."

FEDERER'S LAST DANCE
Fans are fickle. First, Federer was in a slump, now if he doesn't win the French he's wasted his big chance.

But fans also have a terrific affection for Federer, they know how badly he wants the French and how incredible this opportunity is. It is an affection even Federer is feeling.

Asked if he felt a lot of people were pulling for him this week, he said:

"Yeah, I mean, I feel it since a few years now, to be honest with you. But this year even more extreme. When I walk on the streets or drive in the transportation or I go for dinner, everybody is like, 'This is your year. You've got to do it'.

"They're screaming from their scooters and out of the car. They even get out at the red lights and want me to sign an autograph or take apicture. It's quite incredible this last couple of weeks."

THE NOTION OF FAIRNESS
Serena Williams smacked a ball at an onrushing Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. The Spaniard put up her racket to protect herself. The ball apparently ricocheted off her arm, then her racket, came over the net, and Sanchez was awarded the point.

Everything happened in a flash. But Williams felt, and not unjustifiably, that Sanchez shouldn't have got the point because the ball cannot hit a body part and come back over the net. Sanchez thought she hit the ball with her racket and refuted the point.

Finally, Federer, feted for his sportsmanship, was asked about it and offered an intriguing answer on the choices a player faces:

"It's a tough call. I mean, it's one of those borderline calls, you know, it's like if you get a double bounce when you run for a dropshot. Yourself, you can't hardly feel it.

"I guess when you touch it with part of your shirt — I'm saying now that I would absolutely report it, you know. But then if Wimbledon is on the line, would you?

"I would think I would, just because out of fair play. So would I report it? But because it happens so little, that maybe in the moment itself you don't know what to do, and then you realise it's such an important point. You know, actually I want that point.

"The umpire probably didn't see it,and next thing you're maybe doing something you shouldn't have done and you regret it later on. This is where it's maybe a tough call sometimes."

SERENA'S SAD FAREWELL
Serena Williams did it again, didn't give enough credit to her victorious opponent (i.e. Svetlana Kuznetsova). It's like she can't help herself, and that's a shame. Here are two exchanges from her press conference:

Question: She made it very hard for you to come back, didn't she in the third set? It was so close.

Serena: Yeah, I made it hard for myself a lot, too, more than anything.

Question: So what would you have done differently in this match?

Serena: Well, um, I think I started out a little slow and, you know, I wasn't trying to, but I did, I got down a double break. Maybe I could have won the first set, and then maybe I could have won the second.

"In the third I had an opportunity and I got really tight, and I pretty much gave it to her. It was like, Here, you know, do you want to go to the semis? Because I don't. She was like, Okay."