Is Nadal the favorite?

Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten collected three French Open titles between 1997 and 2001. AP

Jon, when you predicted an over/under of 10 retirements for the men's draw and 12 retirements for the women, what do you think about the fact that there was only one retirement in either draw, especially considering that both happened to lesser ranked players in the first round?

-- Matthew, Toronto

• Good observation. I think the rainy, cool conditions had a lot to do with it. And we could cynically point out that with Tsonga, Gasquet, Roddick, et al non-starters, the injury bug bit in other ways. But, yes, as Matthew notes, there were strikingly few withdrawals and retirements in Paris. (Remember, just two years ago, there was a retirement in the semifinal round!) Guess we'll see at Wimbledon if this was an aberrant result or, happily, the start of an era of improved health.

Do you think an in-his-prime Gustavo Kuerten would have beaten Nadal at Roland Garros or even taken a set or two off of him?

-- Jay Arias, Brooklyn, N.Y.

• A set or two? Yes. Beat? No. With the possible exception of Federer at Wimbledon, I've never seen a male player run through a draw the way Nadal did in Paris. Play this match out in your head. In their primes, Nadal is probably a better mover, plays more aggressively, serves as well, and has the lefty thing. 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 is my scoreline.

Hey, Jon. You are the only one who can help me. I just got married and my wife is a total tennis novice. I am having an incredibly tough time explaining to her the scoring system. I always thought that the tennis scoring system is absolutely beautiful. I am not so sure now because no matter what I tell my wife, she finds a glitch. Obviously, individual games are the toughest to explain. Why do you get 15 points for each point won? Why does it go to 40 from 30 and not 45? I have no answer to those except saying, "well that's the way it is" and she comes back with, "well that doesn't make any sense at all." Then the sets -- why were the French games best of 5 and the Queens best of 3? I had to explain her the concept of slams vs. the lower level tournaments. Then there was the tie break. Imagine what's going to happen when we watch a 5th set at Wimbledon when it's 6-all. No doubt she's going to ask, "why aren't they playing a tie-break?"

So you see my issue. Is there an easy way to explain the tennis scoring system?

-- Kiran, Louisville

• I like your tactics. The spin is that tennis' quirks are part of the charm. It's like learning a secret code. If matches would be played in four 15-minute quarters and the scoring went 1,2,3,4, game, any imbecile could grasp it. A friend of mine recently remarked that, "Tennis is for the kids who took Latin." This is a good example.

Anyway, I think you're powerless to explain some of the vagaries. (Why is Nadal playing in England, Federer in Germany and Davydenko -- on clay! -- in Poland?) On the other hand, here's what I did with my son: "15=1, 30=2, 40=3. Game =4. But you have to win by two. So if it's 40-40 you need to win two points to win the game!" Good luck. And, if you run into trouble, I feel duty-bound to let you know that my wife is a divorce mediator.

How about some kudos for Andy Murray's spoken word performance, as quoted in today's [June 6] SI:

I woke up this morning,

couldn't pick up my pillow,

I was struggling to pick up my phone,

Came down here and tried to practice,

hit some balls.

I could hit the ball decent,

but I couldn't hit a backhand volley,

and slicing was very sore.

-- Allen Chan, Newark, Calif.

• His tennis career might be stalling. But on the plus side, there's a lyricist job awaiting him Nashville, Tennessee.

Given the scoreline of her loss this week, I think Nicole Vaidisova deserves a WTHIGOW? So, WTHIGOW Nicole Vaidisova? Cheers!

-- Desmond Fisher, Cobble Hill, British Columbia

• Let the record reflect that Vaidisova -- hailed not long ago as the next Sharapova -- mustered just three games in a defeat to Bethanie Mattek. It's all in the head.

Why not some praise for Thomaz Bellucci, who faced Nadal in the first round and ended up being the player who gave him the biggest work out, breaking him three times and winning nine games (only Djokovic managed more). This kid is special, and this year went from the 200 group to number 67 in the world (he would have started earlier, but injuries hindered him). He also won three challengers in a row this year, and took out Berdych in front of his home crowd in an event last month. I'd watch him.

-- Eduardo Gigante, Sao Paulo, Brazil

• Agree. Watch the first set of Nadal's first match and it was probably his rockiest patch of the entire tournament.