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Borg, Moya back Nadal 4-peat

PARIS: Bjorn Borg believes Rafael Nadal will storm into the history books at the French Open and join him as the only man to rack up four successive Roland Garros titles.

Borg, who performed the feat from 1978-1981, is not the only former champion expecting another Paris cruise for the formidable 21-year-old Spaniard.

Nadal's compatriot Carlos Moya believes that, barring injury, his countryman already has his name on the Coupe des Mousquetaires for the fourth time.

"Nadal looks extremely confident, extremely strong on the clay even right now, so that's definitely the guy to beat for Paris," Borg told ESPN. "If he's as good as he looks right now and is going to continue, and stay away from injuries and be motivated, it's going to be tough to beat him at the French."

Moya, the French Open champion in 1998, believes Nadal, with 108 wins in his last 110 clay-court matches, has both the physical and mental edge over his rivals including Federer, whom he has beaten in eight of their nine meetings on the surface.

"You have to concentrate," Moya said. "You just have to survive all the problems that come at you, it's like tennis' equivalent of a marathon."

Bhupathi rules out Paes reunion

NEW DELHI: Mahesh Bhupathi dealt a blow to India's hopes of winning a tennis medal at the Beijing Olympics on Wednesday, when he appeared to rule out a reunion with former doubles partner Leander Paes.

Paes and Bhupathi won three Grand Slam doubles titles in 1999 before parting ways a year later, and the two have a stormy relationship.

Earlier this year, Bhupathi joined a revolt against Paes by two players who said they had lost faith in the Davis Cup captain.

"I'd like to play the Olympics for two reasons: winning for India and enjoying the experience. I don't think either will happen playing with Leander without preparation," the Times of India quoted Bhupathi as saying.

"We are not magicians. A medal will not happen just because we step on court."

Bhupathi also told the All-India Tennis Association (AITA) that he would prefer to partner with Davis Cup teammate Rohan Bopanna at the Olympics.

Els: Swing a work in progress

WENTWORTH, England: Ernie Els admits his swing is no better than average as he tries to fine-tune his game with new coach Butch Harmon.

Els, who plays in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth this week, turned to Harmon after opting to replace previous coach David Leadbetter, but the South African is still not completely happy with his revamped swing.

"Technically I got out of whack. When I started working with Butch I was probably a three out of 10," he said.

"I'm slowly getting up to maybe five or six now and hopefully by the second major (next month's US Open) I'll be up to seven and going forward.

"David is a great friend and we'd worked together for 18 years. It was tough to tell him I wanted to listen to somebody else for a while, but I'm glad he understood and that just shows you the character of the guy.

"I saw what Butch had done with Adam Scott. I think he's probably got the best swing in golf right now."

Bynum has knee surgery

LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles Lakers center Andrew Bynum had successful arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, the National Basketball Association team said on Wednesday.

The operation was performed by doctor David Altchek, who removed cartilage debris and smoothed some rough spots on the underside of the kneecap.

Bynum, 20, was hurt on January 13 in a home game against the Memphis Grizzlies.

Originally scheduled to miss eight to 12 weeks, Bynum didn't play again all season, missing the Lakers' run to the Western Conference finals, where they are taking on defending NBA champion San Antonio for a berth in the NBA Finals.

Bynum played in a total of 35 games this season, averaging a career best 13.1 points, 10.2 rebounds and 2.1 blocks. He is expected to make a complete recovery in time for training camp.

(China Daily 05/23/2008 page22)