Amelie won the diamond racquet for keeps after winning the Proximus Diamond Tournament in Antwerp Belgium in February. She won the tournament 3 years in a row beating Clijsters in the final. She also beat Clijsters in last year's final in front of her home crowd (very very noisy crowd as well). The site of her holding the diamond racquet is on her website.
She had her appendix removed just before Miami this year after complaining of stomach pains. So it will be a while before she gets back to her best. I saw her lose the Strasbourg final to Anabel Medina Garrigues in 3 sets yesterday.
LIke most, if not all French players, Amelie's best surface is grass - so defending her Wimbledon title will be a real indication of her form, if she could get to the semifinal then she still has a good future for the rest of the year.
Ironic isn't it that beside the French Open been played in Paris, down the years the likes of Pioline, Grosjean, Mauresmo, Guy Forget, Natalie Tauziat, Nicholas Escude and even young Gasquet have all posted better grass results. And also France defeated Australia in Australia in 2001 on grass when they had Rafter, Hewiit, Wayne Arthurs (not sure Phillipousis played that frinal). The French are shotmakers and prefer quicker surfaces.
