Iraq Is Hot Topic as French Open Begins

P A R I S , May 18, 2004 -- On the day his son was accepting a graduate degree from an American university, aFrench history teacher was playing tennis with a visiting sportswriter from New York.

The 2004 French Open was on their agenda (qualifyingrounds began today with nine Americans seeking to gainthe main men's draw, which begins on Monday). Therewere lots of jokes about the two men's playingabilities.

But as they stroked the ball back and forth,their conversation drifted to the U.S. occupation ofIraq and the strain in relations between their twocountries.

"It's a complicated matter," said Xavier Liacre,who teaches ancient and contemporary history at alycée, or high school, near Paris's LuxembourgGardens.

"I don't say it's a bad thing to get rid ofSaddam Hussein," he said after the two men rallied formore than an hour on the distinctive red clay courts,"but [in a manner] like this — I don't know."

Where Sports and Geopolitics Intersect

In two hours at a tennis club in Paris, anAmerican hears more anxiety about the presence ofAmerican troops in Iraq than concern about who willwin the national tennis championship (only oneFrenchman and one Frenchwoman have won the title in 21years).

To be sure, Iraq is a distant sideshow tointernational tennis's second Grand Slam of the year(Australia was first, in January; Wimbledon is next,in June; and the U.S. Open is last, in September).

But sports and geopolitics never stray far aparttoday. The American dilemma in Iraq forms a backdropfor the international tennis tour, just as it does forthe summer Olympics — witness the anxiety over thesecurity and behavior of the U.S. basketball teamheaded to Athens.

As it happens, the 2004 French Open men's finalfalls on June 6, the 60th anniversary of D-Day, whenAmericans and their allies liberated France. With theFrench freed from Nazi rule, relations were far morecordial between the two governments.