PARIS -- Rafael Nadals path to a record-extending ninth French Open title could take him through a series of matches against the men who beat him on clay this season. James Wisniewski Jersey . The top-seeded Nadal was drawn Friday to possibly face No. 21 Nicolas Almagro in the fourth round, then No. 5 David Ferrer in the quarterfinals. "Those are opponents that know how to play well on clay," Nadal said. "But its never easy." The other mens quarterfinal matchups could be No. 2 Novak Djokovic vs. No. 8 Milos Raonic, No. 3 Stan Wawrinka vs. No. 7 Andy Murray, and No. 4 Roger Federer vs. No. 6 Tomas Berdych. The possible womens quarterfinals are No. 1 Serena Williams vs. No. 7 Maria Sharapova in what would be a rematch of last years final won by Williams, No. 2 Li Na vs. No. 6 Jelena Jankovic, No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska vs. No. 8 Angelique Kerber, and No. 4 Simona Halep vs. No. 5 Petra Kvitova. Ferrer, who lost to Nadal in the 2013 final at Roland Garros, upset him in the Monte Carlo quarterfinals last month. Almagro ended Nadals 41-match winning streak in Barcelona by beating him in the quarterfinals there a week later. Those defeats were both in best-of-three-set matches. The French Open, like all Grand Slam tournaments, uses a best-of-five format for men, and Nadal was asked Friday whether that gives him an advantage on clay. "I give my most every point, every game, every set. Whether its (best of) three or five, if you want to win, you have to play well," he said. Nadal has three losses on clay in a season for the first time since 2004, when he was only 17 and had yet to play a match at the French Open. He was beaten in the Rome final last weekend by Djokovic; they only could meet in the final in Paris. Djokovic has won the pairs last four meetings, but Nadal is 5-0 head-to-head at the French Open, including victories in the 2012 final and 2013 semifinals. Djokovic, a six-time major champion who needs a French Open title to complete a career Grand Slam, and Federer, owner of a record 17 major titles, were drawn to meet in the semifinals. Nadal, who stands third among men with 13 Grand Slam trophies, could meet Australian Open champion Wawrinka in the semifinals. Nadal is 59-1 for his career at the French Open, with four titles in a row in 2005-08 and again in 2010-13. Williams won the clay-court Grand Slam tournament in 2002, beating her older sister Venus in the final, then waited 11 years before adding a second French Open trophy in 2013. The Williams sisters were drawn Friday to face each other in the third round, which would be their earliest meeting at a Grand Slam tournament since their very first matchup, in the second round of the 1998 Australian Open. Venus is seeded 29th at the French Open. Shes won seven Grand Slam singles titles, 10 fewer than Serena, who holds a 14-10 edge in head-to-head matches. "It never gets easier," Serena said. "Shes essentially the love of my life, so its definitely difficult." Scott Hartnell Blue Jackets Jersey . When you think teams you imagine a group of people who all shop at the same jersey store and move together in a large pack with a common goal, which is usually scoring goals. But at these Olympic Games the idea of becoming a team in figure skating makes perfect sense because of a new event called, shockingly, the Team Event. Sergei Bobrovsky Authentic Jersey . Grabner scored on a breakaway 3:53 into overtime as the Islanders defeated the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 on Tuesday.As a fun NHL Draft exercise, I decided to go through each NHL team and re-configure their rosters, only allowing teams to include players that were drafted by the team. In order to keep the roster numbers up, those that were undrafted free agents were included with the teams for which they played their first NHL games. Take it easy, agents. This isnt about removing trades or free agency -- those are some of my favourite parts of the game too -- but its about how teams identify and secure talent and which teams have done these things more effectively. As you can see, by looking through these hypoethetical depth charts, there are teams that have provided a disproportionate number of the players throughout the league. Certainly, some teams have had and used more draft picks than other teams, so thats part of the reason why they bring so much more talent into the league, but theres probably a lesson to be gleaned from that as well. Take the defence picks of the Montreal Canadiens and Nashville Predators, for example. The Canadiens could, theoretically, have a defence that includes Ryan McDonagh, Francois Beauchemin, Mark Streit, Stephane Robidas and Ron Hainsey in addition to the guys they kept -- P.K. Subban, Andrei Markov, Alexei Emelin (could have included Francis Bouillon and Mike Komisarek, too). Nashville has done very well on the blueline, drafting Shea Weber, Ryan Suter, Dan Hamhuis, Roman Josi, Seth Jones, Cody Franson, Kevin Klein and Ryan Ellis (as well as Mattias Ekholm and signing Victor Bartley). On the other hand, there are teams that have had a hard time bringing in defencemen, like the Philadelphia Flyers, who have preferred (or been forced) to acquire their defencemen through other means. Dennis Seidenberg and Joni Pitkanen are the two best active NHL defencemen that the Flyers have drafted and Pitkanen missed all of last season due to injury while Seidenberg missed half the year. Of course, the Flyers have had brought in (and subsequently let go) some serious talent up front, including Patrick Sharp, Justin Williams, Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, among others, but their hypoethetical forward depth chart is impressive. Sometimes, circumstances have made it that a team doesnt need to draft at a position. Think of the Boston Bruins goaltending situation recently, carried by Tuukka Rask (acquired in trade) and, before him, Tim Thomas (a Quebec Nordiques draft pick!), so -- at least prior to drafting Malcolm Subban in the first round -- the Bruins havent brought in a lot of blue-chippers in net. By contrast, the Toronto Maple Leafs have had Rask, James Reimer and Ben Scrivens, or the Washington Capitals, who have had Semyon Varlamov, Braden Holtby and Michal Neuvirth through their system. A few quick obserrvations: - Some lean resuls in Columbus, where they barely have an NHL centre aside from Ryan Johansen and Derick Brassard. Brian Gibbons Authentic Jersey. - Tons of depth with Detroit, particularly after making call-ups this year. Joakim Andersson and Luke Glendening, who played regularly for the Wings this year, didnt crack the five-deep depth chart. - Crazy depth in Ottawa too, where so many forwards -- Marian Hossa, Martin Havlat, Daniel Alfredsson, Antoine Vermette, Brooks Laich, Jakob Silfverberg -- have moved on to other teams. - A few other rules of this "what if?" game: I allowed players that were drafted twice to be used by both organizations, so look out for Jarret Stoll playing both sides in the Battle of Alberta! - The Edmonton Oilers come by their defensive woes honestly. Theyve drafted four active NHL defencemen, including Martin Marincin and Oskar Klefbom, rookies they called up last season. - Using the Atlanta Thrashers and Winnipeg Jets franchise doesnt yield much up front, especially with Ilya Kovalchuk gone to Russia. Bryan Little, Evander Kane, Mark Scheifele, then who was the fourth-best forward in 2013-2014 that was drafted by this franchise? Patrick Dwyer? Dany Heatley? The story is better on defence and in net. Using only players that played in the NHL in the 2013-2014 season, I came up with rosters (Maple Leafs example below) that you can see by clicking here. TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS LW C RW Alexander Steen Nazem Kadri Brad Boyes Jiri Tlusty Tyler Bozak Nikolai Kulemin Viktor Stalberg Matt Stajan Jimmy Hayes Jerry DAmigo John Mitchell Matt Frattin Josh Leivo Spencer Abbott Shawn Thornton D D G Carl Gunnarsson Anton Stralman Tuukka Rask Morgan Rielly Luke Schenn James Reimer Carlo Colaiacovo Jay Harrison Ben Scrivens Jean-Philippe Cote Mike Kostka Jonas Gustavsson Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. wholesale nfl jerseyscheap jerseys from china ' ' '
