PARIS – JUNE 07: Ana Ivanovic of Serbia kisses the trophy following her victory during the women’s singles final match against Dinara Safina of Russia on day fourteen of the French Open at Roland Garros on June 7, 2008 in Paris, France. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

The last week has been a bit dreary. After a day of sunshine we went back to our old routine of gray skies and intermittent showers, followed by longer stoppages of play as the rain increased. Too bad, there were some really good matches sprinkled amongst the rain drops. Miraculously we made it through to the finals as scheduled.

Saturday was the women’s final between the young Serbian Ana Ivanovic and the Russian Dinara Safina. I really thought Dinara was playing strong enough that she would be able to overpower Ana but she prevailed. What a nice ending for Ana avenging her loss in the final last year to become the first Serbian woman to take home a grand slam title.

Sunday was a different story. And I have to admit I was a bit surprised and disappointed by the outcome. Rafael Nadal of Spain played Roger Federer of Switzerland. Strike that- Rafael Nadal walloped Roger Federer. He destroyed him. It was an hour and a half drubbing. I was really looking forward to the match up and fair enough Rafa played a perfect game but I really expected more from Roger. I think the Coupe des Mousquetaires trophy may one that eludes him.

And wouldn’t you know it, the sun actually popped out of the clouds for match point. I guess the story does have a happy ending. And no, I have no idea why he bites the trophy.

PARIS – JUNE 08: Rafael Nadal of Spain bites the trophy following his victory during the men’s singles final match against Roger Federer of Switzerland on day fifteen of the French Open at Roland Garros on June 8, 2008 in Paris, France. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Digg This!   Tweet This!   Share on Facebook   Stumble It!

PARIS – MAY 28: Maria Sharapova of Russia serves during the Women’s Singles first round match against Eygeniya Rodina of Russia on day four of the French Open at Roland Garros on May 28, 2008 in Paris, France. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

What a difference the sun makes!

Photographing tennis on the orange clay of Roland Garros is awesome, especially when the sun is shining. The orange color saturates really well. It is the perfect palette. The players literally jump off the background. The shadows are beautiful. So are the swirls and streaks in the clay created as the match carries on.

The weather is warm. The play is good. Our editor is happy…

But what also makes the French Open so incredible to cover is the French attitude toward photography, which they hold in high regard. The Federation Francaise de Tennis, the FFT, has gone to great lengths to create desireable photo positions. They are well aware of the aesthetic nature of their venue as well as the need to document the tournament for posterity. I have a tremendous amount of respect for the organization of the French Open.

A friend of mine, a fellow American, summed it up best when he stated that it is impossible to look at any event in the US the same way ever again, after working at Roland Garros. Here, the photographer is truly spoiled.

PARIS – MAY 30: Michael Llodra of France celebrates his victory during the Men’s Singles third round match against Simone Bolelli of Italy on day six of the French Open at Roland Garros on May 30, 2008 in Paris, France. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Digg This!   Tweet This!   Share on Facebook   Stumble It!

PARIS – MAY 27: Rain delays play on day three of the French Open at Roland Garros on May 27, 2008 in Paris, France. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Rain. Play was suspended again for most of the day with only an hour or so played in the afternoon.

Hey, you’re in Paris, so do a little sightseeing! Nope. When play is suspended, verses being cancelled outright, you cannot leave the venue. You try and find anything to do to kill time. Shoot a few weather features. Walk through the gift shop for the tenth time. Pester the editor. You get the idea. And there is absolutely no place comfortable to sit at a sporting event.

But I could be sitting in an office somewhere. Life is good.

Digg This!   Tweet This!   Share on Facebook   Stumble It!

PARIS – MAY 27: A lone fan waits in hope that the rain will stop and play will start on day three of the French Open at Roland Garros on May 27, 2008 in Paris, France. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

It was very flat light today. Overcast. Even worse it started to rain in the afternoon. Tournaments played on clay differ from their counterparts played on a hard surface or grass in that if is not raining too heavy, play will continue. In fact, in dry weather conditions, clay courts are watered between matches, sometimes between sets, to maintain their playability.

The world number one Roger Federer made it through to the next round at the expense of the young American Sam Querrey. I was there for Sam’s first career win in Las Vegas a few months ago and he is a really nice kid. Too bad he received such an unlucky draw in the tournament bracket. I was hoping he would make it further.

The rain finally became too much and play was cancelled later in the afternoon.

Digg This!   Tweet This!   Share on Facebook   Stumble It!

PARIS – MAY 26: Roger Federer of Switzerland serves during the Men’s Singles first round match against Sam Querrey of USA on day two of the French Open at Roland Garros on May 26, 2008 in Paris, France. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Greetings my name is Matthew Stockman and I am a photographer for Getty Images based in Louisville, Kentucky. At present I am in Paris covering the French Open tennis event held at Roland Garros, the second of the four major Grand Slam tournaments. I will be blogging to you throughout the tournament.

There is no ‘I’ in team of course. I am joined my colleagues Mike Hewitt, Julian Finney and Justin Davies all from our London office. Fine bunch of lads as they say in their country and I have had the pleasure of working with them before at other international events.

Day 1, Sunday? Normally tournaments start play on Monday. The Sunday trend started a few years ago here and it has remained. It is my guess the eventually all the Grand Slams will start on the Sunday. There is a lot of tennis to be played over the next two weeks and to be honest we were all ready to get it underway. I’m sure the players are too.

I’ll catch up with you once things get started…

Digg This!   Tweet This!   Share on Facebook   Stumble It!

August came to a close this year in New York and in the sports world that means only one thing. The U.S Open is about to start!!!

This year, like every other year for the past few decades staffers and stringers for Getty Images have converged on the USTA Tennis Center in Flushing, Queens with one thing in mind. Do what we do best, make pictures at the United States’ biggest and baddest tennis event.

For those of you not familiar with the U.S. Open, it is 14 days of tennis at one of the sports most famous venues (maybe not the MOST famous but one of them!). The U.S Open isn’t just about the tennis, it is also a showcase for New York and the stands are usually filled with many A-list celeberities.

Below are some behind the scenes pics of the event and also some link to a multimedia piece I put together.

Wait for it Clive wait for it!!!!!

Any chance????

Down here dude!

May I see your ticket sir?

Only four more sets………………

Jonathan and wife Debbie, adjust to their new surroundings.

Trust me it looks WAY bigger on TV.

Victorious!!!

Sometimes it takes a village!! (not pictured Elsa, Jim and Janey)

If you’d liked to see what an event like the U.S. Open does to a person over 14 days please click the image below.

(Make sure to turn up your volume)

To view all of the images posted from this years U.S. Open click here

Digg This!   Tweet This!   Share on Facebook   Stumble It!

Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

As Will Smith said, “Welcome to Miami.”

It’s day nine here at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Florida but just day two without rain. Rain has made for some tough times here on the island of Key Biscayne but hasn’t prevented the team of four photographers from making some nice images.

The first week’s roster of Getty Images photographers nearly contained a Grand Slam with experience and location. With Clive Brunskill (from the home of Wimbledon), Chris McGrath (from the home of the Aussie Open) and Matthew Stockman (from the home of the U.S. Open) the staff had plenty of tennis knowledge to maneuver the 12 different courts here at Camden Park. The first couple days of a tennis tournament are always hard because with a draw containing both 96 men and women plus 64 doubles teams there is just a lot of cover.

Chris McGrath/Getty Images

The first couple days our crew typically had to cover up to 25 matches in one day meaning timing and speed is everything. So when the rain came – typically around noon everyday – the delays would throw off the entire schedule preventing our photographers from being able to hop around to the matches they were assigned to making it even more difficult.

Unlike other sports such as baseball, cricket and golf, where you also can’t play in the rain, the difference with tennis is that once it rains you need to wait until the courts are dry because the court can become very slick. Each rain delay would cost us nearly an hour and just about when the court would dry the rain would come lashing down again.

The other problem with rain is clouds. A cloudy day in tennis is nearly as bad as rain due to the lack of the natural light from the sun.

Chris McGrath/Getty Images

However, some good tennis is still being played and now that we are on to the later rounds some of the match-ups are becoming exciting. Today alone we had Maria Sharapova take on Serena Williams along with Andy Roddick, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Justine Henin also play in Stadium Court.

Let’s hope that tomorrow brings more good matches and sun.

Digg This!   Tweet This!   Share on Facebook   Stumble It!