French Open 2016

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Federer has withdrawn from RG. First Slam he's missed since US Open 1999.

RosyLily

Roland Garros kicks off on Sunday. Coverage on ITV4 and Eurosport.

whiterebel

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Federer has withdrawn from RG. First Slam he's missed since US Open 1999.

Billhooks. Not that he was going to win it, like.....:(

Floppybits

Monfils has pulled out also.

Halloween Jack

Nadal and Djokovic on the same side, Murray, wawrinka and nishikori on the other in men's draw

yerwanthere123

Murray is probably the favourite to the make the final from the bottom half.. never thought I'd be saying that.

Women's draw is top heavy, shame Serena and Azarenka will probably meet in the QF's.

Floppybits

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Murray is probably the favourite to the make the final from the bottom half.. never thought I'd be saying that.

Women's draw is top heavy, shame Serena and Azarenka will probably meet in the QF's.

Stan is the unkonwn element in Murray's half of the draw. It all depends on whether Stan can be arsed when he turns up.

lostcat

Best draw Djokovic has got here in a while, nadal has a couple of tricky rounds and the other half is also tricky enough.
Don't think anyone can have too many complaints.

daithi7

Hi Folks,

Thinking of heading over to Paris next weekend for the French Open from Friday to Sunday. It's a last minute thing but we've no tickets yet. By any chance would someone know the best way to get tickets at late notice, or even better have some for sale?

2 tickets for any of the major courts would be ideal. I've tried on line but they are seriously marked up from the list price now.

Thanks in advance

cowboyBuilder

French Open: Could Andy Murray be the new King of Clay?
http://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/36330267

Jesus the BBC are such sycophants with that headline ???
Yes BBC he's the new king of clay cos be won Rome masters ... F&ck off - when he wins 3 French opens in a row say he's a king of clay - untill then STFU !!
Times like this I even wish Nadal would crush him ...

Floppybits

Kyrgios got a code violation yesterday for shouting "towel" at the ball kid. Seems a bit over the top maybe a quiet word at the change of ends.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/22/tennis/french-open-kyrgios-row-kvitova/

On the subject of the towels I don't think they should be allowed to have the towel at the back of the court. Its nothing but a delaying tactic.

josip

Floppybits wrote: »

Kyrgios got a code violation yesterday for shouting "towel" at the ball kid. Seems a bit over the top maybe a quiet word at the change of ends.

Perhaps he should have shouted "serviette" instead?

Floppybits

Bit of a disastrous start to the French open with the bad weather

RosyLily

Hopefully they'll get today's schedule completed. Have been cursed with bad weather so far. And the doubles draws are out so loads of tennis!

Stan Wawrinka vs. Lukas "Nobody likes you on the tour" Rosol on Chatrier.

Floppybits

Rosol taken Wawrinka to 5 sets. Wawrinka serving for the match now.

RosyLily

Wawrinka comes through 4-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. He plays Daniel next after Klizan retired in the 5th set of their match. Muguruza also through after a tough one against Schmiedlova. She was terrible for some of the match...the serve went off the boil at times. Dimitrov looks to be on the way out; he's 0-3 down in the final set against Troicki.

whiterebel

Dimitrov out, as are Errani and Lisicki. Good match between Stan and Rosol.

RosyLily

Lisicki had a good run of getting to the later stages at Wimbledon and the French Open. She's dropped off since losing the Wimbledon final to Bartoli. A pity - I like watching her play.

Mint Sauce

GBs Heather Watson through to 2nd Rd and also qualified for Rio. Hopefully get to see some of Murray today.

Rjd2

Awkward.

https://twitter.com/Nikecourt/status/734053660049580032

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Rjd2 wrote: »

Awkward.

https://twitter.com/Nikecourt/status/734053660049580032

I saw that during the week, what a stupid move by Nike. He's been getting consistently worse and dropping down the rankings at an alarming rate. Plenty of other athletes on their books they could be pushing.

Rjd2

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

I saw that during the week, what a stupid move by Nike. He's been getting consistently worse and dropping down the rankings at an alarming rate. Plenty of other athletes on their books they could be pushing.

But not as attractive. :P

Or so I have been told:o

Chivito550

daithi7 wrote: »

Hi Folks,

Thinking of heading over to Paris next weekend for the French Open from Friday to Sunday. It's a last minute thing but we've no tickets yet. By any chance would someone know the best way to get tickets at late notice, or even better have some for sale?

2 tickets for any of the major courts would be ideal. I've tried on line but they are seriously marked up from the list price now.

Thanks in advance

I'm heading over myself. You needed to be on the ball and organised the morning they went on sale in March. They were all gone in a few hours. All the good ones even quicker. No tickets are sold at the venue, so you'd probably be relying on scalpers or getting lucky. Not sure it's worth the trip over for that. Get yourself organised next year and do it properly.

paulie21

Murray 2 sets down

RosyLily

Murray bags the 3rd set 6-0 and is opening serve in the 4th. Probably about 30 mins of light left in Paris.

Mattek-Sands out, beaten by Begu. Cilic beaten by Trungelliti 7-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

cowboyBuilder

Surprised the new King of Clay Muray was taken to 5 sets ...

josip

cowboyBuilder wrote: »

Surprised the new King of Clay Muray was taken to 5 sets ...

Might still be over in 4

lostcat

cowboyBuilder wrote: »

Surprised the new King of Clay Muray was taken to 5 sets ...

Stepanek can be an extremely awkward customer on occasion in fairness..

Murrays might also be taking a few notes from the recent djokovic tournament playbook:

1. improve serve
2. rope-a-dope through the early rounds (using improved serve to dig out of any holes)
3. profit at business end of tournament

justback83

Was watching Radwanska v jovanovski yesterday for a while. Your wan Jovanovski had a sight of make up on her! She looked like she was out last night and didn't have a shower!

cowboyBuilder

I know, It was sarcasm toward the BBCs new label of King of Clay for Andy Murray

RobertKK

Doesn't Stepanek become the oldest winner of a men's match at Roland Garros if he beats Murray?

cowboyBuilder

RobertKK wrote: »

Doesn't Stepanek become the oldest winner of a men's match at Roland Garros if he beats Murray?

Good question ... he won't win though

Anyway, Nadal destroying Groth ... Ominous ... roll on grass court season ..

Floppybits

Murray wins 7-5 in the fifth.

RosyLily

Kerber out...there goes the possibility of a calendar GS.:pac: Bacsinszky vs. Bouchard could be a good 2nd round match. They've played once before, in IW, with Timea winning in 3.

RosyLily

Not looking good for Victoria Azarenka against Karin Knapp. She seems to have tweaked her knee at 3-3 in the second set and has hampered her movement. Knapp is now serving for the win at 5-4.

justback83

RosyLily wrote: »

Not looking good for Victoria Azarenka against Karin Knapp. She seems to have tweaked her knee at 3-3 in the second set and has hampered her movement. Knapp is now serving for the win at 5-4.

Not a bother on her now all of a sudden. Can't stand when they start this carry on. Serena's the same.

RosyLily

Probably got painkillers from the doctor. Going to a 3rd.

The Adidas zebra print kit is awful!! H+M had better stuff on Berdych.

Heather Watson playing Svetlana Kuznetsova first on Court 2 tomorrow. Could be a good match.

justback83

RosyLily wrote: »

Probably got painkillers from the doctor. Going to a 3rd.

The Adidas zebra print kit is awful!! H+M had better stuff on Berdych.

Heather Watson playing Svetlana Kuznetsova first on Court 2 tomorrow. Could be a good match.

She's carrying on again now, always found her to be a very strange girl...!

whiterebel

Kevin Andersen gone, 18th seed. Bouchard through.

_Bella_

RosyLily wrote: »

Heather Watson playing Svetlana Kuznetsova first on Court 2 tomorrow. Could be a good match.

I'm not sure if it's just the fact that I mainly watch tennis on BBC/ITV but I really enjoy watching Heather.

Hasn't been too good start for the top women seeds with Muguruzu playing terribly and Azarenka and Kerber out. It's hard to see who is going to challenge Serena really.

Floppybits

RosyLily wrote: »

Probably got painkillers from the doctor. Going to a 3rd.

The Adidas zebra print kit is awful!! H+M had better stuff on Berdych.

Heather Watson playing Svetlana Kuznetsova first on Court 2 tomorrow. Could be a good match.

Adidas have been putting out some awful crap the last year or so. I wonder if this is why Murray legged it to UnderArmour when he seen this muck.

Who their right mind thinks that zebra crap is nice?

RosyLily

Another 5 set win for Murray. Probably hoping for a shorter match next! Simon down 2 sets to 1 against Pella. Going to a 4th set TB now.

Chivito550

Alright folks, I'm on Chatrier on Friday. So who on the men's side am I likely to see. Surely Gasquet V Kyrgios is a definite for Chatrier given home interest? I'd love a match with a bit of partisan home support, and Kyrgios is a headcase so he could get under the skin of the locals.

Other high profile matches on the bottom half of the draw are Murray V Karlovic, Wawrinka V Chardy, and Nishikori V Verdasco. I'd prefer the Murray match of those three.

Thoughts?

Rjd2

Chivito550 wrote: »

Alright folks, I'm on Chatrier on Friday. So who on the men's side am I likely to see. Surely Gasquet V Kyrgios is a definite for Chatrier given home interest? I'd love a match with a bit of partisan home support, and Kyrgios is a headcase so he could get under the skin of the locals.

Other high profile matches on the bottom half of the draw are Murray V Karlovic, Wawrinka V Chardy, and Nishikori V Verdasco. I'd prefer the Murray match of those three.

Thoughts?

Think Gasquet has asked for games not to be on Chatrier previously, and yes I am serious. However its the absolute pick of matches, so you may be lucky.

Chardy been French against defending champion is likely as well.

Chivito550

Rjd2 wrote: »

Think Gasquet has asked for games not to be on Chatrier previously, and yes I am serious. However its the absolute pick of matches, so you may be lucky.

Chardy been French against defending champion is likely as well.

You serious? And does he get away with that request? Why does he want to avoid Chatrier? If he has ambitions of going far he can't avoid it forever.

RosyLily

I'd imagine Chardy vs. Wawrinka could be on Chatrier. Maybe Murray vs. Karlovic, Nishikori vs. Verdasco. On the women's side, Halep vs. Osaka, Stosur vs. Safarova or Wickmayer vs. Muguruza.

Halloween Jack

Floppybits wrote: »

Adidas have been putting out some awful crap the last year or so. I wonder if this is why Murray legged it to UnderArmour when he seen this muck.

Who their right mind thinks that zebra crap is nice?

In fairness if you can get six figures, you'll wear whatever they tell you to

Think Murray has scuppered his chances at this tournament, regardless how he plays from here on in, even at his best you'd fancy nishikori or wawrinka to give him a thorough examination and you know for a fact the other finalist from the other side of the draw will be fresher

lostcat

Halloween Jack wrote: »

Think Murray has scuppered his chances at this tournament, regardless how he plays from here on in, even at his best you'd fancy nishikori or wawrinka to give him a thorough examination and you know for a fact the other finalist from the other side of the draw will be fresher

not seem much of this so far, is murray playing muck or are his opponents having an 'in the zone' day?

he's sailing close to the wind in any case...

Floppybits

lostcat wrote: »

not seem much of this so far, is murray playing muck or are his opponents having an 'in the zone' day?

he's sailing close to the wind in any case...

Stepnek who he played in the first round was in the zone as they say. Today don't know what it was probably a combination of murray loosing concentration after the first set and the French lad just going for everything.

RosyLily

lostcat wrote: »

not seem much of this so far, is murray playing muck or are his opponents having an 'in the zone' day?

IMO, a little from column A and a little from column B. I'd lean more towards the opponents zoning and playing out of their skin. Karlovic next for Murray....less running I imagine!:pac:

A part of me wants Djokovic to win the French in a similar vein to Agassi. Near the end of the road, no one expecting much then wham, full set of Slams! Ah I love a good sporting fairytale!!:D

Rjd2

RosyLily wrote: »

IMO, a little from column A and a little from column B. I'd lean more towards the opponents zoning and playing out of their skin. Karlovic next for Murray....less running I imagine!:pac:

I'd disagree, Radek was in superb form, but today Murray was simply to cautious, and his serving was comically bad. Bourgue was on form, but really he should have been put away with little fuss.

Murray has been a shambles so far.

Chivito550 wrote: »

You serious? And does he get away with that request? Why does he want to avoid Chatrier? If he has ambitions of going far he can't avoid it forever.

I imagine he has played it on before, but he did request a few years ago not to, its Richard, best not to overthink him:pac: