French Open 2018

lostcat

hi entertainment for sure, it was the kind of match Djokovic would have scratched out that 2nd set tie breaker and probably won in 4 in a past life, misses on a few key shots will be hard to digest but he might be in better shape for Wimbledon if he plays.

We had never heard of Cecchinato, and will likely never hear of him again, but hey, thanks for the match of the tournament so far

jr86

I'd doubt Novak will bother with grass at all

Sadly he's terrible odds for the US Open or otherwise I'd be tempted. When you see Nadal's farcical draw last year anything could happen.

I don't think its been a terrible clay season for him really, privately I'd doubt he had any realistic ambitions to win anything, and he has improved as its gone on. I do think he can be a much bigger force come August

ATP getting very WTA-like now that the big 4 are all pushing on and guys like Berdych, Tsonga and Ferrer are past their pomp. cecchinato is the 6th first time slam semi-finalist since Wimbledon last year I believe

Floppybits

Muguruza giving Sharapova a hammering

Chivito550

Nadal just lost the first set 6-4.

jr86

From what I have seen of Rafa he definitely hasn't looked himself this fortnight, although I thought he may be consciously taking it a little easy against no-hopers in week 1

Think the same might have happened against ferrer in 2014 QF - he lost the first set and then came back and blew him away and then beat Murray in the semi and Djok in the final so I certainly wouldn't panic for him.

But if he has any sort of injury he could really struggle here as DS will chase down absolutely everything and make him play so many extra shots

yerwanthere123

Should be Muguruza's title to lose now, although no guarantee she'll get past Halep. Stephens would be a difficult finalist to face too, they've only played each other twice, and never on clay. I think if Garbine was having an off day Sloane could frustrate the hell out of her, but I'd still be confident she'd see it through. Halep would fancy her chances against Sloane as well, she's 5-2 against her, but I'm sure she'd still find a way to lose.

It'd be fascinating to see Muguruza win it again though, it'd be her 3rd slam and would overtake Azarenka, Kvitova and Li Na. And at a young 24 as well there'd be scope to win a few more. I'd also be interested to see how she'd respond at Wimbledon, she'd be in a totally different position than she was two years previously when she flopped to Cepelova, although she'd have the added pressure of being the defending champion.

Chivito550

Rain saves Rafa.

dominatinMC

jr86 wrote:

From what I have seen of Rafa he definitely hasn't looked himself this fortnight, although I thought he may be consciously taking it a little easy against no-hopers in week 1

jr86 wrote:

Think the same might have happened against ferrer in 2014 QF - he lost the first set and then came back and blew him away and then beat Murray in the semi and Djok in the final so I certainly wouldn't panic for him.

jr86 wrote:

But if he has any sort of injury he could really struggle here as DS will chase down absolutely everything and make him play so many extra shots

Agree, he hasn't looked anywhere close to last years level here. Don't think he's injured but simply isn't playing well (particularly in these conditions). Schwartzman is playing great stuff and I think he will win this (have a tenner on him at 15/1!)

yerwanthere123

judeboy101 wrote: »

why the ' ' around record?

Because she won seven Australian Open titles in the Amateur Era, in a time when most of the top players never made the journey to Australia. She also won most of those slams playing just five matches, in some cases four. Of course it's not her fault that nobody of worth showed up, and her results in the Open Era show that she'd clearly still be on of the greatest women to play the game, but there's no denying that her tally of 24 is grossly over-inflated.

lostcat

that's why Uncle Toni doesn't appear courtside any more, he needed a larger handheld device to control the weather due to the more complex weather patterns developing as a result of global warming, and it could have gotten a bit obvious....

Chivito550

Sneaky 25 on Rafa to win the tournament at 5/6. Could be the best odds we’ll see all tournament. A bit of an emotional hedge in case he does the unthinkable. There was no value at all up to now.

Chivito550

Chivito550 wrote: »

Sneaky 25 on Rafa to win the tournament at 5/6. Could be the best odds we’ll see all tournament. A bit of an emotional hedge in case he does the unthinkable. There was no value at all up to now.

Glad I jumped on that. Back to 4/9 and as you were.

ballyargus

Annoyed I didn't think of that!!

Rikand

That rain really took all the crease out of Schwartzmann's slacks!

jr86

Chivito550 wrote: »

Rain saves Rafa.

For the second time in two tournaments. I'm fully convinced Zverev had him beaten at Rome until the rain completely stopped his momentum, with Nadal reeling; and there's little hope Nadal was conceding only a handful of games in sets 2,3 and 4 if play kept going on yesterday

It is what it is but when a player who usually walks this tournament is all at sea and there is an actual sniff of an unlikely upset, its a shame for the neutral that a game can be completely stopped for a night where of course he'll come back re-charged and re-energised and romp home

Chivito550

jr86 wrote: »

For the second time in two tournaments. I'm fully convinced Zverev had him beaten at Rome until the rain completely stopped his momentum, with Nadal reeling; and there's little hope Nadal was conceding only a handful of games in sets 2,3 and 4 if play kept going on yesterday

It is what it is but when a player who usually walks this tournament is all at sea and there is an actual sniff of an unlikely upset, its a shame for the neutral that a game can be completely stopped for a night where of course he'll come back re-charged and re-energised and romp home

I hear ya. Though to be fair, he reeled off 4 games without reply yesterday after the first short rain delay.

In a way though, rain delays separate the men from the boys. A truly great player wouldn't let a stoppage faze them.

Frustrating for those of us wanting to see somebody else win at Roland Garros.

Nadal seems to struggle more in heavier conditions, but the flip side of that is that in those conditions you will get rain delays, so we can't have it both ways.

jr86

Well done on the bet by the way. I'd be amazed if Nadal didn't win it from here, so super odds!

Chivito550

jr86 wrote: »

Well done on the bet by the way. I'd be amazed if Nadal didn't win it from here, so super odds!

Opportunism at it's best.

Hopefully I'll lose the bet though.

yerwanthere123

Disappointed but unsurprised that Diego lost, when Nadal had the night to regroup there was only ever going to be one outcome.

Very intriguing men's SF lineup, Del Potro has the weapons to do the lord's work against Nadal, but he'll need to play well (obviously). Thiem could give Nadal a competitive final, but surely Lyon is going to catch up with him soon?

Think Muguruza will win this semi in three sets, hope it's a good match. I wouldn't be too upset about Sloane winning the whole thing, but I don't think it's a good luck for the game when a grand slam champion only wills themselves to care for a few tournaments a year? Although I don't complain when Wawrinka does it

A Muguruza-Keys final would actually be intriguing too. Muguruza would be the heavy, heavy favourite, but she's actually only 1-3 against Keys. Keys even won their sole meeting on clay back in Rome 2016.

yerwanthere123

Is Garbine really gonna get bagelled in a RG semi?!

NoviGlitzko

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Is Garbine really gonna get bagelled in a RG semi?!

Hell nah! Gabby is back baby! Just broken in the second set. Looks like she's settled her nerves finally.

Really hope she can dump Halep out of this. Seeing Gabby win this would soften the blow of the inevitability on the men's side.

yerwanthere123

Pretty straightforward for Halep in the end. If she doesn't win RG this time I don't think she ever will.

I'm expecting the next semi to be an easy straight sets win for Stephens, I imagine all she'll have to do is retrieve and wait for the wild Keys error to flow. Only way I can see Keys winning is if she goes lights out and all her shots are finding the lines.

Joe_ Public

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Pretty straightforward for Halep in the end. If she doesn't win RG this time I don't think she ever will.

I'm expecting the next semi to be an easy straight sets win for Stephens, I imagine all she'll have to do is retrieve and wait for the wild Keys error to flow. Only way I can see Keys winning is if she goes lights out and all her shots are finding the lines.

Looks like her time to me. Only dropped 2 sets to get to the final this time whereas in Melbourne she'd had two almighty battles to reach the final and that was the telling difference in the end there I think. You'd have to think the hard part is done for her but never any guarantees when you are seeking the elusive first Slam of course!

lostcat

I will be seriously bummed here if Del Potro loses due to an injury

ballyargus

So many break points, some squandered, some saved.

Rafa of course makes his chance count.

NoviGlitzko

The sooner this borefest tournament is over and we're onto grass the better. The commentators can put the 'What we are seeing here is something we may never see again in our lifetime' spin on Rafa's dominance on clay all they want but it so spectacularly never in doubt that it's been ruining the tournament (and surface) for many a year now. There's also feck all clay court specialists who have any weapons today that aren't injured/out of form. Thiem and that's about it. It's a surface that makes a sport that is as predictable as men's tennis X2 more predicable.

Can't help but really dislike the season when it comes around. Bring on Wimbledon.

CassieManson

NoviGlitzko wrote:

The sooner this borefest tournament is over and we're onto grass the better. The commentators can put the 'What we are seeing here is something we may never see again in our lifetime' spin on Rafa's dominance on clay all they want but it so spectacularly never in doubt that it's been ruining the tournament (and surface) for many a year now. There's also feck all clay court specialists who have any weapons today that aren't injured/out of form. Thiem and that's about it. It's a surface that makes a sport that is as predictable as men's tennis X2 more predicable.

NoviGlitzko wrote:

Can't help but really dislike the season when it comes around. Bring on Wimbledon.

Would love to see Thiem win. Probably not going to happen!

mickmackey1

NoviGlitzko wrote: »

The sooner this borefest tournament is over and we're onto grass the better. The commentators can put the 'What we are seeing here is something we may never see again in our lifetime' spin on Rafa's dominance on clay all they want but it so spectacularly never in doubt that it's been ruining the tournament (and surface) for many a year now. There's also feck all clay court specialists who have any weapons today that aren't injured/out of form. Thiem and that's about it. It's a surface that makes a sport that is as predictable as men's tennis X2 more predicable.

Can't help but really dislike the season when it comes around. Bring on Wimbledon.

Yeah fair point. He is probably the greatest clay-courter of all time, but comparing the clay specialists from say the 90s to now is chalk and cheese. If he'd had to beat Bruguera, Courier, Muster, Kuerten et al regularly he'd be in much worse shape at 32 than he actually is.

lostcat

CassieManson wrote: »

Would love to see Thiem win. Probably not going to happen!

hell of an first slam final to have to face into in fairness..

Thiem will win a hatful of these in the future so I wont feel too bad for him on Sunday.

Joe Dog

NoviGlitzko wrote: »

The sooner this borefest tournament is over and we're onto grass the better. The commentators can put the 'What we are seeing here is something we may never see again in our lifetime' spin on Rafa's dominance on clay all they want but it so spectacularly never in doubt that it's been ruining the tournament (and surface) for many a year now. There's also feck all clay court specialists who have any weapons today that aren't injured/out of form. Thiem and that's about it. It's a surface that makes a sport that is as predictable as men's tennis X2 more predicable.

Can't help but really dislike the season when it comes around. Bring on Wimbledon.

Federer is almost as dominant on grass as Nadal is on clay and yet nobody seems to have an much of an issue with that.

When Nadal goes you'll have a bunch of people complaining there are no great players to admire any more and the tournaments aren't worth watching because of that.

I've always been of the opinion that individual sports are better when you are witnessing greatness and team sports are about competitiveness.