Roland Garros Day 6

First topic message reminder :

Nearing the business end of the opening rounds.

Djokovic and Federer in action. Verdasco and Tsonga also play today. Delpo and Berdych a good side act.

Wawrinka and Simon in what for me is match of the day.

On the womens side Azaranka, Radawanska, Sharapova, Stosur and Ivanovic all play.

Any upsets?

Sanchez to take out 15th seed Cibulkova

Maybe just maybe FOGNIIIINNNNNNIIIIIIIII

lydian wrote:lol BB...you beat me to the facts!

Great minds thinking alike....

BB
Wonder how Fed's going to fare against this up and comer from nowhere Goffin in the next match.
He's only 21 and is the first person to come from qualifying to get through to R4 at the French.
I enjoyed reading this about him and Fed.

Roger Federer remembers the day he launched himself into tennis's collective consciousness when he walked out to face his hero Pete Sampras at Wimbledon in 2001 and beat him.

On Sunday the boot will be firmly on the other foot when the Swiss maestro takes on young Belgian David Goffin in the French Open fourth round
The 21-year-old Goffin is the first lucky-loser to reach the fourth round of a grand slam since 1995 and grew up idolising Federer as the Swiss stamped his mark on men's tennis by winning a record 16 grand slams.
Now he has the chance to do to Federer what the then 19-year-old Federer did to Sampras and upset a strong favourite early in a grand slam.
"I've been watching Roger playing on telly for so many years," he told reporters after beating Poland's Lukasz Kubot on Friday.
"Roger has always been my favourite. He has perfect tennis, perfect technique, and I like the man. From a human standpoint, he is a great person, whether on the court or outside the court.
"So I expect a very difficult match on Sunday.
"If I say yes (I have a chance) I will sound arrogant; if I say no, you'll say I lack ambition. We'll see."
Goffin goes into the clash high on confidence after exceeding expectations while the number three seed is perhaps looking over his shoulder having reached the fourth round with an edgy and unconvincing victory over Frenchman Nicolas Mahut.

Federer, however, knows exactly what it is like to play a former idol.
"I would have loved to play (Boris) Becker and (Stefan) Edberg," he said.
"They were the ones for me growing up that I looked at and sort of idolised, and obviously Pete came along and I had a chance to play against him, which was just amazing.
"I played him on Centre Court at Wimbledon. That was my first appearance there. That was great stuff."

Not quite sure this is going to be Federer vs Sampras...but you never know. Sometimes these talents just come out of nowhere...but not usually.

bogbrush wrote:

CaledonianCraig wrote:Yes agreed there is no rule he can't drop a set going into semis and finals etc but if you look back through Fed's slam wins and final appearances I'd hazard a guess you could count on the fingers of your hand the amount of times he has dropped sets in the first three rounds against players ranked in the high 80's and low 90's especially in those that he has gone on to win.

Well he dropped 2 sets and was half an inch from losing it all against #63 Tommy Haas, and had dropped a set to #45 Acasuso (and won 2 sets on tie breaks, the first of which Acasuso totally choked away from a winning position before the tb) the year he won the event. Plus a set to PHM.

Fair enough but both far better players ranking-wise than Ungar and Mahut.

I think this'll be a fun match or them both. The lad won't win but he will have the freedom to take his best shot, and I doubt Federer would grind him away even if he can.

The biggest danger for Goffin is not sleeping between now and the match.

It is a good opportunity for Federer to experiment and try out a few things like I said earlier without any real pressure. It may help him when he faces stiffer challenges in the second week. Time will tell.

hehe...yes Goffin will sit down to watch the match against his idol on TV then suddently realise he's due on court!

Fed should be able to fine-tune his game in this match for the Delboy/Berdydanger round to follow. But you never know Delboy-Berdy might almost literally grind each other into the dirt, leaving them with no more bluster than one of Jersey's predictions.

Hope he doesn't bagel the boy. I hate bagles, and it would crush the little boys soul. Nothing wrong with giving a game or two to your opponent, even if you can bagel him all day.

Yeah, you cant bagel your idol-ee, Goffin wont ask for his autograph afterwards otherwise.

bogbrush wrote:

CaledonianCraig wrote:Yes agreed there is no rule he can't drop a set going into semis and finals etc but if you look back through Fed's slam wins and final appearances I'd hazard a guess you could count on the fingers of your hand the amount of times he has dropped sets in the first three rounds against players ranked in the high 80's and low 90's especially in those that he has gone on to win.

Well he dropped 2 sets and was half an inch from losing it all against #63 Tommy Haas, and had dropped a set to #45 Acasuso (and won 2 sets on tie breaks, the first of which Acasuso totally choked away from a winning position before the tb) the year he won the event. Plus a set to PHM.

Yea, and that year if not for luck and bit of belief he would have lost on either of the three rounds

2nd round]Acasuso [clearly he played better than Fed most part of the game except on crucial points]
4th round] Tommy Haas [Fed woke up when Tommy was Two points for a win and hit a risky forehand on the line to make it 30-30 and there on it was a different game]
Semi ] Del Potro [Still can't believe how he overcame the inspired DP that game, that was DP's best performance that year in terms of ground strokes, In my view some of the winners he hit were crazier than USO 2009 finals]

Outside yes even PHM match was a close affair for a few sets.

100% agree on the JMDP and Acasuso matches; the 2nd round was painful to watch and JA threw the first set away.

The Haas match was even closer than you remember; Fed was bp down when he hit that sideline, and Tommy would have been serving for the match straight away. He actually played better that day, I think he lost the first set after winning all his service games to love but was nervous as Hell at key points.

Yeah BB I felt Haas lost that match though...one of Haas problems over the years was his mental strength against the top players. Fed got let off the hook that day and Soderling became his best friend that year...but hey it proves Fed can win slams losing sets.

Falla also let Federer off the hook at Wimby. . Isner let Nadal off the hook at RG.

Is that not what defines 'greatness'? To be able to play well at clutch moments.

Ferrer currently 6-0 5-1 up against Youzhny. Of course Youzhny is famous for hitting himself over the head with his own racquet causing it to bleed.

................. Ferrer ....... Youzhny
Winners.......7................4
UE...............8................28

Guys, we are on day 7 today, so some one open us a day 7 thread

Why dont you do it Jahu