Roland Garros - Day 9

Thought I would start this early and allow some discussion to take place:

Andy Murray v Richard Gasquet. Interestingly enough Gasquet in their 3 meetings in Slams has never defeated Andy. Though Richard won their recent meeting in Rome.

Rafael Nadal v Juan Monaco. Juan has his work cut out. Never taken a set off Nadal on clay in 3 meetings. Needs a career best performance if he is to compete.

Janko Tipsarevic v Nicolas Almagro. Never met. This shall prove to be the most intriguing match of the day. Almagro being the better clay player should start as favourite.

David Ferrer v Marcel Granollers. The one meeting on Clay was a straight sets win for Ferrer. Have a feeling this might be tighter affair.

Tsonga/Wawrinka and Berdych/Del Potro shall continue where they left off.

I would put the womens up but the WTA website is being crap!

Predictions anyone?

Murray vs Gasquet. Could be interesting, but in a slam you fancy Andy if he plays close to his best.

Nadal vs Monaco. Straightforward win for Nadal, Monaco doesn't have the weapons to hurt him (particularly on clay).

Tipsy vs Almagro. Another interesting one. Not Tipsy's best surface but his whole game has improved massively over the last year or so. Almagro for all his clay court pedigree has very few top wins on clay and an ordinary record at RG. Fancy Tipsy in five sets.

Ferrer vs Granollers. Ferrer does everything Granollers does at least as well, and quite a few things better. Ferrer in three pretty straightforward sets.

Tsonga vs Wawrinka. I fancy Tsonga to close this out, but you never know.

Berdy vs DelPo. Tough one to call, I think Del Potro will seal the win, but he may need to go to five sets.

Murray, Nadal, El Mugro and Ferrer in an undramatic day, enlivened only by Del Potro scraping by Berdych and Tsonga holding off Stan.

Murray vs Gasquet. - Murray

Nadal vs Monaco. Straightforward win for Nadal,

Tipsy vs Almagro. - Almugro

Ferrer vs Granollers. -- Ferrer playing stunning Tennis for the moment

Tsonga vs Wawrinka. -- Tsonga

Berdy vs DelPo. -- Del Boy to thrash the Bird Man,as said before.

The break may prove beneficial for Berdych and Tsonga respectively.

Gasquet has been known to blow leads in slams, especially against Murray, but will Murray's back change the tide in slams?

I expect Monaco to put up a fight in the first two sets, but he will be ground into RG clay.

Almagro - with Tipsy taking a set.

Ferrer - with Granollers taking a tight TB set.

laverfan

I was incredulous yesterday when you predicted that Goffin would take a set off Federer and was tempted to say something about your lack of respect for the great one. How wrong I was and how right you were. In fact I only started watching at the end of the second and for a while Goffin looked as if he could steal two sets...

After that I don't quite trust my predictions.

Murray -Gasket.... I think this willl be a tight match.. but Murray
Rafa - Monaco... Rafa but I dont think Monaco will give him a walk in the park
He saw off Raonic who some thought would be Rafa´s banana skin now you cant be a bigger friend than that can you !!!!!
Tipsy - Nico..... Nico
Ferrer - Granollers....... DAVEEED
Tsonga ´Stan the Man----- JWT
Berdy - Delpo ... Delpo

Gasquet...will have Murray running all over the shop. The French crowd will not observe Entente Cordiale.
Nadal...including bakery products in at least one set.
Tipsarevic...yes Tipsy, in 5 sets...he's got the game, and tougher up top than Nico I feel.
Ferrer...can't abide to watch to Granola play, it's like eating never-ending muesli.
Tsonga...Stan has all that talent but he's just too brittle up top. Not sure much goes on up there either.
Berdy...he'll be the comeback kid, not best form yesterday, will blaze back today.

Hmph. After a great start Tipsy has reverted to "spray it all over the shop" mode. Almagro fights back from 0-3 down to take the first set 6-4. Ferrer also a set up.

Agree M4C, this looks like the Tipsy of old, not the previous 6 mths player so far. Doesn't seem to be into the match somehow. Maybe he'll perk up, probably hard to get excited in 13c damp weather. This reminds me of the old Hamburg Masters weather wise.

I watched Ferrer/Granola for 5 mins then had to switch off, Granola plays what I can only call agricultural tennis. His shots look ugly, he grunts like Sharapova, his movement is gangly and awkward, and he has that innane uninterested look on his face. Funny...exactly the same look I have watching him.

And broken...Tipsy is mentally all over the place...inappropriate dropshots, errors spraying, doesnt look interest at all. Weird.

lydian wrote:Agree M4C, this looks like the Tipsy of old, not the previous 6 mths player so far. Doesn't seem to be into the match somehow. Maybe he'll perk up, probably hard to get excited in 13c damp weather. This reminds me of the old Hamburg Masters weather wise.

I watched Ferrer/Granola for 5 mins then had to switch off, Granola plays what I can only call agricultural tennis. His shots look ugly, he grunts like Sharapova, his movement is gangly and awkward, and he has that innane uninterested look on his face. Funny...exactly the same look I have watching him.

:laughing: I had to laugh at your description of Granola . I often wonder what it is that makes a particular player grate on your nerves.. Tsonga does it for me.. cant stand watching him and those gynormous ugly feet of his .. bet they charge him a parking fee when he stands still.

Ferrer having another half day off. He's a few games from the quarters having dropped 25 games.

You know what they say about large feet Haddie...lol. I don't mind Tsonga as he's got some nice touches to his play but dear lord, Tumbleweed Granola...a bagel here would be too good for him for committing crimes to the beauty of tennis. He doesn't play with a racquet, it's a seed plough.

Yeah BB, Ferrer gets tougher work outs knocking against his coach than this excuse for a tennis spectacle. Crowd should be eligible for a refund after this.

Cant help feeling sorry for Granollers he has thrown everything and Daveeed
all that for nothing and its bliddy cold out there ... mind you Daveeed is so set on winning I dont think he has noticed the weather bless him

I can't help feeling sorry for Granollers racquet, it's a gem but is wielded in the hands of a blacksmith. I'm surprised Granola doesn't bring an anvil to court side with him.

Well David Ferrer has had the perfect platform to make a challenge for the FO title in the second week.

4 rounds, 25 games lost. That's an average of a 6-2 set, times 11, with a 6-3 thrown in for the pedants.

pedantry is important BB

Ferrer does look in great form you have to say, I think Murray/Gasquet will really struggle in the next round.

Tsonga has been broken back straight away, but leads 5-4 in the fifth. Stan serving to stay in the match...

Berdy in trouble here. As a Fed fan neither is easy but he has owned Del Potro this year, so perhaps better. Trouble for Fed will be only one of them will be able to hit through the court in these conditions and it wont be Federer.

Del Potro breaks early in 4th.. leads 3-0.

Berdy seems to been cooked...

As one of the commentators just remarked... that wrist injury put Delpo out for a year ..almost went off the radar.. but when you remember he has a GS under his belt the talent is there and slowly he is coming back..He and Berdy play such a similar game but I think Delpo has the edge

I think Berdy is the better all round player, but from here JMDP is obvious favourite.

When I see Berdy win a slam then I might agree.

Berdy breaks back.

I'd fancy Berdy if this goes to five

Berdys going to win now, having broken back. I saw a few games and he looks much stronger.

Some good games today with Berdych and Del Potro this early in the tournament. I think Gasquet will beat Murray today. Murray has played ok so far but I fancy Richard to win in 5 sets.

Ferrer is playing well. Clay has always been his best surface but recently he seems to have upped his game. He's going to be tough for anyone to beat (Apart from Nadal).

GSM Del Boy

Probably good for Federer

bogbrush wrote:Berdys going to win now, having broken back. I saw a few games and he looks much stronger.

Is it etiquette to mock your own posts?

Yes, excellent news for Fed I'd think, Fed can deal with Delpo with a lot more ease than Birdbrain. So doesn't look like there will be an early exit from Fed as some had thought more than possible.

I think Berdych will be a dark horse for Wimbledon. Some booming shots hit by both players. I love Fed but I think the only player capable of stopping Nadal on clay is Novak, as much as I want Fed in the final and to win it.

I don't care if Rafa wins against Fed in the final. That's just par for the course. I'll be rooting for Fed big time against Djoko. A win over Djoker will give him loads of confidence for the rest of the summer.

martyr_94 wrote:I think Berdych will be a dark horse for Wimbledon. Some booming shots hit by both players. I love Fed but I think the only player capable of stopping Nadal on clay is Novak, as much as I want Fed in the final and to win it.

He has been a dark horse but he didnt do it then. He has done nothing since that has made me think he ever will frankly

emancipator wrote:I don't care if Rafa wins against Fed in the final. That's just par for the course. I'll be rooting for Fed big time against Djoko. A win over Djoker will give him loads of confidence for the rest of the summer.

There's never a case to lose. Federer would go to the final against Nadal with the idea of winning. Nadal is a great, great clay court player but he's human and beatable. Everyone is.

Absolutely... I agree this is a GS and nothing is certain. Look how close Nole came yesterday... it can happen. I never count my chickens

Oh no doubt. Fed will give it his best shot. Just think the chances of winning are next to nil.

I agree, no doubt I'd be supporting Fed to win against Djokovic or Nadal. Just hard to see it happening against Nadal. I'm glad Fed probably doesn't think about his chances the same way I do!

The best I'd hope for is Fed stretching out a possible final clash with Nadal to 5 sets, I still suspect the outcome would be the same as previous RG encounters between the two though. However, 5 sets would make for more drama and excitement than 4. I mean, even if Fed was 2 sets up to Nadal @ RG, I still know Nadal would win, that's how difficult Nadal is for Fed on clay.

Sure, and with slower balls and damp conditions it just took the attackers game own another 75%. Look at Berdych and Del Poto - they couldn't hit though each other and they're the biggest hitters on the tour.

I've always thought Feds best chance is by a combination of playing a highly varied game - lots of short angles mixed up with deep balls, moonball to Nadals backhand (nobody likes that, not even him) - and be able to maintain high standard without FedDips for three sets. Tough. It's doable though.

I actually prefer this year's conditions to last years, which were too fast for me. Clay should be pretty slow, with lots of rallying.

If only we could now speed up Wimbledon, so that it's not basically another clay tournament with lower bounces for the first few days

Mad for Chelsea wrote:I actually prefer this year's conditions to last years, which were too fast for me. Clay should be pretty slow, with lots of rallying.

If only we could now speed up Wimbledon, so that it's not basically another clay tournament with lower bounces for the first few days

I agree, but sadly the agenda doesn't follow your logic. That's the only reason I applauded last years balls - there has to be something for the attackers on this tour. Looks like that's been dashed now.

bogbrush wrote:

Mad for Chelsea wrote:I actually prefer this year's conditions to last years, which were too fast for me. Clay should be pretty slow, with lots of rallying.

If only we could now speed up Wimbledon, so that it's not basically another clay tournament with lower bounces for the first few days

I agree, but sadly the agenda doesn't follow your logic. That's the only reason I applauded last years balls - there has to be something for the attackers on this tour. Looks like that's been dashed now.

I actually think views are changing on this, you see more and more articles praising the faster courts such as Dubai this year. And they were talking about Paris 2010 the other day and saying how positive the reaction had been (inc. from fans), and how surprised they were that it was slowed right down last year.

However, I think it will have to wait until the Nadals and Djokovics are on the donwslide (much as it took Sampras being on his way down for Wimbledon to slow down).

With all the shrieking that Sharapova does, it's a wonder that she does not lose her voice completely after the match (I guess that's what water bottles are for)

As with the business of time wasting I think its well past the time that Umpires got a grip on this shrieking lark.. it must be very off-putting to the oponent. I cant see the necessity for it myself.
Same as Granollers this morning his grunts were getting louder and louder

Oh bloody hell Sharapova! Hurry and finish this match! WE WANT MURRAY

The last set took 1hr 20 mins.

That's right folks. 1 flipping hour and 20 bloddy minutes.

I mean wth?

They had seven consecutive breaks of serve . That's right folks, seven!

Is this a joke?

Shriekapova is unwatchable. She needs to shut her trap. Like NOW.



emancipator

The WTA is a joke. My wife says she wouldn't pay£10 to watch the women's semis at Wimbledon.

I wouldn't say she is unwatchable. I would say I am enjoying watching her

BB I wouldn´t watch it if they paid me to take the best seat on the court.
Women´s tennis is pathetic.

Come back Navaratalova

Sharapova has hurt her wrist. What has she been up to? (watch it )

I'm gutted Sharapova didn't wrap up the second set, means we have to wait longer for the Murray-Gasquet match. Almagro beat Tipsarevic then in straight sets. Surprisingly comfortable from nicolas.