French Open 2022

First topic message reminder :

Draw sections

1- Djokovic (possible R4 Schwartzmann or Dimitrov)
2 - Nadal (possible R2 - Wawrinka, possible R3 Fognini)
3 - Zverev
4 - Alcaraz (possible R4 Norrie/Thiem)
5 - Ruud
6 - Tsitsipas (possible R4 Shapovalov)
7 - Rublev
8 - Medvedev

Possible QFs
Djokovic vs Nadal (!)
Zverev vs Alcaraz
Ruud vs Tsitsipas
Rublev v Medvedev

Tough draw for everyone in the top half. Tsitsipas moves into contention a bit more after this draw.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/tennis/french-open-2022-draw-possible-routes-to-final-for-djokovic-nadal-alcaraz-swiatek-and-raducanu-explained/ar-AAXu4Mz

I think Ruud's got a decent chance if he wins the first set and perhaps exploits Nadal's fitness issues, but Rafa's certainly a strong favourite. Would be good to have the first Norwegian winner of a slam.

Interesting final as it’s Nadal(the master) and Ruud(a member of the Rafael Nadal academy).

Sascha released a statement suggesting ‘a serious injury’. If it’s surgery the German could be out for a long time.

Duty281 wrote:I think Ruud's got a decent chance if he wins the first set and perhaps exploits Nadal's fitness issues, but Rafa's certainly a strong favourite. Would be good to have the first Norwegian winner of a slam.

Could be wrong, but I doubt whether Ruud will win a set.

As for the women's final today, I have to go with Swiatek. Given the weight of expectation upon Iga, I thought she might not get this far. Having done so, she'll get the job done against Gauff.

With Vandeweghe lining up at Surbiton today, is this first time two players called Coco have played on the same day?

Duty281 wrote:I think Ruud's got a decent chance if he wins the first set and perhaps exploits Nadal's fitness issues, but Rafa's certainly a strong favourite. Would be good to have the first Norwegian winner of a slam.

I haven't seen any evidence of Nadal having fitness issues whilst on court - did I miss something that other people observed?

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Duty281 wrote:I think Ruud's got a decent chance if he wins the first set and perhaps exploits Nadal's fitness issues, but Rafa's certainly a strong favourite. Would be good to have the first Norwegian winner of a slam.

I haven't seen any evidence of Nadal having fitness issues whilst on court - did I miss something that other people observed?

Yesterday he was dead, clearly he didnt get to RG with the usual number of matches on clay for him.

He survived through the first two sets, untill the sad accident for Sasha, but he seemed like the more tired of the two payers that far.

Conditions will again be really humid on sunday, probably with roof on again, so he shall encounter some difficulties.

Ruud is a clay specialist, but he never reached a final of a slam before... so normally this will go to Rafa, but who knows

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Duty281 wrote:I think Ruud's got a decent chance if he wins the first set and perhaps exploits Nadal's fitness issues, but Rafa's certainly a strong favourite. Would be good to have the first Norwegian winner of a slam.

I haven't seen any evidence of Nadal having fitness issues whilst on court - did I miss something that other people observed?

He came into this competition with a foot injury, the same one that troubled him at the Italian Open when he lost to Shapovalov, and has been well below 100% during his run to the final.

Swiatek breaks opening game off the final 1-0

Very poor first game from Gauff, looked liked the writing was on the wall already. Swiatek looked imposing from the first point. better second game though (even though lost it)

Can´t see Rafa having fitness issues in the final because the length of his matches wasn´t too bad

Just a question as to whether he is carrying an injury still from weeks/months ago. if he isn´t, he should win

Swiatek holds after being taken to deuce 2-0

Gauff looks nervous to me, like the thought of an embarrassing scoreline like 6-2 6-1 has crossed her mind and she can´t get that out of her mind, anyone else get that impression

mentally she looks like she does´nt believe she can really beat swiatek

hopefully she can win this service game (game 3) so it can steady her nerves

Nadal had a cortisone in his foot before the tournament started. He says the foot is fine.
Being a bit more fatigued is somewhat understandable as he is now 36.

Swiatek breaks again 3-0. Gauff saved 4 BPs but Swiatek took the fifth opportunity.

Swiatek holds to 15, 4-0

Jeff Navarro wrote:Nadal had a cortisone in his foot before the tournament started. He says the foot is fine.
Being a bit more fatigued is somewhat understandable as he is now 36.

Yes, it's looked fine to me. He's moving well around the court, running at full speed and pushing well off both feet on forehand/backhand/serve.
He's not hampered at all during the matches

Gauff holds 1-4

Swiatek holds to 30, 5-1 the Pole’s forehand is absolute fire

Swiatek breaks again and takes opening set 6-1. Absolute demolition job so far.

Gauff breaks opening game second set 1-0

Gauff holds to 30, 2-0

Swiatek holds to 15, 1-2

Swiatek breaks back 2-2

Swiatek holds to love, 3-2

Swiatek breaks again 4-2

Swiatek holds to 30, 5-2.

Gauff holds 3-5

Iga Swiatek wins 6-1 6-3 to win her second French Open. #35 consecutive match wins. She joins the greats of the game. The Pole could easily win 10 French Opens. 21 years old - 2x FO and 2x Italian Open. Unplayable on the dirt.
Gauff wasn’t able to maintain any threat, aside from a fleeting burst at the beginning second set.
Absolute drubbing

After bigging up Coco Gauff's chances in the final, I have to say that was disappointing. Iga hasn't lost a match on the clay this season and clay seems to be her best surface by far. Not sure how well she will do on the grass.

Congrats to Iga!

Sascha Zverev says he has ‘several torn ligaments’ in his ankle. Looks like his season could be over.

Another shambolic womens final lasting an hour. It just gets worse every slam. I can’t believe how low womens tennis has fallen in recent years

Swiatek was under enormous pressure at the start of this Slam. It's probably a while - back to the days of Serena's dominance, perhaps - since someone was so firm a favourite at a GS.

I thought she might come a cropper due to the weight of expectation and the fact that she was, well....due for a defeat.

But she came through. Yes, it was disappointing that Gauff was unable to make a match of it. What Swiatek needs is a fit and match-hardened Osaka to test her. It's a pity that Barty has packed it in.

Osaka has never been particularly good on clay or grass but she has been exceptional on the hard courts.

Don't think we should get too down on the women's game. Swiatek's amazing run has been a big story and she has truly embraced the number one spot.

Can't see Ruud upsetting Rafa today, unless the Spaniard has a fitness problem. Incredible to think he's likely to be the oldest RG champ, having notched his first title 17 years ago. Is this the longest span of GS titles in the Open Era? I'm not sure.

The men’s final could be pretty similar to the 2019 final (Nadal vs Thiem). On that occasion Thiem played two fantastic sets, but it was 1-1 after nearly 2hrs. Then Nadal ran away with it as Thiem’s level dropped.
Thiem in 2019 was better than Ruud in 2022. Obviously Nadal has aged but he’s seen off FAA and Djokovic in long matches. And he was ahead of Zverev when the retired occurred.

I’d guess Ruud comes out hot wins the opener before Nadal wins in 4.

Ruud has never faced Nadal in a competitive match and his first competitive match is at Roland Garros in the final where Nadal has never lost a final.  So one might expect that Ruud will lose at least the first set because facing Nadal for the first time and in such an arena will take time for Ruud to get to grips with, assuming he does eventually get to grips with it.

However as Jeff has mentioned what throws a spanner in the above is:

Jeff Navarro wrote:Interesting final as it’s Nadal(the master) and Ruud(a member of the Rafael Nadal academy).

and that they have practised against each other quite a lot, and that Ruud's training has effectively been put in place by Nadal.   Hence an "interesting final".


Separate to this Nadal has a chronic foot injury and it has been previously mentioned that he had a cortisone injection at the start of this tournament to allow him to play.  It has been suggested this foot issue will likely lead to Nadal's retirement sometime soon, and could lead to Nadal skipping the grass season.  Below is a short report of what Nadal said after he beat Djokovic in the quarter-finals:

tennisworldusa wrote:After defeating Novak Djokovic .... Rafael Nadal has shown all the doubts related to his future in the world of tennis. The Majorcan suffers from Müller-Weiss syndrome, a degenerative disease that involves dysplasia of the tarsal scaphoid.

The foot problem affected Nadal’s path at the Italian Open, but he seems to be under control in Paris. Nadal explained at the press conference: "I'm very clear about it, being old enough not to hide things or come here and say something I don't think so.

I don't know what can happen after Roland Garros; as i said before i will play this tournament because we are doing things to be ready to play it but i don't know what will happen next. I have what I have there in my foot, so if I can't find an improvement or a little solution, it will become super hard for me.

I'm just enjoying every day that I have a chance to be here, not thinking much about what's going to happen next. Obviously we will struggle to find a solution but, for the moment, I have none. So just having the chance to play another semifinal here at Roland Garros gives me a lot of energy."

SFP, the problem with the womens is threefold. Poor depth of players, absolutely zero rivalries to get people excited about and finally so many finals that are over in an hour. Why would you bother paying to go watch them?

Fair play to Swiatek but the fact is womens tennis has been in the doldrums for years now

I think women’s semi finals and finals really should be best of 5 sets. They get equal pay, make them earn that pay.

Nadal holds to 15 opening game 1-0

Nadal breaks 2-0

Ruud gets the break back 1-2, Nadal dishing up 2 double faults

Nadal breaks 3-1

Nadal holds 4-1. Too many wild shot from Ruud

Ruud holds 2-4.

Nadal holds to 30, 5-2

Ruud holds to 15, 3-5. Best game Ruud has played so far.

Nadal wins the first set 6-3. Not the best quality final so far.

Ruud holds after saving 3BPs. 1-0 second set.

Nadal holds to 15, 1-1

Ruud holds 2-1. Another solid game