2016 French Open

[nuraman00]

Dementieva is someone I wish would have won a few majors.

 

[nuraman00]

After pulling out the tiebreaker in the second set and facing match point, they seems to be a bit flat. They spent way too much time hitting directly at Feliciano. The guy kept putting away ball after ball. Newsflash!, pro players dont miss many when they know the ball is coming to them. Its not club tennis. need to mis it up way more. Wasted opportunity.

For a while, I was thinking that might be the first GS Final that I can remember that someone won when facing match point, singles or doubles.

I thought the Bryan Bros would find a way in the 3rd set.

 

[nuraman00]

When I saw the Stosur vs. Schiavone Finals, I came in thinking I'd root for Stosur, but Schiavone was more fun to watch.

Sometimes Stosur isn't as fun to watch on clay. She did mix it up more though the match she beat Serena in 2010.

 

[nuraman00]

Murray's being the more aggressive player. Novak can't generate enough pace on the clay to throw him off and Andy is hitting it deep enough to stop Novak from playing the angle games well. Andy is basically playing the Wawrinka model, and it is working very well.

He was also serving much better that first set.

During the last 3 sets, he needed too many 2nd serves.

 

[nuraman00]

Going to be tough. He's 29. I read somewhere that the most major any male player won after the age of 30 was 2 and only 2 players reached that.

Novak is too good on hard courts though, which is where 1/2 the slams are.

 

[nuraman00]

Thiem or Goffin tomorrow?

I keep changing my mind. Thiem.

What do you say?

Who did you have, @bksballer89 ?

 

[nuraman00]

I think it's cooler that Novak won this year, than last year, because he came in having the chance to hold all 4 majors at once.

I wish Murray could have won for many reasons. It would have kept their rivalry more competitive.

And, don't know how many chances he'll get at the FO Final. I doubt he'll make as many as he's done at the AO.

He might not even make the FO Finals 2 times, which is the same number he's made the USO Finals, his better surface.

Back in 2010 though, I did think Murray was close to being very good on clay.

Glad he finally realized it.

Back in 2010, Becker said Murray wouldn't win the FO. Outside of Nadal, I thought he had a good foundation, and was close.

+++++++++++++++++

French Open 2010: clay still not Andy Murray's strongest surface, says Boris Becker

“Clay just isn’t his surface yet,” Boris Becker told Telegraph Sport.

++++++++++++++++++++++

 

[nuraman00]

I think Murray missed more 2nd serves as the match went on too. And they happened to be on break points against him.

I think for Murray to beat Djokovic, he has to serve a high 1st serve %.

Djokovic can have more 2nd serves, and still win. But Murray can't play with that risk.

 

[nuraman00]

Murray - Wawrinka SF: Wawrinka will have had a tough ride, with his last 2 matches. Would love to see him pull this out, but I think Murray takes this in 5.

From my pre-tourney predictions:

I got this one, but was rooting for Wawrinka a little more.

Wanted to see if Wawrinka could beat Djokovic in the Finals again.

But, I thought Wawrinka had lost so many of this recent matches against Murray, that he was due to lose. I didn't think this was going to get more one-sided than it already was.

I think if they meet next time on clay, Wawrinka will probably win.

I also think it's hard to defend a title, and just thought it was more likely he wouldn't.

Murray made Wawrinka run forward too much, and Wawrinka was a little confused too often on how to overpower Murray.

Murray can't play those drop shots on hard courts.


For both of Wawrinka's majors, he defends it by losing in the SF the next year. That's a pretty good title defense, at least he didn't lose early.

 

[nuraman00]

NBC cut away during the Bryan Brothers runner up interview, to go to commercials, then show their next scheduled sporting event.

That sucked.

 

[nuraman00]

Did John McEnroe interview Wawrinka last year? I don't remember.

McEnroe did do Djokovic after his 2012 and 2015 losses.

Novak Djokovic humble after loss in French Open final

 

[nuraman00]

Serena will need to start working on just about every part of her game more, or this is going to keep happening.

She can't just depend on the serve anymore.

Nice seeing new blood win. I like Muguruza.

I thought Serena returned well, and at times could still create better angles.

Going back to this. Heading into the Finals, I thought this was the best Serena had played at any FO. Maybe it was her competition. Maybe not. Her movement and unforced errors (usually some of her biggest problems) seemed better than usual on clay.

I thought even in the Finals, her movement seemed fine. And she wasn't trying to hit tough shots, she just missed some close ones.

So I thought it was a higher quality loss then some of her other losses at majors.

What did you think were her biggest problems?

 

[nuraman00]

Going back to the Mens Finals, it was painful to see Murray try to use his slice against Djokovic. That wasn't working!

In the 1st set, he was pushing Djokovic back more.

 

[nuraman00]

Thiem or Goffin tomorrow?

Going back to this, watching them play each other, Thiem seemed to be the bigger hitter, and Goffin the better mover.