French Open 2017 Thread

[nuraman00]

Alexander Zverev - Wawrinka SF: This is a hard draw for Wawrinka. But in a best of 5, he's tough. Wawrinka in 4.


Nadal - Djokovic SF: This match always has potential. But based on Djokovic's 2017, this might not be a close match. Nadal in 3.


Wawrinka - Nadal Finals: I give this match a better chance of being competitive than a Nadal vs. Djokovic. Wawrinka would be the underdog in yet another Men's GS Finals.

Nadal in 3 is the most likely result. But as Wawrinka has shown, he can bring his A game in the SFs and Finals. If he does, Wawrinka has a small chance of winning.

But I'll go with the most likely result. Wawrinka will break Nadal at least once.

From my pre-tourney predictions, had the right Finalists, and the right result.

Wish Wawrinka would have won though, or made it a 5 set match.

 

[nuraman00]

Fed needs to get to 19 now. A nudge by Nadal!

I still want him to beat Nadal at the FO just once.

Remember the finger wag he gave Djokovic in 2011?

This one would be even fiercer.

 

[Liberal Icon]

It's not feasible to argue against Laver as the GOAT. You an argue for someone else, but it's ridiculous to argue against Laver.

No. Saying he was aided by roids is the denigrating. Besides it is like arguing that Owens would have taken Bolts to the shredders.

 

[Liberal Icon]

Noone is close to accomplishing what Laver has so I dont see why people get so worked up anyway. Dude won 8 majors in 2 years (and 11 in total) and was not allowed to play for half a decade in between. He probably would have won 10 more. He had 1 ear where he won 20+ titles (1 every other week) which is crazy. Not to mention he was number 1 in the world for 10 straight years.

No one else is even close.

Well you can't argue without taking into consideration, the elements or context regarding the opposition each faced in his time.

 

[ill]

Rafa should absolutely get on his knees and thank the people behind the modern technology of current crazy topspin friendly strings and shock absorbing but lighter frames. Why?? He is able to harness his athleticism and shotmaking with these large headsize racquets and create enough safe shots on clay to amass his lopsided major haul. 10 slams on clay which is twice that of all other slams combined!

unless you have some kind of crystal ball, you don't know that. He may still be able to do some things with a wooden racquet that no one has ever seen before.

I would love to see an all wooden racquet tournament. I am sure there would be a bunch of destroyed frames, but each player would also have to change their game style. That would be cool as shit to watch.

 

[Liberal Icon]

unless you have some kind of crystal ball, you don't know that. He may still be able to do some things with a wooden racquet that no one has ever seen before.

I would love to see an all wooden racquet tournament. I am sure there would be a bunch of destroyed frames, but each player would also have to change their game style. That would be cool as shit to watch.

 

[nuraman00]

I do though like the 90-113 mph shots that players can hit now.

 

[nuraman00]

@Old Lion , you missed out.

+++++++++++

Bodo: Unexpected twists and turns at the French Open

Tennis-wise, 16 of the 31 women's singles matches starting in the third round went to three sets (oddly, the men produced a dearth of nip-and-tuck matches). That includes six of the eight WTA quarterfinals. The two semis and final were compelling, high-quality matches also decided in three sets. This was perhaps the most competitive women's tournament in the Open era.

 

[nuraman00]

Haven't gotten @cezero's thoughts to the last few rounds of the tourney.

 

[cezero]

i was really busy, and didn't watch any of it except for the first set and a half of the men's final. it was clear that rafa was going to win at that point, and i had a ton of papers to grade.

the WTA is an absolute joke. ostapenko/halep for a major final says it all.

 

[nuraman00]

i was really busy, and didn't watch any of it except for the first set and a half of the men's final. it was clear that rafa was going to win at that point, and i had a ton of papers to grade.

the WTA is an absolute joke. ostapenko/halep for a major final says it all.

I liked that match because it was competitive and involved leads exchanged. There was good drama.

Halep has 2 FO Finals, 1 Wimbledon SF, and 1 USO SF. She's kind of close, and not a surprise to see here deep in a major anymore.

The WTA isn't deep though, and that's why I still have hope for Venus to have a chance to get another major.

I thought Wawrinka handled it well from the baseline compared to most opponents from Nadal. The problem was that he only had 1 break point the entire match. He couldn't win enough points on Nadal's service games.

 

[cezero]

I liked that match because it was competitive and involved leads exchanged. There was good drama.

i had no desire to watch it. halep is a nobody. like a lesser version of davydenko or ferrer on the men's side from a few years back.

if halep had won, i'd be happy for her. just because i see her as a placeholder at the top does't mean she doesn't work hard. but all we have right now is placeholders until some real young talent shows up again in the WTA.

*maybe* ostapenko is one of them. we'll see soon enough.

 

[nuraman00]

Lol, I liked Ferrer and Davydenko. I thought Ferrer had a good forehand, I'd rank it better than Roddick's. (But I've never thought much of Roddick's ground strokes).

And I like players who hit the ball fast and flat. So Davydenko and James Blake had some appeal to me, because of their style.

I also liked watching Li Na when she used to hit the ball flatter. I didn't like watching her as much when she put more topspin, although the analysts say it helped her win her majors.

I agree though that Halep isn't a all-time great player, and her reign near the top of the rankings would probably be short lived.

Yes, we will see about Ostapenko. She sure does make a lot of errors.