official French Open thread

[bksballer89]

Damn, I missed the entire match. Too many family things going on today. Happy for Stan. Glad to see he is not done yet. Looked as if he might have hit the wall the last few months, but played incredible in Paris.

Now we can move on the meat of the tennis year, Grass and US open series.

Yep my favorite part of the year. Can't wait for tickets to the Open to go on sale

 

[cezero]

I love this time of year because I have it off, and there are 2 tennis and 3 golf majors to watch before going back to work.

 

[cezero]

Is it a stretch for Stan to possibly get the career GS? He is very good at hard courts so I think he can win a US Open. Wimbledon will be his hardest task

I can't imagine it, but would be very happy for him if he did it.

 

[bksballer89]

I love this time of year because I have it off, and there are 2 tennis and 3 golf majors to watch before going back to work.

Lucky you. I just started a new job so I'm screwed. I used to be able to sneak and watch some tennis on my phone at my old job but with this job I'm more out in the open so none of that can happen anymore. I will only be able to watch Wimbledon during my lunch break and when I wake up in the morning

 

[bksballer89]

Man I'm glad to see Sock all the way up to 31. If he keep this solid play up he can be top 20 by the time we get to the Open.

Also Stan the Man up to #4

 

[cezero]

thanks to the regs for not telling me how wrong i was about nadal

i just couldn't imagine him going out so early at the french

glad i was wrong.

 

[Old Lion]

He made it to the quarters, thats still pretty far. Really dont like his chances at Wimby at all.

 

[bksballer89]

He made it to the quarters, thats still pretty far. Really dont like his chances at Wimby at all.

When you're the king of clay going out in the quarters is like going out in the 3rd round at any other major

 

[cezero]

He made it to the quarters, thats still pretty far. Really dont like his chances at Wimby at all.

me neither

his chances actually improve the further in he makes it, thanks to the ball getting a higher bounce when the grass wears away, but still, not expecting him to make it beyond the quarters unless he gets a crazy good draw.

 

[nuraman00]

FED - Wawrinka:

FED struggled holding serve. The first game took several minutes.

Miday through the 2nd set, the broadcasters asked "Has FED had an easy hold yet?"

Wawrinka won in straight sets. For the first time in a grand slam match, FED had not broken an opponent.

Wawrinka was hitting shots from 91 - 114mph. His balls were flying.

Even though not breaking Wawrinka was a problem, I think struggling to hold in almost every service game was a big problem. Wawrinka rarely had to worry about not getting into FED's service games, because he was doing it so often. There was rarely pressure for Wawrinka to think that "hey, I have to hold serve, because its tough to break FED".


One thing I'm not sure I understand, is that the broadcasters said the conditions were "damp" and "heavy". But I just posted the mph range that winners were being hit at. That seems like fast conditions.

Murray-Ferrer:

Murray won in straight sets over Ferrer. He beat him for the first time every on clay.

 

[nuraman00]

Wawrinka stats posted during his Tsonga match broadcast:

Backhand:

Pre Magnus Norman (coach):

74% topspin, 26% slice.

Post Magnus-Norman:

81% topsin, 19% slice.

This is the 9th major they've been together.



This was another good win.

 

[nuraman00]

Even though FED lost to Wawrinka, it was still enjoyable to see him beat a good player like Monfils. He still had to play well to beat him.

 

[nuraman00]

Those ESPN guys must be so happy. Considering that they don't broadcast the men's side of the FO after the QF, they could not imagine 2 months ago when clay court season began that Novak vs Rafa at the FO will be a part of their coverage

Lol.

 

[nuraman00]

Love Nole but Stan has been my favorite player for about 3 yrs

I first saw Wawrinka when he was playing doubles with FED at the 2008 Olympics.

He didn't seem that unique to me, but that could have been because of the format (doubles), which doesn't cater to his strength, which is setting up baseline shots, and hitting them at deep angles.

The next time I remember watching him, was when he played Murray in that first complete under-the-roof match at Wimbledon in 2009. That's when I saw some talent.

I followed him since.

I was really discouraged though when he played FED at the 2011 AO. That was terrible to watch. The 2nd set was so bad, that Chris Fowler ended the set with "Stan could be the man, but now he's a tomato can". They then showed a tomato animation being splattered against the camera.

They played at the FO in 2011, but I still didn't get a sense that he would be able to compete against the top players, or at least make a match out of it. Up until then, the only great matches I recalled were his 5 set loss to Murray at the 2009 Wimbledon, and his defeat of Murray at the 2010 USO.

His 2013 AO match with Djokovic was a real breakthrough.

The 2013 Madrid Open was good/bad. Good in that he beat Tsonga and Berdych. And a little good in that he played Nadal in the Finals ok on his own service games, but bad because he couldn't get into Nadal's service games.

 

[nuraman00]

Proud of Andy but that 5th set was a letdown.

Congrats to Serena. 33 going on 34 and still destroying the competition.

Usually I don't like it when someone plays badly, but still wins the tourney.

But with Serena, since she's had so many tourneys that she's played well, the fact that she struggled in this one, but still won, makes me appreciate it more. Because this isn't a habit with her, it was the first time she's struggled but won the tourney, in a long time. I could appreciate her perseverance.

Azarenka and Safarova also had their moments when they played well against her too.

 

[nuraman00]

Stan is the fucking man

I am so glad that I didn't get any French Open spoilers when I was out Friday-Sunday.

I watched all of the Men's SFs, the Women's Finals, and the Men's Finals, all on Monday, not knowing the outcome. When it got to the Men's Finals, after Djokovic won the first set, seemed like it wouldn't be Wawrinka's night.

But that was a great French Open Finals. There was so much drama in the 4th set, with Wawrinka coming back down a break, but also facing break point on his final hold game which won him the match. I'm glad none of that had been spoiled for me.

I'm also glad Wawrinka won another GS match against Djokovic. Because in order for this to continue to be a rivalry, based on how their previous 4 had gone the distance, Wawrinka needed to win another one again. Can't just have Djokovic winning these all but once, even if they're great matches. So Wawrinka is 2-3 in their last 5 GS matches, with 4 of them going the distance, and all 5 going at least 4 sets. It makes for a great current rivalry.

Tennis Channel gave him this nickname in an infographic after he won Monte Carlo last year, and I'll revive it: Wow-rinka.

 

[nuraman00]

This was the best 2nd week of the FO since I've been closely watching the matches.

In the 90s, I'd follow the scores (for the FO), but not watch other than the Finals.

I then stopped watching all sports for 3 years, from 1998-2001. I'm disappointed I missed Agassi's winning the French, among other things, but just didn't have the time. Wasn't even following scores to most things other than some NBA. Maybe an exception were 1 or 2 Venus and Serena matches at the USO in 1999.

Starting following scores, and watching some matches again for tennis, by the 2002 USO.

But for the FO, I was still just following scores mostly, from 2003-2006. Other than a FED or Agassi match, which I'd try to watch. I did watch consecutive rounds of the SF and Finals of the 2006 FO, to see Kuznetsova-Vaidisova and Henin-Clijsters.

2007 FO was the first time I tried to watch something in every round in the FO, and followed things very closely (daily). I was watching the other majors closely (since the 2002 USO), but the FO usually came at a bad time.

So to me, if also counting the Serena - Azarenka match as a part of the "2nd week", this has been best 2nd week of the FO, since I've been closely watching every round, which has been since 2007.

 

[nuraman00]

Is it a stretch for Stan to possibly get the career GS? He is very good at hard courts so I think he can win a US Open. Wimbledon will be his hardest task

Wimbledon will be his hardest, agree.

Funny stat: Between Murray and Wawrinka, they have a career GS.

I look at it this way. If he keeps going deep in GS for another 3 years, he'll give himself a chance.

Djokovic will be his toughest opponent at the USO, but has he's shown over the past 3 years, he can match up with him. I'm not sure how he'd do against a big server like Cilic. Haven't seen that matchup in a while.

I would also not put it past David Ferrer to win a major. He's been to several SF, Finals, at 3 of the 4 majors. Even at Wimbledon, he's been to 2 QFs, losing to Murray and Del Potro. Its not his best surface, but even in those losses, he's had his chances.

 

[nuraman00]

Lucky you. I just started a new job so I'm screwed. I used to be able to sneak and watch some tennis on my phone at my old job but with this job I'm more out in the open so none of that can happen anymore. I will only be able to watch Wimbledon during my lunch break and when I wake up in the morning

Maybe because you're out in the open more, that also means others will also be out in the open, and that they won't be watching tennis during work either?

Which could mean that you could watch streaming on ESPN 3 when you get home?

Or do you still run into tennis spoilers, through texts, or other means, etc.?

 

[bksballer89]

Maybe because you're out in the open more, that also means others will also be out in the open, and that they won't be watching tennis during work either?

Which could mean that you could watch streaming on ESPN 3 when you get home?

Or do you still run into tennis spoilers, through texts, or other means, etc.?

Yeah I run into spoilers so Wimbledon I'm really screwed for. During my lunch break I will probably watch it on espn3. Sucks but that's life