The unofficial Roland Garros thread

[bksballer89]

Both Djokovic and Thiem are two sets up against Zverev and Khachanov. I expected Khachanov to at least take a set.

You didn't say that yesterday

 

[Hs0022]

Nadal’s 11 FO victories explained from my viewpoint.

1. Nadal’s game is very consistent on clay and the Roland Garros surface is what suits him best.

2. He had to probably beat many many more right handers than lefties; 95:5 ratio more like to get to his titles.

3. He switched to leftie style of play with the advice of his uncle even though he is right handed so he could have this advantage

4. Yes he benefitted most from the technological advances made in string and frame technology post nineties era. The spin he got was crazy. I remember an article that actually banned a particular string or string pattern in the 70s that provided crazy spin from tournaments that Illie Nastase was associated with .

5. When he faced good solid players that were taller than usual like 6’4” his high rise spin shot to the rightie player’s backhand side advantage was nullified due to the opponent’s height. Soderling was able to neutralize this and beat him.

Djokovic himself is about 6’2” or 6’3” but Nole is Nole, he is the only guy to win multiple back to back matches against a younger beastier Nadal on clay and actually put him in depression from those losses.

 

[Hs0022]

Here is the “spaghetti racquet SportsHoopla” article that got it banned due to the crazy stringing pattern that produced unnatural spin.


Question of the Day: Revisiting the Spaghetti Racquet

 

[Hs0022]

The funny thing is that when Nadal runs into a solid player who nullifies his style and modus operandi Nadal just runs around helpless with no backup ideas to adapt and win the match. Hence Fed was able to beat him in the last five matches

 

[bksballer89]

The funny thing is that when Nadal runs into a solid player who nullifies his style and modus operandi Nadal just runs around helpless with no backup ideas to adapt and win the match. Hence Fed was able to beat him in the last five matches

None of those matches were on clay.....

 

[cezero]

The funny thing is that when Nadal runs into a solid player who nullifies his style and modus operandi Nadal just runs around helpless with no backup ideas to adapt and win the match. Hence Fed was able to beat him in the last five matches

Fed is 2-15 lifetime against Rafa on clay, and has never made it to a 5th set against Rafa at the French.

In the 5 matches they've played at the French, Fed has won a total of 4 sets.

In the last 2 matches they played at the French, Fed has won a total of 1 point in the final sets.

Anybody who doesn't understand how severe of an underdog Fed is on this surface against this opponent knows nothing about tennis. Zero.

 

[cezero]

On this note I just want to say that no coach in their right mind would really advocate their pupil to develop a double handed backhand unless the pupil absolutely lacked proper hitting skills on that wing. Sacrificing pace and reach is mind bogglingly stupid just at the expense of slightly more stability. If you set up the shot with proper body movement the one handed trumps the double handed every single time.
The double handed backhand is so lame that it should not be used unless you are trying to block fast serves back. It just provides a mirror effect on fast balls coming at you. You can probably just generate 50% speed if the ball is at rest compared to the single handed where you can generate 100% of the speed.

No. Coaches in their right minds understand that nobody is 100% left or right handed, and that natural athletes tend to be pretty ambidextrous. People who are right-hand dominant, but also show dexterity with their left might actually be better with a two-hander than one. Or they might indeed be better with the one-hander. It is 100% dependent on the individual athlete, and only the most obtuse of coaches would take the one-method-fits-all approach to constructing groundstrokes.

 

[Hs0022]

Fed is 2-15 lifetime against Rafa on clay, and has never made it to a 5th set against Rafa at the French.

In the 5 matches they've played at the French, Fed has won a total of 4 sets.

In the last 2 matches they played at the French, Fed has won a total of 1 point in the final sets.

Anybody who doesn't understand how severe of an underdog Fed is on this surface against this opponent knows nothing about tennis. Zero.

I think things are completely reset because this is 2019 not 2013 when I would take your underdog theory seriously after Fed got repeated drubbings by Nadal on clay.

The slate is clean. But it’s almost impossible for Fed to win the whole thing even if he beats Nadal because beating both Nadal and Djokovic/Thiem is past his capabilities.

 

[Hs0022]

WTA is not Happy! All the relatively unknown “no namer” female semi finalists who are also non-whiners (unlike the faty SW) are on the outside courts while the best names in men’s tennis (in reality Tennis is just men’s tennis plus also some women who play in my opinion) are in the two main courts!! This reminds me of the joke about the dwarf who got in a car accident and jumped out of his car and said “I am not Happy” and the other driver asked him, “Well which one are you”.

WTA 'extremely disappointed' in semis schedule

 

[Hs0022]

No. Coaches in their right minds understand that nobody is 100% left or right handed, and that natural athletes tend to be pretty ambidextrous. People who are right-hand dominant, but also show dexterity with their left might actually be better with a two-hander than one. Or they might indeed be better with the one-hander. It is 100% dependent on the individual athlete, and only the most obtuse of coaches would take the one-method-fits-all approach to constructing groundstrokes.

I partially agree to what you are saying but the naturally aggressive type player will always benefit from having a free flowing one handed backhand. The passive counterpuncher will benefit more from the stable double handed backhand like Nadal.

 

[tducey]

Looks like the men's semis are all chalk as it were while the women's side is more wide open. Be interesting to see who the winners will be.

 

[bksballer89]

First set to Rafa 6-3

 

[bksballer89]

So basically the people that are writing off Fed are assuming that Nadal is the same early twenties beast ( not a 31 year old with knee and other physical problems ), and Fed is playing with his tiny headsize racquet with zero confidence who is on a losing streak to Nadal.

6-3 6-4 so far lol

 

[bksballer89]

ROUTINE but how dare we think Rafa will mop the floor with Fed at Roland Garros lmfaoooo

 

[bksballer89]

Fed is 2-15 lifetime against Rafa on clay, and has never made it to a 5th set against Rafa at the French.

In the 5 matches they've played at the French, Fed has won a total of 4 sets.

In the last 2 matches they played at the French, Fed has won a total of 1 point in the final sets.

Anybody who doesn't understand how severe of an underdog Fed is on this surface against this opponent knows nothing about tennis. Zero.

I think things are completely reset because this is 2019 not 2013 when I would take your underdog theory seriously after Fed got repeated drubbings by Nadal on clay.

Rafa just won 6-3 6-4 6-2

So @cezero was correct. We all knew what would happen except @Hs0022 because he hates Rafa

 

[cezero]

really don't want thiem beating nole

i'd at least like to see a decent final, and thiem wouldn't provide that

 

[Hs0022]

Wow that was what everyone predicted. I thought Fed would at least have something in him in this match to win a set. Well at least he can get an early start to grass courts prep.

 

[cezero]

Wow that was what everyone predicted. I thought Fed would at least have something in him in this match to win a set. Well at least he can get an early start to grass courts prep.

i think that's really all he cares about, and i don't blame him

 

[Hs0022]

1. Turns out it was extremely windy. The commentators thought Fed would have benefitted from less windier conditions and kept the match closer than this because he is a less - margin shot player than Nadal who keeps his margin for errors much wider and safer. But conditions were the same for both. Fed had nerve issues like before against Nadal in this court when he was 40-0 up on his serve and still lost the game. And another time he should have been 2-0 up I guess in the beginning set. If Fed is able to play his game he can win against anyone anywhere is still my belief.

 

[Hs0022]

really don't want thiem beating nole

i'd at least like to see a decent final, and thiem wouldn't provide that

Not so fast. In my opinion Thiem is more dangerous than Nole vs Rafa. I know the GS finals stage is gonna be new for him BUT IF CONDITIONS ARE BETTER than today Thiem can beat Nadal in the final by playing his best game.

Nadal in my view has always been a solid counterpuncher who benefits like a boxer who lets the opponent take a punch and it doesn’t land so good then Nadal knocks him out with his own solid one. Nadal rarely goes out there and aggressively plays to win a match all by himself. Some may disagree with my opinion but that’s fine too.