Roland Garros

[hughy]

Yup. Don't know if there are many other tennis enthusiasts here, but just to let you all know, the French Open starts on Sunday. Draws were recently announced, you can find them here:

Men's Singles

Women's Singles

Men's Doubles - Will be up Monday 26th.

Women's Doubles - Will be up Sunday 25th.

Mixed Doubles - Will be up Monday 26th.




Looking good. I'm going with Marcos Baghdatis for the men's, and Nicole Vaidisova for the women's. Women's draw is going to be a lot more interesting now that Henin's retired. The men's isn't so open. You can almost guarantee Nadal will take it. Still looks near untouchable on clay, despite his defeat a couple of weeks back.

Enjoy the tennis. :up:

 

[sammax71]

Davydenko looks big at 44 on Betfair to me.

 

[hughy]

Davydenko's a bottler. Unfortunately, you can only compare him to the Tottenham of the last few seasons. He's talked up almost daily, but is far from taking the step towards Djokovic, Federer or Nadal.

 

[hughy]

Well... Vaidisova's already out. :-|

 

[Teemu]

Davydenko's a bottler. Unfortunately, you can only compare him to the Tottenham of the last few seasons. He's talked up almost daily, but is far from taking the step towards Djokovic, Federer or Nadal.

Davydenko is also really annoying. He has no personality whatsoever. Completely the opposite of everyone's favourite Russian Marat Safin. Now that man is hilarious.

Still can't see past Nadal for the men's but I've got no idea who's going to win the women's, considering Serena is out and Sharapova is looking extremely dodgy. Personally I wanted Maria Kirilenko (for purely tennising reasons obviously) but she lost to some Chinese randomer

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

Not allowed to bet on tennis, but I reckon Ferrer will have a good tournament and Jankovic in the women's will come good.

Nadal is obvious favourite, but I think he may have some problems deeper into the tournament where he might have some physical problems.

 

[hughy]

Eventhough she switched on in the second set against Knapp today, I still don't think Sharapova's going to get in to the last 8. Safina's got to be one of the favourites after the clay-court season she's had so far, so Sharapova will actually have to play a clay-court game in order to defeat her - something she hasn't done in the previous three rounds. My money's still on Ivanovic, however. The fact that she got to the final last year will give her the boost in confidence that she needs, she knows that she can get there. Going to be an interesting final week in the women's.

 

[hughy]

Aye, just as I expected - Ivanovic/Safina final. I really hope Safina wins, especially after coming back from set-points in the second sets against both Sharapova and Dementieva. I'd feel sorry for Ivanovic though, she really seems to excel on clay, got to the final last year and got beaten by Henin. Ohh well, at least she's guaranteed to be World number 1 come Monday. It'll be a good final.

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

Good call Hughy, I had to back Jankovic really, being one of players and she really should have taken Ivanovic, but she choked.

Would be nice for Ivanovic to win though she has been consistently goo for a couple of years, but Safina must be thinking she is destined to win it after two stunning come backs.

 

[hughy]

Congratulations to Ivanovic, she deserved it on the day. It was a tougher couple of weeks for Safina though, hopefully she stays around in the top 10 a bit longer.

 

[paulspursman]

ivanovic the rightful winner. the way she conducts herself on the court is top rate and shes very good little player. to top it all off shes gorgeous too

safina has had a very tough 2 weeks and can be proud of her effort. she didnt make it too easy for ivanovic like many lesser players tend to in big occasions in womens majors

 

[General Levy]

I really do hope that Federer wins tomorrow. But he obviously has little chance. His only hope is that Nadal gets injured.

 

[hughy]

Not really. Anyone can slip up, or under-perform on any surface. I know it's unlikely that it will happen for Nadal on clay, but there's a chance. Federer's World #1 for a reason, he's capable of grinding out scrappy wins from time-to-time.

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

I really do hope that Federer wins tomorrow. But he obviously has little chance. His only hope is that Nadal gets injured.

Sure Nadal is favourite, but I don't think you can write Federer off so easily. Put a racket in his hand and he is a genius.

People though Djokovic would put up a tougher test for Nadal, but he played into his hands. You have to remember that Federer has played Nadal so many times he knows exactly what to expect. Most of the problems come when players try to play to deep and hard against Nadal thinking they are putting him under pressure, but Nadal is probably the best player 5 metres behind the baseline the world has ever seen. Anyone who is averaging 4500 revs on the ball is hitting it pretty funky and he'll just blugeon any player who goes at it.

But I remember watching Federer beat Nadal in Hamburg last year on clay. In the match Federer hit the ball shorter and with more whip and angle. He worked his openings rather than just trying to take Nadal on in a slugfest. If Fed can mix up the pace, use his wrist to mave Nadal around the court, use the slice backhand to make it more difficult for Nadal to force him deep then he has a good chance.

I think Fed wants this badly, he's up against it but for sure he has a better shot than anyone else.

 

[Supersonic]

Nadal is whipping Fed so far.

I want federer to win. Nadal winning is geting boring

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

Nadal is whipping Fed so far.

I want federer to win. Nadal winning is geting boring

Well Fed has to stop playing like that. Just hitting deep topspin shots straight into Nadals wheelhouse. Needs to get those angles going, it's far too easy right now.

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

Oh dear, I don't want to take anything away from Nadal because he was perfect, but that was a horror match from Federer.

I have to question his advisors, because he just seemed to have no gameplan at all. He played in the right way for about 4 or 5 games in the second set, but then he decided from nowhere to start serve volleying. He should have kept faith with the angles and changes in pace that gave him the only competitive moment of the match.

The total destruction makes this years Wimbledon maybe the most interesting in years.

 

[paulspursman]

thought it was always going to be Nadal to win but not by that much

WOW federer got well and truly destroyed

 

[Supersonic]

Thatll humble federer a bit. Nadal is a beast but a man of Federers talent should never let himself be taken apart like that. The difference seems to be that every shot Federer hits flies and inch over the net, while Nadal whacks it up in the air and then it just spins viciously.

Im going to go for Djokovic at Wimbledon

 

[General Levy]

A good time to back Federer for Wimbledon