ROLAND GARROS 2015

Hahahahahahaha Djokovic and Nadal in the same quarter, awesome

Draws available somewhere on the total disaster that is this year's www.rolandgarros.com

Nice to see 20yo Margarita Gasparyan (RUS) qualify, she's been killing everyone in ITFs this year - a 27-4 w/l record. First WTA Slam debutante with a single-handed BH since Naomi Broady in 2011. On the verge of becoming the first new top 100 player with a single-handed BH since CSN in...2008? Now we need Mayo Hibi to happen to ensure the shot's survival...

yea that site is garbage

I have a hard time seeing rafa win a set off novak, let alone beat him

I sort of hope Rafa will lose before the QF. He should be OK to R4 and then Dimitrov...or Sock...or Coric?

Murray is also in the same section as Novak and Nadal.

He's not, he's third seed (well, he's in the same half I guess)

Sorry I meant the same half.

Everyone saying Fed has an easy draw but a cush draw did nothing for him at the last two Slams.

He can lose anytime now, though if I wanted him to win one more slam it would be this one.

cmon I get that fed's at a win or nothing standard, but he had a very good us open, bad loss in the semis but it was to the eventual champ

i'm still going with nadal lol

Qualifiers done! Aside from Gasparyan they include

- Veronica Cepede Royg making her Slam debut, the first Paraguayan since Rossana de los Rios
- 2012 RG boys' champion Kimmer Coppejans making his Slam debut
- Elias Ymer and Christian Lindell - the first Swedish men in a Slam MD since Soderling, astonishingly
- Olivia Rogowska makes her 12th Slam MD - but the first time she's made it through qualifying (she's had 11 WCs and was a LL once)
- Andrea Arnaboldi, fresh off his 27-25 third set win yesterday, played another three-setter to qualify - impressive

Predix

(1) Serena Williams d. (27) Victoria Azarenka
Denisa Allertova d. (15) Venus Williams
(17) Sara Errani d. (Q) Lourdes Dominguez Lino
(5) Caroline Wozniacki d. (25) Jelena Jankovic
(Q) Margarita Gasparyan d. Pauline Parmentier
Belinda Bencic d. Lara Arruabarrena
(18) Svetlana Kuznetsova d. Andreea Mitu
Anna Karolina Schmiedlova d. Kristina Mladenovic
(31) Caroline Garcia d. Yaroslava Shvedova
Polona Hercog d. (Q) Teliana Pereira
(19) Elina Svitolina d. (14) Agnieszka Radwanska
(3) Simona Halep d. Roberta Vinci
(28) Flavia Pennetta d. (8) Carla Suarez Navarro
(21) Garbine Muguruza d. Ajla Tomljanovic
Daria Gavrilova d. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
(2) Maria Sharapova d. (26) Samantha Stosur

S.Williams d. Allertova
Wozniacki d. Errani
Gasparyan d. Bencic
Kuznetsova d. Schmiedlova
Garcia d. Hercog
Halep d. Svitolina
Muguruza d. Pennetta
Sharapova d. Gavrilova

S.Williams d. Wozniacki
Kuznetsova d. Gasparyan
Halep d. Garcia
Muguruza d. Sharapova

S.Williams d. Kuznetsova
Halep d. Muguruza

S.Williams d. Halep

—————————————————–

(1) Novak Djokovic d. (WC) Thanasi Kokkinakis
(20) Richard Gasquet d. (15) Kevin Anderson
(18) Tommy Robredo d. (10) Grigor Dimitrov
(6) Rafael Nadal d. Andrey Kuznetsov
(3) Andy Murray d. (29) Nick Kyrgios
(17) David Goffin d. (16) John Isner
Jiri Vesely d. Robin Haase
(7) David Ferrer d. Simone Bolelli
(5) Kei Nishikori d. (32) Fernando Verdasco
(Q) Elias Ymer d. Juan Monaco
(14) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga d. (22) Philipp Kohlschreiber
(4) Tomas Berdych d. (28) Fabio Fognini
(26) Guillermo Garcia Lopez d. (8) Stan Wawrinka
(Q) Kimmer Coppejans d. Lucas Pouille
(13) Gael Monfils d. Dominic Thiem
(2) Roger Federer d. Marcos Baghdatis

Djokovic d. Gasquet
Nadal d. Robredo
Murray d. Goffin
Ferrer d. Vesely
Nishikori d. Ymer
Berdych d. Tsonga
Garcia Lopez d. Coppejans
Monfils d. Federer

Djokovic d. Nadal
Murray d. Ferrer
Berdych d. Nishikori
Monfils d. Garcia Lopez

Djokovic d. Murray
Monfils d. Berdych

Djokovic d. Monfils

Lex, are you playing that racketrally game?

(1) Novak Djokovic d. (WC) Thanasi Kokkinakis
(20) Richard Gasquet d. (15) Kevin Anderson
Dimitrov d. Robredo
(6) Rafael Nadal d. Andrey Kuznetsov
(3) Andy Murray d. (29) Nick Kyrgios
(17) David Goffin d. (16) John Isner
Jiri Vesely d. Robin Haase
(7) David Ferrer d. Simone Bolelli
(5) Kei Nishikori d. (32) Fernando Verdasco
Monaco d. Ymer
(14) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga d. (22) Philipp Kohlschreiber
(4) Tomas Berdych d. (28) Fabio Fognini
Wawrinka d. (8) GGL
(Q) Kimmer Coppejans d. Lucas Pouille
(13) Gael Monfils d. Dominic Thiem
(2) Roger Federer d. Marcos Baghdatis

Djokovic d. Gasquet
Nadal d. Dimitrov
Murray d. Goffin
Ferrer d. Vesely
Kei d. Monaco
Berdych d. Tsonga
Wawrinka d. Copp
Federer d. Monfils

Djokovic d. Nadal
Ferrer d. Murray
Kei d. Berdych
Federer d. Wawrinka

Djokovic d. Ferrer
Kei d. Federer

Djokovic d. Kei

yea 2 of the predicts u each split - kei v berdych / murray v ferrer -- would both be great qtr final matches (id say kei/murray

)

I played racketrally in the AO but never even checked back...the whole buying shares thing was too complicated for me.

Says a lot that I have more misgivings about Garcia taking the most perfect quarter she could have got (lmao that she's magnetised to Ivanovic) than about that improbable Monfils run to the final

Still cackling that Bouchard drew the worst possible floater

Lucic-Baroni put last weeks horrendous 6-4 5-0 choke vs Keys behind her! Good win over Davis, she needed that. Halep rematch next.

The White Mug closed out Martic with a service winner, two aces and a FH winner. R2 vs Giorgi, who dealt with Tatjana Maria's junk surprisingly efficiently, should be good.

WTF are Wawrinka's shorts.

hasnt he worn those a while now? def did at rome

This is why one should always have grave misgivings concerning Garcia fulfilling her potential

Garcia gifted the third set break to Vekic with a horrendous DF, somehow got it back courtesy of two consecutive dead net cords that went her way, then played an even worse service game just to refute that luck. Truly the New Mauresmo

Ivanovic breathes a sigh of relief

Total meltdown by the end. Every time Garcia approached the net with a FH putaway beckoning you knew she'd balloon it long.

Maybe it'll resurrect Vekic's career! God knows she needed that win.

Ivanovic probably even more likely to lose to Shvedova now.

Carole Bouchard ‏@carole_bouchard 44s44 seconds ago
"I can't play tennis on this court",says Garcia in tears.Doesn't hide how pressure blocked her. Had asked to play on an other court but nope

tune in to see ivanovic down a set and ajdeing shvedova DFs <3

Dodin/Nara is a really great stylistic contrast. Dodin totally overpowered Nara early on and Nara's thought her way back into the match

Mandatory Mathilde Johansson 1st round RG viewing coming up soon.

wth razzano underhand serve on match pt

Aga :-(

lmao beck was on a six match losing streak before that win

was wondering why Sharapova's shriek sounded different, apparently she's sick

lol

HI EVERYONE

I had to leave just now due to a social engagement but I HAD A LOT FUN TODAY. The Kyrgios/Istomin match reached heights of hilarity that rival the biggest WTA mess, and you wouldn't have guessed it from the routine scoreline. Kyrgios still hasn't learned the meaning of "internal monologue" which makes him incredibly entertaining to watch in person. He's like Hewitt with occasional sportsmanship and constant showmanship, with the temper of Fognini.

AND TOMORROW I AM ON CHARTIER SO I GET TO SEE PETRA OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

haven't been watching venus/stephens bc i was too invested in that allertova/konta set. konta had soooooooooooooooo many set points in that TB, allertova takes it on like her 2nd or 3rd. 7-6 (19-17)

I think Kyle Edmund's shirt is outside the colour gamut of my TV.

Not really liking Robert's shorts either. This is quite the sartorial disaster. Entertaining match though.

i wonder if i can find a online stream

Really love Edmund's game, his FH is exactly the right balance between reliability and power.

Razzano is such a weirdo to be underhand serving (and DFing lmao) when leading. You were that nervous closing it out huh?

Konta/Allertova were both so undemonstrative that they even made a 19-17 TB a zen experience. Barely a fistpump or c'mon, watch and learn everyone else.

Didn't think Sloane/Venus was a great match even in the first set, Venus was embarrassing in the second set.

RIP Aga's career

Best shade I've seen re: Aga recently is that she's still the magician of the WTA - she made her own career disappear.

Navratilova is a red herring though. She's been declining ever since that AO SF vs Cibulkova.

Everything about Townsend's game is bad now, not just her fitness/movement.

Hope Ed is enjoying Petra hit errors!

Hamou's grunt is something else

lol @ Janowicz losing that set with a DF

What makes this even more worrying for Townsend is that Smitkova - who is very talented - is playing at about 20% herself. Very error-strewn and nervous. And still cruising.

what's on now that's decent? this Petra match is boring and terrible.

Hamou/Janowicz, maybe?

Oh Petra. That volley. That BH into the ground in front of her.

Diyas's ball toss technique doesn't seem logical

;_; @ Schmiedlova blowing 11 SPs in the second set to lose to an opponent she'd beaten three times this year ;_; though I like Van Uytvanck too, I guess.

Wussquet, like Garcia, apparently begged the organisers not to put him on Chatrier...though he got his way and won on Lenglen. It's a weird conflict about being a sports fan, their chokey mentality and dislike of the big stage is frustrating as a fan but I'd guess they're a lot more pleasant irl than the type A, uber-competitive players.

On the 10-year anniversary of her first THUNDEROUS run here, Sesil Karatantcheva is rumbling again, 6-3 4-0 up over a one-legged JaJa.

I will never understand why, with one match to choose from at any given time, both ITV and Eurosport have opted for the Djokovic R1 snooze.

Got a eurosport player 1 month subscription, definitely better than last time I used this thing. All filmed courts available in good quality.

how $$$?

Yeah I have the Eurosport thing for the first time, it's pretty good though is making my laptop a lot hotter than the illegal streams did

It's £5.99 per month in the UK, dunno about the US surm!

not bad

This Sesil choke...these serves suddenly going in at 20mph

lmao JJ finally ends it with a terrible overhead into the net

kiki doing god's work so far

The upset literally everyone saw coming

5 days after winning the longest ever RG qualy match, Andrea Arnaboldi becomes the first man to win from 2 sets to 0 down. 46 67 76 76 60 over Duckworth, what a scoreline.

Kiki is EXPOSING Bouchard, glad at least one French player loves the big stage

Damn, no bagel

Duckworth had a MP in the 3rd set too.

choking now :(

Got it done :)

Sock even hitting sick winners with his BH.

Hello! I am on the Thalys to Brussels, alas, no more tennis for me, so I thought I would sit here and say THINGS.

First thing I saw was Gajdosova/Hesse. This was dreadful. Gajdosova should have win this like 6-2 6-4 but seemed to really let the fact that the French crowd LITERALLY would not even applaud her winners get to her. She just got listless and her serve went to pieces. Hesse occasionally hit some good serves but once she was in the rally she was nothing special, and if Jarka got a good serve in she was toast. So it was a bunch of French people cheering for Hesse, and me and a turncoat cheering for Jarka. "Allez, Jarka!" this cute French boy kept yelling out. I joined him, but I failed to get his number or anything (he was with a girlfriend, I guess). More on this later. One particular member of the crowd tried to get a chant going early in the second set which went like this:

AMANDINE! (clap clap clap)
HESSE! (clap clap clap)

If you try this you will see that it is horrible and arythmic because the second half only has four beats to the first half's six. (In case your French is worse than mine, which it shouldn't be, "Hesse" is one syllable) People kept trying to join in but after "Hesse" had no idea what to do, and they didn't clap. A more competent crowd member then just went AMANDINE! (clap clap clap) and this worked considerably better. But then when Hesse started cruising they didn't bother any more, so it was back to AMANDINE CLAP CLAP CLAP HESSE CLAP CLAP CLAP. Anyway, I quickly cleared out after the match and then this purple shape moved near me and overtook me. It was Gajodosova! I got her attention and said "Better luck at Wimbledon, it's good to have you back on the tour" and she broke her disconsolate face just for a minute with a smile , thanked me and moved off. I knew better than to ask for a picture. TO be honest, this interaction <<<<<<<<<<<<<< nearly being knocked over by Juan Martin del Potro in Sydney. Jarmila is a nice girl. I feel for her. ANd it must suck to not even have the crowd applaud your winners, something that was not in evidence at any other match I saw.

I hadn't planned to make this Australia day but I decided I really wanted to see Kyrgios in case of antics. Since I'd also wanted to watch Kerber, but she'd won in like 4 seconds I decided to go and get a good spot for Kyrgios/Istomin. Which meant watching Stosur/Brengle. Stosur played well, she hit at least 5 BH winners in the first set and only shanked once. She got a little tighter in the second but never looked even remotely bothered and you wonder how Brengle beats anyone, then you in turn remember that one of her scalps was Shitra once, or something. Feh. She had a bad attitude today, yelling at the lines when one of Stosur's topspin-heavy balls bounced off them and away from her. So basically, a person who knows how to play on clay whomped someone who doesn't.

THEN KYRGIOS OH MY GOD, this was Peak ATP comedy. I can't even begin to put this in proper prose, so I'll just itemise the zaniness:

1. Kyrgios was wearing blue shorts with a pink shirt with blue stripes on it. It suited him, and nobody else I've seen wearing it this tournament. His hair was.. unspeakable. From the neck up he looked more like a backing dancer for an uptempo French Eurovision entry than a participant at the French Open.

2. His shorts appeared to be falling down at one point. He asked someone to bring him a belt. This did not come.

3. Istomin hit a ball on the line that was called out, Kyrgios hit a tweener off it and insisted that the point be replayed. Good boy.

4. But Istomin kept shitting Kyrgios off by not being ready for serves, being told at one point to serve again because opponent was not ready. Arguing with the umpire, Kyrgios said wtte of it's supposed to be at the server's place and "Look, I don't sit at the baseline and go 'Dennis, are you ready?'".

5. Kyrgios hit a reaction shot off an Istomin serve that was long and tried to challenge (maybe he was a bit tardy with the intention) and the umpire again denied. "If I was (playing?? Not sure if there was a word in here) Roger or Rafa, that point would be replayed" or similar, and then, "THIS SPORT IS A DISGRACE!!!".

There were lots of amazing screaming winners and for a straight-sets rout against an out of form player it was hugely entertaining.

THen I saw a bit of Pironkova before I had to leave but she won so yay.

TODAY I had tickets on CHartrier. I had to check out of my hotel and got the runaround at Gare du Nord owing to a Stupid Person giving me directions to the Eurostar instead of the checked baggage area closer to the metro station which is what I wanted. "I thought you must be going to London," ugh. Both times I"ve been to Paris I"ve had 99% overwhelmingly helpful Parisians helping me out and it's that 1% that gives me the irrits. So I ended up missing half a set of Kvitova/Erakovic, coming in just when Petra came back in the first set. Now, does anyone remember when Kvitova knew how to volley? I'm sure I do. Her first volleys were always tentative and back to Erakovic, and then she flubbed just about every putaway after the defensive shot came in response. SHe was sloppy off the ground but tidied up in the third set just in time for Erakovic to lose her self belief. A poor match but a win anyway.

THen I decided to hang around to watch Nadal liquefy a small child, Quentin Halys, a top junior. Who was not a small child, but anyway. Rafa was a bit slow and sloppy but won easily. Halys hits a lovely screaming flat ball and I thought his game looks better for fast courts. He did break Rafa once, so well done. He was wearing KYrgios's outfit and looked ridiculous, though I think he's far more handsome. I think one to watch, getting 10 games against Rafa on clay would be above average for like Federer, lol.

Feeling like Djokovic.Nieminen would be boring I opted for that minute to stop for lunch and buy a towel as a souvenir, gasping at the expense but going fuck it and doing it anyway. But then I went back in just as Errorvic showed up and nearly gifted Jark the second set. After the first break back, I heard a familiar voice from across the stadium. It was a French voice going "Allez, Jarkko!" and blow me down, it was the cute French boy who had been cheering on JarKA. Alas, Jarkko's serve was a bit off near the end of the second set and he barely won games after that, but he had chances in so many. Djokovic would want to play a lot better than that but you suspect he will.

THen Serena came out and dispatched Hlavackova very quickly though the latter hit some delirious shots, Serena just hit quite a few of her own and it was over in time for me to battle with the generally inept and slow moving French crowd back to Port d'Auteuil to get the 10 then the 6 to GDN just in time for the train to Brussels. I am sure last time I was here Parisians walked on the right, like they say they do in London, but this time it seems like they just walk like morons wherever the fuck they want, just like they actually do in London.

My seat on Chatrier were very high up and I got a nosebleed as soon as I sat down.

But I had an excellent time and I am sad I cannot Wimbledon as well during this trip.

I am sure last time I was here Parisians walked on the right, like they say they do in London, but this time it seems like they just walk like morons wherever the fuck they want, just like they actually do in London.

this is going to be the funniest sentence I will read today

Oh I forgot! Serena mistimed a response to a lob and got HIT BY THE BALL. Also I went strolling with my lunch and down to the outside courts and saw a bit of Mahut! You have to go watch Mahut. He was playing a team of Delbonis, who is normal height, and Diego Schwartzman, who is HILARIOUSLY TINY. It looked like a father playing with his 12-year-old son or something.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/26/sports/tennis/years-later-for-guillermo-vilas-hes-still-not-the-one.html?_r=1

Absolutely disgraceful and infuriating.

awesome report Ed!

I'm going to RG for the first time next week. Are the queues to get in long/hassle-y if you have a ticket? And what would be the best way to get from Charles de Gaulle airport to the grounds?

Queues were brutal yesterday. THe process is hilarious.

You show your ticket right at the entrance to the complex for them to divert you into a queue, then you queue up for a bag check which takes forever because it's a slow trudge (after a slow trudge from the metro to the complex), then you scan your ticket at the gate and walk through, then finally someone checks your ID to make sure you're the rightful owner of the ticket. It is preposterously inefficient. I would want to arrive before 10.30 in case there's a big queue for the court you want, you can always go into the museum or browse for tat in the shops. I bought a gigantic towel, misreading the price which pertained to a smaller variety and didn't realise it was about 70 euros. LOL. But I decided to get it anyway as a souvenir FOR MYSELF. I was going to get something for my mum but she was like "Oh, the French is my least favourite slam" WELL FINE HAVE IT YOUR WAY NO TOWEL FOR YOU!

THere is no queue to get in if you don't have a ticket. You simply can't and if you buy one off the street then you probably won't get admitted as you'll be unable to prove you're the owner. NOt that this applies to you of course.

OMG here is the awful Amandine Hesse chant and the man responsible for it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYsnJhcl6_k

I wish someone had YouTubed the hot Gajdosova fan near me.

I wonder if this guy is there watching her likely fail to win a game against Stosur.

ugh, big queues - my flight only lands at 10.15. I have Chatrier tickets so I'll certainly be able to arrive in time for those matches, but doubting how much time I'll have to look at doubles/juniors beforehand. Oh well, will be there for two days anyway. Excited!

Omg is Halep going to lose again to Lucic in a slam? That would be hilarious and amazing and just all around awesome for Miki!

thiem-cuevas is getting epic. thiem just took the third set after almost 3h of play

http://espn.go.com/tennis/french15/story/_/id/12956202/french-open-jack-sock-john-isner-change-fortunes-americans

I am linking this article because of this amazing mangle of a quote, which I sincerely hope isn't a mangle at all but actually what dude said:

"Movement is another big part of my game. I feel like on the clay get to a lot of balls, I can touch a lot of balls in the balls, which sometimes can frustrate guys when you get to one extra. Sometimes that can change a match." - Jack Sock

thiem-cuevas is getting epic. thiem just took the third set after almost 3h of play

his defence at one point in this had me on my feet

It really is USO redux in Mirjana/Simona...

Gotta love the annual "US TENNIS ON THE RISE AGAIN!!!!11111" articles after RG R1

gulbis and mahut just played a 20min game

FISTICUFFS on Court 7! (Neither Fognini nor Paire but the spectators, perhaps surprisingly)

isner is never changing the fortunes of anything ever

I hate so much espns televised coverage of tennis majors

RENNAE

rennae stubbs ‏@rennaestubbs 5m5 minutes ago
It's amazing how much better Cornet "feels" when she wins a point

rennae stubbs ‏@rennaestubbs 3m3 minutes ago
Haleps attitude just kills her in matches like this! @rolandgarros .... Her go to attitude to deal with pressure is just to mentally quit

A Couple of Americans Besides Serena Win Matches On Clay, Show That American Tennis Honestly Isn't A Gigantic Crapsack

that said, I am a fan of both Steve Johnson and Jack Sock and hope they continue to do well

Mirjana did it again. Who would have thought winning four main draw matches in the last 8 months and choking a 64 50 lead last week would be ideal RG prep

lmao @ Vekic - just when her career seemed to be in a hopeless tailspin and she'd fallen to 170 in the world, here she is with her first ever R3, on a surface she'd hitherto been pretty much allergic to, and at a time when her personal life is subject to the most intrusion it's ever been

PUTINTSEVA IS PEAKING

She ALWAYS beat Svitolina in juniors so I'm not surprised she's doing it again now...

fighting third set notwithstanding, Thiem's just made too many errors on big points today, and Cuevas is perennially underrated

(I wasn't wowed by Thiem's form vs Bedene in R1 tbh. Maybe tired from his first title last week)

Putintseva has Svitolina on a string right now. Moonballs that push Svitolina into the back fence followed by slices that make her dig balls out from mid-court followed by sudden injections of pace followed by dropshots that make her cry

Weak sauce ending from Fognini even in the context of a weak sauce performance overall

Putintseva tightened up so much and now this match is full-on psychodrama

I kind of want Fognini to do a reality show

RIP Gulbis's ranking, which will sink to around 90. Mahut played really well in his R1 vs Coppejans so despite his clay-averse rep, that was a NID result to me

- Putintseva wins point of the tournament to save break point at 4-4
- Immediately calls lengthy mid-game MTO despite no visible injury
- On resumption Putintseva hits an error and a DF to get broken in 5 secs
- Svitolina serves for the match, saves BPs, gets to MP, thinks she hits a winner
- Putintseva circles mark and pumps her first, umpire comes down to check, it's indeed out
- Putintseva then bellows C'MOOOOOON twice
- Svitolina DFs
- Putintseva bellows C'MOOOOOOON another three times

And now we're at 5-5

Some of Putintseva's racquet antics have been out of control. When she chopped it into the ground like it was an axe. When she assaulted her own feet with it. This is my favourite match of the year

Putintseva misses a smash, assaults her knee with her racquet, hits a clean dropshot return winner on the next point

Svitolina wins 9-7 in the third. I feel drained after that

Pereira! if she wins this then that quarter has dissolved into nothing

I thought even Ivanovic could roll over Doi like 2 and 1

super aggressive start from Schiavone, this could be a great match

Edmund withdrew? Damn.

C'mon Franny.

Schia Kuzny pretty fun so far, both doing their thing.

Really nothing to separate them, so many long deuce games and now 7-7 in the TB. Fran's saved three SPs in brilliant fashion

*ignores Petra forever*

this is great

Meanwhile, Witthoeft with a banging BH DTL to take her fourth game in a row vs Errani. Looked like she was boiling over with frustration at *1-4 down, now 5-4*...

Sveta takes it 13-11. Bloody good TB. And Witthoeft serves out the second set!

Kuznet wins set on her 7th SP, after surviving nine deuces at 4-4 and another four at 5-5. Amazing.

xp

That might have been it for Schiavo

Obv the first shot I see when I tune into Wozniacki/Goerges is a Wozniacki moonball rally

xp or not

Wozniacki still so helpless even against a nervy Goerges

Quality in Fran/Sveta as good as ever.

4-4 i the third set, BP down, obv Fran hits a perfect dropshot <3

Sveta served for the match twice, broken both times. Fran saved a MP with a ridiculous BH winner, followed it up with a ridiculous touch volley and then Sveta DFed. This match was always going to go into extra time and here we are at 6-6!

went to the hospital at 2-2 3rd set for an appointment, obv this match was still going when i got back :)

pffff Serena

Sveta serves for the match a third time. Is broken a third time.

Serena is playing so so badly

Six consecutive breaks? Good grief.

Possibly some more. Sveta was up a break a few times before we got into serving-for-the-match territory iirc

Bloody hell that point. Bow down. FRANNNNN

THIS FUCKING MATCH

Sveta serves for the match a fourth time. Broken to love

I feel like this match could go on for the rest of RG and I would not mind

Fran holds for 9-8. The fifth hold of serve in 17 games.

Fran stops the sequence at nine, holding from 15-40.

what a shot to get to MP by Fran!!!

OMG Sveta that terrible volley to lose it!

Well, I guess this proves the old adage than no one ever wins a match losing their serve six times in a row in the decider. My god.

anyone complaining about the number of breaks has not seen the match

Fran hit astonishing shots in all of the games she broke back

I wasn't complaining, I could tell it was HQ stuff from the comments in here. I know you folks don't hold back when it's an errorfest!

Must try and see highlights on the RG website later/tomorrow.

Another seed out - Pliskova goes down to Romania's Fed Cup heroine Mitu. Not a huge shock given that Pliskova's servebotting game is less effective on clay, good for Mitu for closing it out eventually despite some huge nerves

Kokkinakis comes back from two sets to 0 and then 2-5 in the fifth to beat Tomic, which feels like a metaphor for Tomic's career vis-à-vis Younger Australia

Tomic's season hasn't been bad, he just seems to be injured all the time

for me his game is still more fun to watch than kyrgios' and kokk's

yeah, but he seems to be settling into a top 50 player kind of role rather than anything bigger.

Coric had a nightmare of a time trying to close out Robredo in that set, he's really going to need to develop his kill shots. When Robredo is the more aggressive one and you can only close out a set because of his UEs...

Bernard Tomic will never make it into the top 10. Never. Been saying this for years.

also if Serena loses to Azarenka and Sharapova ends up facing Azarenka in the final, I'm flying back to Paris and will kill myself on Suzanne Lenglen :(

Watson should be a case study in why demanding counterpunchers and retrievers should PLAY MORE AGGRESSIVELY!!!!1111 should be banned. Everyone always imagines the ideal of a speedy player who can hit winners at will but you often just end up with a tactically confused player who doesn't have the power to dominate with basher tennis and makes a ton of errors instead

chardy about to take out RG favorite isner

Huge five-set win for Coric in the end. He def went for his returns in the final game but Robredo looked gassed

Didn't know this tho:

Jeff Sackmann ‏@tennisabstract 1m1 minute ago
Since 2006, only two players have beaten Tommy Robredo in a fifth set: Novak Djokovic and now Borna Coric.

finding myself rooting for Warlocq because the french crowd are dicks

I am very happy that the last two American men standing are Johnson and Sock

Warlocq riling up the crowd. this is fun

lol Dan

lols.

Also, is Mladenovic finally going to happen? I've been waiting SO LONG since seeing her at Hopman Cup hitting clean winners off Andy Murray's serves during mixed doubles and she is just GREAT and LIKEABLE so PLEASE can she make the quarters.

berlocq wins the set. some great moonball rallies in the last few games

*stands, applauds*

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CGKSDwBUIAEzLcs.jpg

Didn't expect Cornet to come out so tight after using home support so well in R1, but...she was tight against Townsend in R2 last year too. Great to see Mirjana hitting her spots so far, had feared she'd bury herself in errors...

lol @ commentators talking about how infamous '90s party girl Iva Majoli, who pretty much wasted her entire post-RG career, is teaching Vekic how to focus on tennis

Also, I jinxed Mirjana :(

Mirjana serving for the set again. Nets an easy smash, Cornet openly laughing at her

Plot twist! Serves it out from 0-30 down

Beck is such an annoying pusher

lmao @ that Cornet second serve

^ hahaha

Cornet was about a million times more demonstrative after winning R2 than Myskina was after winning the final

That serve, for posterity

https://twitter.com/philousports/status/604248820210352128

I only half-watched Federer/Dzumhur but every time I looked at the TV there was some tremendously fun shotmaking happening from both. Fed's BH seemed particularly on song

Dzumhur is v little but I hope he sticks around, entertaining player, sorta like the New Rochus

Berdych actually looks great in that outfit

Paire hit dropshots on six consecutive points in that second set

Benoit Paire, attempting a comeback

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CGMKOytXEAEhEyA.png

CSN has reached the QF or better of every tournament she's played this year...except the two Slams.

Pennetta has reached the QF or better of 4 of her past 7 Slams - but only six other Tour events in that period.

I guess that "upset" reflected where each woman peaks these days...

Monfils circus/Cuevas choke

mostly pretty boring first week makes me more grateful for these Monfils matches. I was grinning like an idiot at the end there

Mardy FishVerified account
‏@MardyFish
Gael Monfils such a fickle player… In my opinion the best pure athlete to ever play tennis...

"pure athlete" ?

code for "he's BLACK"

lol not lol

In the responses the only players mentioned as contenders for "pure athlete" status were James Black and Yannick! But the Yannick responder has deleted, apparently! wtf

Kyrgios just hit a tweener lob O_O

Meanwhile Schiavone is losing to Mitu

Fran started well but has gone a bit flat. Mitu has a nice neat game and her FH is a weapon

How many times are we going to be told Kyrgios is "just what the game needs"?

Inconsistent, too full of himself, an ok game but not enough back-up

he's clearly incredibly talented

& fun to watch

He's ridiculously talented imo. Obviously he's inconsistent, he's still so young but far ahead of everyone else his age. And he has far more dimensions to his game than someone like Raonic. I don't see how he won't be a multi-Slam champion, and I don't have anywhere near that confidence in any of the other touted kids like Coric, Zverev, Tiafoe etc. He's an arrogant little fuck but I don't find that as objectionable (yet) as I did with Hewitt, it's just a young ppl thing. Players like Murray will always be his kryptonite though

fwiw I see a lot more hunger to win in him than I ever did in Monfils, so despite his wildness and showboating I don't think he's in danger of going down that route

iirc Murray was stringing a lot more section of good-to-great play at around 20/21 but the physical aspect was letting him down.

I suppose its reaction to the hype. He'll win slams - though that's a reflection on the next generation coming through as much as K's talent - but its hilarious seeing this one great one shit shot off the court 'approach' against 'this guy is the future'.

Wait, while I'm stuck without a TV in Stockholm, Petra won in straight sets? I'm just going to not watch her for the rest of the tournament :D :D :D

Should also be remembered that Kyrgios has played an unusually light schedule in his first year on tour due to injury and this is his first season on what will likely be his worst surface, and he's notched up his first final and a win over Federer on it. In general he has v few losses I'd call bad, let alone stretches of them. He's ranked far ahead of everyone else born in 1995, as well as everyone born in 1994 and 1993.

Murray serving crap, wins 2nd 6-2. xp

It's sort of interesting that the leading 1996-born players - Coric, Chung, Kokkinakis - are far more consistent and solid than Kyrgios, but nowhere near as flashy. So it'll be interesting to see how those rivalries develop.

lmao, I didn't realise Petra hadn't reached the second week of any non-Wim Slam since the USO 2012.

*continues to ignore her*

SARA in the 4th round <3333

flick cross court from M :-D

if Fran had to have a comedown after her Sveta heroics I'm glad it was to Andreea Mitu, who was in tears afterwards - she was contemplating retirement this time last year...

Who'd have thought Mitu would be the last woman from her country standing.

Sad for Fran though. Maybe she'll just fuck the haters and keep playing anyway.

K dances the dance and clowns around and hits hard. Basically everything but take a set. Dispatched in straights ktxbye.

More fun than the last five to ten next big things though.

ferrer came back to crush bolleli 4th & 5th sets wow

vika :)

quality level here is a+

matching sic strong return of serves to match their outfit color schemes, not sure what more i could want

yeah i wasn't expecting vika to play this well

omg @ the result,i had to go out @ vika up 4-2 second set

nice gamesmanship by serena at the end of the 2nd set

I went out with Vika up 4-2 as well, lol - had thought the match would turn before that but Vika kept winning games despite Serena hitting her trademark match-turning winners. Funny how their matches always follow the same struggle pattern. Total opposite to how her matches vs Ma$ha feel but the same result.

Your last 16s:

(1) Serena Williams vs. Sloane Stephens
(17) Sara Errani vs. Julia Goerges
(4) Petra Kvitova vs. (23) Timea Bacsinszky
Andreea Mitu vs. Alison Van Uytvanck
(7) Ana Ivanovic vs. (9) Ekaterina Makarova
(19) Elina Svitolina vs. (29) Alize Cornet
(28) Flavia Pennetta vs. (21) Garbine Muguruza
(13) Lucie Safarova vs. (2) Maria Sharapova

(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (20) Richard Gasquet
Jack Sock vs. (6) Rafael Nadal
(3) Andy Murray vs. Jeremy Chardy
(9) Marin Cilic vs. (7) David Ferrer
(5) Kei Nishikori vs. Teymuraz Gabashvili
(14) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. (4) Tomas Berdych
(8) Stan Wawrinka vs. (12) Gilles Simon
(13) Gael Monfils vs. (2) Roger Federer

H2Hs:

Williams 4-1 Stephens (1-0 on clay, 2-0 this year)
Errani 2-2 Goerges (Errani leads 1-0 on clay)
Bacsinszky 1-0 Kvitova (1-0 this year)
Mitu 1-1 Van Uytvanck (Van Uytvanck leads 1-0 on clay)
Ivanovic 1-1 Makarova
Cornet 2-0 Svitolina (1-0 on clay)
Muguruza 2-0 Pennetta
Sharapova 4-1 Safarova (3-1 on clay)

Djokovic 11-1 Gasquet (2-0 on clay)
Sock 0-0 Nadal
Murray 6-1 Chardy (1-0 on clay and this year)
Ferrer 3-2 Cilic (1-1 on clay)
Nishikori 3-2 Gabashvili (1-0 on clay and this year)
Berdych 7-2 Tsonga (1-0 on clay and this year)
Wawrinka 3-2 Simon (2-0 on clay)
Federer 8-4 Monfils (4-2 on clay, Monfils leads 1-0 this year on clay)

I LOVE that one of Mitu and Van Uytvanck will be a Slam QFist. Will predict:

Williams, Errani, Bacsinszky, Van Uytvanck, Ivanovic, Cornet, Muguruza, Sharapova
Djokovic, Nadal, Murray, Ferrer, Nishikori, Berdych, Wawrinka, Monfils

i thought about backing Makarova e/w a few days ago and literally couldn't find her name listed on oddschecker

Svitolina's tough but I'm not really wowed by her raw talent

Svitolina had three points for 6-2 5-2, inexplicably let Cornet off the hook and here we are at 4-4. This is how Cornet epics are born

Goodness. Svitolina takes it on her 6th MP after blowing a 4-2 40-0 lead and choking for the match twice

Too bad Svitolina is unable to provide any resistance to Ivanovic

Tsonga's started so well!

sad Berdych :(

Tsonga really owning that recede

Distracting everyone from it via very snug shorts

Berdych always lets these matches go so meekly

Lex why do you think Fed is going to lose against Monfils?

Kei through just now btw.

Tsonga breaks in the 3rd, to serve for the match.

and doesn't - on we go.

Berdych went on to win the set on TB and this is great now. Blow-by-blow.

The only thing is we may not get to see Fed-Monfils today

fkn hell man. So another hour, another Tsonga break, another service game for the match.

Blasts it to the QFs!

Relieved Monfils is up for this, after not looking like it: Fed runs with the 1st but Monfils breaks in the 2nd!

Lex why do you think Fed is going to lose against Monfils?

― xyzzzz__, Sunday, May 31, 2015 3:54 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Monfils beat him a few weeks ago in Monte Carlo and Federer has flopped against a lot of lesser opponents of late despite looking good beforehand. I wouldn't say I'd put money on it and obv I have a lot less faith in Monfils after his clowning around

forgot how competitive (albeit maybe predictable) the Lucie-Maria matchup can be. their last 4 sets have gone to tie breaks now

minibreak to Safarova! Consolidated! Oh god, this is going 7-3 now.

winners though.

LOLOLOLOL DF

5-1 Saf should get this one now.

Absolutely awful drop shot for five SPs

awesome

People get so excited about things like this. Tennis Twitter doing its nut over how Safarova's going to reach the final, I'm just thinking it's time to put money on Sharapova because of how it always ends up

And to continue watching the White Mug and Pennetta obv

Well. If Safarova gets through this (which she won't) she has her pigeon Ivanovic as a possible SF opponent.

prove me wrong Lucie, prove me wrong, you headcase!

I don't think anyone should be writing off Muguruza. Or Pennetta for that matter.

Muguruza has started both sets slow but the way she's hauled herself back into them has been so impressive. BH on fire

White Mug/Serena final would be amazing.

It's Justine Henin's birthday today. What more fitting present would there be than a Sharapova loss?

I'm hoping Muguruza finished what she started last year against Sharapova (yes, already writing Lucie "just handed the break back with a DF" off)

ooooOOOOOooooo Maria DF to give Lucie MP

LOL. Maria lob lands on the baseline, Lucie dumps it into the net

omg yes yes yes. claypova my arse.

Whoa she actually did it. Lucie!!!!

hahaha :)

I am now totally happy with any finalist from this half... even Ivanovic? Even Ivanovic!

Bouchard out of the top 10 now and Safarova in :D :D :D

Ma$ha has still never defended a Slam title!

xp gosh I had no idea that was Safarova's top 10 match, she had one or two earlier this year and flopped hard iirc. Even more impressive.

Safarova and Muguruza have never played!

monfils-fed being effectively best of 3 now is increasing my excitement #makemenplaythreesets

Back call for ITV4 to show Murray match instead of Fed-Monfils :-(

Nice tanking in this game Gael

meanwhile, there's an ITF tournament in Brescia, Italy this week - the courts are in the former moat of the town castle! looks idyllic: http://www.tennisforzacostanza.it/sito/

#makemenplayzerosets

gael really got fucked by the scheduling. he had all the momentum yesterday

I had totally forgotten that this is the year of the three-week Paris-London break. Wimbledon starts a week later than I thought. I picked a bad night to agree to photograph some gamelan players (men's QF)...

Gael has no excuses.

Gael got fucked by his own clowning around and taking ten sets to beat Schwartzman and Cuevas

Murray is having to resist at the mo :-(

Murray in trouble, broken in the 3rd.

Winners flying although not Messi like.

#lolcommentary

Chardy clowns around at the next - break back.

NID that Chardy wouldn't keep it together mentally, story of his career

yup, Murray to serve for the 3rd

The height on that Serena dropshot made it look like the worst dropshot ever but it only just landed on the other side of the net and proved surprisingly effective

LMAOOOO that Chardy drive volley

w.t.f

Murray's turn to get a DF in.

gets it in the end!

Amazed this crowd aren't up seats

ripping up seats. *cries for edit button*

er ok @ serena

Serena's just left at least two Stephens shots that landed on the baseline pretty close to her for no apparent reason

is she injured/uninterested/what? Stephens 6-1 inside 25 mins.

what is this shit on my television?

Completely bizarre lack of fight in that last game, Serena just slapping the ball out. That set felt like it lasted about 10 minutes

Perched for the ERRANI SLAM now

Down 1-6, *2-3, 15-30, Serena won the longest rally of the match and it woke her up. Held serve then broke Stephens after the longest game of the match.

Rising from the ashes (again)

In the meantime Murray to serve for the match after exchanging breaks.

did sloane show any form at all coming into this tournament? she has looked really good

PLOT TWIST

I didn't know Stephens could hit BH DTL at all

did sloane show any form at all coming into this tournament? she has looked really good

not really, though not slumping like Beck/Schiavone/Vekic etc

R2 Charleston (beat Mattek-Sands, lost to Barthel)
R2 Madrid (beat Mattek-Sands, lost to Serena 4 and 0)
R1 Rome (lost to Lisicki (!) 4 and 1)
SF Strasbourg (beat Kichenok and Vandeweghe, then Jankovic retired, then lost to Stosur with a bagel in the third)

Serena serving to stay in the match.

DF to begin with.

Serve strong thereafter. 5-5

Races to 3 BPs

Serena to serve for the match.

lol sorry for the set.

Errani beats Goerges 6-2 6-2 :DDDD

That was the most impressed I've ever been with Sloane and especially her BH. She made the stretch between Serena waking up and Serena breaking in the third more interesting than I expected but...the match basically followed the Serena MO. 10-0 in three-setters this year.

Has Nadal been hustling us all clay court season? I'm sure these aren't 2008-vintage performances he's turning in, but the results are close to that (ok, Sock isn't done yet).

Sock now done.

How can someone called Sock exist btw? #wonderofitall

i like van Uytvanck's game more the more i watch her. so many drop shots

re: Sock. This is a post-Roddick thing, right? Men's tennis 2-3 years from now is depressing me right now.

Ooh, Sock broke back.

Twice :-(

Sock will always be able to cause damage with his FH but I'd be surprised if he even had Roddick's career

Courtney Nguyen ‏@FortyDeuceTwits 3m3 minutes ago
*clicks over to make sure someone is actually on the other side of the net against Novak*

*clicks back to Sock-Rafa*

Two s-p!

bizarro Rafa collapse at the end of that set

Have I jinxed Rafa?

Sock drags this on!

Nadal got that break (courtesy of a couple of DFs from Sock) and then saved his own serve with an ace on 30-40.

Nadal wins; Djoko about to, and I won't be able to watch #ohmylyfe

Petra on now..

Your predictable men's QFs and H2Hs.

(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (6) Rafael Nadal
(3) Andy Murray vs. (7) David Ferrer
(9) Kei Nishikori vs. (14) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
(8) Stan Wawrinka vs. (2) Roger Federer

Nadal 23-20 Djokovic (14-5 on clay)
Murray 9-6 Ferrer (Ferrer leads 4-0 on clay)
Nishikori 4-1 Tsonga
Federer 16-2 Wawrinka (4-2 on clay, 1-0 this year)

mad match if anyone is watching. the usual tiresome things that go on in Kvitova's game in full show.

If anyone is wondering why Kvitova was disputing that line call when she was 5-0 down and SP its because she needs to get going for the final set.

Just thought I'd clear that piece of psychology up for any novice to the game that happens to be reading.

Petra scream <3

& then gets broken (n)

the end is near..

there there.

lol @ commentary calling this a 'shock'

Switzerland just keep trolling France or what.

Anyway, we're done for today.

LOL @ Petra. A bagel, of course. Happy for Timea! Wonderful story and an awesome person, it seems like.

Your obvious women's QFs.

(1) Serena Williams vs. (17) Sara Errani
(23) Timea Bacsinszky vs. Alison Van Uytvanck
(7) Ana Ivanovic vs. (19) Elina Svitolina
(21) Garbine Muguruza vs. (13) Lucie Safarova

Williams 8-0 Errani (5-0 on clay)
Bacsinszky 0-0 Van Uytvanck
Ivanovic 6-0 Svitolina (2-0 on clay)
Muguruza 0-0 Safarova

even with her recent total trashbag play, this is basically Serena's to lose right? I don't think Errani or Ivanovic can take her and I'm not familiar enough with the others to know how likely it is that they'll be able to capitalize on Serena's inability to play the first set well

Serena's Fed Cup match vs Errani a few weeks ago was a MESS, it'll be interesting to see whether that repeats or whether Serena ups her game to Errani-squashing level.

Muguruza beat her here last year and if she was her QF opponent I'd be giving her a big chance given Serena's form, but in a Slam final...I can't see it.

I'm wondering whether Ivanovic's open draw will make her gag at some point. She's very lucky she faces her pigeon next.

The White Mug and Safarova are absolutely BELTING the ball at each other

Serena and Djoko could win calendar year slams. Don't want it to happen but its a great chance for both of them.

Such a high level of tennis in this match. Those screaming BH DTL winners by Lucie in this TB!

Ivanovic a game away now.

Safarova one game away now.

Great shot to end there!

That was an absolutely brilliant performance by Safarova. Muguruza was fantastic as well, never gave up, and it would only have taken a shot here or there to tilt the balance of the match, but Safarova just came up with the answers every time. Thoroughly enjoyable match.

Also, no question in my mind that Safarova is the favourite in the SF.

- H2H favours her - she leads 6-3, including 5 of the last 6
- Match-up favours her - just imagine the Lucie lefty FH into the Ana BH all day long
- She's actually had to play lights-out spectacular tennis to get to the SF, including against big hitters who had dominated her in the past in Pavlyuchenkova and Sharapova. Ivanovic BSed her way past mentally weak Shvedova, tiny Doi, clay-hating Vekic, clay-averse Makarova and her pigeon Svitolina

I'll be on Chatrier for it, looking forward to it!

Also, Safarova acquitted herself very well in her maiden Slam SF at Wimbledon, so it's hard to think she'll be the one to choke, if anyone does

Fed in deuce in the 1st game against Stan.

Fed sat down after holding.

Initially thought the Tsonga/Nishikori scoreline was down to Tsonga picking up where he left off but Nishikori is really having a nightmare out there. So wild.

:-(

Stan has played outrageous tennis to break Fed to 40!

Gorgeous blocked backhand winner.

Last rally had some great defense before hitting a winner on the line.

Fed/Stan is brilliant so far. Might have to start ignoring the other match.

Nishikori somehow getting WORSE. Cannot look away from this car crash.

Wawrinka return brings a serve-and-volleying Federer to his knees

I cautiously suspected Tsonga could surprise kei but nothing like this, only judging by scoreline tho, can't view :(

well, bits of Chatrier falling off might be the break Kei needs to get himself together

Hugely enjoying the stan match - doubt he'll keep this up but liking the view from the clouds.

Stan bangs some BH passes to break in set two...

...and Tsonga fails to serve out the set after play resumes. IRONY if Chatrier falling apart saved Kei

STAN! That pass

you'd think Fed would learn by now not to come in while hitting to Stan's backhand lol

2nd set Tsonga but still Kei might be in the right frame of mind so it isn't embarrassing.

Jo came out so shaky and Kei had improved...slightly, but I think Kei should've broken back there.

Stan on fire

Ben Rothenberg ‏@BenRothenberg
Groundstroke winners in matches on right now:

Wawrinka - 28
Tsonga - 16
Federer - 9
Nishikori - 8

#RG15

A game away.

Fed easily holds.

brilliant drop shot by fed, but easily could have seen that being disastrous

tiebreak

If Fed loses this TB it will be the first time in 292 GS matches he has failed to break his opponent's serve (last time: 2002 USO).

BACKHANDA

(That was Max Mirnyi, btw)

Well, I hope he wins it.

now that's a swashbuckling way to win MP

is there a useful schedule for the rest of today

the rest of today = finishing Tsonga/Nishikori plus whatever doubles/juniors may or may not be streamed (I have no idea of this and have to leave the house imminently)

Kei. :(

that was the first match i have watched in the tournament and it was rather good, some excellent tennis in spite/because of the conditions in the fourth set and into the fifth

aw that's a doubly bad loss for Kei now: coming out playing so terribly AND failing to capitalise on the gigantic gift he was given...Tsonga was nowhere near his awesome level vs Berdych in this match

Serena be screamin' to the SFs.

Djoko-Nadal about to start.

considering if its worth it to outright quit my job to watch rafa/novak

I am working from home

Nole easily manages an early break on the Nadal serve.

what a rally for double break! Miraculous defense form both of them.

a+

1st set prob gone but Nadal has got a game and act settled.

breaks back!

4-2 Djoko. The possibility of humiliation has woken him up.

oh dear smashes into the net, set ain't over till its over.

Amazing. 15-40 after a brutal rally!

Great stuff on deuce from both - Nadal is producing the bounce and height and Djoko is finding control hard.

one more shot baby: 4-4

This is what Becker was bought in for, #epicfail so far

Incredible 30 mins or so of Tennis. Nadal was a frightened a child and the turnaround has been a sight to see.

Good to know it's not just Fed who blows 4-0 leads vs Nadal.

SP Novak now though. He needed to make this hard.

Another awesome rally, Djoko and his drop shots - not sure about overuse but its exciting. another sp

what a time for a dropshot

lol time violation - the french fed are finally doing something to stop rafa from the magic 10

omg another outrageous rally and dropshot to save a 3rd SP. tennis from the gods.

johnny crunch - have you quit your job yet?

This man.

5-5.

12 min game and three SPs saved. hell of a match so far.

im just meditating and visualizing the match in my head - not as good

*pleasure overload*

ok I'll try and tone it down - its gonna be hard.

lol @ that shocking smash out of the court from Nadal.

one more SP, how many lives does Nadal have?

gets that smash and far harder too

5th SP saved

5th SP saved now a 6th

The cat had six lives!

ended up not having to work today and was gifted this rafa/hobak match to watch, thank u tennis gods

Mental fkn set, Djoko would've been damaged 4 life if he lost that.

the crowd must be losing its mind

omg what a shot

beautiful hands at the net from both.

1-1.

3x consecutive FH winners from D.

lex is on Chatrier right now, dude must be having so much fun.

feel like Rafa's groundstrokes are still falling a bit too short, esp on his returns.

yup, dangerous times for Rafa.

meanwhile, TB for Murray/Ferrer

dropshots for everyone!

Beautiful at the net from Nadal to keep him (just) ahead.

oh wow ferrer just shanked an easy put away volley to fall to 0-3 in the TB

ok first BP D after a wide-ish FH

Saves it easy, Novak needs five of those.

In the meantime Murray won the TB with some ease.

Still back to Ferrer to win or go make Murray go the distance.

Breaks Nadal with an astonishing oint. Great return form novak and then another brutal rally finishing with a wide FH again!!

Novak to serve for the set.

no no poor from Novak. 0-15

another wide FH from N, then more unforced: 30-15. Roz totally otm.

2x SPs

Unforced error then hurried on the approach shot: deuce

wtf @ that from Nole. didn't mean that ;-) ;-)

and then gets the set.

Tennis Tweets ‏@tennistweetscom 6m6 minutes ago
seems like a good time to mention the number of times nadal has been down 2 sets in a best-of-5 match on clay: 0

2 sets and now broken in the 3rd.

WE ARE
TENNIS
.COM

Lex may be disappointed if this doesn't go the distance but at least he can say he was there.

I kind of hope this inspires Soderling back to full fitness.

I need to go in about half hour come on Djoko.

3x more BPs

omg net cord

would you etc

nadal rolling over now

I went away for like 30 minutes and come back to see Nadal getting his dick whipped. What happened?

I know that Ferrer isn't quite the force he was, but 7-6 6-2 for Murray is pretty impressive so far.

I feel validated that I remarked to a few ppl irl beforehand that this was imo as big a slam dunk no-brainer "as long as nothing really crazy happens" bet as mayweather had been, tho since I personally had nothing at stake here I would've preferred a 5-set nailbiter tbqh

And so ends his reign.

well that was a dismantling

always love watching ferrer lose

Except Murray blew a 3-0 lead in this set... might be out there a while longer

Navratilova, Nastya, Clijsters and Conchita on court in legend doubles, wow.

So the narrative of Long live the King of Clay is predictably fickle. The guy will do everything possible (and there is a difference between Nadal and most greats in that regard) to recover the current off-ness of those groundstrokes. Wouldn't be surprised at all if he won it again next year.

Stan is capable of beating Novak.

Almost as long since Noah won as the gap in home men's champions which preceded him (32yr since Noah, Noah was first for 37yr).

Happy with any of the last four, but a bit happier if it wasn't the current #1.

So who is going to lose against Serena in the final? Ivanovic early break

according to annabel croft, serena is "not feeling well"

Serena to win 2 an 3 with one leg.

Match is p/good from the bits I'm seeing.

Turn around - Saf to serve

...for the set.

lol Ivanovic volley tamely on the net. 3 x SPs - she was 4-1 down

Ivanovic now a set and a break down.

Saf now to serve for the match, actually pretty ok as a match

Ivanovic is useless - should've broken a very nervous Lucie by now.

Or at least put the ball in play. First MP

3rd DF.

screamer down the line Iva!

Breaks - we go on.

Blow by blow from both - BP back.

Terrible point Iva, so another chance Lucie

There!

Lucie <3 what an amazing run

Timea doing really well so far

Serena isn't looking great..

what I mean by that is that she might struggle to finish the match.

LOL BP serena

Timea played well to get through that.

fucking HELL why can't I find this on Estonian TV right now

Other than a DELAYED TELECAST where it's in the fourth game

Serena wins the 1st game.

The crowd is just going to fkn turn on her?

gruntin' and fightin' her way through, on serve.

damn I have to go out in a bit. damn.

that was enjoyable

Serena went a break down in the 2nd set, I went on a conference call, next time I check my phone she's won without dropping another game. I'm sure that's happened to me/Serena's opponents before!

From the time I left to go to yoga class Timea basically didn't win another game.

Anyway, LOL women's tennis - ffs I love Serena but I thought she might have collapsed on court. Reckon this is Lucie's only chance in the final, and who the hell wants to see her win like that.

probably Lucie

Probably yeah.

On serve.

French ppl love lunch huh, a few empty seats.

Stan breaks and holds with ease - Tsonga made a gorgeous BH down the line but it was the only point he could get off Stan: 4-1.

Tsonga got the crowd in with a couple of excellent returns but Stan holds on.

1st set Stan.

and breaks Tsonga at the 2nd - DF and tamely into the net.

Remarkable how resilient SW's serve is, in terms of consecutive holds, when he's landing such a lousy %age of 1st-serves.

But I don't think anyone wearing those shorts should win a GS.

Jinx, as ever.

Was just gonna say that. About the 1st % serves and the shorts.

Stan finally broken. Tsonga still needed help from a Stan DF. xp

Been waiting an hour but we have a match now.

Incredibly tame stuff from Tsonga - SW is suffering out there: 5-5

fkn break already

Stan couldn't a blocked return w/interest so Tsonga eventually holds - epic game.

stan found some 1st serves: TB

Jinxed it too: 2nd serves, Tsonga 3-0 up

6-0

why are we square ffs.

We are square because of the v low first serve % from Stan - he just about holds at the start of the 3rd.

There is more depth to the Tsonga groundstrokes than at the start: 2 BPs

what a get at the net from stan

2nd serve now

Great hold. 2-1

what a one-angled shot champagne shot from tsonga.

Stan is getting back to something less frustrating for his supporters, on serve.

meanwhile, congrats Safarova! Makes both the singles AND doubles finals. :)

holds are coming easier for Tsonga..

another BP for Tsonga at 4-4

Resilience is Stan's middle name.

More 'news': serena is not practicing ahead of her final tomorrow.

lol & Tsonga telling his coach to calm down and that "life is beautiful"

man it's so sad that there's no US coverage of the fucking men's semifinals

Did you try The Tennis Channel? That's what I was watching before I left for work and caught most of the first set.

lol & Tsonga telling his coach to calm down and that "life is beautiful"

― groovemaaan, Friday, 5 June 2015 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

then hits a shit return

TB: 1-1

Defense Stan, Tsonga smashes out.

epic 20 shot rally - stan volleys in the net: 2-2

fucking BH: 5-3 stan

Tsonga should've made that: 3sps

Stan a set closer.

so many squandered opportunities for Tsonga in that set

Did you try The Tennis Channel? That's what I was watching before I left for work and caught most of the first set.

― DJP, Friday, June 5, 2015 9:52 AM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah it's on the tennis channel but i don't get that :/

it just sucks that it's not on national TV, i mean this is kind of a big tournament

NBC is going to broadcast starting at 11 though. thank god ESPN2 doesn't have to miss an episode of first take

Stan plays great stuff even before the DF that hands him an early break.

More ops missed by tsonga: 2-0

Stan 15-30 down and another great BH.

Now a DF: one BP.

ace

had more BPs, all to waste: 3-1

back from Paris just in time for Tsonga to go 1 for 17 on BPs!

(had an amazing time, report to come later)

that was a great drop shot to save BP by Tsonga.

Stan's turn to waste 'em.

Has this match been a crazy mess throughout? Not that I'm surprised

Apart from the 1st set where Stan played too good then yes its been manic but entertaining.

Stan to serve for the final spot.

No dramas and 28 yrs of hurt.

Crowd taking it graciously.

I actually never thought I'd see Stan in a Slam final again so...he's done really well to establish himself as a ~true contender since the AO, which could so easily have been talked about in terms of asterisks.

Tsonga exceeded expectations by far even getting this far. He wasn't the Frenchmen people were tipping to come through the weak Federer half of the draw, after all. Dunno how much he has left to give though - this tournament was the best he's played since returning from injury (aside from Toronto) but still far off his peak, to me.

Go Stan!

Relieved Stan is in there as we should hopefully get a great final on Sunday. Stan was expected to win today but he'll be the underdog on Sunday - but not by much.

Stan's slam consistency in the last couple of years is massively impressive (that match was horrible though)

Shame about him leaving his wife and daughter for the second time, this time allegedly for an 18-yr-old

are we judging players on their private lives now?

banging FH from M for deuce

D holds. Expecting him to win in straights or four sets.

are we judging players on their private lives now?

not so much judging as pointing out he might not be the great guy he's always been portrayed as

Commentators doing a great job of exaggerating the physical trouble Novak's in, as he reels off three great points for the game

He was 0-30 down on that serve.

Anyway, on serve.

Last three games have been 0-30...

oh dear

Novak to serve for the set - that should make him better.

what a collapse lol

lol the minute Nole started showing a hint of physical discomfort and Murray hasn't won a point since

omg those FHs from novak

Novak has got a migraine can't you tell

1st set. No problems.

On serve so far - either something sparks for Murray or doesn't in the next 20 mins.

2x unforced errors: 15-30 for D

smashes onto the net, repeat of the 1st set, p much.

another unforced error, just fuck off already.

tame surrender.

Commentators overrating Djoko. He is the best but Murray has made too many unforced errors at crucial points.

LOL, its a Friday y'all - have fun!

"Murray can't hit through Djokovic" is the pretty straightforward analysis of this match...Murray has made some bad errors but even if he'd made them I can't see how he'd have beaten Nole today

Murray didn't even give himself (or us) a chance to find out.

2x stadium burnin' shots from Andy!!

if you're gonna go..

breaks!!!

out of the nowhere, Andy Murray is to serve to takes us into a 4th

PLOT TWIST! With highlight reel points too

Serves out to love!

Bang! 4th set.

Obviously he is way off winning this but it was good to see Andy getting everything and breaking his fkn back and reminding us what he is capable of.

Is Novak coming back? :-)

crowd are fked off (like they need an excuse)

D shows his experience - now 3 BPs on Murray serve.

jesus what 25 shots? 1 more BP to save

unbelievable.

these rallies now! what a hold!!

epic isn't half-describing.

lol 3Ps andy

missed a B there

WOW!

shit

Djoko made him one.more.shot, and the spell is broken

shit

yeah

3 ue's to give it away

more jesus rallies.

Excellent serving to see that out D

come on andy I WANT MORE OF THE GOOD STUFF

not at the net.

sheesh, Djoko really earns that: 0-30

not at the net.

― xyzzzz__, Friday, June 5, 2015 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

saves it with some good serving.

lol they're stopping bcz of a storm that has not arrived yet.

it better get here..

Rennae Stubbs was GOTing on Twitter https://twitter.com/rennaestubbs

GOATing

RTed that last one.

wonder what time they'll restart tomorrow...

and its got to be after the ladies final hasn't it?

nope! 1pm, to a probably-empty stadium. could be over in 5 minutes, could have a very long way to go...

thanks *goes for a lie down*

im starting to watch the re-air of murray/novak - y the fuk are there so many open seats

1pm local, probably done by 1pm uk

idk if i can be bothered reading all the reports for anecdotal confirmation but nadal looked shattered in the first set vs djokovic, like he had already played four while djokovic was ambling about in the heat without trouble

those two murray pts at 5-5 3d set were sick

andy winning every long rally is impressive

murray def had like as much momentum as he prob poss could vs djoko so this delay def favors novak imo

Totally disagree; mono is a fickle thing and had swung firmly back to Nole at stoppage

well also novak is just better so both coming out same amt refreshed favors the better player

im not saying murray had the momentum, but he wasnt getting dictated to like 1st 2 sets @ least

im starting to watch the re-air of murray/novak - y the fuk are there so many open seats

it's baking on Chatrier and they had just recovered from the Tsonga match - really hard to get out, freshen up and get back in time for the start of the next match

ok so we start.

40-0

Itv4 sticking with their schedule of motorsport until 1pm. Gah.

Incredible last point , wins with ease.

Its on ITV1 Michael!

yes!

damn, short points for Novak, andy to serve to stay in.

sense a break :-(

1st point on either's serve: 40-15

was that a 50 shot jesus rally?

15-30 come on

2BPs

Breaks!!

Murray to serve for the set omg!

Advice to all: if you want to beat Djokovic, get him on the wrong end of a 32 shot rally.

on the line D: 0-15

andy is playing so well

ue: 15 all

2 SPs

into a fifth set we go!!

Unexpected! Wawrinka doing a jig right now. Great quality so far

UE from Djoko..

D 40-15, then DF and now deuce

Gets through his serve, with the first UE I can recall at a key stage from M.

0-30, first big big test for andy

2 more BPs to save..

its a re-run of the 1st set folks

finally

Novak looks good now: 3-0

As for Stan, this is no huge adv for him given Novak's past glories.

man if Murray had made that..

what a response this has been

giving him nothing: 4-1

30-30 on Murray's serve..

30-40 on the brink.

breaks at the end of a monster rally.

kinda the reverse of their US open where Murray won the 1st two, D got into a fifth and Murray won the anti-climatic fifth.

rip andy

3 MPs

With an ace.

Actually feeling hopeful that Andy can go on and win one more slam. Really showed that form that got him there in the past.

Djokovic was great. Served hard, gave nothing.

eleven minutes out with that prediction xp to self

in the fourth i was irritated by commentator referring to the tough, evenly contested play as 'brutality' which seems inapt to tennis, brutality is a superimposition rather than a flow

that fifth was a sort of brutality though

Didn't hear the commentators much but brutality is usually in ref to these incredible 25+ shot rallies a lot of the time, and its a description I'm buying. There is a lot of beauty to those too.

Fuck sake, left the house when Murray had just won the 5th set, popped down to Camden to buy some computer stuff, pop into the nearest pub to catch the rest of the match and it's all over, stadium empty.

(Camden 10 mins up the road from me btw)