ROLAND GARROS 2021

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1d/Logo_Roland-Garros.svg/150px-Logo_Roland-Garros.svg.png

thiem/andujar going 5

Just tuned in now and..

Broken!

if it's true that oasaki is not just being fined but also being threatened with expulsion then the whole tournament can get fucked. ridiculous.

Wait, what? Why?

Andujar is playing great. Then is on the brink

Thiem

He's done lol

thought there was a chance Andujar would upset Thiem today but jeez that post-Slam slump is real

@Ned: https://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/57301475

It’s complete bs

Definitely so.

props to giron here, home dimi is ok

Grigor Dimitrov was up 6-2 6-4 5-1 40-0 on return against Marcos Giron. He blew the match points and retired after losing the next eight games in a row due to a back injury, looks like something similar to the one against Karatsev at the AO.

— Damian Kust (@damiankust) May 30, 2021

that nishikori-giannessi game was intense

oscar otte up 2-0 in sets on sascha zverev

this is otte's 1st ever main draw slam match and he has 4 ever tour level wins

enjoyed vika vs sveta.

the way federer hit the ball with the side of his racket while having his back towards the court is wild

also, do people have thoughts on the osaka vs the media saga?

fed was great and v candid in his post-match interview on tennis channel

maybe contra how naomi is handling this whole thing idk.. seems to me like just not the hill you want to die on not worth it

xp
i don't particularly believe that talking to the media post match is 'part of the job' or even if it is that doing so or not should determine whether a player gets to compete or not. grand slams should have more faith in the entertainment value of the tennis instead of believing interest will plummet if we don't get to hear every players post match pressers. when fed calls it a day and tv is putting together his greatest hits packages p sure no snippets from post match pressers will feature.

Not worth it for her or for them?

Well, now she’s withdrawn

This is my first exposure to Lorenzo Musetti and, wow, I think he's better than Sinner.

And now Osaka has withdrawn :(

xp

that's sad, but she seems to want to work on self-care. hope she is able to work through her depression.

i'm not sure i understand the point of obligatory post-match media interviews. there are different ways to promote the sport (any sport, really) and the athlete. it's tough to talk about your failures right after they have happened.

Absolutely disgusting from RG.

Jonathon Liew's column on the guardian website about this is spot on.

kinda want to know what exactly her 'obligations' were -- does she have to answer every question? is there a minimum time she has to be out there?

anyway yes, press conferences are stupid, the questions are usually inane (*especially* to women), and the reporters think they're entitled to have players write their stories for them

The entire thing is a debacle and horseshit

I’m more disgusted with tennis as a whole than I ever have been, including when they desperately tried to make Anna Kournikova into the world’s greatest singles player

Her statement is heartbreaking. Did think about what her team are doing? She does need people she trusts to know her and perhaps act as intermediaries between Osaka and the cunts that run the tour.

Liew's piece is good.

The organising bodies handled this terribly - she warned them ahead of time and said she was willing to pay the fines. There were so many ways they could've sorted this out privately with her or her team without threatening a default.

tbh the sheer amount of athlete/manager press conferences is a big reason why sports journalism in general is so shitty.

Most sports reporters are stuck in an endless routine of match reports >> post-match press conference >> post-match analysis that they never actually get the time or resources to write or pursue bigger stories. As a result, they get way too reliant on the presser either to generate stories or to get soundbites for the story they've already written.

Pretty much the main point of these is so that people look at the cardboard full of logos in the background.

It's been disappointing to see other players not backing her. Djoko I expected but Swiatek was like pretty similar too. Putting that down to age.

the french tennis federation guy reading a prepared statement then refusing to answer questions says it all. bullies and bottlers.

i don't mind sloane stephens but so nice watching carla suarez navarro take the opening set on her return.

agree

i like sloane also but in a way she is the perfect opponent for csn's 1st match back

I've warmed up to Sloane somewhat but my default reaction to her is still "lol"

also the media junket is wreaking more havoc on the women's draw than court play

https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/31547121/petra-kvitova-withdraws-french-open-injured-ankle-fall-media-availability

Venus Williams. "I know every single person asking me a question can't play as well as I can and never will, so no matter what you say or what you write, you'll never light a candle to me. So that's how I deal with it. But each person deals with it differently."

— José Morgado (@josemorgado) June 1, 2021

more press conference absurdity:

Sadly, after Alexander Zverev’s 1st rd media conference, my Roland-Garros media pass was revoked. My appearance in a supermarket (meant as a joke) was regarded as unprofessional

Apologies to Alexander, the FFT, Roland Garros organisers, family, fiends, colleagues and supporters

— Jonathan Pinfield 🎾 (@tweetsbyjp) June 2, 2021

for context, he dialed in to the virtual presser from the supermarket which actually got a smile and a laugh from zverev. Apparently asking sexist and racist questions is ok, but dialing from a grocery run? TOO FAR.

incred battle btwn garin/mcdonald

tough defeat for mcdonald after having match pts in the 3rd and a bunch of break pts in the 5th

hes the first american to lose today i believe.. all these players won

collins
serena
keys
isner
giron
opelka

Is it bad that I kind of wish Barty had withdrawn for injuring herself at a press conference?

Nadal. "I'm not celebrating my birthday. 35 is not good. I wanna be 25 again".

— José Morgado (@josemorgado) June 3, 2021

this ruud/adf 5th set is a real roller coaster

davidovich fokina advances - 4h 35m match

this was the game to close it out, each guy oddly fell/slipped @ unusual times

15:0, 15:15, 30:15, 30:30, 40:30BP, 40:40, 40:AMP, 40:40, A:40BP, 40:40, 40:AMP, 40:40, 40:AMP, 40:40, 40:AMP, 40:40, A:40BP, 40:40, A:40BP, 40:40, 40:AMP

^^loved it... that final set had everything

ADF needed five match points and an underarm serve to close it out lol

Badosa vs Bogdan just now has been my favourite match of RG this year so far. Phenomenal stuff.

It was terrific. Hard to complain when we get 12hr of free-to-air coverage a day in the UK with ITV4, but it's a single channel with no alternate feeds and they often just chase the big names, which can mean you miss things like this. Thankfully there was nothing else they could have shown!

Also: I like the camera angle on Simonne Mathieu. There’s one court - court 6? - which has featured a lot in the coverage this week and that’s terrible. Ultra wide but pitched too low so a third of the screen is below the near baseline.

Musetti is something else. Through 6-3 in the 5th vs Cecchinato.

Swiatek-Kontaveit is very high quality. Bit of an awkward match up for Iga - Kontaveit hitting big on returns and not letting her get any rhythm on her serve. first set TB!

Amazing that Swiatek managed to pull that off given that Kontaveit hit 23 winners to 11 UFEs in that first set. Just really excellent tennis.

fucking hell @ nadals bqckhand to win set 2 vs cam

sad state of affairs that the only coverage in the US rn is nbc who is showing serenas match from yesterday afternoon & fed's upcoming match in only on peacock ~

It’s not on The Tennis Channel?

it was this morning but tennis channel coverage signed off shortly after 1pm when mertens/sakkari ended iirc

i know humidity is high in paris right now, but there is something to be said about federer sweating less compared to koepfer. it looks like federer uses his energy more efficiently, while koepfer is a lot stronger and uses muscle power a lot more

this 1st set fed/koepfer has been p high level by both

koep is gaining confidence

i wonder how many sets like this koepfer will be able to endure

seems like he can endure as long as he needs to

feds level is dipping, if he loses this 3rd set its hard to see him enduring 2+ more hrs to come back

love mcenroe constantly making digs @ peacock

cant blame koepfer for boiling over a bit now, hes played p great & fed has played houdini 2 be up 2-1

I didn't fancy Fed to get past Berrettini and now I don't think the winner of this will take a set off Mario.

koepfers defense has really been wildly good

yea this is def good for matteo

I have no idea why I called him Mario! It's late. (Later still in Paris - first post-midnight session?)

Actually, UK commentator has just reminded me of the Nadal-Sinner QF last year, which was a 1:26am finish.

great match, rog willed himself to that win

incredible. this is the andy murray tweet again:

Im not bothered by the outcome of this match at all. Just seeing Federer at 39 off the back of 2 knee surgeries playing to an empty stadium at 12.30am getting fired up is inspirational to me. Do what you ❤️

— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) June 5, 2021

At times that was as rough as Fed was for 2+ sets vs Sandgren in Melbourne 18 months ago (which, at the time, seemed to come a little out of nowhere, after a pretty great 2019). I think days like this are inevitable at 39, and he found some magic right at the end.

Welp

The Roland-Garros tournament organisers have learned that Roger Federer has withdrawn from the fourth round of the tournament. #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/BncPpTLUzl

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 6, 2021

It’d be pretty funny if last night’s scheduling mess turned out be Fed’s final match at RG

id think its more likely than not to be his last

somewhat surprised he didnt wait until tomorrow to make this decision, makes me think it must be more than fatigue

womens bottom half, one of these gals will be in the final

rybakina/pavlyuchenkova

badosa/zidansek

Davidovich Fokina - Delbonis has been fun. ADF serving for it now.

Musetti is legit

novak needs to get his unforced errors under control

this changed fast lol, looks like it will be the 5th set to decide it

This is pretty horrible now. Oh well, plenty of great players had high-profile draining losses from two sets up early in their career... Federer, Nadal, Murray, Edberg all spring to mind.

kinda wild that this will be the only 5-setter in this round.

Not expecting miracles from Sinner then?

perhaps i should walk that back. that would be exciting! but hard to fathom still.

musetti won four (4) points in the 4th set

...and broken out the gate. this won't take long.

Briefly turned this back on when I saw "Medical timeout: Djokovic" on my score app, but it was a little graze on a finger? Bah. Go hit a line judge or something.

yea he slipped and fell, & still got the ball back & won the pt

I've always said it should be best of three before the QF*

(* I have never actually said this)

its a reasonably wild outcome (not the part of novak coming back obv)
but of someone to crater like that w/ no injury (right?), no extreme heat or humidity,
after 2.5 ish hours of playing @ your top level

shows just the pressure of the situation is a lot to bear, i think

boss hitting from Sinner right now

Don’t have much confidence it will last though, Nadal being Nadal

yeah tough to get broken @ love serving for the set, but also not unexpected cuz rafa

felt so bad for sinner there - worked so hard to get back on serve from 4-0 down only to be broken to love :/

two fantastic, very close women’s quarter finals so far. both went down the wire: Zidansek beat Badosa 8-6 in the final set, and Pavlyuchenkova took out Rybakina 9-7 to advance to the semis for the first time after six failed QF attempts in the past ten years.

tsitsipas just went 2 sets up and lookin pretty dominant from the bit i've been able to watch. medvedev is a weirdo and could bounce back though. tbd.

breaking at 2-2 in the 3rd i thought medvedev ALMOST got the hook into the match he needed to turn it. good on tsitsipas though. good stuff.

great match by stef

Swiatek in real trouble right now - down a set and a break versus Sakkari.

Incredible performance from Sakkari, so solid and impenetrable on serve. Iga looks perplexed.

Wow at Sakkari just blowing this women’s draw wide open. Four first-time semi finalists!

Also the first time two Greek players have made the semis at the same Slam.

also a semi where the highest-ranked player is #17, can’t have happened too often?

i absolutely wish no ill physical will upon nadal or djokovic, but surely we're just a couple of years away from that kind of blown-open draw on the men's side, right? (fed wanted to retire at wimbledon, right?)

I think Fed will end his career in Basel which, given that it's just been cancelled again, means Oct 2022. I can see him giving Wimb two more goes, probably no more clay court tennis and a limited shot at the hardcourt Slams. I'd like there to be a proper handover - Tsitsipas beating Nadal here, Shapo / Medvedev / FAA / etc taking them out at QF or earlier in SW19 and Flushing Meadow. But I feel like it will only be injury that stops Novak and Rafa.

I kinda wish Musetti, as great as he is, had lost to Cecchinato cos if Novak was going to spray UEs around for two hours, I don't think Cecc would have folded and let him off the hook. Djoko was ultimately pretty fortunate to be up against a teenager who was redlining.

As for blown-open, I dunno. We already have a pretty stable second-tier on the ATP side, who would likely dominate latter stages of Slams for a bit. They're not, as a group, anything like as consistent as the Big Three came to be, but if we did a Logan's Run cull tomorrow, I think it would be pretty familiar names in 3-4 slots of each Slam semi line-up for a while.

i love that in your scenario you have tsitsipas beating nadal and not zverev and i hope you are correct! and i think you're right on about all of that.

But to completely undermine my point, the Big Three vanish at the QF stage of Wimb 2019 and we end up with Goffin-Bautista Agut and Querrey-Nishikori :) 8, 21, 23 and unseeded.

(Oh, please for a Greek double!)

best of 5 really cuts against a blown open mens draw

Definitely. In BO3, Isner takes out Nadal at RG 2011!

meanwhile, diego gets the 2nd set off rafa to level it !

Will pray for a miracle

Better pray for two, cos I don't like how this tournament turns out if Novak is still left tonight, and Rafa isn't.

the fine print of the tournament sez they sub in rafa's robotic looking statue if his human form gets knocked out so dont fret

https://cdn.insidesport.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/28145420/WhatsApp-Image-2021-05-28-at-2.53.51-PM.jpeg

Ha!

Don't get me wrong, I love Diego, but the time for an upset was the 2018 QF. He was a set and a break up and then it rained (and Novak was already out!). Still took Rafa four hours to beat him.

2-1 and a double break now. (Half-hearted "vamos").

From 3-4 in the third, Rafa won 37 of 44 points. That's not how my working days pan out (unless "closing tabs" is "accelerating to the finish line").

less than shocked at this result (at roughly 3-4 in the 3rd i went out to *play* some tennis, it's abt 90% humidity here today, we lasted abt as long as the coco/jabeur match)

Players to win more than 1 set @rolandgarros vs Nadal:

Djokovic 7
Federer 4
Soderling 3
Schwartzman 2
Isner 2

— enrico maria riva (@enricomariariva) June 9, 2021

that’s cumulative number of sets won?

Yep. Soderling (r4, 2009) and Djokovic (qf, 2015) actually beat him; Djokovic additionally stretched him to a 5-set semi and two 4-set finals. Federer took a set in four of his six defeats. Isner led two sets to one in the opening round in 2011.

The list of players who have taken one set probably isn't that long either.

novak is playing smart and patient vs berrettini

Because I had a spare 10min, here you go - the one-set wonders:

Grosjean
Puerta
Mathieu
Hewitt
Brands
Klizan
Ferrer
Sock
Goffin
Thiem

his dominance speaks for itself but seeing it that way is astounding

How do the draws work if Djokovic wins? Would it be Nadal playing him in the semi-finals?

Nvm, I see now. It is like a ladder and not lowest vs highest rank.

Turned on the last qf on right at the end - didn't realise there was still a curfew, and they cleared out the crowd at some point? Novak made up for it, with all his bellowing nonsense. No code violation for booting the hell out of that ad hoarding? Lucky there wasn't a line judge behind it, a la Nalbandian. Oh well, Rafa-Novak part LVIII. Hope Rafa can tie up the h2h.

couldnt watch the last set but berrettini gave away way too many pts w bad shot choices & errant slice backhands

rafa will beat novak

fucking loved that last set. krejcikova was tough as nails esp after getting screwed by the umpire on mp4.

starting to think stefanos might never get to a slam final :/

cmon you greek weirdo! break him here.

sigh. If Stef loses this, that’s probably it for me on the men’s side.

Not sure if it’s just nerves but he doesn’t look like himself from these past few weeks.

looked away for a couple of games and this took a wild turn!

FINALLY!

yes! i will continue watching the tournament!

Right I’m tapping out - Rafa and Djoko took eight minutes just to finish the first game lol

but its been wildly compelling already

looking like a first set breadstick to go w the bagel rafa put on nole last fall

all these saved set pts ! wow

novak has smartly played more offensive this 2nd set

the tide has def turned for djokovic here

this may be covered above, but shouldn't the 1 and 3 seeds be meeting in the final, not the semi?

i actually forget the rationale why they seeded like this, but yes

novaks hitting his forehand short in the court to rafas backhand has been the reason to my eye he is level (to nosing ahead) here

I honestly don't know if it works like this any more (or ever did), but my memory of seeding was always that it was odds vs odds and evens vs evens (e.g. 1v15, 2v16, 3v13, etc in the 4th round). But there have been numerous examples of it being purely opposite-ranks (1v16, 2v15, etc), and of it being more randomised (1v12, 2v9, 3v15, etc). I think it's a draw, and it's either 1v3/2v4 or 1v4/2v3.

This is exhausting to watch. And they're sending the crowd home in 35min!

this set has been unbelievable

no words for that set, unreal

& fans get to stay now !!?

I wish I could enjoy this as a neutral, but I hate the guy who is now in front! Staggeringly high level.

Why didn't they start the semis at noon?

They've extended the curfew!

Yeah insane scheduling, even by slam standards

Novak's serving really great since he lost the break. Got it back, won his next in a min.

Nadal...on the brink?

amazing by novak, so impressive

Lol it’s Macron, watching the game at home, who gave the special authorization to go beyond the curfew...

Lol it’s Macron, watching the game at home, who gave the special authorization to go beyond the curfew...

Just incredible last rally there by novak

One more df Nadal..

Three MPs..

welp. gotta endure that damn heart-throw routine again.

hopefully for the last time

this tourney

Good luck Stef. Struggle to imagine him beating tonight's version of Novak, but we might get a different level on Sunday.

this may be covered above, but shouldn't the 1 and 3 seeds be meeting in the final, not the semi?

― mookieproof, Friday, June 11, 2021 3:45 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

i actually forget the rationale why they seeded like this, but yes

― johnny crunch, Friday, June 11, 2021 3:47 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

they randomize the draws to a degree so that 1 doesn’t always play 4, etc

will be a lotta pressure on novak on sunday, regardless tho this win is p huge value for novaks legacy

this win sets him up for a record number of Slam titles. current standing is Federer 20 / Nadal 20 / Djokovic 18. Nadal really needed this 21st to widen the gap, but now it seems only a matter of time until Djoko surpasses them both.

Yeah, the degree of randomisation in the seed bracketing is never really clear to me. Of course, 1-16 will always play 17-32 in the third round, and so on, but at some events it seems absolutely fixed as opposite ranks (1v32, 2v31, 3v30, 4v29, etc), others there's leeway of one or more place, others it's genuinely random within those ranking divisions.

From my youth I remember McEnroe (1) playing Kriek (5) in a Wimb qf, and the next year Connors (1) playing Curren (12) in the last sixteen. So I've been puzzling about this for 40 years! Maybe that was some weird AELTC experiment.

I hope we see the Djokovic who lost to Dan Evans in Monte Carlo, or struggled to put away 150-ranked opponents in the weak draw for Belgrade 2 the other week. He does have off days, far more than he did in his 2011 or 2015-16 peaks. But he barely missed for the last hour tonight.

A three-way tie for 20 slams is now the odds-on setup going into the US Open, right? Which means Novak would be trying sweep the 2021 Grand Slams AND become the first to get to 21 all at once. Unless something else happens.

Don’t forget the Olympics. We might see Novak getting the Golden Slam!

Meanwhile, this women’s final is pretty fun even if they can’t seem to play well at the same time. Love the contrast in styles.

Pavs crushing Haribo sweets during an MTO was hilarious.

She’s not moving well but still managed to play well enough to break Barbs serve and take the second set. And we’re going three!

best winners speech ever. sad for pav but happy for barbora. not a bad title to win for yr maiden singles title.

Krejcikova takes the doubles title too! With Siniakova, beating team Tek Tek Boom.

Joins this incredible list of women who’ve completed the singles-doubles sweep:

Players to Complete Singles & Doubles Sweep at Roland Garros:

1972: Billie Jean King
1973: Margaret Court
1974: Chris Evert
1975: Chris Evert
1978: Virginia Ruzici
1982: Martina Navratilova
1984: Martina Navratilova
2000: Mary Pierce

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) June 12, 2021

siniakova's serving was p hard to watch.

this first set of stef and djoko is so incredible

That 26-shot rally by Djokovic to save set point!

Oh no Tsitsipas. Somehow saw that coming after he lost that set point… :(

Ok lol at this Novak service game though.. utterly horrible effort at serving out the set. Tie-break!

Awesome from Stefanos

Really Djoko was going to get this after that bit of fortune at the net

My god that TB was so stressful. Come on Stef!

double break!

stef wow

Utterly dominant. One set away!

stef needs to keep serving like this to carry it home

fuck

That was a marathon!

Was expecting Novak to come out like this.

Naturally… I never believe it whenever Djoko looks tired or weary

Wins the 3rd. Tsitsipas won't be handed the thing.

yeah this is going the distance

tbh I didn’t expect Tsitsi to get this far in the first place so he’s already surpassed expectations. But it’ll be super awful if he loses from here :/

trainer called for stef sigh

can’t call the trainer out for your brain unfortunately

rip

what bums me out about this is that Novak isn’t even playing all that well? Tsitsipas is just not at the level he was in the first two sets.

Hang in there Stef!

:(

wish I could say this wasn’t expected but…

this is my fault for having turned it on in the third set

My stream just froze lol

Feels like a blessing

Damn it.

fucking gutted for stef ;_;

nourish your sensations. pic.twitter.com/7qk3kYsqv4

— Stefanos Tsitsipas (@steftsitsipas) July 23, 2018

Gotta say I get a bad feeling for Stef from how much of a procession this felt like in the 5th set.

Hope I'm wrong.

Felt completely different from his match against Zverev, where it always seemed like he would win even after losing the 3rd and 4th sets. Zverev of course isn’t Novak though.

I still think Tsitsipas is too good not to get one eventually - he’s only 22 anyway. But maybe not this year - this is going to sting for a long while :/

ffs Tsitsipas’ mic isn’t working. RG continues to be the worst.

welp. gotta endure that damn heart-throw routine again.

― andrew m., Friday, June 11, 2021 9:22 PM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

hopefully for the last time

― andrew m., Friday, June 11, 2021 9:22 PM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

goddammit