ROLAND GARROS 2013

Draws:

http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/scores/draws/ws/index.html
http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/scores/draws/ms/index.html

- Berdych has landed in a nest of vipers - in terms of talent and antics. R1 Monfils, R2 Gulbis. Good fucking luck to that section
- Potential Djokovic/Dimitrov ~rematch~ in R3 so Dimitrov will probably deal with expectations by crashing out in R1
- Huge opportunity for Tsonga or Ferrer or Berdych (or whoever) to make the final from the bottom half. No Fedal final please, not after the Rome horror show
- Literally want to be sick at Kimiko getting yet another seed at a Slam and Su-Wei getting Ma$ha while fucking Oudin and undeserved WC Rogers draw two of the walking byes
- I can't see any opportunity for Serena to melt down even if she comes out jittery
- Lovely draw for Sarita to make the SF :)
- LOL @ Robson about to get another top 10 win at a Slam to add to her hype!
- JaJa vs Hantuchova would be worth a LOL if this was 2007
- Notable qualifiers: 19-year-old Jiri Vesely on the men's side, lord knows the ATP needs some halfway decent youngsters; Zuzana Kucova on the women's side, who had actually been retired for two years (and was never that good: career high 101, competed in four Slam main draws and won zero matches) but entered randomly using a protected ranking...and promptly qualified. Petkorazzi was in qualifying but lost to Yi-Miao Zhou. We were one match from getting the first Liechtensteiner in a Slam main draw but Stephanie Vogt lost to Zahlavova-Strycova :(

haha I was wondering what you were going to say about Robson/Woz

it's just funny how Robson has so many terrible early round losses but every so often pulls a really big-name/big-stage win out of her ass:

- all-but-retired Clijsters and inconsistent Li at the USO
- Kvitova at the AO, which was one of the worst pro matches I have ever had the misfortune of watching
- Venus, who can literally not hit a ball in court right now, in Rome
- and now 5-match losing streak Wozniacki, who'd lose to half the draw

Predix:

S.Williams d. Pavlyuchenkova
Kuznetsova d. Lepchenko
Ivanovic d. Vekic
Errani d. Keys
Kanepi d. Mattek-Sands
Azarenka d. Pennetta
Jankovic d. Peng
Sharapova d. King

S.Williams d. Kuznetsova
Errani d. Ivanovic
Azarenka d. Kanepi
Sharapova d. Jankovic

S.Williams d. Errani
Sharapova d. Azarenka

S.Williams d. Sharapova

Djokovic d. Dolgopolov
Haas d. Verdasco
Nadal d. Paire
Wawrinka d. F.Mayer
Gulbis d. Almagro
Ferrer d. Raonic
Tsonga d. Troicki
Simon d. Benneteau

Djokovic d. Haas
Nadal d. Wawrinka
Gulbis d. Ferrer
Tsonga d. Simon

Nadal d. Djokovic
Tsonga d. Gulbis

Nadal d. Tsonga

you have federer losing in the first week?

Benneteau's given him hell in the past, inc a loss earlier this year. Federer managed to lose to Nishikori on clay, his Rome final was down to a super-soft draw and even then he was lucky to get past Paire in the SF. Plus it's a "make things interesting" pick.

Hoping Djoko will win the first 3 slams this year.

yeah that's not happening unless some ppl's legs and arms fall off

i'm going to be very serene about these 2 weeks it's fine it's okay i don't care that much

pleeeeeeease serena pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease

W/r/t my faves, I expect Li and Kvitova to both be gone by the end of R3 at best and that's pretty generous, make it R2 actually

I kind of expect Djokovic to flame out in the quarters tbh

that is partially motivated by really wanting to see Haas end up in the semis but that's not happening either

i've been out of the tennis loop for a little bit, so i almost thought the "haas" up there was someone other than tommy. sort of see it as unlikely that a 35 year old dude with a one-hander is making the quarters of roland garros

Haas is a legit top 20 player right now, age ain't nothing but a number. No one he can't beat in his quarter. He pulled out of Dusseldorf w/injury this week - precautionary rather than serious I assume - if not I'd be even more certain of coming thru

simon was up 5-0 in 5th set vs hewitt, now 5-5 after multiple MP saves lol

serena defends her RG points :D #nothingtolose

It's a pretty interesting game. I mean, Simon is arguably the least headcasey of the French players, and Hewitt legitimately has no clay bona fides, I mean, his slice is crap and he certainly can't hit through anything these days... and yet.. it's kind of compelling. Reminds me more of a WTA match!

followed by... hewitt losing 8 straight points. well that was anticlimatic.

That ending was in fact exactly like a WTA match, only with worse serving.

Venus :( <3 u

Is there any way that Venus's Sjogren's syndrome could be cured or, at the very least, transferred to Azarenka.

At least Nadal lost one set this Roland Garros.

lose 2 more please :D

This is a...strange introduction to this year's RG for me. Willingly watching a Rafa match on clay versus someone who isn't Nole is odd in itself!

LMAO @ Goerges losing to a retired player, complete with bagel.

3-0 TB omg come onnnnnnnnnn

Well now, 3-0 this fella

3-2, Nadal isn't going to go away blah blah

FAIL

That volley -_-

done and done: Nadal should run him over now.

Over :(

siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh

BRANDS VERPISS DICH

I don't know when I started actively disliking Rafa but it seems I can't really stand him these days.

Damnit.

that missed return off nadal's harmless 2nd serve at 3-0 in the TB ughhhhh

Tuning in to Robson DFing on BP is less of a surprise

the lack of oudin/paszek stream is saddening me

re: Nadal. Its the lack of challengers more than anything..

Life doesn't achieve greater heights than wozniacki attempting to put away sitter FHs

Robson really isn't going to happen, is she.

Isn't Wozniacki's thing these days to win first sets and then lose

*Isn't it

Johansson winning a match efficiently in straight sets o_O

Bigger shock than Nadal losing tbh.

paszek vs oudin 4-6 *1-0

this match has had one hold of serve so far

True story: I know next to nothing about tennis, but am one of the millions of English speakers who know this event exclusively as the French Open. Until I read a think piece about the name in the Times the other day, I just figured this thread was about some European public figure - politician or comedian (or comedian politician?) - I didn't know.

But it's about tennis! Who knew?

To be fair Roland Garros was a European public figure - a famous aviator.

SMH so hard @ Barthel. Up 6-4 in the TB, cue 4 NID brainless errors. She's so dumb.

Monfils' shirt o_0

this match is pretty good!

monfils takes it, 7-5 in the 5th. that was impressive.

scenic route, but no antics - and Gael is rewarded with GULBIS in round two.

good stuff from Gael.

good match, looking forward to seeing Gulbis finally make the third round of a Slam though. (This prob means I've jinxed him already but hey.)

raining all day

ffs

Only got to see highlights of Monfils/Berdych and.. look, I'm never going to be unhappy with a Monfils win, but what. the. actual. fuck. was he wearing?

Come on Mrs Krumm, just get one game.

GOOD BAGEL: Shvedova over Coco :D
BAD BAGEL: Stosur over Mrs. Krumm :(

x-post was just about to hope Shvedder does Coco in. God she's insufferable.

OMFG @ this Haas/Rufin rally! UNREAL forehand CC angles ending in a DTL FH winner from Rufin. Ridiculously good.

That Cake/Govortsova set was such a mess. Govortsova served for it, choked, had a SP in the TB, then Cake DFed SP up, then Govortsova DFed SP down.

How depressing that those of us who have hopes for any and all Jankovic revivals to end quickly have to rely on useless sticks like Hantuchova to do the job. This can't end well.

if anyone else was ALLEZing as often and indiscriminately as bartoli then it'd annoy me. i love her though

shvedova smh smh smh smh smh smh smh smh

US WC Alex Kuznetsov just shanked a second serve into the crowd. He's losing to a 19-yr-old WC. These reciprocal US WCs, so deserved.

lmaooooo Hantuchova, from 5-0 to 5-5 in the second set

leviCAKE

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BLXQ2O4CYAAKR7w.jpg

why is she being referred to as "cake"? have i missed an in-joke or are you just calling her fat

High drama in Cake vs Olga - Olga served for the match, DFed once, missed at least two sitter FHs, lost two MPs, and the crowd chanted "OLGA! OLGA!" even though she was playing their No 1

explanation is in one of the other slam threads monotony, too busy watching to search

the wimbledon 2011 thread provides some sort of answer, tho if it really is just because she is fond of an occasional chocolate cake then my nickname should probz be cake too

this match this fucking match, total psychodrama

the drama is delicious, i want it to go on

or not

shaking a bit after that. Govortsova is RIGHT NOW bawling her eyes out and given how much she choked it's understandable.

allez

Oh, nooooooo. Goffin played so well all set - going into the TB Nole had only won two return points - and then at 5-5 in the TB...DF. That decided it.

Rezai/Kvitova? REALLY? Being in the crowd may only be marginally safer than being a ballboy. (Still love both.)

I watched a bit of young Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, who saved two SPs and took the first set TB over Witchmayer. I was impressed by her very composed demeanour (esp in comparison to the perpetually angry Witchmayer) - her game is standard issue capable baseliner, nothing overwhelmingly special but not bad - and then she nearly choked the TB and nearly murdered her racquet.

Meanwhile, Mallory Burdette is hitting everything very hard into the net. Why did A-Rad go blonde? It doesn't remotely suit her.

hahahahahahhaaaaa Kvitova is down a break in the third set to Caravane

That was a nice win for Petra in the end. Caravane played unexpectedly well.

U-Rad backs up her big Venus win by losing 3 and 3 to world #127 Dinah Pfizenmaier, lol.

Ashleigh Barty finally wins a Slam match on her fifth MD WC. I hope she's enjoyed getting chance after chance after chance until finally drawing a Hradecka type. Tell me again what possible reason there is for any Australian to be ushered into the MD of RG.

Really, if you come from one of the Slam-holding countries with all the money, and facilities and thus opportunities inherent with that, what help you should be needing to get into a GS, I have no idea. Wait until the egg is cooked if you must.

EXACTLY

i get so frustrated and angry when i see people trying to defend WCs for Aus/Fra/GB/US players. None of them lack for anything, they're the MOST privileged in context of global tennis

anyway, just tuned into Monfils/Gulbis leggooooooo

this benneteau/kamke match... i've never seen so many failed dropshots. these are ALL GOING IN THE BOTTOM OF THE NET.

whose dropshots?

Gulbis is so in control of his game these days. It's very strange to watch.

Sweta is 1-5 down to RYBARIKOVA :ooooo

both of them
but mostly bennetteau

YES IF KUZNETSOVA LOSES :D i need her away from serena

1-6 :oooooo

Rybarikova can't have won more than 10 matches on clay in her CAREER. What is Sweta doing out there?

7 mens matches are being broadcast right now
and kuznetsova isn't? :/
i want to watch for comedic purposes

RG scheduling isn't even pretending not to be hugely misogynistic this year

Maybe Kuzzy is tanking? I always have thought of Rybarikova as far more of a grass-courter, in as much as being such a thing is even possible other than being a term for players like Paszek and Pironkova who post random good results at like one tournament a year that happens to be on the green stuff.

Why am I watching Llodra/Raonic tie-breaker? One's ugly and racist and the other's a serve-bot.

why have i watched kerber/cepelova and kamke/benneteau? oh yeah because german eurosport ;_;

Why aren't you both watching Gulbis/Monfils?! Though that was a disappointing last game from Ernie, his newfound mental strength obviously couldn't last.

Rybarikova is v much a fast court player - big serve, decent net skills, big but erratic FH, very wonky BH, can't really rally. Sweta is presumably just being Sweta though. If she ever did decide to actively tank would anyone notice?

i can't tear myself away from these dropshot attempts

rogers up 6-3 2-0 against suarez navarro o_O

All the Gulb/Monf streams were being laggy and terrible, that's why :(

omg

SUCCESSFUL dropshot from kamke, followed by great benneteau lob, chased down by kamke who hits an amazing one-handed BH CC angled passing shot winner.
i officially have closure, and can now turn off what has been an otherwise horrible match

The wheels have completely come off for Gulbis :/

good, that match needs to end quickly

Gulbis 2.0 is here to stay

they both suffer from brain damage right now

Monfils wheels off, Gulbis wheels back on. Some of Gael's shot selection, I can't

yeah i was gonna add that i know this match won't end quickly & that there will be more twists but it was so obvious it didn't really need saying

oh my GOD this match

holy lol that game had EVERYTHING

at both ends of the spectrum

my god this set has been hysterical

the streams are just rubbish :( and benneteau/kamke has gone to a fourth set :( I HATE GERMAN ES

i'm using this one: http://wowgol.net/ch8.html

What. A. Point. To win the set from Monfils.

geez Ernie

this is really a great match from both Gulbis and Monfils, no clowning from either really

well...relatively

Happy for Gael, but man, just once I'd like to see Gulbis make the third round of a Slam. :/

LOL @ Wozniacki scrambling around 20 feet behind the baseline, often out of view because of the camera angle on this parking lot court :D Long may she stay here :D

BoJo serves it out with ease. Everyone is so confident against Wozniacki these days, even the one-dimensional choking bashers!

so what happened to Robson, then

many many errors

i'm getting emotional at serena's footwork

I'm watching the Zuzana Kucova Cinderella run, it's a touch more emotional tbh

I'm wondering, of all the matches occurring right now, is there anyone willingly watching Querrey vs Hajek? And should we just go ahead and section them immediately?

Serena's been on a cinderella run since 2011 i'm fine with that :D

*recalls her footwork against pironkova in eastbourne*
*looks at her now*
*weeps*

isn't the definition of a cinderella run doing something you'd never done before rather than coming back to do something you'd already done many times? like the point about Kucova is that she's 30 and as played for 12 years and this is her final tournament and she's won a Slam match for the very first time

k cool let me be emotional -___-

they're both worthy of getting emotional over

Now I'm emotional in a bad way that none of the streams for Puig vs Keys are working -----_______-------

Barry Clarke ‏@Barry_Clarke93 10m
Monica Puig laughs at a shot Madison Keys Hits out! Madison shouts back "We will see who is laughing at game set match" Only in WTA!

omg I wish I could watch that

:D

to be fair I'd probably laugh at some of Keys' errors too

omggggggggggggg youtube pls

No drama at the handshake :(

Keys obviously has a ton more power but Puig was way more resourceful and trusted her game more. She's FEISTY, too.

lol ESPN:

Azarenka waited in vain to play for much of the day on a rainy Tuesday, but said she wasn't flustered by the delay.

"I just really was chilling the whole day, watching 'The Voice,'" she said. "It was incredible. I was so entertained. There's this girl, her name is Judith. She was a duet singer with Michael Jackson. She's absolutely incredible. I mean, I have no idea how sounds like that can come out of somebody's mouth. It's just, wow."

Fans might say the same thing about Azarenka, who wore down Vesnina with her noisy but steady baseline game, committing only 13 unforced errors. Vesnina, ranked 38th, fell to 1-19 against top-five players and has yet to take a set in five matches against Azarenka.

venus' health means the williams sisters have to give a walkover to kudryavtseva/rodionova in 1r of doubles

anastasia rodionova:
https://twitter.com/arodionova/status/339815566162423808

lolololololololol

lol A-Nasty, and lol that she tried to pretend it was about something else

the Rodionovas are bizarrely tight with the Williamses though, Rodionova Jr wears Venus's clothing line

Anyone here using the Roland Garros app? It's ok for live scores and the like but, good grief, the Draws tab. They have no idea what a draw is or how you're supposed to represent it.

i've seen people bitch about it, i don't use it myself though...

excellent tribute to Bartoli following some wearisome media sexism the other day:

http://www.changeovertennis.com/marion-bartoli-can-hog-my-stage-any-time/

great to see young Kiki Mladenovic going toe-to-toe with Stosur. She has the height not to be troubled by Sam's topspin, the serve/power of her own and the crowd support to possibly make this an upset...

Oh, Li Na. From 4-0 to 4-5 against Mattek-Sands.

Li went from 4-0 to 4-5 to 7-5. This is why I can't watch her early round matches.

Oh noooo. Mladenovic serving to stay in the set turned into quite a wild game - she consecutively hit a BH slice winner, shanked a BH into the ground, then hit a 110mph service winner SP down at one point - and then she DFed on SP :(

JaJa went 0-3 down to Muguruza, then won 12 games in a row. Obviously.

yesss, Jay-Z brushed that dirt off her shoulder and beat Oudin 3 and 1 before the rain. Sugarpova next, would be pretty sweet if Jie could expose "Claypova" as a myth.

I'm glad to hear Kristina acquitted herself well. I think she's terrific, watching her matches at the Hopman Cup playing mixed doubles and slamming huge return winners of Andy Murray's serve was a treat. Felt like her climb was going a bit slowly but she might be on the cusp of something great if she can just move a bit faster.

pleasant win for erakovic over cibulkova
lolololol @ li about to get bagelled in the 3rd set

Beck always seems to play well against top players - Kvitty in Stüttgart, Azza here - but in between she lost to Sorribes Tormo, Cadantu and Hsieh.

Kinda figured that was coming for Li. Not happy at all, but BMS was good and rested. Li doing well at one Slam pretty much guarantees she'll bomb out early at another that year, you just can't imagine her making all four Slam QFs in a year.

Shocked that Petra won against consistent Peng. Still ignoring her.

Lulz @ Pomenika, who loses to Erakovic on clay.

Nishikori beating Zemlja sounded like such an aggravating match to watch, going by Twitter.

Rafa loses another first set to another big hitter, whoa.

App much improved, if anyone's interested. Draws actually in draw order.

I am in an office and can't watch anything today >:(

Bartoli's fistpump raised to the sky is so fucking ICONIC

Bartoli is everything.

:)

Barty and Kirilenko went off tied at 3-3 last night. Upon resumption, Barty won one of 10 games. Deeply unimpressive.

Starting to think Australians shouldn't be allowed WCs into their own tour events, let alone their home Slam, let alone FOREIGN Slams. I get an aneurysm every time I think about Rogowska's career and how many opportunities Barty's been given over every other young player of her generation bar maybe Keys.

Oh my god can Ma$ha stop shilling her nasty sweets at every fucking opportunity. This is like when the Williams sisters did the McDonald's tour. NO YOU ARE PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES PROMOTE SOMETHING HEALTHY NOT DISGUSTING JUNK FOOD

not really her fault there though - Santoro asked. speaking of, can't decide whether her signing the camera with cutesy messages to Dimitrov is endearing or not.

100% sure Santoro asking was down to Max Eisenbud requesting him to, everything is PR with that one

i like ryan harrison's shorts

Serena wins first set over Cirstea 6-0. Times like this I am so glad that I have had this late-career change of heart and decided that Serena destroying ALL THE USELESS BITCHES is ultimately for everyone's own good.

Cirstea should be double bagelled by everyone all the time. Terrible player

I'm so glad the fifth set 6-6 drama is happening in an Isner match ie one that I wouldn't choose to watch even if I were at home with nothing to do today (until it got to 67-67, maybe)

Errani bagelling Lisicki <3 <3 <3 <3

BAGEL THEM ALL SARITA

Kaia :( You were going to win, and then you didn't. Story of your career.

Maria Sharapova ‏@MariaSharapova 8h

I think I need to watch more #rolandgarros tennis. Yesterday, had no clue who Paire was, today Chardy?I need to step up my tennis knowledge!

i've really come to find maria mildly intolerable

because she is

Hoping Paire/Nishikori ends up as a fantastic match. Stream going OK so far!

It'd be too much to expect that Alize Cornet, who sucks completely, might play her one good match per year against Azarenka. She is up a break, 2-0, so I expect it to be 2-6 0-6 in 40 minutes.

Wait, what, Cornut won a set? This can't be.

Okay this stream confirms that this is a really low-quality match. Azarenka has hit seven DFs, and she just hit the most atrocious response to a drop-shot I've seen. Her forehand on clay is not quite Wozniacki levels of hilarity but it's not good, and she's hit a few BH errors. Nobody can hold serve. Seats were apparently empty at the start and you can see why - people probably turning up now expecting the second match to be on.

Cornet hit some great winners there, just as the commentator (no idea who it is) pointed out she's lost her last 24 matches against top-30 players. If I heard that right, that's a disgusting record for a seed. Guess when the top few players hoover up most of the points you get that. (Still, there is no "big three" as people keep saying, it's bullshit.)

Is it though? In May I recall a point being made out of the fact that the top 3 had lost a match to anyone but the top 3 a total of two times this year. I think that's still true. Every tournament one of them played in was won by one of them.

After this tournament, I suspect that Sharapova and Azarenka will be closer in ranking points to Radwanska than they are to Serena.

Also it is not still true as Azarenka lost to Makarova recently.

Wait, misread your message, will check if it is true!

Hahahahhaha @ Vika. These DFs and failed smashes. Loving it.

It's true if you ignore walkovers. Ptuh. Precautionary walkovers are lame and taint that record pretty badly if you ask me.

Well I say they're pretty big.

Ugly match but personally am glad Nishikori is steamrolling Paire for the match now.

OH @ that slice winner from sharapova

Has Nadal ever dropped his serve so often in early rounds as he has here?

kvitova lost her first set 6-1 to jamie hampton. jesus

Djoko vs luckiest man alive Dimitrov on now.

Isner is such a terrible player

Haas finally had MP on his own serve (his 11th overall) and then DFs.

VILE

further MP squandered with a rallying backhand shot, now into a 5th set :/

haas has seriously had TWELVE Mps?

most invested i've been in a non-serena match in 4ever

haas down 1-4 in the 5th but now back on serve 4-5, come onnnn

also having to keep an eye on jankovic/stosur
jankovic was up *3-0 in this third set, now down 3-4 of course

lol at anyone who hyped up djokovic/dimitrov

tommy's turn to save MP! with a seriously brave and aggressive rally. one-handed backhand change of direction DTL that just about curled in during that rally <3

5-5

backhand slice winner and a netcord passing shot winner bring tommy to deuce on isner's serve auf gehtssssssss

why 2 exciting matches on at the same time :( the rest of this day has been so dull

two dropshot winners in a row from haas, one from way behind the baseline

hate Isner so much

this jankovic/stosur match is so much fun as well, bummed i haven't been able to devote much time to it

stosur saves 3 MPs, one just now with a swinging forehand volley. this is giving me such a nice GS match from 2008 vibe idk it's just a nice match between 2 big names

JJ gets it on her 4th MP with an ace :( i wanted it to go on longer

Haas breaks!

FUCK YESSSSS

*9-8

Thank god

Lucky #13 :D

the mental fortitude to overcome isner's serve + 12 squandered MPs. so happy.

absolutely terrible performance from Dimitrov

all of a sudden it's Nadal with the tougher draw

if Kohlschreiber finishes off Hanescu, 8 of the remaining 16 players on the men's side will have one-handed backhands

oh wait hanescu has a one-hander right? so it's a lock

4r picks:

serena d. vinci
kuznetsova d. kerber
radwanska d. ivanovic
errani d. suarez navarro
kirilenko d. mattek-sands
schiavone d. azarenka
jankovic d. hampton
sharapova d. stephens

djokovic d. kohlschreiber
youzhny d. haas
nadal d. nishikori
wawrinka d. gasquet (weird that these two have only met once)
almagro d. robredo
ferrer d. anderson
tsonga d. troicki
federer d. simon

schiavone d. azarenka

one can hope, I guess

Azarenka's there for the taking for anyone who is canny and clever. And who's more clever and canny than Franny? One last run! SMH at Petra though I have a soft spot for Hampton as well. If Mattek-Sands continues the quality ball bashing she could rout Kirilenko but how often do we get nice things like that?

Surface be buggered, Ivanovic is too big a moron to beat Radwanska... I hope.

Going to ignore the Shitra result - third straight pre-QF Slam loss, this is the New Normal for her - and just be very happy about Jankovic beating Stosur. Nothing else seemed notable for me yesterday (was occasionally checking in on scores) - happy for Tommy but god, how I hate Isner and his horrible game being so conducive to unnecessary five-setters. Nole revenge over Grisha was NID.

Is Kirilenko top 10 yet? That's the grimmest run of all.

How the fuck did Cornet take a set off Azza? Would it be too much to hope that Fran can recapture some glory and actually beat her?

WHY is ITV televising the boring Ferrer match instead of Kuznetsova/Kerber?

Fuck it. You know, I reckon Mattek-Sands will beat Kirilenko. She loves to hit puff-balls and she's going to get lots of them. Allez Beth.

Sweta/Angie is pretty good, Sweta keeping her game under control just enough.

Last 16s, btw:

(1) Serena Williams vs. (15) Roberta Vinci
Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. (8) Angelique Kerber
(4) Agnieszka Radwanska vs. (14) Ana Ivanovic
(20) Carla Suarez Navarro vs. (5) Sara Errani
Bethanie Mattek-Sands vs. (12) Maria Kirilenko
Francesca Schiavone vs. (3) Victoria Azarenka
Jamie Hampton vs. (18) Jelena Jankovic
(17) Sloane Stephens vs. (2) Maria Sharapova

(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (16) Philipp Kohlschreiber
(12) Tommy Haas vs. (29) Mikhail Youzhny
(3) Rafael Nadal vs. (13) Kei Nishikori
(9) Stanislas Wawrinka vs. (7) Richard Gasquet
(32) Tommy Robredo vs. (11) Nicolas Almagro
(23) Kevin Anderson vs. (4) David Ferrer
(6) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. Viktor Troicki
(15) Gilles Simon vs. (2) Roger Federer

I got 8/16 women, 9/16 men.

I can't believe that in this day and age people might have to endure a Robredo/Almagro R16 match. What has anyone done to deserve this.

That was a properly impressive performance by Sweta. Kerber played well too, just an enjoyable match all round. Hopefully Sweta brings that form in the QF - and who knows, we might see a reappearance of Quarterena...

i think i shall try to watch one match today in between writing, recommendations svp

thinking maybe tsonga/troicki (i don't think i have ever watched him)

Troicki is an idiot and a choker, but that shouldn't come into play here because Tsonga should win easily.

So want Tsonga to get to the final.

Troicki is nuts

just hoping tsonga misses, looking at his box and complaining when he doesn't

troicki is such a loser, always

Federer is falling apart

Or maybe not... yet. His number of unforced errors is so high though

remember when Simon beat Rafa, Rog and Nole in 2008? never the same post-knee injury :(

:-(

omg @ at that volley

good serve and ace to follow up for MP

facing a BP now, simon hanging on..

wow @ Federer doing his level best to choke for the match

Phew.

another mp and he does it - 36th consecutive grand-slam qf

it is absolutely amazing how many times djokovic and federer have escaped disaster in the first week of slams

Had to win on a Simon error obv

Great match. Really though Tsonga to surely beat him.

Is ITV4 gonna go to A-Rad/Ana or do I have to resume a shitty stream?

I predicted Tsonga for the final and I'm sticking with that

I'm more interested to know what Jim Courier's band sound like. Wtf was the whole "Simon is like Dylan going electric out there"- bullshit.

Rad/Iva on now.

Is A-Rad going through some sort of premature midlife crisis? Not just the bizarre blonde dye job but that eyeshadow...

I was gonna say that you Euros are lucky not to hear Carillo on your broadcasts but Courier is pretty close

DELICIOUS lob from A-Rad <3

lol at that tweener but dear lord how many easy put aways does ana completely flop

Fucking hell that Radwanska tweener! BOW DOWN

how do you miss all these putaways and not just walk off the court
ana is SO USELESS

Heh, Radwanska had Ivanovic on a string during that point. Back and forth and up and down the court <3

most obvious ending ever

lol, two DFs in the last game when digging even the tiniest bit deep would have pushed the match to tomorrow, Ivanovic is so special

Masterclass by A-Rad <3

Future GOAT Alize Lim truly owned Maria

@MariaSharapova 4h
I think I need to watch more #rolandgarros tennis. Yesterday, had no clue who Paire was, today Chardy?I need to step up my tennis knowledge!

@AlizeLim 9m
@MariaSharapova and yet looks like you should...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BLnWwPhCEAEsIOf.jpg:large

oh my god

:o

Oh SNAP this girl is my new fav

Beautiful clay-court tennis by Fran to break back from 40-0 down. That's what needs to happen in this match.

Breakfesting so far.

Some enjoyable duels here though.

Yeah. Not enough of them going Fran's way though :(

Yeah it turned bleak.

That match looked like it could be really good for half a set and then it just...stopped.

tommy o_O

saw this for the first time the other day lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gQ2NhteF44

Hahahaha, Kohlschreiber was totally trying to choke for the set there and eventually won on...a net cord!

Nole looks a bit flat - I thought the death of his first coach might inspire him but that hasn't happened yet.

BMS flubbed a drive volley that would've given her SP :(

Broken >:(

How can we avoid Kirilenko in the top 10? Do we have to rely on a...JaJa title? Eek.

Oh apparently BMS called the trainer because she felt nauseous. YES THAT'S HOW I FEEL ABOUT KIRILENKO IN THE TOP 10 TOO.

kohlschreiber hit 16 winners in that set and still lost

Sadly he didn't hit many of them at 00/30 or 15/30 on Novak's serve.

I am quite resigned to Kirilenko in the top 10. It's inevitable. She hasn't played that many events and if she wins this she'll have QF-4R-3R-QF in the last four slams and a SF in Indian Wells. Kind of hard to argue that's not worthy of being in the top 10.

Plus Mattek-Sands being nauseated is shit, but Jankovic would need all her opponents to drop dead before she could win this.

I've decided to watch a stream of the Nottingham 75K challenger instead of Kirilenko. (It's actually a fascinating match-up - Luksika Kumkhum vs. Eleni Daniilidou. Up-and-comer with little grass experience whose game should translate well to the surface and who's been generally quite good this year, vs. veteran who's undeniably over the hill and past it but who's historically done very well on grass.)

Novak/Kohli is not a bad quality match!

oh it's just a bit NID now though.

LMAO @ Wussquet requesting to play on Lenglen over Chatrier. Finding new ways to wuss out every year, that's our Richard

An Azarenka/Kirilenko QF with Sharapova still to come in that half. Fucking great. ONLY JAJA CAN SAVE US.

Was Kirilenko a bit quieter than usual? Lol at Wussquet, don't you worry your little balding head Richie, Stan is going to beat you no matter what, surely.

here's video of Aga's tweener yesterday - which helpfully doubles up as an opportunity to mock Ivanovic for hitting the reply wide

http://tennis.si.com/2013/06/02/agnieszka-radwanksa-hits-a-tweener-french-open/?sct=tn_t2_a12

Yahoo video is broken atm, here's a Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWGTpDB2eKk

What a gaggy TB by Stan. Wuss's celebration is massively OTT and you know he'll find a way to lose from here.

HAHAHHA @ gasquet requesting lenglen
pathetic loser

Gasquet serving at two sets to love up and 4-5 down in the third, in a Slam round of 16? NEVER EVER IN DOUBT that he gets broken.

well done richard

i need to understand why itv4 keeps hyping sharapova/stephens as the best match-up of the tournament

oooo gasquet/wawrinka having an argument but it was in french so i didn't understand
wawrinka wants the umpire removed lol
of course wawrinka starts winning after that controversy tho <3

well because of the enthralling, edge-of-your-seat classic they played two weeks ago in Rome when Ma$ha won 2 and 1, obviously

I missed the controv but I believe there was an awful home town call in Gasquet's favour and Wawrinka wanted the linesman removed - I think the linesman also wanted to remove himself (?!) and Carlos Ramos lost control a bit

contra ITV4 no one asked for the umpire to be removed

why did this itv4 commentator just mention miley cyrus' global appeal i'm really confused

This match seriously delivering right now

Gasquet doing so well at net feels like he's finally heard us shouting "WHY ARE YOU STANDING FIVE MILES BEHIND THE BASELINE" all season

broken again lol

lol

pretty ironic that after drawing so much praise for his gutsy tennis in that set, Gasquet ends it with chokey dropshots and ailing physically yet again

the one time i want a men's match to be broadcast instead of a women's

ITV4 is ridiculous

genuinely terrified that they will show errani/radwanska over serena/kuz

Stan fends off two BPs, holds for 6-5. He might be the only player who can crumble before Gasquet at this stage of a match though - am remembering his tragic record in epic matches this year...

Hahahahaha I just remembered these two are holding up Lady JaJa. I can hear her grumpy muttering from here.

that shank to make 2 MPs
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Bahahahahaha massive shank off a BH putaway and suddenly Stan has two MPs.

never gets old
so very NID

Whether or not you analyse it as a choke, that was the exact same pattern that every big Gasquet match has always cleaved to.

SO happy that Stan finally won one of those this year :)

Gasquet is now 1-15 in Slam 4th rounds. Aaaaahhhhh

Beyond The Baseline ‏@SI_BTBaseline 1m
Maria Sharapova is through to the quarters with a 64 63 win over Sloane Stephens. I don't think she follows Sloane on Twitter so she's safe.

lol

Drawing a veil over the last match for Jamie Hampton's sake, your QFs:

(1) Serena Williams vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova
(4) Agnieszka Radwanska vs. (5) Sara Errani
(12) Maria Kirilenko vs. (3) Victoria Azarenka
(18) Jelena Jankovic vs. (2) Maria Sharapova

(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (12) Tommy Haas
(3) Rafael Nadal vs. (9) Stanislas Wawrinka
(32) Tommy Robredo vs. (4) David Ferrer
(6) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. (2) Roger Federer

For a line-up in which only one player, male or female, has never been ranked in the top 5, curiously little upset potential...

- Tsonga and Jankovic should be able to spring upsets based on form but I don't trust them to show up for that, and I do have faith in Roger/Ma$ha bullshitting out subpar wins
- Haas and Sweta are definitely able to pull peak form out of nowhere but those matches are more about how much Nole is affected by Gencic's death and whether Serena is haunted by ghosts of Quarterena past, so like...5% chance of an upset in both cases
- Kirilenko and Wawrinka and Robredo have no chance
- Errani has a slight chance I guess, just by dint of the surface

surprised at how small haas's odds are and how big sveta's are (~6/1 and 14/1 respectively). if serena loses in this tournament surely it'll be tomorrow

wawrinka's never been top 5, has he?

i want the winner of fed-tsonga to win it all

i need deep breaths for tomorrow
i'm mentally preparing myself for horror

wawrinka's never been top 5, has he?

nope, career high 9

supporting:

Sweta, Aga (Sarita would be fine though), simultaneous retirement from the entire sport, JaJa
Tommy H, Stan, David, JWT

JaJa and JWT to win it all please

serena/errani/kirilenko/sharapova
djokovic (only because he can actually beat nadal)/wawrinka i guess but i mean why even bother/ferrer i guess/tsonga because i don't want a fedal final

My heart is beating irregularly and I feel physically sick. Yay for French Open QFs!

serena injured already

Hoping for Sveta, Aga, Kirilenko, Sharapova. No, not Jankovic, she can fuck right off.

No who am I kidding, Serena not winning is an unacceptable risk to Azarenka getting a third slam. GO SERENA.

Errani breaks in a total flash there.

so the minuscule question over whether Serena/Sweta will be a match answered immediately then

over to Aga/Sarita - remembering that I did in fact really enjoy their YEC epic

That Errani BH winner.

Kuznetsova taking a MTO. EYE ROLL.

Oh Aga, such great lobs, such poor finishing shots.

ahahahaha that rally! dropshots and lobs and dropshots and lobs from both!

Errani's going to run away with this now.

lmao, detailed analysis of Gasquet's 15 4th round failures

http://www.changeovertennis.com/the-15-fourth-round-failures-of-richard-gasquet-2/

0-2 :(

0-2 and yet you still can't get decent odds on Serena winning the set :(

Meanwhile in Nottingham, Keothavong choked EIGHT set points against Paszek (who has only won one match this year)

I hate FO QFs

Radwanska's FH is bringing the comedy Wozniackis to the QFs, which is nice of her.

My favourite Quarterena loss is prob 2007 followed by 2009

And Serena is bringing some quality Li Na-style scorelines to the QF, which is nice for her.

Whoa, a really well-constructed point by Sveta to break Serena for 4-0.

I really prefer it when Kuz doesn't play well.

Ive never seen Serena win the FO have some mercy on me it's very sad :( it's all I want from her career :( I feel sick :(

Sweta! I didn't know you could play dropshots like that!

4-1. Over. The comeback starts here.

Yasss DF to give Sweta 1-5

Oh god. Sharapova repeating. Azarenka winning. Nightmares.

Broken 3 times in a row LOVE THIS TOURNAMENT

Oh god. Sharapova repeating. Azarenka winning. Nightmares.

JAJA WINNING.

Anyway, Sweta serving for the breadstick, broken on dumb error. NID.

Blaming the imminent 7-5 in the 3rd loss to that strategic MTO by kuz btw

lol @ that lob sending Serena into total confusion

lol @ the absolutely NID way in which Sweta is losing this lead

That Sweta error to go down 0-30. OVER

Oh my GOD my eyes Sweta

Lol at Radwanska being unable to finish points off at the net. She used to have a fairly sound overhead. You wouldn't know it from this.

Out comes the "c'mon". OVER. This won't be going to a third

Bets on the score in the third then?

Wow, Sveta tried to choke that SP with a bad dropshot but Serena netted the reply. Third set! Sveta!

Also belated lol at the idea Sweta is capable of the strength required to win a match against Serena 7-5 in this day and age.

SVETA WHAT ARE YOU WITH THESE BREAK POINT SAVES FUCKING DIE

LEX CAN YOU STOP CALLING FRENCH OPEN QF RESULTS INVOLVING SERENA NID

Bets on the score in the third then?

6-1 3-6 6-1 sounds reasonable

LEX CAN YOU STOP CALLING FRENCH OPEN QF RESULTS INVOLVING SERENA NID

Matches in which Sweta has to call on mental strength would be NID against Errani let alone Serena

Same can easily be said about Serena's mental strength at this tournament. She's a fucking mess.

Sweta is winning more points with dropshots today than in ANY match I've previously seen of hers.

xp oh c'mon Serena has had her meltdowns but compared to everyone she has to play she's still the mental GOAT

I just. It's always the same at this tournament. Fuck EVERYTHING.

And Sveta has won 11/12 of her last 3 setters, and has the memories of this exact match-up at this exact round 4 years ago

ooh if Serena loses we can break out the #romeandmadrid gif

Serena keeps shaking her right arm, she is SO NERVOUS

Can you all accept now that Kuz isn't playing like some sort of mental midget

Er, congrats on your second consecutive final, Errani!

OK this is now properly bad from Serena, second set she was a bit flat and Sweta was great but she can't find the court at all now.

Lol at the desperate shrieking. Lolol at kuz's shots hitting the lines so effortlessly.

BEAST return Sweta

This is the crucial game right here

agaghahkjskjdksk what a point and Sweta juuuuust missed the dropshot

Fucking LOL at peak Sveta.

THIS WAS SO PREDICTABLE.

Everything in Serena's game is completely gone. Forgotten everything she's learned over the last year.

yeah but she's still saving these BPs and is only down one break

and also hit that winner just now

Lol at my housemate talking to me about risotto, does nobody understand my unremittant mental anguish right now. I'M NOT OKAY.

BEAST return again just when I thought Sweta had blown her chance

Serena holds. OVER. That was the match-turning game there and everyone knew it

Serena pls relax and hit aggressively and move forward. Come onnnnnnnnn. :( I WANT TO BELIEVE.

Also Sveta, please get injured. :(

YES AT SERENA NOT FUCKING UP BREAK POINTS FOR ONCE NOW COME THE MOTHER OF FUCK ON

Lex stop trolling I h8 u

Well it's not like Sweta is doing a thing on court now

Lose this game from 40-0 up and I will FUCK YOU UP Serena

Will never forget the 2-1 40-0 lead in the 09 qf 3rd set. I can't believe this is happening again. Except I can.

THANK YOU FOR THAT GAME THANK YOU SO MUCH

Serena tried her best to make the match interesting again but needless errors from Sweta put paid to that

Errani just won btw

Sveta please be done now just give up please play your absolute worst

That match was unspeakable. Such awful serving, Radwanska being woeful at the net, long streams of errors from both. I only watched it because I can't get a stream of the Rena/Kuz.

A break up in the 3rd. Been here before at the French. Multiple times. Please Serena please.

GIVE ME LIFE WITH THAT APPROACH SHOT SVETA

For the love of all that is holy end this RIGHT HERE

Fuck. Now time to try and serve it out. DEEP BREATHS.

Good serve. Come on do thissss.

Great serve come the fuck onnnnnnn pls

Sveta stop getting balls backkkkkkkk!!!

ugh

oh well at least no Ma$ha/Azza title! silver lining!

Unless Errani does it.

lol at my meltdown is there any way of deleting posts

so motherfucking happy yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

fed p good serve % excepted

Tsonga playing really well now

THAT Fed BH pass to save SP O_O

THAT BH shank to hand over the first set O_O

Federror in full flow, my god

had to leave for a bit when fed was leading like 4-2 or something, pleasantly surprised at the current score

These Tsonga BH passes!

amazing

but i want 5 sets of drama

i have a feeling you'll be lucky to get 4 sets

oh dear

Oh dear, Fed DF on BP at the start of the third set.

return winner for the break back, come on! let's make this a match

Not able to watch, is it Tsonga retaining focus or Fed being sloppy?

Fed's been pretty sloppy all match, in recent games Tsonga has joined him so we're back on serve

dear LORD at these missed smashes

this is anticlimatic :(

heh, Tsonga gets the break back by hitting the ball directly at Fed

this has been so dull. i wanted a proper match. i'm not ready for today's tennis to end :(

anticlimactic end even by this match's standards.

v happy for Jo though!

It'll be an interesting SF. Neither Ferrer now JWT have dropped a set yet. Ferrer leads the H2H 2-1. Ferrer won the clay match (Rome 2010) and the French match (Paris 2012) but Tsonga won the Slam match (Wimbledon 2011). And JWT will be more nervy.

I'd be so happy if Tsonga won the tournament but I feel it's like a 2% chance

pretty crazy that tsonga and ferrer have only played 3 times

I was thinking that! I think there was a non-ATP event in UAE too (which Ferrer won). Ferrer is thrashing players in Nadal '08 style at the moment.

maybe more people will acknowledge that fed isn't 'as good as he always was' now

does anyone really say that? His prime ended in 2008

hell I'm not sure any of the top 4 are as good as they ever were

sam smith was saying it yesterday. yeah i'd agree they're all varying degrees below last year's level at least

I think Wimbledon will be interesting for that reason; a lot of the young guys have big serves and it could make for upsets (I'm thinking Janowicz in particular)

^^^ remember this post when we're all suffering through a Tomic/Isner quarterfinal

thing is what's often been overlooked with all the talk of a Big Four is that the Next Four have separated themselves from everyone outside the top 8 just as much - Ferrer/Pony/Tsonga/Berdych have been remarkably consistent over the past few years

yah I was pointing that out to my wife last week

I've just noticed Serena speaking French in all her on-court interviews...the crowd love it. I guess it's not just her tennis Mouratoglou has improved. Her pro-French stance has been on point this tournament. Ten years ago she was mocking the French accent and staring down Amélie. Now, she's going out of her way to speak the language. I don't think the crowd's hostility to her has been the reason for her failures here, but I think she's blown it up into A Thing in her own mind over the years, so this looks like an attempt to put that right.

I join this at 5-0 to JaJa? Am I dreaming? <3

BAGEL HER JELENA

i actually quite like maria but this is great

BAGEL!!!!!!!!!

let's make it another one JaJa, leggoooooo

:(

I was hoping for JaJa to do what Domi should've done in 2009

STOP with the dropshots Jelena

Oh god, another hysterical fighting comeback is on. YET AGAIN AND FOR THE SECOND DAY IN A ROW I WAIL WHY CAN'T THE PLAYERS I LIKE WIN THESE MATCHES

Kirilenko giving Azarenka a decent match. She's definitely quieter than usual so I can live with that. I can't believe I'm cheering for both Marias. How can I.

I don't know whether to be aggravated that Kirilenko was obviously faking it, or to be relieved that she's STFU at last.

LOL I ONLY JUST GOT IN WHAT HAS HAPPENED HERE

Twitter tells me Azza is "in a petulant mood". #bombshell

Relieved that Jelena held there. Could've gotten away fast if she hadn't.

That BH return. O_O

I love JJ/Maria matches :D they clearly despise each other.

UGH. I hate Maria and her noises so much :(

AAAARGHHHHHHH

her hysterical "come on" is THE WORST

kill her, Vika

As long as whoever wins that SF which will be NOT WATCHED BY ME AT ALL, loses 6-0 6-0 to Serena, all will be well.

I'm no Vika fan at all, but watching Sharapova really brings home how much I prefer her to Ma$ha. I really want Vika to obliterate her. And then get obliterated herself by...ERRANI.

lulz ITV are obviously televising the OBVIOUSLY LESS INTERESTING men's QF

same SFs as the USO

that is a shit way to lose a ~10 minute game by wawrinka

heh, Nole tweener but Haas wins the pt

Some fun points but Haas has over-pressed a touch too much on serve, and can't get into Nole's service games at all

how many days into the french open and i still do a doubletake at the banque national de paris hoardings

i've been watching it for 16 years and i still do that double take

wawrinka smashes racket on ground after idiotic backhand into the net when he was clear

gotta point out that all the women's QFs >>>>> all the men's QFs so far

stan's playing pretty well this set

aaaand breaks back. this is where it maybe gets a bit interesting but probably not

it didn't

yawn

well at least JJ provided some entertainment today

Haas not going without a bit of a fight.

Huge shank on BP in the very next game #anticlimactic

When was the last time all four men's Slam QF were straight-setters?

a comprehensive win in terms of entertainment and quality for the women over those QFs - one to remember when the tedious equal pay debate rears its head again

Answering my own question - not that long ago, as Roland Garros 2011 featured three 3-set wins (Nadal-Soderling, Murray-Chela, Federer-Monfils) and a walkover (Djokovic-Fognini).

Actually, that doesn't answer my question, but never mind.

Had to watch JJ-Maria on tape, knowing the score (luckily). Feared the worst, but as a match it turned into pretty watchable entertainment after a while. Doesn't exactly give me confidence to guess any scorelines today, though. Just hoping.

lol at this start
one of those days for maria. azarenka's a horrible matchup for her

oh ok this is better :D

how has this happened o_O
vika barely winning points

Redfoo not pleased.

That did make up for the first game. Waiting for Vika to snap into the zone though.

Azarenka is not a horrible match-up for Sharapova. People overstate that due to 2012, specifically the AO final. Azarenka, like Wozniacki but not quite so much, is vulnerable to being hit through (see her losses that year to Cibulkova and Bartoli) and Sharapova when playing well hits a deep ball. And on clay, where Azarenka moves awkwardly and was mistiming her backhand all over the shop in the Cornet match and her forehand turns into a puffball, is nothing special. Beating useless Cornet, 90-year-old Schiavone, and paceless Kirilenko, does not suggest she's playing well.

well i think azarenka's return and ability to change direction of the ball makes it a very awkward match-up for maria. the h2h doesn't really lie.

For some reason for a period in 2012 Maria had big problems with Vika's serve.

Really, Azarenka is just a B-grade Clijsters with an even shittier serve, worse forehand and slightly better return.

can't believe I'm rooting for vika

I know I'm alone in here when ilxor is suddenly the Vika Fan HQs playing against my fave.

I still have faith that one day Petra will rise and destroy Vika for good. But until that day, Sharapova will have to do.

the 2012 Vika/Maria matches were all really low-quality from both, it's like they brought out the worst in each other

Sharapova will have to do.

Co-sign

i forgot about rain

never has a DF been more obvious than that one

maria broken back in a service game with 4 DFs

maria thought she'd won it on that 1st MP with an ace but it was out. 3 more MPs squandered, now broken on a DF.

LOLz

*5-4

fascinating service game coming up. azarenka's not missing now.

or not. 3 more MPs.

sealed with an ace o_O as if the last 2 games never happened

great, another damp squib final upcoming. hopefully Serena can actually get the double bagel this time?

errani won 8 points in the first 9 games

women's tennis

just beat her in 46 minutes

that was the only straightforward women's match of the QFs/SFs.
*looks back at all 4 men's straight sets QFs*

i couldn't believe that certain tennis journalists had the nerve to get all "equal pay" after the Errani match the DAY after the most underwhelming set of men's QFs i can remember, and bearing in mind that the exact equivalent match-up to Williams/Errani happened on the men's side in Australia and ended equally embarrassingly

that said I am extremely annoyed that I won't be able to see today's matches in a way that I wasn't yesterday

Tennis Twitter seems underwhelmed by this match. Keep it up! I don't feel bad about sitting in an office yet!

nadal up a set and a break smh.vwe're not seriously going to get another straightforward men's match are we. ugh, men's tennis

Go straightfoward and underwhelming SFs go.

Or do I want this to drag out for ages so I have a chance of catching a bit of Tsonga/Ferrer tonight?

If the final is Nadal/Ferrer I seriously doubt I'll watch it. At least Serena/Ma$ha will only last half an hour.

Apparently I can't watch this live unless I have the tennis channel?!?!

back on serve woo, this match can start now

nadal goes from being a break up to a break down :D vamos

some amazing rallies now, sorry lex

1 set all :D

oh it's back to awful again from novak
he seems injured

This is annoying. The one time I'm rooting for Nole against Rafa...

novak is barely even on the court, what is this shit

Is Novak seriously getting bageled here? :/

THAT POINT THOUGH

the dropshots, the volleys, the lobs, the netcords. hopefully this brings nole back to life.

^ that was brilliant

^^^

this has been a weird match. how good has nadal even been? sometimes i find it hard to tell

pretty good in the 10 or so games ive seen

djokovic seems unusually jittery

oy

he's been woeful at times. but then those last 2 games were brilliant

lol @ this :D

Nole has been out of sorts the whole match, but maybe it's a testament to how much he's gotten into Nadal's head that he's still managing to keep himself in this.

Nadal seems to be as good as ever but weirdly tense when he should be steamrolling - talking to himself a lot more than usual.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK

those 3 wild FH errors in a row to give the break back to nadal :( :( :(

cheap game to lose

jfc this match

lol break back again
TB
but novak should have won this set 7-5 by now smh

can the scoreboard STOP being so dramatic please -_-

i work in an office for like 5 days per year and every time it does my head in not being able to LIIIIIVE

no fuckery now nole idimo idimo idimo

the fear of novak is definitely in rafa right now and i'm loving it. ajdeeeeeeee

Lol uncle Toni can't even look at his nephew right now

there was a bit earlier when he was clapping a point that djokovic won. made me wonder if he even knows what's happening

hahahhahahhaha
LIFE LIFE LIFE LIFE LIFE

FIFTH SET :D DESTROY HIM, NOLE :D CRUSH HIS SPIRIT :D

fucking hell that last point

rafa has completely owned novak for 85% of this match, and yet it's 2 sets all. rafa was up a break in the second set and up a break twice in the fourth :D

up a break! BAGEL PLEASE

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
THAT BACKHANDDDDDDDDDD
PEAK NOLE

rafa doesnt look like winning long points

lol desperate play from rafa there, trying to change it up :D novak's got him shook

the shanked FH and WAIL of anguish from rafa on that BP loooooooool <3

OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG NOOOOOOOOO
lol
novak touched the net :( at *4-3 deuce whyyyyyyy

fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck

NADAL IS THE LUCKIEST MOTHERFUCKER EVER TO EXIST

the easy putaway volley from djokovic at deuce but he stumbled into the net :( i can't believe this shit

yessssss

there's a tv in the office! I saw that point. Why the fuck did Nole do that? Fucking basic error

yeah he could have let it bounce and won it easily

this is so irritating

feel so grubby rooting for djokovic

THAT FOREHAND PASSING SHOT ARE YOU ACTUALLY KIDDING ME WITH THIS

NO that Rafa shank did NOT land in O_O

Oh, you're kidding me.

YES

that was a beautiful shot

its flukiness enhanced its beauty

rafa looks p baller today, hes come a long way since capris

yo french people show some self respect w that wave shit

anyone participating in a mexican wave deserves a swift kick to the back of the skull

djokovic looks like hes not even sweating, nadal abt to die

rafa my lord

djokovic at the net smh

lmao @ Rafa tweener followed by ANOTHER flubbed Nole smash

Damn son

sick

These two. Honestly.

Am now just blatantly watching a stream while drinking a g&t in the office while writing about Miley Cyrus. In danger of finishing my work before these two finish the match. And I won't miss much of the next SF! Result

"He's lost confidence in his overhead"

NOLE'S OVERHEAD HAS ALWAYS BEEN AVERAGE, OMG, WHEN DID YOU START WATCHING HIS MATCHES??

DEAR
LORD

Damnit

STOP APPROACHING THE NET YOU MORON

o shit

Arrggghhhhh

YEEEEEEAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!!

Meh

VILLE VILE VILE VILE VILE VILE VILE VILE VILE VILE VILE VILE VILE VILE VILE VILE

UGHHHHHH

On the other hand I made a semi-commitment to support a friend at 5pm on Sun and if Ferrer now wins then I can actually be a good friend

that 0-30 winner was magnificent

lol at rafas tan line

has rafa ever been pushed that hard to reach a roland garros final

id have given him maybe a 25% chance prior to the break in the last set

has rafa ever been pushed that hard to reach a roland garros final

Nah. Aside from his single defeat to Soderling in 2009, never taken beyond a fourth set by anyone.

Slightly glad now that I'll be out of town on Sunday and will prob miss the final.

So both #narratives are killed today. Both "winning it for my first coach" and JWT's home town quest.

are there any reasons beyond predictability/'boringness' of outcome for avoiding the final

years ago i said nadal wouldn't last beyond 25 because of the stress he puts on his joints, then felt 'vindicated' by his injury problems, now i just want him to go on forever

Nadal-Ferrer H2H: 19-4 (16-1 on clay; Ferrer beat a 18yo Nadal in Stuttgart nine years ago)

Nadal-Tsonga H2H: 8-3 (2-0 on clay)

Obviously clay H2H stats are meaningless for Nadal, because he's only lost 22 matches IN HIS CAREER on that surface. He's .930 vs the whole world.

are there any reasons beyond predictability/'boringness' of outcome for avoiding the final

I'd watch Rafa v Tsonga even though the outcome is NID. I wouldn't watch Rafa vs Ferrer because the stylistic match-up makes for unbearable tennis

Rafa vs Ferrer is just a everything-you-can-do-I-can-do-better match-up, in which Ferrer will not appear to be embarrassed or outplayed at any point and yet will leave the court having won only six games. Tsonga has a... Oh forget it, I just saw the semi score.

haha yeah I had the same reaction

One glimmer of hope is that Ferrer's last couple of clay court defeats vs Nadal have actually been really competitive matches, but, y'know Federer was taking sets and blowing 4-0 leads vs Nadal in spring '08 and look how the RG final turned out.

omg at that BP save by tsonga o_O

i think serena will win this

Not sure but I think the Pope's a Catholic too

READY

(FOR THE BEATDOWN OR THE MELTDOWN)

Not really ready, but you know.

it could all be over before i even decide if i want a beatdown or not.

Yeah want to cry already. Maria is here for this. Serena winning would just be too good to be true, waaa.

Really good start from 'pova here. Good 2nd serves, but now its a DF to start the 3rd game

Fucking lol at this intensity.

Brilliant break back from Serena - shaping up to be a good one, don't care who wins.

heh, Sharapova's awful c'mons paying dividends in the opposite way to what she intended now. Eat her alive for her temerity, Serena

Ma$ha really lost her first serve in the last game, which is...not a good omen

'Come ons' this early are done out of fear.

Second straight service game Maria opens with a DF.

'Come ons' this early are done out of fear.

totally agree - reminds me of Ivanovic's desperate "ajdeeeeeeee"s. No confidence, trying to will it vocally into existence

Meltdown in full-flow now..

Serena doesn't do delicacy in the net.

Serena's fh ughhhhhhh

Amazed Ma$ha is making a match of this. Serena's strokes look fine but her movement is leaden.

That felt like a crucial point. 4-4 15-15 long rally. Relieved Serena won it

Serena ANGLE!

Now THAT is a forehand. Come the fuck on.

Slightly more stuttery path than I expected but still, NID outcome is NID outcome

Brilliant. Didn't panic in that set. Come on. No let up now PLEASE.

These BPs ugh. I need a break. I'm not here for Wimbledon F/USO F fuckery.

HERE FOR THAT DEFENSE. Come on.

Move your FEET and stop PUSHING, Serena. UGH

Disgusting BP conversion. Serena giving Maria so much time on her groundstrokes with these nervy loopy shots.

Relieved Sharapova came through, want to see a 3rd here.

Omg lol @ that

Ma$ha barely clinging on to her own service games is treated like she's taking a 4-0 lead. No. She's going all out just to keep the scoreline on serve.

Irresistible. Of course I can't see a 3rd set.

and so a break..

I need as wipe a gap as possible in case of fuckery.

*wide

Please break.

Sooooo if Serena has nerves they'll start showing around now.

And it doesn't look like they are. Hurrah!

Missed the first set; I'm impressed with how well Maria is playing.

And then there's Serena's serve

Three aces when serving for her first RG title in 11 years. Nerves, what nerves

is this real life

Congrats uberweiss and other fans. I did have some hopes that MS could challenge for the first set if she had gone up 3-0. After that I didn't have hopes for the win, but she fought much better than expected, held when I didn't expect it, no complete collapse. I'll watch the ceremony after a SW-MS final and not cringe majorly, that's something in itself.

Honestly, two RG titles still doesn't seem reflective of Serena's capabilities on clay (in a way that one RG title definitely exceeds Ma$ha's capabilities). This was really overdue.

Serena's FINALLY matured so much, too. I think I genuinely like her at this point.

Well Maria has the best clay stats on the tour. Of course that doesn't reflet Serena's capabilities, but I don't know why you'd feel offended that someone who nowadays picks clay tournament wins every season has an RG in her bag.

what i've been desperate for ever since i started following tennis in 2005 as i was about to enter my teens and i get it just as i've left my teens.
satisfying.

ASV doing the presentation - interesting! ASV's one of the v few players with a leading h2H over her (4-2) and Serena's always said the '98 RG, where she was on the bad end of a quintessential ASV comeback in R4 and which ASV went on to win, is the one Slam that got away from her. Of course there was bad blood between them in 1998 but I assume that's been put to rest by now...

In fact, I didn't know ASV is the ONLY Slam champion to lead Serena in their H2H!

Kader Nouni is a great name

can't get a better clay season than charlestone/madrid/rome/french

lol @ Oracene having to be prodded to realise Serena was talking about her

Serena's excellence in French puts my own efforts to learn the language to shame.

serena can dump patrick now <3

from 1r to winning, i can'ttttttttt
makes all those crushing losses at this tournament worth it :D

Anyway thought that was pretty good all in all and none of the usual bitter feelings in my stomach - the only rubbish part is Azarenka is #2.

dw guys now that serena's got this i'll be less obnoxiously panicky in her matches from now on. maybe.

doubt it!

I probably said something similar last year.

You'll be thinking about 20 slams soon.

yeah i doubt it. but i've witnessed her winning all the slams now, in singles and doubles. and olympic golds in singles and doubles. and yec. i can't really ask for any more. but i'm sure i'll find a way.

LOLLLLLLLL at how llodra/mahut bottled that TB from 4-2 up teehee. good when racists don't win. sad for mahut tho.

biggest mystery in my life: WTF is gaston gaudio's twitter?

https://twitter.com/gastongaudio

is anyone streaming this?

try the usuals at http://www.streamhunter.eu/tennis-live-streaming-video.html

i'm gonna start watching this but as soon as the final match-up was in place i booked tickets to something that starts in 3hrs so if i have to leave...bothered

I have a really strong rooting interest in Ferrer but it seems like such a hopeless cause I end up sort of unbothered about the match generally.

well this is turning into a circus

at least something interesting's happening

guess it has been a predictable snoozefest otherwise

Ferrer's probably won more games than Fed or Tsonga would have.

This is probably Rafa's least convincing run to the RG title, no? At times it almost felt like St Kim or Silliams bullshitting their way to a Slam. Losing sets to Brands and Klizan, a tight three-setter with Fognini...and the only really convincing scorelines were over the players where the stylistic match-up favours Rafa insanely heavily. Obviously it's all relative, this is only in comparison to his runs where he'd 6-1 6-1 6-1 everyone to death. And I guess winning the Nole match was always going to be key.

Roll of honour!

Men's singles: Rafael Nadal
Women's singles: Serena Williams
Men's doubles: Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan
Women's doubles: Ekaterina Makarova & Elena Vesnina
Mixed doubles: Lucie Hradecka & Frantisek Cermak
Boys' singles: Christian Garin
Girls' singles: Belinda Bencic
Boys' doubles: Kyle Edmund & Frederico Ferreira Silva
Girls' doubles: Barbora Krejcikova & Katerina Siniakova

- Nice to see Llodracist lose his home Slam final
- My god, it's the year of Vesnina. She finally won her first singles title after losing six finals, and now her first Slam doubles title after losing six Slam finals. There is truly hope for us all
- Garin looks like one to watch - he's 17, a few months ago when he was just 16 he won a round at Vina Del Mar (over Lajovic) and took a set off Chardy
- It was quite funny watching Bencic play Venus last year - she's co-coached by Melanie Molitor, it was like...Venus has stuck around so long that Molitor is sending a whole new generation up against her