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!

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

New rankings, in which mathematical quirks provide lulz in the men's top 5:

1. Serena Williams (1)
2. Victoria Azarenka (3)
3. Maria Sharapova (2)
4. Agnieszka Radwanska (4)
5. Sara Errani (5)
6. Na Li (6)
7. Angelique Kerber (8)
8. Petra Kvitova (7)
9. Caroline Wozniacki (10)
10. Maria Kirilenko (12)
11. Roberta Vinci (15)
12. Ana Ivanovic (14)
13. Nadia Petrova (11)
14. Samantha Stosur (9)
15. Marion Bartoli (13)
16. Jelena Jankovic (18)
17. Sloane Stephens (17)
18. Dominika Cibulkova (16)
19. Carla Suarez Navarro (20)
20. Kirsten Flipkens (21)
21. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (19)
22. Ekaterina Makarova (22)
23. Alize Cornet (27)
24. Sorana Cirstea (30)
25. Shuai Peng (23)
26. Sabine Lisicki (34)
27. Svetlana Kuznetsova (39)
28. Varvara Lepchenko (25)
29. Tamira Paszek (33)
30. Lucie Safarova (29)
...
35. Venus Williams (32)
42. Jamie Hampton (54)
55. Bethanie Mattek-Sands (67)
81. Paula Ormaechea (118)

1. Novak Djokovic (1)
2. Andy Murray (2)
3. Roger Federer (3)
4. David Ferrer (5)
5. Rafael Nadal (4)
6. Tomas Berdych (6)
7. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (8)
8. Juan Martin Del Potro (7)
9. Richard Gasquet (9)
10. Stanislas Wawrinka (10)
11. Tommy Haas (14)
12. Marin Cilic (11)
13. Kei Nishikori (15)
14. Janko Tipsarevic (12)
15. Milos Raonic (16)
16. Nicolas Amagro (13)
17. Gilles Simon (18)
18. Philipp Kohlschreiber (19)
19. Sam Querrey (20)
20. Juan Monaco (17)
21. John Isner (21)
22. Jerzy Janowicz (23)
23. Kevin Anderson (25)
24. Alexandr Dolgopolov (24)
25. Benoit Paire (26)
26. Andreas Seppi (22)
27. Jeremy Chardy (27)
28. Grigor Dimitrov (28)
29. Mikhail Youzhny (31)
30. Tommy Robredo (34)
...
44. Viktor Troicki (57)
67. Gael Monfils (81)
84. David Goffin (58)

With Ormaechea's rise, there are now represntatives of every continent (except Antarctica obv) in both men's and women's top 100. A truly global sport :)

All gravy for Nadal from now on though, right? Barely a point to defend from 2012. I think Roger will be out of the top four in a month or two.

Trying to think of an example of a player reaching a Slam final without dropping a set and yet being the long-odds outsider once there. In fact, the only example I can recall of a player sweeping through the draw 18-0 in sets and then losing the final is Connors at Wimbledon in '75, but of course he was the strong favourite.

I will be very happy once Wozniacki falls out of the top 10.

Only way is up for her, she'll probably do OK on the late-year hard court swing again and she has nothing to defend at the Slams, and the ex top-tenners behind her are all complete and utter retards. Maybe if Kuznetsova would be interested in playing top-level tennis for more than 30 minutes a stretch that'd be nice, or if Bartoli and Petrova would stop being morons.

She'll hang around with an inflated ranking until her fluke IW final points come off next March. You can blame Azarenka being "extremely injured", Kerber being unable to deal with moonballs and Petrova being Petrova for that. 9-16 are pretty bunched up, though; only ~600 points between them, only TWENTY points between 12 and 16. Things like smart scheduling, taking advantage of open draws or sudden peak runs will decide that (so far this year, Jankovic is doing well at all of those).

But you're right, between say 8-30 there isn't so much upward momentum as random churn - which is an improvement on when the top 5 consisted of random churn a few years ago. I wonder how long we'll have to wait for the teenagers who've broken into the top 100 over the past year to make the big push up to the top 20 - I'm still on the Keys and Vekic bandwagon, I like the look of Puig, not convinced about Robson or Mladenovic but they really can peak out of nowhere.

Can't be bothered to bump the non-slam thread so I'll just note with happiness here that Vandeweghe finally fell out of the top 100 this week - and is bound out of the top 200 in a month's time - and Oudin's R1 loss at Edgbaston also sends her out of the top 100.

watched the novak/rafa semi match -- good, not great quality; p choppy for a lot of it; novaks 2nd set level was incredibly high; nadals defense and down the line forehand in the 5th made the difference