French Open 2018

[HouTex 1866]

Halep vs Stephens should be a good Women's final. Go Stephens!

[perfectchaos007 6621]

Heh. Remember when Stephens lost like 8 matches in a row after the US Open. Now she's already back in a final.

[Napoleon 8657]

2 hours ago, perfectchaos007 said:

I....had no Idea NBCSN had the rights to the French Open. Has NBC broadcast any matches yet this year?

I think that NBC has shown matches, but not LIVE matches. (Not positive) And I think that it has only been on the weekends. I'm not sure if they even do a 30 minutes daily wrap up show after the local news, before the Tonight Show.

[Napoleon 8657]

20 hours ago, Bodowned said:

Rain delays may help Rafa regroup mentally, but wet clay/humid conditions do not favor Rafa and his extreme topspin. I think the best chance of him losing is a humid, overcast day with some light drizzling. 

 

20 hours ago, Napoleon said:

Well that was today.

And after the first rain delay, when he was down a set and down a break, he was allowed to regroup, change his wristband, and he came roaring back and stomped the Schwarz in three straight games, including two breaks.

Tomorrow it will be warmer and dryer and the Schwarz is still going to be 5'7", so he should get stomped... unless Rafa's wristband gives him trouble again. (Ojala)

 

20 hours ago, perfectchaos007 said:

I think Schwartzman is well adjusted to being 5'7" and that doesn't affect him as much as you think. Otherwise he would have been crushed by 6'8" Kevin Andersen as well. Smaller guys are better at hitting the ball off the rise and not letting it get too high off the bounce.

 

18 hours ago, Napoleon said:

To be seeded 11, he has to have adjusted, but Rafa on clay is a different animal all-together.

The kick of the bounce is so extreme, but he's so good, it's not like you just just move up to the baseline. I'm not a Rafa fan, but he's fairly good at the tennis. Especially the clay court tennis.

 

And now for today's MEN's results...

Spoiler

Rafa ROLLED today. It was warmer, it was drier, and Schwarztman was still only 5'7" and playing Rafa on clay.

Rafa won 13 out of 17 games today against the little Argie.

I didn't watch it, but I doubt that it lasted much more than an hour, if that.

In the other match, Delpo won the first two points of the tie-breaker to take the first set and then basically won a "Best 2 our of 3" match against Cilic. I'd be fairly confident that this took more than 2 hours, so the lumbering giant will be at a bigger disadvantage tomorrow than he would have been.

 

Edited June 7, 2018 by Napoleon

[spystud13 2371]

Yeah, NBC has only done some morning weekend matches. They own TC, no clue why they don’t use NBCSN more when Chartrier & Lenglen both have late-round singles matches. 

[texas08 1599]

When is Rafael vs Juan Martin?

[spystud13 2371]

After the Thiem match which starts @ 6:00a. 

[satyanash 14470]

Last year Nadal's clay run was unbelievable. Yet he needed to repeat it this year just to keep the No. 1 ranking. And he's seemingly doing it with ease.

It's kind of amazing.

[Longhornmaniac8 255]

I'm just not surprised at Nadal's run. He's the undisputed king of clay. There's no one whose game approaches his on the dirt. Thiem may be the closest, but I have no hope that he'll be able to get it done in a best-of-5.

The rest of the tennis world had adapted to Federer's dominance, but nothing has happened at all to check Rafa on clay. The dude has lost two matches at Roland Garros in his career. That's ludicrous. 

[Longhornmaniac8 255]

On the women's side, I find myself surprisingly indifferent. All other things equal, I usually root for the Americans, but I have a bit of a soft spot for Halep. Sloane has had a good run, and I would certainly be happy for her. Simona deserves to win a grand slam, so I find myself rooting for that just to get the monkey off her back (the same way I did for Caro in Melbourne).

[satyanash 14470]

40 minutes ago, Longhornmaniac8 said:

I'm just not surprised at Nadal's run. He's the undisputed king of clay. There's no one whose game approaches his on the dirt. Thiem may be the closest, but I have no hope that he'll be able to get it done in a best-of-5.

The rest of the tennis world had adapted to Federer's dominance, but nothing has happened at all to check Rafa on clay. The dude has lost two matches at Roland Garros in his career. That's ludicrous. 

Peak Djokovic was the only one who could beat Nadal on clay with any sort of consistency. Federer has just two wins over Nadal on clay in his entire career, out of 15 matches.

Federer's greatest asset has been his consistency. He couldn't beat Nadal on clay, but for several years he was beating everyone else. It just wasn't enough because Nadal would never lose. Meanwhile Nadal beat Federer at Wimbledon and made multiple finals as well, but after 2011 he's consistently been knocked out in the earlier rounds.

[Longhornmaniac8 255]

4 minutes ago, satyanash said:

Peak Djokovic was the only one who could beat Nadal on clay with any sort of consistency. Federer has just two wins over Nadal on clay in his entire career, out of 15 matches.

Federer's greatest asset has been his consistency. He couldn't beat Nadal on clay, but for several years he was beating everyone else. It just wasn't enough because Nadal would never lose. Meanwhile Nadal beat Federer at Wimbledon and made multiple finals as well, but after 2011 he's consistently been knocked out in the earlier rounds.

All true. Djoker could at least provide a question mark. Obviously this is all bias, but I consider dirt tennis to be a lesser form of the sport, which knocks Nadal's overall legacy down a bit. The man is unquestionably the GOAT on the surface, though. It's also probably why I don't hold Fed's head-to-head record against Nadal against him; if you take away that surface, there's parity between them. 

Is it grass season yet? Haha.

[satyanash 14470]

21 minutes ago, Longhornmaniac8 said:

All true. Djoker could at least provide a question mark. Obviously this is all bias, but I consider dirt tennis to be a lesser form of the sport, which knocks Nadal's overall legacy down a bit. The man is unquestionably the GOAT on the surface, though. It's also probably why I don't hold Fed's head-to-head record against Nadal against him; if you take away that surface, there's parity between them. 

Is it grass season yet? Haha.

He may be the king of clay... but the grass season is right around the corner

[Napoleon 8657]

I expect the final to be Nadal vs Thiem, but I really hope that I'm wrong.
 

6:00am (Austin Time): Thiem vs the Italian

8:30am (Austin Time): Nadal vs Delpo
 

Absolutely want Delpo to topple Nadal.

[Napoleon 8657]

ESPN now has the Thiem vs Iti match starting at 6:15am.

Also, they had this story: 

Quote

Earlier this year, del Potro put his relative lack of success on clay down to the fact that he "doesn't like running." Unfortunately for him, he might have to do a lot of running Friday when he plays Rafael Nadal, the 10-time champion at Roland Garros and a man who has lost just twice at the French Open since he first walked through the gates in 2005.

http://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/23722998/w2w4-french-open-call-juan-martin-del-potro-feel-good-story-anymore

VAMO' DELPO, VAMO'!!!!

[texas08 1599]

Well, Juan Martin def played like he hates running.

This one is practically over.

6-4, 6-1, 1-0 Nadal.

[satyanash 14470]

2 hours ago, texas08 said:

Well, Juan Martin def played like he hates running.

This one is practically over.

6-4, 6-1, 1-0 Nadal.
 

Watched some of it during lunch. Nadal was clearly so much better it's not even funny. One-sided demolition, and Thiem probably won't put up a fight on Sunday either.

[Napoleon 8657]

13 minutes ago, satyanash said:

Watched some of it during lunch. Nadal was clearly so much better it's not even funny. One-sided demolition, and Thiem probably won't put up a fight on Sunday either.

I think that Thiem will do better than Delpo.

I didn't start watching until it was 2-1 with Nadal preparing to serve in the 3rd set.

I've never seen Delpo just go through the motions like that. He has always been a fighter, even when he knew that he was going to be defeated (like against Stan Wawrinka in the US Open in 2016), but today he just had accepted his fate and seemed like he just wanted to get it over with. I'm thinking that a combination of Rafa being better on clay + Rafa having played about half as much tennis yesterday convinced him that it wasn't worth going all out to possibly injure himself in a match that he knew he was going to lose.

That all being said, Delpo won his last service game at Love.

On Sunday, Thiem will have played one quick match over the last 5 days and Nadal will have played two 3-setters over the previous 3 days. Thiem is also younger and much more agile than Delpo and has been having a very strong year. I don't know if Thiem will take a set off of Rafa, but there he'll win more than 7 games.

[WBT 20559]

Third set coming up.  It feels like Halep has turned the tide

[WBT 20559]

Simona wins it, baguette in the 3rd!  I'm happy for her that she finally broke through.

[ajax 2600]

On 6/7/2018 at 6:11 PM, Longhornmaniac8 said:

On the women's side, I find myself surprisingly indifferent. All other things equal, I usually root for the Americans, but I have a bit of a soft spot for Halep. Sloane has had a good run, and I would certainly be happy for her. Simona deserves to win a grand slam, so I find myself rooting for that just to get the monkey off her back (the same way I did for Caro in Melbourne).

I see what you did there.

I was rooting for her too. Congrats to her.

[WBT 20559]

Anyone watching the awards ceremony?  Arantxa looks better now than when she was playing 

[satyanash 14470]

Good for Halep, she deserved to finally win one. She ground that one out

[Blotto 23484]

Never forget

[ajax 2600]

Could she honestly have not done all this without the boob reduction? I never saw her play back then. I feel bad for her, and everyone else.

[Longhornmaniac8 255]

There's a reason you don't see many big-breasted tennis players at the highest level. I can imagine it would be absolute hell on the body with the constant change of direction.

Even as it stands now, they're not exactly small.

[Napoleon 8657]

1 hour ago, Longhornmaniac8 said:

There's a reason you don't see many big-breasted tennis players at the highest level. I can imagine it would be absolute hell on the body with the constant change of direction.

Even as it stands now, they're not exactly small.

...or gymnast... or golfers... or archers... or race car drivers... or top blade sport contestants... 

[satyanash 14470]

On a lighter note, Ostapenko, who won the French Open last year, holds the wooden spoon for this year's RG - she is the ultimate loser of the tournament.

 

[ScottishHorn 172]

I dont know if frustrating is the right word but being a really good player in this era the last 10-15 years and having to beat the best clay court player in history (Nadal) or the best grass/hard court player in history (Federer) must be disheartening when you might have been able to win a few major championships yourself.

[ScottishHorn 172]

Case in point in Thiem who is prob the best clay court player in world other than Nadal and would win this tournament easily but for Nadal.  He most likely will not win a title until Nadal's skills diminish or he retires

[satyanash 14470]

20 minutes ago, ScottishHorn said:

Case in point in Thiem who is prob the best clay court player in world other than Nadal and would win this tournament easily but for Nadal.  He most likely will not win a title until Nadal's skills diminish or he retires

And Nadal just turned 32... so thus will probably go on for a few more years.

Federer at least seems to be slowing down, he can't maintain his peak play for as long as he could in the past. There are only three grass tournaments he'll play this year, and he has to make the most of them to stay abreast of Nadal.

[IPoopOnWhoop 104]

Hey Thiem won 9 games!  That’s a 2 game improvement over last year.  Nadal at Roland Garros is the single most dominant athlete in history.

[ScottishHorn 172]

Might as well enjoy Federer and Nadal while we can.  Personally, I watch in amazement.  As a decent player myself,  i can't really comprehend the mental focus and talent they have.  

[satyanash 14470]

On 6/8/2018 at 2:15 PM, Napoleon said:

On Sunday, Thiem will have played one quick match over the last 5 days and Nadal will have played two 3-setters over the previous 3 days. Thiem is also younger and much more agile than Delpo and has been having a very strong year. I don't know if Thiem will take a set off of Rafa, but there he'll win more than 7 games.

Well, you were right. He won 9 games.

[satyanash 14470]

1 hour ago, IPoopOnWhoop said:

Hey Thiem won 9 games!  That’s a 2 game improvement over last year.  Nadal at Roland Garros is the single most dominant athlete in history.

[Napoleon 8657]

34 minutes ago, satyanash said:

Well, you were right. He won 9 games.

From picking the winners of the Round of 16 on, I only missed 2 and I called the final. 

I don’t bet, because I usually lose, but I could have made some money on Week 2 of the French Open Men’s Draw THIS YEAR. 

(If I try to bet next year, I’ll lose money. That’s how I roll.)

[satyanash 14470]

17 Slams for Nadal. He now has as many Slam titles as Federer did heading into the Australian Open last year.