The French.

Slam time again fellas, so we might as well talk about it. Just watching the early matches which are fairly uninspiring so far.

Looks like the Federer-Nadal saga will take another turn here at the French. A week ago I would have put Rafa almost at even money to get to his 5th in a row... But after losing convincingly to the Fed in Madrid, and then losing his warmup match to the world #109 yesterday, he's looking a bit shaky. Still talking a big game, as you should when you're the top dog - but I think he might be in trouble. Gonna go out on a limb and say he won't make the final. Look from someone like a Verdasco or Djokovic to knock him out in the semis. The Fed is back to playing consistently well at the moment- this could be where he finally gets his French I think!

As for the women... Safina looking easy winner for me at the moment. I guess the unknowns of the Williams sisters will always pop up, but it's time for Safina to pop her cherry.

So to speak.

:>

gc.

Yeah looking forward to some good tennis. Word around is that Rafa is getting a lot of treating on and off the court for one of his right knee again. Those knees are fucked ... Im a big Rafa fan and would love to see him do the GS this year

For the woman my money is on Safina as well, looks good.

Is it just me or are his knee issues coming a month earlier each season?... He's going the way of Chang at this rate.

Surely it would be better to have a reconstruction and take a serious time out (say a year or whatever) relatively early on in his career, rather than risk severely cutting short his own career by total knee fuck out?

I mean he's so young. I suppose the only worry would be that perhaps he mightn't return to this form/fitness again. Still, it's fairly apparent that he'll be extremely lucky to make it to 30 as a pro.



gc.

Been reading up to see if I can find some info on his knees and it seems that it not tendinitis thats the problem with his right knee. Most reports say that the inflamousion in the knees are gone and straps are precautionary measures. either or the dude s struggling and Roger is looking mighty fine ...

You'd think aye.. but that alone doesn't seem to fix it for tennis players - esp when the issue is one of too much shock/pounding. Some people just run more than their body can handle. Running less (or making the court softer somehow) is the usual long-term aim - easier said than done when you're playing individual an sport.

Unfortunately, right after the clay court season - the softest surface their is but the one which makes you run the most - the hard-court season begins... and is where clay-court guys for decades (Chang, Muster, Lendl etc) have ended up with niggling issues.

Luckily for Nadal is his ranking - he can take more breaks between tournaments than most others can afford.

Looked a little shaky in his game earlier but fuck me came back with force! Rafa + pink shirt =

Safina's game was

The Fed looking in HUGE trouble here! About to go down 2 sets to 1.



gc.

Hah spoke too soon. Bounces back from 4-1 down to take the set.



gc.

I'm heading along tomorrow. Can't wait!

How was it mate? Very jealous.

Just looking through a few stats and really having a look at how hard it must be to strive to be #1 in tennis atm. Assuming, of course, that you're not Rafa or Roger. I had a quick Wiki search for the Grand Slam titles from the last 5 years... pretty crazy how much Nadal and Federer are almost 100% dominant.

US open:
2004 Roger Federer (v Hewitt)
2005 Roger Federer (v Agassi!)
2006 Roger Federer (v Roddick)
2007 Roger Federer (v Djokovic)
2008 Roger Federer (v Murray)

5 Outstanding and VERY different tennis players Federer has toppled there.

Australian Open:
2005 Marat Safin (v Hewitt)
2006 Roger Federer (v Baghdatis)
2007 Roger Federer (v González)
2008 Novak Djokovic (v Tsonga)
2009 Rafael Nadal (v Federer)

French:
2004 Gaston Gaudio (v Coria) (Who remembers that!?)
2005 Rafael Nadal (v Puerta)
2006 Rafael Nadal (v Federer)
2007 Rafael Nadal (v Federer)
2008 Rafael Nadal (v Federer)

Wimbledon:
2008 Rafael Nadal (v Federer)
2007 Roger Federer (v Nadal)
2006 Roger Federer (v Nadal)
2005 Roger Federer (v Roddick)
2004 Roger Federer (v Roddick)

That means Federer and Nadal have made EVERY final except 2 in the last 5 years. And since the Aussie Open '05 (Jan) they have been a part of, or won every Grand Slam title except 1.

It really looks like the Australian open is the only tournament that is more 'open' for other guys to get a look in, based on the total number of finalists.

The chances of someone other than Nadal/Federer winning a grand slam whilst they're both still in such dominant form is virtually nil. In fact, you can almost put Djokovic's victory down as a fluke IMO. Not say he isn't an excellent player, I really like the guy, but he still has almost zero chance, mostly because beating Federer or Nadal (which he IS capable of doing) will likely render him completely knackered coming into a GS final against either/or of the 2 best players in the world.

The weirdest thing is, I can't see this changing for the next 2-3 years AT LEAST! Pretty cool though. I love witnessing sporting legacies.

<3 nonsensical drunk sporting analysis



gc.

Fucking excellent! Had tickets for both main courts - Susan Longline and Phillippe Chatrie (no idea about the spelling of both)... Saw Ana Ivanovic, Fernado Gonzales, Gisella Dulko, Rafa vs Hewitt, Sharapova, and Murray. Didn't see all of most of matches because I was trying to see as much as possible. Rafa had to be the highlight as he was just sublime, Sharapova did well after an awful first set. Murray's first set was great as well, he was two breaks down and came back to win in a tie break. Would definitely recommend it, great day all round!

Djokovic goes down in a screaming heaps. Straight sets!? Tsonga, Murray & Nadal all breeze through. Federer drops one but then was really in cruise control after that, despite a parochial home crowd.

Haven't seen much of the women. Saw Venus and Dementieva both bow out. Safina and Kuznetsova utterly unchallenged so far.



gc.

Melzer vs. Monfils was a screamer last night!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Rafa goes DOWN bitches! Woohoo! What a game from Soderling. Played his own game and pushed through the unforced errors to hit booming winners and kept Nadal on the run the whole game.

It's anyone's tournament now!



gc.

Love how the Herald says "in arguably the greatest upset in the history of tennis"... lol. As if. The guy might not be a shining star in tennis but he's good enough to be in the top 30. On a good day any top 100 male player could beat the number 1 if they're off their game.

Pretty lamely played by Rafa too for much of the match.

Yeah Nadal really struggled to return Soderling's serve. Some pathetic returns (from second serves too) just flopped into the net.

The big game plan is to hit wide to Rafa's forehand atm to take some of the sting out of it and make him hit it on the run. Seemed to work well for Soderling. There was the odd flash of brilliance from Nadal (as you'd expect) but overall Soderling was consistent enough to win where it mattered.

Nadal clearly a little off his game at the moment too. Maybe the others care catching up.



gc.

Same game-plan has always been on the cards against him, play it angled and low to his backhand. Harder to do on clay as he's got more time to prep. People always reckon hitting high/deep to Federer's backhand is his chink but it's nothing compared to Nadal's (and Agassi and Courier's) backhand issues if you can get them out of their zone then thump the next shot.

Heh.

You'll note they've changed the tactic this season to his forehand side. It's where Djokovic and Federer have had success, and now Soderling too. They're prepared to take the odd flash of brilliance down the line, in order to take away his consistency on the forehand.



gc.

lol a top poker player had 900k on nadal to win it all :>

Classic!

Looks like The Fed's about to bomb out big time too! Down 2 sets to nil!



gc.

Who put the ketamine in Feds coco-pops? It took him two hours to shake it off.

I found this article on the differences between the behaviour of the men and women at the French Open rather interesting.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/opinion/2463063/Women-behaving-badly-discredit-tennis

Women's tennis is a disgrace at the moment. They're by and large so lazy and, by and large, have such poor or no game-plan whatsoever. I'm more disappointed by this actually.

For the record, that ball did his Martinez Sanchez' arm in the Serena Williams match. What a blight on fair play that was. They should view the video and ban/fine her without doubt.

Didn't see that... I've been in the air for the last day or so. What happened?

I have to say the men are really impressing me at the moment. So many good, dedicated, gracious players. And even the guys with big personalities are still fairly humble winners too. The Tsongas and Monfils of the world still seem like nice guys. They're really honest and trusting with the line calls too.

VERY difficult to appreciate anything going on on the womens court atm though. Average tennis, average players. Yawn factor is high. I can't believe they showed Sharapova v that Asian bird the other day instead of showing Verdasco v Davydenko. I was bitter.



gc.

Love Rafa!

"Don't blame being injured on me losing. He played a good game and I was off a little. You can't afford to be off because he is so good and will take advantage. I had to lose someday, why not today!" something to that effect.

Speaking of dedication. Did anyone see the point that Monfils scaored against Melzer - superman man style jump to get to the ball behind base and then get up to play two half volleys and score the point! Legend stuff ... ollie and myself had to rewind and replay it about 10times. Was awesome!

Yeah definately hit her arm....


In a post match interview/an article I read she was clearly denying it, saying it was called good and that was the end of it....

Its like nicking the ball to the keeper and then not being given out. Everyone knows you are out, the TV replay shows you are out however you just don't realise it and you don't walk because the umpire says its ok. Sometimes you just don't know, or you think you know its not out and you go with the umpire ...

I haven't seen the replay, but wouldn't you FEEL the ball hitting your arm.

Bit different to a nick imo.

You always feel nicks anyway. Reaction's just justifying his cheating ways!

:>

gc.

Gonzales intot he semis after beating Murray, he'll meet Soderling who is on a role. I wish I'd put money on him after he beat Rafa.

Haven't watched any of this but do enjoy tennis and this, in particular, sounds brilliant. Will have to try find ^_^

Ok.. tonight after the bunny warm-up match it's Gael Monfils v Roger Federer.

Head to head Federer is up 4-0.

Fed has only ever lost one set to Monfils (in a five set match) and only been taken to a single tie-breaker otherwise.

Monfils hasn't won a title in the last year but got to the semis of the 2008 French Open and has only been in two clay-court finals in his career, both time losing to relative nobodies.

Wonder if he's on the up enough to take down Fed... and if Fed will have another ho-hum day like his last match.

Girls champion Simona Halep:



Destined to do the rounds in the men's mags when she hits legal age. Ridiculous hooters for a sportswoman.

WOOHOO!



gc.

Fed predictably got under the skin of the Frenchman who then proceeded to self destruct. 7-6 (6) 6-2 6-4.

Fed hit some of the hardest forehands I've ever seen... definitely seeing his gameplan now. He's making more errors for sure but also shortening the points and playing a way more positive strategy.

Guess who Federer has to play now?....

Juan Martin del Potro

The guy he beat 6-3, 6-0, 6-0 at the Aussie - most one-sided (main draw) match in the Open history from memory.

Head to head it's 5-0 to Federer who has never lost a set nor even been taken to a tie-breaker by del Potro. Del Potro won two minor clay-court tournaments last year though so is def on the up... He's won against some good player already in the tournament.

She's getting a reduction

Federer wins! Greatest of all time?

Hard to discuss this at the moment given his past couple of years' form. I think he will go on to be the greatest really. I'm glad Nadal has come through to be as good, if not better , than Federer sometimes. It means there won't be people talking about how Federer had it 'easy' because there was no great rivalry or other great legends to play against.

I think Federer has another 5 grand slams left in him.



gc.

Federer has won the last five US Opens and can make it more this year. He currently holds two of the four Grand Slams and was finalist in the other two. Even before this win overnight he had a better year than 99.99% of tennis players in history.

Sampras didn't even achieve the above in a single year in his entire career. Federer has done it for at least four years on the trot minus last year where he only got to the semis of the Aussie.

Nadal isn't as good as Federer until he's won at least six more slams and managed to do at least one five times in a row.... Remember all this talking about Nadals legendary French aim to do five in a row to match Borg? Well he didn't do it... Meanwhile over at the US Open and Wimbledone Federer achieved this this exact feat. Both are records.

It's easy to get caught up in Nadal having beaten Federer on some big occasions but he isn't within light years of Federer in terms of career-long success or consistency yet.

Once he wins one more slam it'll be beyond doubt he's the greatest... until someone else betters it.

This is a really good point.

I'm glad Fed took the French. You can see how much winning and being the greatest means to him. Interesting to see Sampras now believes Fed is the greatest ever. Prior to last nights win he always called Laver the greatest.

This line of thinking always seems weird. If a player is so good that he dominates then you could always use this statement. I think fairer comparison is a players consistency over long periods of time. Even greats like Sampras couldn't get to final after final after final like Federer has - because he would get beaten by a relative bunny early on in one slam a year on average - even losing early in Wimbledon after his first three-Pete.

It's almost a shock when Federer doesn't even make the final for no other reason than his exceptional consistency has led most to believe its not all that hard to do or that his opponents have been weak. Both of which are completely wrong.

Oh... just thought I'd add, contrasting this to the woman's final. Safina is the most utterly unworthy number one player I can recall seeing.... the amount of basically uncontested points and double faults at crucial moments. She should be ashamed of herself imo.

Not really the point. In many sports, not only tennis, if someone dominates too much there is always criticism that they are just the best 'of their time', because they had no real challengers to their throne. One of the reasons that Jack Niklaus was so good was simply because when he wasn't WINNING tournaments, he was almost invariably finishing runner-up or top 3. He played against guys like Palmer and Hogan, but never the less managed to win 17 majors and when he wasn't winning it's only because those guys were genuinely good enough to beat him.

If it weren't for Nadal, the field that Federer has had to play against in the last 2-3 years is pretty feeble. Djokovic, Murray etc are nothing compared to the guys that Sampras played against across the span of his career. Then further down into the top 10 all we have is a bunch of guys with a fair bit of talent but very little mental strength. These French & Spanish guys just don't seem to have it at the moment. Again if it weren't for Nadal, Federer would probably have had 20 Grand Slams by now. And that, I think, would have meant that people would level him by suggesting there's no decent opposition.

I don't think it's unfair to refer to his past 2 years' form either, considering he has now spent a considerable length of time at #2.

It is indeed a credit to Federer to keep turning up and making finals and winning them. He's a true champion and indeed probably the world's greatest ever. Highlighted even more so by the talent of Rafael Nadal. Rivalries make for even better legends.



gc.

Noone was suggesting this anyway.



gc.

If you'd said it about the years Hewitt was at the top I'd agree but Federer - no way. He makes them look feeble.. guys who have, by and large, been good enough to routinely blow former champs like Hewitt off the court plus would likely run circles around Sampras or Agassi at their peak. The only really disappointing (potentially) top-level player I can think of is Safin in the past five years. The others just get schooled by Federer and Nadal generally because they're so consistent.

Also, just because someone makes it look easy so often doesn't at all mean the opposition is necessarily weak. Probably the biggest skill Federer has is not any of his strokes (even his serve) but that he can face a guy like Soderling and quickly know how to draw him out of his comfort zone and make them look average. He can do it to almost anyone but, for every person who is great there always seems to be one person who has them figured out. For Federer it is Nadal.

On this note I predict that exactly like Courier before in the early 90s and Roddick in recent years, Nadal will find out pretty quick that everyone will closely study how he got beaten and start to do copy that plan. Even if he's still improving he might start to get knocked off by buys who can maintain the right game-plan - which Soderling did.

Federer, on the other hand, is the once a decade guy who people can't seem to do this to, a bit like Sampras again. No matter how much he's studied - probably more than anyone this decade - he can up the anti with his antagonistic style of play and defend the people who will try to play him like Nadal has.