French Open 2015

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Safarova's route to the final..... Pavlyuchenkova, Nara, Lisicki, Sharapova, Muguruza, Ivanovic. All in straight sets. That ain't bad.

Rjd2

Could be interesting this semi if Serena as ill as people who seen her warm up suggested.

Rjd2

the_monkey wrote: »

Will bbc show on TV the djokovic murray semi ?

ITV4/Eurosport will show both semi finals.

the_monkey

Rjd2 wrote: »

ITV4/Eurosport will show both semi finals.

Does itv4 stream online for UK users ?

RosyLily

Bacsinszky won the first 6-4. Williams just took the second 6-3....not her best but Timea racked up the errors to help her through it.

Serena's movement between points is very laboured and slow. Must have a bad dose.

Rjd2

the_monkey wrote: »

Does itv4 stream online for UK users ?

Yes it does.

PressRun

Bacsinszky is gifting Serena points in errors. She made an absolute mess of the first game of the third set. Two sitters - hits one into the net and another wide.

Serena doesn't look right though. Relying a lot on her serve.

RosyLily

Ugh, Timea really went away that final set. Had high hopes after she won the first and went up a break in the second. I hope Lucie and her coach kept a close eye on that match. Mix of how to play Serena and how to get bashed by Serena.

the_monkey

Williams close to tears at times ?
What's up with her ?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

the_monkey wrote: »

Williams close to tears at times ?
What's up with her ?

She's always like that when she's not winning. Even when she's not sick.

Floppybits

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

She's always like that when she's not winning. Even when she's not sick.

Can't stand Serena. She is a drama queen whether she is winning or loosing.

the_monkey

Floppybits wrote: »

Can't stand Serena. She is a drama queen king whether she is winning or loosing.

fyp ..

RosyLily

Really hope Lucie wins on Saturday! I'm a Steffi fan so I don't want Serena to break her record.:mad::pac:

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

RosyLily wrote: »

Really hope Lucie wins on Saturday! I'm a Steffi fan so I don't want Serena to break her record.:mad::pac:

Same.

It's scary to think she could actually do it by September if she felt like it.

RosyLily

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Same.

It's scary to think she could actually do it by September if she felt like it.

walshb

I have a sneaky feeling that Stan can win this title. He seems to be getting into his groove and peaking at the right time. His powerful ground-strokes will be hell for either man in the other semi.

Love to see Murray do it. It's his mental game that lets him down. He gets far too frustrated when he hits a bad patch in a match. More so against the elite players like Nole.

the_monkey

Big day today ... really hope Djokovic can do it.

the_monkey

walshb wrote: »

I have a sneaky feeling that Stan can win this title. He seems to be getting into his groove and peaking at the right time. His powerful ground-strokes will be hell for either man in the other semi.

Love to see Murray do it. It's his mental game that lets him down. He gets far too frustrated when he hits a bad patch in a match. More so against the elite players like Nole.

Writing Tsonga off ?

walshb

the_monkey wrote: »

Writing Tsonga off ?

No. I think Tsonga has the capability on his day to beat all three semi finalists. I just think it's happening for Stan at the moment. I think he will be that bit more clinical and efficient. Unforced errors will hurt Tsonga

BTW, anyone see Tsonga's baseline drop shot winner against Nishikori? One of the smoothest and coolest and greatest shots I have ever seen.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2015/06/22/Roland-Garros-Tuesday-Hot-Shots-Tsonga-Wawrinka.aspx

the_monkey

walshb wrote: »

No. I think Tsonga has the capability on his day to beat all three semi finalists. I just think it's happening for Stan at the moment. I think he will be that bit more clinical and efficient. Unforced errors will hurt Tsonga

BTW, anyone see Tsonga's baseline drop shot winner against Nishikori? One of the smoothest and coolest and greatest shots I have ever seen.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2015/06/22/Roland-Garros-Tuesday-Hot-Shots-Tsonga-Wawrinka.aspx

Beautiful .. absolutely infuriating to be a victim of a shot like that though .. :P

_Bella_

I've been a Djokovic fan for years so have been hoping for him to win this title for years. However I would probably be happy if any of them won it, Tsonga has been really entertaining over the years and it would be amazing to see him win at home, though I would say he is probably the least likely to win it.

I haven't been the biggest fan of Murray over the years but after reading this interview http://www.redbulletin.com/int/en/sports/andy-murray-i-have-opened-my-mind-0 about his relationship with Mauresmo I have to say I really admire his stance and it would be pretty groundbreaking for a female coach to guide a male player to a Grand Slam.

iroced

_Bella_ wrote: »

I haven't been the biggest fan of Murray over the years but after reading this interview http://www.redbulletin.com/int/en/sports/andy-murray-i-have-opened-my-mind-0 about his relationship with Mauresmo I have to say I really admire his stance and it would be pretty groundbreaking for a female coach to guide a male player to a Grand Slam.

That's a great interview. Thanks for sharing it .

Gunslinger92

I'm watching on setanta and the guy currently speaking pronounces tsonga as zong-a it's very annoying :pac:

walshb

Gunslinger92 wrote: »

I'm watching on setanta and the guy currently speaking pronounces tsonga as zong-a it's very annoying :pac:

It's correct, no? zonga or songa? Very similar!

Gunslinger92

walshb wrote: »

It's correct, no? zonga or songa? Very similar!

I always thought it was song-ga, two syllables, this fella is saying zonga, one. I'd never heard it pronounced that way til this week. Considering some of the names out there you'd think it'd be easy enough :pac:

the_monkey

walshb wrote: »

I have a sneaky feeling that Stan can win this title. He seems to be getting into his groove and peaking at the right time. His powerful ground-strokes will be hell for either man in the other semi.

Love to see Murray do it. It's his mental game that lets him down. He gets far too frustrated when he hits a bad patch in a match. More so against the elite players like Nole.

You could be right about Stan .. Seems to be making short work of Tsonger

Floppybits

the_monkey wrote: »

You could be right about Stan .. Seems to be making short work of Tsonger

Wonder if the pressure is getting to Tsonga? Wawrinka looks like he could sneak this Open.

walshb

Jo on the fight back. Don't expect anything here but a competitive and closely fought match.

Floppybits

walshb wrote: »

Jo on the fight back. Don't expect anything here but a competitive and closely fought match.

Just listening to the game here on RG radio and the commentators are saying that Wawrinka has a hand injury?

walshb

Floppybits wrote: »

Just listening to the game here on RG radio and the commentators are saying that Wawrinka has a hand injury?

Haven't heard that. I am following via updates on paddy power.

the_monkey

Floppybits wrote: »

Just listening to the game here on RG radio and the commentators are saying that Wawrinka has a hand injury?

very minor, just wrapped it ...

_Bella_

Injury definitely didn't seem too serious. Safarova through to the women's doubles final, she is having some fortnight!

whiterebel

He had a blister. Tie break now in the 3rd. Stan doesn't look half as relaxed as he did against Rog.....

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

_Bella_ wrote: »

Injury definitely didn't seem too serious. Safarova through to the women's doubles final, she is having some fortnight!

That means Mattek Sands is in a second final too, she won the Mixed with one of the Bryan's yesterday.

whiterebel

Stan takes the second set.

the_monkey

Wavrinka 2-1 and 2-0 up ... Tsonga missed 2 break points now.

Wavrinka in the final now for sure

iroced

the_monkey wrote: »

Wavrinka 2-1 and 2-0 up ... Tsonga missed 2 break points now.

Wavrinka in the final now for sure

Yeah looks like game over now.

Tsonga missed it in the third set. Had almost a break opportunity on each Wawrinka serve but failed to convert at least one of them...

Gunslinger92 wrote: »

I always thought it was song-ga, two syllables, this fella is saying zonga, one. I'd never heard it pronounced that way til this week. Considering some of the names out there you'd think it'd be easy enough

"zonga" is definitely a wrong saying. It's Tsonga to be pronounced at it is written. 'ts' as the start like tsunami. Fairly easy even for an anglophone I'd have thought...

GreNoLi

Glad Stan won, hope he does it, really distasteful how disrespectful the French crowd can be.

Rjd2

GreNoLi wrote: »

Glad Stan won, hope he does it, really distasteful how disrespectful the French crowd can be.

You know what was worse than them booing?

The fact that for the beginning of the match their empty seats for a French man trying to reach a Slam final.

Always been the worst crowd for Slams though, so we shouldn't be to shocked.

iroced

Rjd2 wrote: »

You know what was worse than them booing?

The fact that for the beginning of the match their empty seats for a French man trying to reach a Slam final.

Always been the worst crowd for Slams though, so we shouldn't be to shocked.

Yeah how embararssing for us ...

And the whole "french support" thing is such a non-existing thing. The crowd really started to make some noise when Stan served for the match :rolleyes:...


Ah well, I'm disappointed for Jo but he's on his way back to his top. Hopefully he confirms his good form in Wimbly and wins a few tournaments this year. He deserves a better record than the one he currently has.

The key today was his inability to convert his many break points (close to 20 and he only scored 1) and to take advantage of Stan difficulties in the third set. Maybe experience played a bit in favour of the Swiss there.

Rjd2

iroced wrote: »

Yeah how embararssing for us ...

And the whole "french support" thing is such a non-existing thing. The crowd really started to make some noise when Stan served for the match :rolleyes:...


Ah well, I'm disappointed for Jo but he's on his way back to his top. Hopefully he confirms his good form in Wimbly and wins a few tournaments this year. He deserves a better record than the one he currently has.

The key today was his inability to convert his many break points (close to 20 and he only scored 1) and to take advantage of Stan difficulties in the third set. Maybe experience played a bit in favour of the Swiss there.

Yeah its unforgivable to squander so many break points at this level, however I will say so many times Stan served bombs when under pressure, its what the elite do when the pressure is on.

Tsonga should go well at Wimbledon as his game is tailor made for the grass and he has done well their before, obviously the draw matters, but a quarter final should the target and see what happens from their.

I don't want to keep slagging the French crowd of, but yeah at times it really didn't feel like a cauldron for Stan which what Tsonga would have wanted.:(

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Rjd2 wrote: »

I don't want to keep slagging the French crowd of, but yeah at times it really didn't feel like a cauldron for Stan which what Tsonga would have wanted.:(

The French players don't generally cope well with the crowd support anyway, they're mental midgets in that respect. Monfils is probably the only one that thrives on it but we all know how that tends to go.

I remember Jo telling the crowd to behave a few times when he was playing Djokovic in the QF a few years ago. Whereas that same year Monfils was encouraging them when he was playing against Murray. They were giving him dogs abuse and Monfils was lapping it all up.

the_monkey

Tsonga won 1/17 break points ... pretty shocking - I´m sure that will haunt him.

Rjd2

Feel for Murray here, not playing badly, but just got zero chance of winning this match, must feel like he is playing Nadal.:pac:

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Has Murray ever made it this far at RG before?

Rjd2

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Has Murray ever made it this far at RG before?

Yeah, twice before, lost to Nadal in straight sets both times.

I feel for him, he always does well at the French, he is just a level below Nadal and Djokovic on this surface, pretty much impossible to get past either.

iroced

Rjd2 wrote: »

Yeah its unforgivable to squander so many break points at this level, however I will say so many times Stan served bombs when under pressure, its what the elite do when the pressure is on.

the_monkey wrote: »

Tsonga won 1/17 break points ... pretty shocking - I´m sure that will haunt him.

As Rjd2 said Wawrinka played brilliantly most of the times when there was break point for Tsonga.
Tsonga did not cope with them as well when Wawrinka had break points (apart from the second set).

Rjd2 wrote: »

Tsonga should go well at Wimbledon as his game is tailor made for the grass and he has done well their before, obviously the draw matters, but a quarter final should the target and see what happens from their.

Yeah exactly. If the draw is like RG he has a real chance to reach the final.

Rjd2 wrote: »

I don't want to keep slagging the French RG crowd of, but yeah at times it really didn't feel like a cauldron for Stan which what Tsonga would have wanted.:(

FYP :cool:. And you can slag them as much as you want ...

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

The French players don't generally cope well with the crowd support anyway, they're mental midgets in that respect. Monfils is probably the only one that thrives on it but we all know how that tends to go.

I remember Jo telling the crowd to behave a few times when he was playing Djokovic in the QF a few years ago. Whereas that same year Monfils was encouraging them when he was playing against Murray. They were giving him dogs abuse and Monfils was lapping it all up.

I don't fully agree. Your examples are undeniable but, for example, our big Davis Cup performances where often at home with a football stadium like atmosphere (1991 in Lyon of course where we defeated the great USA but, to speak about the current generation, even last year in the semi vs Cech Republic in RG where e.g. Gasquet demolished Berdych).

That said and I repeat what I wrote above, the RG crowd (and particularly the Philippe Chatrier one) are just an embarasement for the country.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Rjd2 wrote: »

Yeah, twice before, lost to Nadal in straight sets both times.

I feel for him, he always does well at the French, he is just a level below Nadal and Djokovic on this surface, pretty much impossible to get past either.

He's improved so much on clay this year but I doubt it's still not good enough to challenge any of the top clay players.

Pighead

Rjd2 wrote: »

Feel for Murray here, not playing badly, but just got zero chance of winning this match, must feel like he is playing Nadal.:pac:

Steady on. It's been pretty competitive so far. Don't think Andy's out of it yet. Murray has looked pretty solid on serve so far (bar the one game he was broken obviously)

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

iroced wrote: »

I don't fully agree. Your examples are undeniable but our big Davis Cup performances where often at home with a football stadium like atmosphere (1991 in Lyon of course where we defeated the great USA but, to speak about the current generation, even last year in the semi vs Cech Republic in RG where e.g. Gasquet demolished Berdych).

That said and I repeat what I wrote above, the RG crowd (and particulalrly the Philippe Chatrier one) are just an embarasement for the country.

I don't thing Davis Cup ties are really comparable to anything on the main tour. The team environment does wonders for all sorts of players. When they're playing as individuals the French are unstable.... for want of a better word :P