French Open 2022

All of the ATP Top 8 seeds still "live" on Day 9 of RG, with the last 4 4th round matches on today.

Is the "perfect 8" QF line-up possible? - would be a very unique situation if it did.

The DjokoDal 59th edition will be an evening / night match not starting before 1945 Irish time tomorrow Tuesday

Nadal whose game is heavily focused on topspin prefers to be playing earlier

josip

Wednesday is going to be a tough school morning. No matter, they've almost finished up for the year in our place. The result had better go the right way or there'll be some heads on the rest of the family.

Tsits absolutely donates a service break (2 DF's and a rash forehand out) to Rune in the 3rd set to leave himself 2-4 down with 1 set each

Swiatek "preparing" for her match.

WTF is that?

I've heard of electro-stim thingymajigs but nevertheless looks star-trekky

https://i.imgur.com/gv55DwD.png

Tsits in deepus-shittus in the "easy" half of the draw as he's a break down in the 4th and 2 sets to 1 down

Double-break down

His french open is about to be completely Runed

1 break back to love though...

Royale with Cheese

Tsitsipas completely outplayed there. He's been below par for the whole tournament.

HeidiHeidi

Swiatek having it far from all her own way in the first set....

I fully expect her to click into gear and resume normal service - but she'd want to hurry up about it!

RobertKK

Halep has to be feeling better watching this Zheng v Swiatek match.

HeidiHeidi

And she goes a set down, having had 4 or 5 set points!

Not what I was expecting from this match, she looks all out of sorts. Swapping shoes and rackets like billy-o. Looks a bit panicked.

poppy37

Hmm Zheng not looking too injured now.

HeidiHeidi

Swiatek has never looked comfortable in this match. I still expect her to win it, but I'm surprised.

I've rarely seen someone to find the back corners of the court with such regularity and accuracy as Zheng. But she seems to have lost her drop shot along the way....

poppy37

Cilic rolling back the years here.

josip

So Medvedev exits a round earlier than last year, and that means even if Djokovic loses to Nadal, he will remain #1 unless Zverev wins the FO. I think.

Meanwhile Tsitsipas called Rune a 'grinder' in the post match presser 🙂

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119137521#Comment_119137521

Can't see Zverev taking the title

With no points at Wimbledon Djokovic looks set to go past Graf as longest ever male or female weeks at No.1

josip

Djokovic will lose 2000 points at Wimbledon and Medvedev is guaranteed #1

Needs 6 more weeks to surpass Graf, not sure if he'll have that clocked up by early July when he drops to #2.

https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/medvedev-puzzled-by-chance-claim-no1-ranking-despite-wimbledon-ban-2022-05-24/

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119137611#Comment_119137611

That's mad Ted.

With Wimbledon banning the Russians and the ATP not awarding points a Russian will become No.1

Will be a draw at 377 weeks then by my calculations (I think) by the end of Wimbledon on July 10

(372 weeks this week)

The respective 2 halves of the French Open ATP Draw looking even more lopsided now after yesterday's matches ->

Djokovic, Nadal, Alcaraz, Zverev

vs

Ruud, Rune, Rublev, Cilic

Djokovic is a fairly heavy favourite against Nadal this evening - 5 / 11 vs 28 / 13 but Nadal being Nadal at RG you can't expect it to play out that way, even allowing for the conditions not being to Nadal's liking in the evening at this time of year.

dominatinMC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119138836#Comment_119138836

The draw has been a joke. FO should use a similar seeding system to Wimbledon, which accounts for previous clay court results. It would have avoided the bloodbath that's going to play out now in the top half.

The bookies have the odds spot on IMO. Although it's Nadal at RG, Djokovic is rightly favourite, and by a nice margin. Nadal has had the most interrupted clay court season in his career, and is not playing to his usual standards. Serve is way off, and BH looks vulnerable - two areas which Djokovic exploited in their match last year. Djokovic isn't exactly playing lights-out either, but is simply playing better than Nadal at the moment. I still have a sneaky suspicion that Alcaraz will take out either one of them in the semis, however.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119139400#Comment_119139400

French Open seedings has always been this way and with typical "Ahhh but the French" obstinacy they continue

I would expect Djokovic to win but I also expect Nadal to turn up his OCD-dog-focus knob to 11 to pull out all the stops to defy the odds a bit (and he's not complaining about the foot)

Djokovic is currently playing better tennis than he was last year at this point imo - he's hitting the ball very cleanly on both sides with the forehand really pinging at times over the last few weeks (and his backhand remains possibly the most reliable shot in tennis) and his serve has been good

It's only the 1/4 final so with 2 rounds to go for the winner (if they would get through to the final) and knowing that it's going to be Alcaraz next (unless injury or a Zverev absolute miracle) some aggressive tennis to be expected to keep points shorter

Girly Gal

I expect Djokovic to win this evening and just get over Alcaraz (most likely) in the semi, that's basically the final. In my opinion whoever wins tonight Djokovic or Nadal would start favourite against Alcaraz; the fact it's not the final might help Alcaraz, less pressure if he gets into a winning position than if it was the final itself, he would definitely make them earn it and might even prevail. Whoever makes the final from the other side will literally be making up the numbers.

HeidiHeidi

Alcaraz not firing on all cylinders at all here.....

Has he ever had to come back from sets down? What's his back- against- the- wall game like?

In a fit of madness and hoping that Cilic might have learned to live in the moment I put a fiver on him to win. I’ll take the roast.

Oops Alcaraz in trouble now at a break 3-4 down in the 2nd and a set down

Zverev is often a target of criticism but if he's serving a high % of first-serve bombs and the rest of his game is on and the opponent is not 100% he's very tough to beat

He's moving well around the court also - getting to a good % of Alcaraz's drop-shots

And after a see-saw of a game Zverev serves out for the 2nd set to lead 2-0

Alcaraz missing shots that he normally wouldn't - a way back now if he's to do it, especially if Zverev can keep up the serving.

HeidiHeidi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119140581#Comment_119140581

Commentator just answered my question - he's never come back from 2-0 down.

Has won from 2-1 down.

We'll see what he's made of now, I suppose - but Zverev is doing a passable imitation of a brick wall here....

squigglestrebor

Hahah jaysis jesus not doing so well. Gonna be hard to dominate if he cant beat Zverev. Zverev is only 25.

HeidiHeidi

Eh, he hasn't lost yet!

Bit early to be dancing on his grave.

HeidiHeidi

Game on!!

And Zverev has the match on his racquet serving 5-4 up - can he avoid the yips?

HeidiHeidi

And just as it gets seriously interesting, I have to go out - to play a tennis match 😭😭

squigglestrebor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119140919#Comment_119140919

Ah look , if he can improve his play on key points i can defo see him getting to grand slam semi at some point in the future!

Wow - what a great tense tie-breaker with several mini break swings

Went one way then the other and back again with Alcaraz having a set point

Zverev wins it with his best shot - his backhand, with a winner directly off a second serve down the line

And finally gets rid of his Top 10 player at the slams hoodoo on the 12th attempt

He showed some balls in fairness to him on the big points, as did Alcaraz (who always does) and coped with blowing his chance to serve it out before the breaker

But drops a sh1t-bomb in the interview on the answer to his first question - a bit uncouth

Possibly a bit of extra motivation for the 2 aulder lads coming up as they'd rather face Zverev rather than Alcaraz probably

Zverev unlikely to serve quite that good 2 matches in a row (along with the rest of his game being very good also)

Even though he proves again that he can beat anybody if his full game is firing

squigglestrebor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119139421#Comment_119139421

Was it an injury or an absolute miracle? Seemed like neither tbh. Zverev well worth the win. A lot more solid.

Royale with Cheese

Whoever wins tonight has the tournament won. Fairly sickened to see Zverev get through but I'd give him absolutely no chance of doing it twice in a row and getting past Djokovic or Nadal.

walshb

Serious hitting here. Legends!

Xander10

Fierce battle already. Half an hour to complete 3 games

Nadal hitting better easily so far and doesn't seem tired in the slightest.

Djokovic sub-par so far compared to his recent form.

Poor serving especially compared to previous rounds and netting some standard shots.

Not the crisp striking seen when taking the title in Rome and in earlier rounds.

He'll have to improve to make a match of it. First set surely a lost cause.

I do think that the fact that he might have only 2 slams to compete in this year is in his mind.

squigglestrebor

Possibly djokovic and Alcaraz knocked out today, this thread may self destruct.

MisterAnarchy

Taxi for Novak.

yerwanthere123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119141804#Comment_119141804

Still very early days. Enjoying this so far though 😎

Djokovic needs to wake up out of his relative stupor and Nadal to drop a bit or this is over in 3.

Bizarre considering his recent play.

whiterebel

Djokovic looking a bit at sea here. 3-0 down 2nd set

whiterebel

And breaks nadal to go 3-1. Strange choice of shot from nadal.

Xander10

Break back...not dead yet

whiterebel

Glad to hear Mac calling out the farce of the serve clock. Its an absolute joke by this stage,

josip

Was that the game that decides who is the GOAT?

MASSSIVE GAME there obviously to get the double break back on level terms

Nadal taking the ABSOLUTE piss on time

Djokovic needs to hold here obv after winning that marathon game

The warrior has awoken - there's a roar!

it's game on

But ... Djokovic - some bad drop shot efforts at the wrong time it has to be said - dumb stuff

finally holds

Really looks like Nadal was focused on firing out of the blocks before his spin might be negated

Djokovic is hitting the ball clean now

walshb

Is it just me or should Mac stfu for a bit?

MisterAnarchy

Cooler conditions helping Djokovic, Nadal would be out of sight otherwise.

walshb

Savage tennis this!