Tennis thread

[spyretto]

Nadal's 81 win streak on clay came to a crashing end today when Fed smashed him in the 3rd 6-0 to win the Hamburg tournament, 2-6, 6-2, 6-0. Flawless tennis in the 2nd and 3rd sets by Fed.

This is such an appetiser for the French Open that is coming up at the end of the month. Federer had a mediocre year but stepped it up big time in this tournament and now his odds to win the French will be crashed.

[forre]

Roland Garros 2007 began. I saw Nadal playing and training. He's good but I fear that Federer is just in a better form. I saw Federer playing too and the guy is amazing. Actually I didn't like the attidude of Nadal. A clear star desease but he's a good player. I guess the final will be between them again.

[spyretto]

Yeah the Roland Garros has started but it's so miserable at the moment, it's rain rain rain and more rain
I had 2 days off and wanted to take advantage of it to watch some matches but all I could watch was 1.5 match.
Nadal hasn't touched a ball yet, Federer played 1.5 sets of his match and then it was suspended. The first round of mens features a lot of wild cards, qualifiers and players who mostly appear on Challenger tournaments so the favs should have an easy passage through.
It's not the same for women though, as the gap between the top players and the rest is shortening due to the the former's dip in form, and the retirement of some key players ( Cljisters, Davenport etc. ) A case in point is the Williams sisters, they were extremely erratic in their first round matches and both had to struggle for the win.
Queue Sharapova and Mauresmo as well who have a similar frustrating game full of breaks of serve, unforced errors and the like. That's why Henin is again at the top, she might not be hitting the ball as hard as the rest but she's so much better mentally. There's nobody to challenge her at the moment but you'd expect that some of the others would be able to challenge Mauresmo and Sharapova.

As for the mens game it's not just Nadal and Federer. Djokovic has improved dramatically in the last year, Davydenko is finding his form right at the right moment and of course the South Americans and Spaniards are going to be tough to beat on clay as usual. Add the Italians too as a rising force on clay, especially with the emergence of Volandri.

[the unforgiven]

I hope it won't rain during the all tournament

[forre]

Originally Posted by the unforgiven

I hope it won't rain during the all tournament

It's better not because I have Susan Langlen tix for tomorrow. Before, if there was less than 1 hour play they paid the money back but not any more. Really, it's not about the money. It's enough difficult to get tix for the tournament.

Federer is masking his form because he's such a complete player. Davydenko has beaten up Nadal once but it doesn't mean so much. Yep Justine is more stable. Mauresmo has always had some mental problems with Roland Garros and I don't think she can threaten Justine.

P.S. Actually the fact it rained for 2 days got them to reschedule remaining matches and instead of a bunch of girls, I got the following gang to watch at Langlen tomorrow:

Jelena Jankovic (SRB)[4] vs. Stephanie Foretz (FRA)
Ivan Ljubicic (CRO)[7] vs. Arnaud Clement (FRA) (To Finish 6-1 4-4)
Richard Gasquet (FRA)[11] vs. Nicolas Mahut (FRA)
Igor Andreev (RUS) vs. Andy Roddick (USA)[3]

Huuraaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!

[spyretto]

Well, I hope you have a great day at the tournament and if it doesn't rain all the better. Perhaps you'll take a camera with you?
Andreev - Roddick should be interesting, considering that Roddick is the outsider in this one ( yeah he's that awful on clay )
Will it be a close one? Andreev can be a very aggressive player.
For the others I expect an easy stroll for the favs ( though you never know, human beings are not that reliable - like dogs for instance

oh well, that's a hundred times better than watching a "bunch of girls"

[forre]

Originally Posted by spyretto

Well, I hope you have a great day at the tournament and if it doesn't rain all the better. Perhaps you'll take a camera with you?

The weather forecast is ok for tomorrow. Normally I carry 2 cameras with me but tomorrow I'd take the third one for wide angle to make a few shots. Not sure if I'll be sitting close enough to take decent pics. We'll see.

I already have Feds, Nadal and Hewitt.

[zebu]

forre, love the federer pic, ballet moves a bit

[spyretto]

awesome pics, thanks forre
Hewitt's is from the warm-up? Cause I don't think his match started at all

[forre]

Originally Posted by spyretto

Hewitt's was from the warm-up? Cause I don't think his match started at all

Practicing.

[spyretto]

It was nice to see Fabrice Santoro playing today, in possibly in one of the last matches of his carrier. Lots of trademark awesome shots on display, but as it usually happens he was overwhelmed by the more powerful opponent - in that case, Chela.
Santoro's unique style will surely be missed from the courts when he retires. With the exception of a few players who balance both style with power for the rest it's all power these days.
Allez Fabrice!

[forre]

Originally Posted by spyretto

Andreev - Roddick should be interesting

Roddick was playing all right but Andreev showed a better capacity. The crowd primarily cheered Roddick, so he got all help.
At the end of the day I caught 1.5 set of Gaudio's match as Zebu asked and missed Moya at Susan Langlen. LOL. Gaudio had troubles to beat Gicquel.

The first round generally put some seeded players out.

[the unforgiven]

I was so glad to see that Andy Roddick was out, I can't stand the guy and I don't know why lol maybe something physical (no offence)

I've seen the first set betwen Del Potro - Nadal
too bad Del Potro didn't make the difference, he was so close to win the set
Nadal is a tennis machine, it's impressive to witness the huge musculature difference between him and the others
totally random but I really like his outfit Nike made a great job

[zebu]

Originally Posted by forre

Roddick was playing all right but Andreev showed a better capacity. The crowd primarily cheered Roddick, so he got all help.
At the end of the day I caught 1.5 set of Gaudio's match as Zebu asked and missed Moya at Susan Langlen. LOL. Gaudio had troubles to beat Gicquel.

The first round generally put some seeded players out.

u shouldnt have done that if u like moya.

gaudio through

[the unforgiven]

I've watched the Sharapova-Liot match ... my my my! what a match
I really enjoyed it, in my opinion, Sharapova was really lucky but she was amazing. she played very well, too bad that she doesn't know how to slide
the french player made a great match too, she was really into it during the second set
some amazing points ... that's definitely the kind of games that I like

[forre]

Originally Posted by zebu

u shouldnt have done that if u like moya.

They added this match to the schedule later and we didn't know about this match before hand. I could have returned to Lenglen but I was stuck watching Gaudio. Later on it was 9 PM already and I was dead after 11 hours at Roland Garros, though Moya was still playing. I'll post a pic with Gaudio later. Now:
Roddick
Andreev

Safin is out too. A sort of pity. I like the guy.

[spyretto]

oh dear, Safin. Such a great talent is wasted because of his lifestyle. Pity
But he has been like that all season long, maybe he's only in for the extra money getting through 1 or 2 rounds can give him.
I saw Venus v Harkleroad and I really don't understand how Harkleroad fought all the way back - of course given the chance by Venus - to get a 6-3 advantage in the tie break of the second and then waste it all away in record time. Womens tennis is so weak minded

By the way, every single male USA player is out in the first round...all 9 of them
And I don't expect the Williams sisters to last for much longer the way they're playing at the moment. 4th round tops.
The French won't go very far either.

[RowerB]

Originally Posted by spyretto

Womens tennis is so weak minded

I read that comment this afternoon before watching the climb to the finish of today’s stage in the Tour of Italy. With the exception of Felicia Ballanger, I think there’s no sportswoman who could drive herself as hard Di Luca did in defence of his pink jersey today. Mental toughness and women in sport do not go hand in hand.

[forre]

spyretto, RowerB, Nice generalisation especially Chela loosing 3 break balls against Monfils today.

We got a few seeded players out today and yesterday. Hmmm... this tournament promises to be interesting.

Susan Lenglen court view
Gaston Gaudio for zebu

[spyretto]

I saw Baghdatis being up 5-1 vs Djokovic and losing the match 7-5. But I saw Sharapova in Indian Wells being up 5-3 and 40-15 in the 2nd then losing 7-5 , 6-1 we're talking 5 straight games, win 1 then lose another 8 straight, having 43 unforced errors in that match...and it's SHARAPOVA the no 2. Zvonareva who beat her went to play Li Na in the next round and lost 7-5 in the second being up 4-0. So she got a taste of her own medicine
Mauresmo does the same too, remember Gaz de France? Missed 3 match points before losing the match. Dulko missed 5 match points and lost the match in Pattaya. It happens all the time in womens tennis. Jankovic too, Kuznetsova too.
So it might be a bit of a generalisation but it's out of experience for sure. Watch this space for further evidence of that
Henin is the exception to that rule, that's why she's the number one and will remain so, without being incredibly gifted.
She's a pillar of mental strength.

Having said that, tennis is an extremely volatile sport, so always expect the unexpected. That's why it's so exciting.