French Open prediction game: Day 13

This is looking like straight sets.

Come on boy, get a set.

thiems biggest problem today has been going for too much 
i think that he could have more success waiting for the right time to hit a winner,rather then go for the winner on every shot

so was it wise of federer to skip RG or does anyone think that he could ave won this tournament?
i personally dont think that he would have beaten nadal certainly not the way he is playing right now

would hate for thiem to get bageled after the fight he put up in the first 2 sets

Veejay wrote:so was it wise of federer to skip RG or does anyone think that he could ave won this tournament?
i personally dont think that he would have beaten nadal certainly not the way he is playing right now

Of course he could've won it.

What makes you think he couldn't.
I haven't seen such a week field for many years.

Stan's the only legit player.
Everyone else injured (body or head) or inexperienced.

This tournament showed once more how far behind boys are from the men.

Zverev, Pouille, Kurgios, Thiem...

Not to mention generation X: Nishi, Dimi, Raonic (it pains me to even type his name! )

And dare I mention the Americans!!!!

Who have the cheek to want to ruin oir beautiful sport by changing its format and rules.

shame to see thiem give up in the last game,he could have broken to avoid being bageled 
even petchy admits that nadal had the easiest of walk to the final

So Worlds Tennis hopes, rest on Stan's shorts, hope he wont disappoint on Sunday

i wonder whats happening with the nadal camp suing the former french sports minister?
isnt the case supposed to go to court around now?
i bet that they arent going through with it,if they arent then she should mention something about it in the media...
wouldnt that piss on his parade!!

Yeah, like big new tomorrow on TV, Nadal to appear at court on Monday to be cross examined and hear 5-6 witnesses.

Nadal trounces Thiem, not a huge surprise there.  At least Stan beat Murray.

I think Stan will have a better chance than Thiem.  He hits even bigger than Thiem, and more consistently too (when he is playing well).  And perhaps even more critically, he will be better at handling neutral rallies.

Nevertheless, I expect that in the end he will likely come up short, and quite possibly lose in straight sets.

Def not straights.  Nadal has skated by this tournament.  Wawrinka has the means to beat him.

summerblues wrote:Nadal trounces Thiem, not a huge surprise there.  At least Stan beat Murray.

I think Stan will have a better chance than Thiem.  He hits even bigger than Thiem, and more consistently too (when he is playing well).  And perhaps even more critically, he will be better at handling neutral rallies.

Nevertheless, I expect that in the end he will likely come up short, and quite possibly lose in straight sets.

I had a look at their h2h, not that good for Stan.

My only hope is Stan's record in slam finals 3/3!!!

And that his girl will be watching him. She brings the best out of him, which is so cute to see.

Despite all the hype, Nadal did not impress me.

He has every reason to be nervous tomorrow as Stan won't fold, esp if he wins the first set.

On a diff note, I just realised Ostapenko is Latvian like Gulbis.

What a pair!!!

... wrote:

summerblues wrote:Nadal trounces Thiem, not a huge surprise there.  At least Stan beat Murray.

I think Stan will have a better chance than Thiem.  He hits even bigger than Thiem, and more consistently too (when he is playing well).  And perhaps even more critically, he will be better at handling neutral rallies.

Nevertheless, I expect that in the end he will likely come up short, and quite possibly lose in straight sets.

I had a look at their h2h, not that good for Stan.

My only hope is Stan's record in slam finals 3/3!!!

I would not worry about H2H per se.  Stan had horrible H2H against Nole before he became a slam contender.  And even after that he played some stinkers vs Nole - but only outside slams.  So hopefully he can bring his best tomorrow.

But I think the match-up will be very hard for Stan.  Once they settle into a rally, Rafa will more often than not find a way to play into Stan's BH and once they get there Stan will be falling behind in the rally until he eventually loses it.  So Stan cannot allow that and has to play aggressive.  But if he plays too aggressive and tries to hit through Rafa on everything he will find himself having to hit too many big shots from impossible positions, and that will not work either.  So he will have to try to do something in-between and hit through Rafa wherever opportunity presents itself and otherwise stay in the rallies as best he can.  The problem is that it is not clear there is a winnable in-between.  If he does that he may find that neither does he get enough aggressive shots through Rafa. nor does he hold up well enough in the rallies.

That is where Nole was so great.  He was actually able to rally with Rafa indefinitely (which I had prior to that thought impossible).  And once he could do that, it was comparatively much easier to beat Rafa, because Rafa does not really win his matches any way other than by slowly taking a rally over.

Anyway, I am not optimistic, and I expect straight sets for Rafa - probably fairly comfortable too.  But one never knows, anything can happen.

Good luck, Stan, please do it!

summerblues wrote:That is where Nole was so great.  He was actually able to rally with Rafa indefinitely (which I had prior to that thought impossible).  And once he could do that, it was comparatively much easier to beat Rafa, because Rafa does not really win his matches any way other than by slowly taking a rally over.

That was the case with Nadal a few years ago. He's not slowly taking over these days, he's constantly and immediately taking over. I have to back Tenez here: Nadal is an example of a player getting better and tougher to beat at 30+. Helped by his level of fitness, which is more absurd than it ever was. His confidence has always came from his physical state and this year his team really did something special.

The only positive thing is that Stan is in the final. He's the only one who can hurt Nadal, because of his firepower from both sides, strong serve, attitude and guts. But still, if i had to put my money in, i would say NAdal is straight sets

I wilk be travelling today so will check results and comments here.

GP: I have hardly seen Rafa this RG (a couple of games against Paire) but I saw his three matches vs Thiem earlier in the season. Based on that I would disagree with you. Rafa made changes here and there but in the end Thiem's problem was not that Rafa would attack from the first point but that he would ultimately take neutral rallies over.

I'm not saying he's chipping and charging, it's just that he attacks every neutral ball. He used to hit 4/5 CC crosscourts, but here in Paris he smacks a forehand DTL every time he can.
You're right he didn't do that as much during the previous tournaments.

I agree GP. Thats what i meant by he is timing the ball better. He hurts more with it whereas in the past he was just happy to stand back and wait for a mistake. If it was not for Federer Nadal would have won almost everything this year.