french open prediction game: Day 12

I hope the weather in Paris is really bad all weekend!

Amazing to see so many empty seats...

Wow Cilic has 51 winners compared to JMDP with 25. Yet Cilic is LOSING. If only the RG organisers would just make the tournament more suited to the player hitting winners.

Who has the best chance in the semi: aggressive Cilic or steady Delpo? Or the physically strong Cilic or mentally strong Delpo?

Delpo may seem a slight better bet but don't forget Cilic is by far the best of the rest in the past 3 slams. And he did beat Nadal in the last one.

AceofDeath wrote:Wow Cilic has 51 winners compared to JMDP with 25. Yet Cilic is LOSING. If only the RG organisers would just make the tournament more suited to the player hitting winners.

Cilic is bashing and muscling the ball. I prefer Delpo's flat winners.

noleisthebest wrote:Amazing to see so many empty seats...

Intelligent fans protesting at the lack of exciting tennis. GOOD! 

gallery play wrote:Who has the best chance in the semi: aggressive Cilic or steady Delpo? Or the physically strong Cilic or mentally strong Delpo?

Delpo may seem a slight better bet but don't forget Cilic is by far the best of the rest in the past 3 slams. And he did beat Nadal in the last one.

Tough one.
I think Delpo.
Though Cilic is playing with a lot of confidence.
Cilic would depend on the damp wearther, Delpo wouldn't.

noleisthebest wrote:

AceofDeath wrote:Wow Cilic has 51 winners compared to JMDP with 25. Yet Cilic is LOSING. If only the RG organisers would just make the tournament more suited to the player hitting winners.

Cilic is bashing and muscling the ball. I prefer Delpo's flat winners.

I have only started watching it and saw the statistic and thought that is so typical of RG. I also prefer JMDP style of play btw .

noleisthebest wrote:

gallery play wrote:Who has the best chance in the semi: aggressive Cilic or steady Delpo? Or the physically strong Cilic or mentally strong Delpo?

Delpo may seem a slight better bet but don't forget Cilic is by far the best of the rest in the past 3 slams. And he did beat Nadal in the last one.

Tough one.
I think Delpo.
Though Cilic is playing with a lot of confidence.
Cilic would depend on the damp wearther, Delpo wouldn't.

Another one going for Cilic is he is fitter than Delpo, and doesn't seem to have any injury issues.

AceofDeath wrote:I hope the weather in Paris is really bad all weekend!

i hope they cancel the rest of it. For all i care they send that trophee straight away to Mallorca so that the tour can finally move on to the grass.

gallery play wrote:

AceofDeath wrote:I hope the weather in Paris is really bad all weekend!

i hope they cancel the rest of it. For all i care they send that trophee straight away to Mallorca so that the tour can finally move on to the grass.

They should lose their GS status because the tournament is so predictable and stagnated.

It's not obvious to me who will be the tougher opponent for Nadal.

Cilic moves better (crucial v Nadal) but won't be playing the key points as well as Delpo! And those key points are so important as we just saw again!

Fognini was the one player in this half of the draw who could possibly beat him but he's too much of a headcase

AceofDeath wrote:Fognini was the one player in this half of the draw who could possibly beat him but he's too much of a headcase

Not convinced!

Delpo once again, tougher on the big moments!

noleisthebest wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:

gallery play wrote:Who has the best chance in the semi: aggressive Cilic or steady Delpo? Or the physically strong Cilic or mentally strong Delpo?

Delpo may seem a slight better bet but don't forget Cilic is by far the best of the rest in the past 3 slams. And he did beat Nadal in the last one.

Tough one.
I think Delpo.
Though Cilic is playing with a lot of confidence.
Cilic would depend on the damp wearther, Delpo wouldn't.

Another one going for Cilic is he is fitter than Delpo, and doesn't seem to have any injury issues.

And another one going for Delpo: he is an Argie, so will be a decent match for Nadal's mindgames MTOs etc.

Just a better play (on clay especially), full stop.

This BH slice from Delpo wont do it v Nadal!

Tenez wrote:This BH slice from Delpo wont do it v Nadal!

Well it did work for Nadal all those years.

Delpo takes it, goooddd

Tenez wrote:

AceofDeath wrote:Fognini was the one player in this half of the draw who could possibly beat him but he's too much of a headcase

Not convinced!

Delpo once again, tougher on the big moments!

Maybe on HC he is tougher, on clay I don't think so.

AceofDeath wrote:

Tenez wrote:

AceofDeath wrote:Fognini was the one player in this half of the draw who could possibly beat him but he's too much of a headcase

Not convinced!

Delpo once again, tougher on the big moments!

Maybe on HC he is tougher, on clay I don't think so.

Agreed, he played a great 5 setter vs Cilic, came back from two sets down and if it wasn't for that idiot yelling twice during his service motion, he would've been playing vs Delpo today.

Such shame, he was really fantastic.

Tenez wrote:This BH slice from Delpo wont do it v Nadal!

DelPo no longer slices his backhand as default. He is hitting through it regularly.

I am happier he's won. Above all he is no mental midget.

To repeat myself ad nauseum, if it's damp he has a great chance because he can hit through porridge.

AceofDeath wrote:

Tenez wrote:

AceofDeath wrote:Fognini was the one player in this half of the draw who could possibly beat him but he's too much of a headcase

Not convinced!

Delpo once again, tougher on the big moments!

Maybe on HC he is tougher, on clay I don't think so.

When you look at it Nadal only lost twice to Fognini ...it was on clay but during the doubt period from Nadal where he was trying to learn to take the ball early.

Fognini woudl be dangerous if he was a bit emotional....a la Nalbandian.

I think Delpo will probably able to hold his serve with more ease than Schwartz or Fog but will have as good chances as breaking Nadal....So I am hoping for the best.

Halep breaks back to go to 6-1, 4-4.

Surely, surely this is her year.......

Surprised at the ease of her win.

Halep has pretty overwhelming H2H's vs. both Keys (5:1) and Stephens (5:2) - neither of them have taken a set off her since 2014.

Surely this one is on her racquet now.  I hope so because she deserves it, and I also think that the integrity of pro tennis requires that #1 players win at least one slam during their careers.

barrystar wrote:
Surely this one is on her racquet now.  I hope so because she deserves it, and I also think that the integrity of pro tennis requires that #1 players win at least one slam during their careers.

Yes but if she is nervous to the point of not turning up in finals....then she doesn't deserve it.

I am hoping she wins too...often it can be the start of a great series. Lendl had that problem too early in his career. H&S number 1 and winning everything right and left except for slam finals. Though Connors gamesmanship and the US crowd had a lot to do with it!

noleisthebest wrote:Amazing to see so many empty seats...

only people that had ticket yesterday can enter today for the men matches

thats why

lets see tomorrow, but at first sight, playing in the second turn, probably not before 16:30 is not the best of news for nadal

delpo is looking really good, but as always, nadal on clay is the ultimate challenge

Tenez wrote:

naxroy wrote:oday Nadal played at an ok level, not excellent, but ok.

And Schwartzman was 50% effective compared with yesterday

conditions, and mental preassure played their role


a bad day saved with luck and lots of experience, tomorrow will be harder... for the first time I really sense there can be a new winner

You tend to think it's all in Nadal's racquet. It is not.

Nadal always played badly versus those who had power from both sides: Davydenko, Delpo, Soderling, Nalbandian, Djoko, etc..

On clay it is always on nadal´s racquet

he is a claycourter but he is not just playing defense, he goes for the point and if his forehand is working the match is his

one thing is clear by now

nadal is not in the same form as last year, if he were, there would be no doubt about tomorrow, no matter the conditions

look what he did to delpo at the usopen

naxroy wrote:one thing is clear by now

nadal is not in the same form as last year, if he were, there would be no doubt about tomorrow, no matter the conditions

look what he did to delpo at the usopen

Delpo was injured at the USO.
Stan was knackered in the final of the FO having played a gruelling 5 setter v Murray in teh semi.

gallery play wrote:Who has the best chance in the semi: aggressive Cilic or steady Delpo? Or the physically strong Cilic or mentally strong Delpo?

Delpo may seem a slight better bet but don't forget Cilic is by far the best of the rest in the past 3 slams. And he did beat Nadal in the last one.

Delpo, especially on clay.

Tenez wrote:It's not obvious to me who will be the tougher opponent for Nadal.

Cilic moves better (crucial v Nadal) but won't be playing the key points as well as Delpo! And those key points are so important as we just saw again!

Does he really move that much better? Delpo moves deceptively well.

noleisthebest wrote:will be a decent match for Nadal's mindgames MTOs etc.

Indeed.  Delpo has this sweet reputation, but he is not above some gamesmanship and cheating.

And he is a tough cookie.  I will never forget their Miami 2009 match.  Delpo won the first set, but then Rafa took the second and went up two breaks in the third.  Back then, nobody was recovering from that vs Rafa, but Delpo somehow managed to claw his way back to victory.

Sadly, I do not see much hope tomorrow.  Delpo's BH will be a huge liability (wistfully remembering his monster BHs from 2009), and I do not see how he overcomes that.  I hope I am wrong, but it will be very hard.

bogbrush wrote:He was, not for the first time, very fortunate that the weather tipped over into full rain yesterday. Had damp drizzle maintained we'd be looking at who would be the first time winner at RG.

You are trying to thread the needle though.  You want wet conditions but not sufficiently so to stop the match, and you want to last it like that for good 3-4 hours or more.

Rafa would have to be very unfortunate to get that.  I think periods of rain with some interruptions and some dry stretches are the best you can realistically hope for.  Otherwise it is much more likely to be either so rainy they cannot play at all, or sunny.

summerblues wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:will be a decent match for Nadal's mindgames MTOs etc.

Indeed.  Delpo has this sweet reputation, but he is not above some gamesmanship and cheating.

And he is a tough cookie.  I will never forget their Miami 2009 match.  Delpo won the first set, but then Rafa took the second and went up two breaks in the third.  Back then, nobody was recovering from that vs Rafa, but Delpo somehow managed to claw his way back to victory.

Sadly, I do not see much hope tomorrow.  Delpo's BH will be a huge liability (wistfully remembering his monster BHs from 2009), and I do not see how he overcomes that.  I hope I am wrong, but it will be very hard.

Can you elaborate this with some examples?
Delpo 2018 is improved in other areas,especially serving wise. FH deadly as ever. BH has not got to top level, but its not a liability as such.

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:

summerblues wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:will be a decent match for Nadal's mindgames MTOs etc.

Indeed.  Delpo has this sweet reputation, but he is not above some gamesmanship and cheating.

And he is a tough cookie.  I will never forget their Miami 2009 match.  Delpo won the first set, but then Rafa took the second and went up two breaks in the third.  Back then, nobody was recovering from that vs Rafa, but Delpo somehow managed to claw his way back to victory.

Sadly, I do not see much hope tomorrow.  Delpo's BH will be a huge liability (wistfully remembering his monster BHs from 2009), and I do not see how he overcomes that.  I hope I am wrong, but it will be very hard.

Can you elaborate this with some examples?
Delpo 2018 is improved in other areas,especially serving wise. FH deadly as ever. BH has not got to top level, but its not a liability as such.

What about multiple tactical TO's at critical moments? There have been dozens, the ones stand out most: Fed/Hamburg, PHM RG, Delpo/Wimbledon, Stan/AO,  Thankfully this last one he got punished for it by the Aussies.
What about the shoulder bump Rosol/Wimbledon?
That everlasting eyeballing, staredowns, celebrating of opponants errors? 
Before every match he lets his opponant wait because he refuses to leave the lockerroom (poor Marterer stood there waiting for 10 minutes!!), at the net before the toss and in fact before every serve. It's respectless, Nadal knows it but he knows it's effective.

To be honest, i can't think of a nastier player than Nadal, not in the past but certainly not these days. It's just he gets away with it because many fall for that fake innocent schoolboy act off court.

Just checked forecast in Paris for today - it has changed from thunder earlier in the week - now it's sunny intervals and warm, 26%.  Perfect conditions for Nadal's game.

Best us ABN's can hope for is that del Boy gives him a tough match and Thiem has a confidence-boosting run out.  Current forecast for Sunday is thunder, but it's obviously changeable and I suspect that the weather will favour Nadal over the weekend.

Wasn't ROTLA referring to Delpo there?

Tenez wrote:Wasn't ROTLA referring to Delpo there?

He was! My bad    Sorry Rotla

Well, never spoil a chance to bash Nadal

gallery play wrote:

Tenez wrote:Wasn't ROTLA referring to Delpo there?

He was! My bad    Sorry Rotla

Well, never spoil a chance to bash Nadal

Let me take this opportunity to bash him further...

What about FO11 final.....I seem to remember he had a shoe issue at a crucial time in the first set when he was behind.

Always happens when he is behind! And the aim is clear and plain: Break the opponent's momentum!

Ok, let me pile on, too .

This one is not gamesmanship per se, but still shows Nadal’s little nature...check out the face of the “mighty king of clay”!



And how about when he didn’t want the court to be watered one year when Nole insisted on it...

And I don’t even wanna know what goes on behind the scenes...
Was a bit of an eyeopener what he is like when even Sharapova kind of was afraid to ask him to have a hit with him after one practice sessions..,

That much for his gentle, humble vibe...seriously, how people fall for it is beyond me!

and still, 99% of the players talk very nicely about him

specially his main rivals

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:Can you elaborate this with some examples?

Maybe he is not as bad overall as I am imagining it.

Still, he is among the worst offenders of the 25s rule - right up there with Rafa.  He also likes to pair it up with fake exhaustion.  I think that is really what brought up my comment.  I seem to also recall there were some episodes of on-court trash talking though I do not remember anything specific and I do not think it was quite as bad as Kyrgios.