Roland Garros - 2019

Feel for Nishi as he was proper shafted by the tournament organisers.

For those praying for rain, get praying. Some forecast tomorrow and Friday. Thursday is being gittish.

bogbrush wrote:My hope is that it rains from now to the end of the week. I always remember what happened to Nadal in that final when it began drizzling. He was desperate to get off, I doubt he’d have won another game against Djokovic that day when the damp killed his high bounce and he was left stark naked.

I remember that match and how it turned with the rain. 

Nadal was having a panic attack last year when it rained and lost a set to a 5"5 Argentine 

legendkillar wrote:Feel for Nishi as he was proper shafted by the tournament organisers.

For those praying for rain, get praying. Some forecast tomorrow and Friday. Thursday is being gittish.

Like bogbrush said you only need a bit of rain to throw Nadal off so it doesn't have to be thunderstorms to affect him.

AceofDeath wrote:

legendkillar wrote:Feel for Nishi as he was proper shafted by the tournament organisers.

For those praying for rain, get praying. Some forecast tomorrow and Friday. Thursday is being gittish.

Like bogbrush said you only need a bit of rain to throw Nadal off so it doesn't have to be thunderstorms to affect him.

Granted, but the more the better

I don't want the rain to stop Nole's match tomorrow. It can rain but not too hard.

Nadal has peach draws year on  year - especially on clay where, historically, there aren't any clay specialists at all. Not really a record to be proud of is it?  Dominating no-one.  Djok, a HC specialist, has even managed to upstage the little twerp.

Fed has a better chance than most think - but I'm sure if he is winning, the rain will come to save Nadal - or else the cheating moron will take a time out.  Having almost 38 year old Federer as your only difficult player en route to a French Open final says a lot about how shite competion has been for Nadal at FO.  

It isn't Wimbledon.  It's not in its league.  And tennis is a lawn sport. It was never ever intended for high bouncing balls and talentless moonballers. 

Again, I hope he break both legs. 

Daniel2 wrote:

Again, I hope he break both legs. 

Comments like that indicate more about potential anger issues and your emotional state than it does about any tennis player.

I think you know by now that I don't give a toss what you think and you need to take Nadal's penis out of your mouth.  Wake up to the reality of what he is. A scumbag cheat.  Possibly also a doper - given the Spanish cover up. Admitted cheating even in his dull autobiography.  I hate him. 

I'll laugh hard when he retires.  Preferably with broken bones.

I'll be cheering a true champion on - not this waste of space that would only ever succeed in the power era on slow surfaces.

I am a reasonable and thoughtful person, listening to me may help you a great deal.
The evidence on this issue is overwhelming actually, recurrent thoughts of violent imagery is a sign of an underlying problem rather than you being a dick.

Aside from that, to calm tensions, how about we make a joint pledge.
If Fed beats, or takes to 5 sets, Nadal, I pledge to apologise to Tenez for doubting his theory. Will you join me?

lol...  the arrogance and ego to think your words mean anything. 

I think you need to listen to me - you support a cheat.  Sort it out.

I haven't seen Nadal play at all this RG.
Fed, on the other hand, played really well today, I couldn't believe it.

Bearing in mind it took him 5 sets to beat Nadal in fast AO 17, I really don't know how Federer can beat him on this clay which according to Nole is slower than usual.

It surely won't be a boring one-sided 1d demolition of the past.
Judging how he fought today, Fed will leave everything on Chatrier on Friday.

I hope he wins the first set. That could make things a little exciting.

Btw, does anyone know why women's matches were scheduled after men's QFs today and first tomorrow?

Talk about bias. The French really suck and I hope they don't get a RG champion for the next 1000 years. They don't deserve one.

If this court is playing even slower than normal, give the cup to Djokovic now.

Thiem is going into the Final.

Yeah, maybe Thiem if it’s very slow.

DEC1M7 wrote:

Jahu wrote:No he wont, so dont lose sleep.over it.

Please scroll up and read Tenez’s post at the top of the page.

I must say that I expected an easier win from Fed.... I thiink this 5 setter equivalent is going to hurt Fed regardless of the 2 days rest. I still stand by the fact he will get at least a set and make it a fight.

noleisthebest wrote:I haven't seen Nadal play at all this RG.
Fed, on the other hand, played really well today, I couldn't believe it.

Bearing in mind it took him 5 sets to beat Nadal in fast AO 17, I really don't know how Federer can beat him on this clay which according to Nole is slower than usual.

It surely won't be a boring one-sided 1d demolition of the past.
Judging how he fought today, Fed will leave everything on Chatrier on Friday.

I hope he wins the first set. That could make things a little exciting.

So why were you so certain Stan would beat him, despite the fact Fed was playing well?? I think he got frustrated in set 2 not transforming many BPs but it will be a good training fro the SF as it will happen to him too. He will be confident in TBs though, which should help as it can be expected that one of the sets between Fed and Rafa will go to TB... 

Back to Fed vs. Stan, the former managed some exceptional powerful CCBHs (e.g. 1st set TB to win a mini break) as well as some nice slide BHs which would consistently be netted by Stan... I could not watch set 3, but it seems it was key, contrary to set 2, seemed Stan was serving better than Fed and broke him firat but could not keep up saving 90%+ of BPs and got broken back in the nick of time and managed to win again the TB, which is surprising despite the fact that H2H Fed is way ahead in TBs but Stan was 4 for 4 in TBs in R3&4 against good players. Then set 4 was well played from Fed especially after the rain break, he started going more back for receiving 2nd serves and take the returns with his FH (not sure why he kept S&V on 2nd serves as it was not working well before but worked a bit better then), which means he was coached properly during the break... 

noleisthebest wrote:Btw, does anyone know why women's matches were scheduled after men's QFs today and first tomorrow?

Talk about bias. The French really suck and I hope they don't get a RG champion for the next 1000 years. They don't deserve one.

I am seeing this too on Flashscore tennis and it is surprising as today the orders were reversed on Susan Lenglen and Philippe Chatrier... Maybe tomorrow they'll fix it?

sphairistike wrote:
So why were you so certain Stan would beat him, despite the fact Fed was playing well?? I think he got frustrated in set 2 not transforming many BPs but it will be a good training fro the SF as it will happen to him too. He will be confident in TBs though, which should help as it can be expected that one of the sets between Fed and Rafa will go to TB... 

Back to Fed vs. Stan, the former managed some exceptional powerful CCBHs (e.g. 1st set TB to win a mini break) as well as some nice slide BHs which would consistently be netted by Stan... I could not watch set 3, but it seems it was key, contrary to set 2, seemed Stan was serving better than Fed and broke him firat but could not keep up saving 90%+ of BPs and got broken back in the nick of time and managed to win again the TB, which is surprising despite the fact that H2H Fed is way ahead in TBs but Stan was 4 for 4 in TBs in R3&4 against good players. Then set 4 was well played from Fed especially after the rain break, he started going more back for receiving 2nd serves and take the returns with his FH (not sure why he kept S&V on 2nd serves as it was not working well before but worked a bit better then), which means he was coached properly during the break... 

Cos Stan was better at that stage of the match. Fed played well but Stan was in da zone and Fed couldn't touch him.
Fed played an unbelievable point during a tb and that turned the match.
What was strange for me was that Stan was not able to take advantage of the slower court. He was tired in the 4th set.

I am happy that we got this semifinal, after federer didnt play at RG since 2015.


following stats and past data, nadal is big favourite, but what do we know? 37 slams will be playing in chatrier on friday, and we are lucky to watch it...

their first meeting at Rg was in a semifinal too, back in 2005. two real legends.


I feel sorry for anyone who hasnt been able to enjoy this rivalry over 15 years now

Fedal again.  I may have to take a morning off work, stay home, and watch.  Even so, I am somewhat less enthusiastic about this SF than I was before today.  I though Fed would dispatch Wawrinka more easily.  More than the 3+ hours (that I was hoping would have been under 2 hours) I am bothered by the fact that he struggled against a presumably tired Stan.  If he finds it this difficult to beat Stan, good luck vs Rafa.

On the other hand, I have now watched highlights of the match, and it looked quite high quality.

Anyway, Fed should be the toughest opponent Rafa will have seen thus far.  Obviously, Rafa a big favorite, but you never know...

...I just hope the score will not be worse than in their 2008 final.

legendkillar wrote:

summerblues wrote:I thought the issue was this:  In the third set, just before Stan was going to serve for the set, and after both players came back to the baseline from the changeover, Tsitsipas decided to change his racquet and walked back to his chair.  I thought it was as clear an example of gamesmanship as you find.

I do not really mind his gamesmanship all that much, but let's not pretend it is not there.

I didn't see that as when the TV station came back from the coverage all I saw was the moment he hit the chair and then got a racquet and went back. 

Let's not get over-sensitive and make out that simply one occurrence during one match makes the guy a cheat given that Stan was whipping the crowd up. That's called fair game in my book.

You must be talking to someone else.  I did not call him a cheat.

barrystar wrote:I think it's the close losses that hurt most, and I doubt Friday will be one of those.

None of their RG matches have been that close.  I am expecting this one will be kind of the same as most.  Fed might perhaps sneak a set, but is unlikely to win.

bogbrush wrote:I've asked it before but nobody had the answer.... what is the point of Kei Nishikori?

He makes lots of money though. In 2017 and 2018 he was #3 on Forbes list of highest paid tennis players (ahead of Rafa in 2017, and ahead of Nole in 2018).

That is what happens when you are big in Japan.

Amazing that, at almost 38 years and not having played on clay in years, Fed is probably still among top 4 players on clay.

True and Im sure he would go deep into any Masters/500 another 3 years if he wanted to, purely on skills.

Not sure about another 3 years.... When the legs go there is not much one can do at tennis.

Things is on those tournaments it can come down to a couple of matches only, depending on draw and form.

If he carries on much longer we will inevitably begin to contemplate the era of the 40 year old top 10 player...… or surely not a 40 year old Slam winner?? 

He will still be better than our so called next gen while aged 40.

Meanwhile forecast looks terrible today, men’s QF will probably have to be tomorrow.

Good, as I cant watch much today.

I see rain is the big hope among some posters


I dont know I find it more significant that he is not at his 17-18 level

after 11 wins at RG I am sure he has proven to be relieable under any weather

much talk here about that final in 2012... truth is, he won

tennis is never played under the rain, so the same rain that makes his game less damaging, is the rain that makes the game to stop

Funny thing is that he's never really had to contend with a viable threat in crappy weather; I remember against Federer it always seemed to be like the Sahara and the ball bouncing head high and kicking up. 

The one time (was it 2012?) was when he was winning the final against Djokovic when suddenly it began drizzling, the ball stayed flat and slowed and he literally could hardly win a game; it was game after game and not even close. Then the rain got a bit heavier and he couldn't get off fast enough. I remember socal chewing the carpet (not an isolated incident I grant you, but....).

I think if it's damp and overcast that's enough to kill him against Djokovic, perhaps even more so now since he plays more aggressively than when he was young. It doesn't need rain.

How it affects a match against Federer I'm not so sure; obviously a lower bounce would be lovely for Federer on the backhand but the slowness would be bound to hurt him.

I agree with your general summary, but have to pick up on some detail.
In 2012 FO, when Nadal won the first 2 sets 6-4 6-3, it was actually drizzling from the start of the match. So in those conditions Nadal still did okay. However in the third set it started raining quite heavily, and you are right in your assessment that it helped Djokovic further.

He’s also had a win in the past couple of years against Thiem when it was drizzling, can’t remember which final it was exactly.
But now as Nadals movement has really become quite slow, it’s more important than ever before that he dictates the rallies. Fast high bouncing balls puts him more in control, so the sunnier and warmer it is the better.

Another case of Nadal's ridiculous luck (and no-0ne ever mentions it) was when Nadal was going up the ranking to number 2 while Nalbandian was hoovering between number 3 and 4 for a year and half and 3 years in the top 10 YET they never met!!!! It was always Federer who had to deal with Nalby. Including that FO 2007 when Nalbandian was killing Fed until he got an ab injury. Nalbandian would not have been scared of that young Nadal....as a matter of fact we had to wait end of 2007 to see the first encounters....and what was the score?

61 62 (Mardrid) and 64 60 (Paris) for the argentine.....less than 2 games per set on average!!!

Nadal had to wait to 2009 to rob Nalbandian of his first win being a set and a few breaks down .

Sure some will say again it was pure chance that Nalby and Nadal managed to avoid each other for 3 years (05-07)...but what are the chances of Tsi avoiding a top 10 let alone a top 3 and 4 for 2 years while reaching the top?

The reason Nadal managed to avoid facing Nalbandian in Slams, despite them both being top 4 for quite some time, must be a conspiracy involving draw rigging at the highest level.

Or... it's because since Nadal started entering Slams in 2004, Nalbandian only got to 2 Grand Slam semi-finals himself for his whole career.
The two wins you were referring to were within 1 week of each other when Nadal was on terrible form on indoor hard, Nadal had just lost to Ferrer too a few weeks before that in the USO. Extrapolating from that is silly.

Give me an example of one Slam which Nadal actually won, which he wouldn't have won if he had bumped into fat Dave.

2005 nalbandian lost to hanescu in 4th round
2006 lost to roger in semis
2007 lost to davidenko in 4th round
2008 lost to chardy in second round
2012 lost to Ungur in first round

so much desired rain (in this forum) has forced RG to cancell all matches scheduled for today

I am not talking about slams only.... Fed managed to play Nalby 8 times in the same period.

Tenez wrote:I am not talking about slams only.... Fed managed to play Nalby 8 times in the same period.

Give me an example of a Slam which Nadal wouldn’t have won if he had played Nalbandian.
If you’re saying he was lucky, but that only applies to Masters 1000, frankly no one cares. Nadal has won tonnes of those already and if he had a few less or few more no one would notice.

FO 2007 for instance. Unlike Federer Nalby would have handled that spin on the BH with ease. Like Mecir destroyed Wilander, Nystrom, Sundstrom etc... And he proved it a few months later when they finally met.

If PH Matthieu could trouble Nadal.... Imagine Nalby.

kaos of schedule we have ahead

final will most probably be played on monday

Tenez wrote:FO 2007 for instance. Unlike Federer Nalby would have handled that spin on the BH with ease. Like Mecir destroyed Wilander, Nystrom, Sundstrom etc... And he proved it a few months later when they finally met.

If PH Matthieu could trouble Nadal.... Imagine Nalby.

I think you are talking about 2006 all the time

@Tenez
Okay you think Nalbandian would have beaten Nadal at the French Open 2007...

In that tournament he only dropped one set, and beat Djokovic in straights in the semi and Federer in 4 in the final.
Meanwhile Nalbandian in 2007 clay court spring:
Monte Carlo: R2 loss to Kohlschreiber
Barcelona: QF loss to Ferrer
French Open: Dropped a set in R1 to Hyung-Taik Lee, then lost in R4 to Davydenko in 4 sets.

And you think he would have stood a chance against peak clay Nadal at the French Open?
You've totally lost the plot.

But my point is Fed met Nalby {à force to be reckoned with) 8 times while Nadal didn't. Very weird to have number 2 and 3 not meeting over 2 years almost. Again I don't think Zverev or Thiem or Nishi or Raonic avoided to play the top 2 while getting to number 4 and likewise Tsi has met them all at least twice I think in 6 months....


Just saying...if you don't think that is a huge piece of luck... Then I can't help you.

But Nadal would have been a perfect match for Nalby. There is no going around that. Look even 2 years later in 2009 Nadal was still panicking v Nalby.... He says it himself. In 2006 and 7 Nadal's main strength was is CC FH.... Something Nalby would have loved.

Tenez wrote:
Just saying...if you don't think that is a huge piece of luck... Then I can't help you.

It's only lucky for Nadal if it made a difference in his career. Your only example of a Slam that Nalbandian could have stopped him is French Open 2007, where he lost R4. I mean it's laughable anyway. I doubt you can name many Masters 1000 either.

Tenez wrote:
Very weird to have number 2 and 3 not meeting over 2 years almost.

For a world number 2 and 3 to meet in a tournament, it has to be in the semi-finals. Nalbandian only reached 2 slam semis after Nadal started playing Slams for the rest of his career. It's honestly not that weird.

Tenez wrote:But Nadal would have been a perfect match for Nalby.

If this is a response to the FO 2007 claim. Nadal beat Djokovic in 3 sets in the FO SF. Djokovic also has a double handed backhand which matches up well to Nadal. Djokovic had a much better clay court swing than Nalbandian in 2007. Importantly Djokovic's movement was far better than Fat Dave's, which means FD's chances of beating Rafa on clay was remote.

Tenez is right for a change.  Nadal lucks out with draws. It's that simple.  Argue the toss all you like - it's plainly obvious.  It's also a fact he hasn't had ANY clay court specialist to deal with in the entire time he's been a pro.

No it's just cognitive bias, I proved this earlier when I found examples of Tenez and others saying Federer facing certain players was very tough, but when Nadal was drawn against the same players, they were classed as easy.  

Nothing is greater proof that this is BS than the idea Nadal is lucky he didn't face fat Dave in French Open 2007, when fat Dave lost in R4, and Rafa beat Djokovic and Federer with the loss of only 1 set.