The French Open 2013 Draw

I guess it's coming this morning right? stay tuned. In theory there is a chance of two that Nadal gets Djoko in his draw....but I still believe the odds may not have much to do with it on that occasion.

There was a time people wanted or expected to see Fedal finals...but I think not many woudl like to see another Rome demolition so I think the options are:

Put Nadal on Djoko's side with teh risk of having Nadal beating Djoko...or Nadal on Fed's side so the final woudl most likely be Djoko v Nadal...which is I believe what people want to see now.

All I want to see is Nadal demolition. Doesn't matter who does the job and in which round.
The rot must be stopped.

Tenez wrote:There was a time people wanted or expected to see Fedal finals...but I think not many woudl like to see another Rome demolition so I think the options are:

Put Nadal on Djoko's side with teh risk of having Nadal beating Djoko...or Nadal on Fed's side so the final woudl most likely be Djoko v Nadal...which is I believe what people want to see now.

How about Option 3: Nadal on Djoko’s side with Djoko beating Nadal (8
hours) followed by a Djoko-Fed final (3 hours)? Then you’ll possibly get a
surreal final before a normal final, 2 finals!I don't care who wins as long as nadal gets dethroned. It is not humanly possible for an athlete to have staged such an increadible comeback the way nadal have shown. Time for his 3rd steroid suspension.

Tenez wrote:There was a time people wanted or expected to see Fedal finals...but I think not many woudl like to see another Rome demolition so I think the options are:

Put Nadal on Djoko's side with teh risk of having Nadal beating Djoko...or Nadal on Fed's side so the final woudl most likely be Djoko v Nadal...which is I believe what people want to see now.

Nadal in Roger's half is a win-win situation for the organizers: Assuming Djoko makes the final: Fed-Djo is a guaranteed spectacle, and Djo-Nad is indeed what everybody wants to see.

I'm 99% certain Nadal and Fed will be in the same half. Hopefully one of 'm is out before the semi

SR wrote:

Tenez wrote:There was a time people wanted or expected to see Fedal finals...but I think not many woudl like to see another Rome demolition so I think the options are:

Put Nadal on Djoko's side with teh risk of having Nadal beating Djoko...or Nadal on Fed's side so the final woudl most likely be Djoko v Nadal...which is I believe what people want to see now.

How about Option 3: Nadal on Djoko’s side with Djoko beating Nadal (8
hours) followed by a Djoko-Fed final (3 hours)? Then you’ll possibly get a
surreal final before a normal final, 2 finals!I don't care who wins as long as nadal gets dethroned. It is not humanly possible for an athlete to have staged such an increadible comeback the way nadal have shown. Time for his 3rd steroid suspension.

Yes - Your 3rd option is actually what I meant (Nadal on Djoko's side)....so there at least we have no Fedal final and a possible Djoko Fed which probably carries lots of good memories from the French crowd.

gallery play wrote:Nadal in Roger's half is a win-win situation for the organizers: Assuming Djoko makes the final: Fed-Djo is a guaranteed spectacle, and Djo-Nad is indeed what everybody wants to see.

I'm 99% certain Nadal and Fed will be in the same half. Hopefully one of 'm is out before the semi

Agreed.

What I woudl like to mention here is that once again Nadal played IW, MC, Barca, Mardid and Rome till the every last match....will be in full form for the FO and WImby and woudl have played 7 big tournies in about 3 months and will only claim in October after 2 months rest that he is tired. ...but strangely enough not tired for the FO or possibly WImby. All that of course coming back from a doddgy knee.

Well...Well...Well.....We were gladly wrong!



Nadal with Djoko!!!!! Maybe Fed can pick up the remains of the winner of this match in the Final!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/22652886

OMG, Roger got a decent draw for a change and Rosol heard me. He's in nadal's quarter. King of clay might not even make it to the semi.

Tenez wrote:Well...Well...Well.....We were gladly wrong!



Nadal with Djoko!!!!! Maybe Fed can pick up the remains of the winner of this match in the Final!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/22652886

Holy sh!t

the power of our jinx is getting out of hand! We hardly can control it..

Yes...though our jinx powers have been a bit rusty of late...glad it;s working again.

SR wrote:OMG, Roger got a decent draw for a change and Rosol heard me. He's in nadal's quarter. King of clay might not even make it to the semi.

That woudl be funny. The thing is that even if they meet and 100% sure Nadal will win.....he will be terrorised at teh idea fo playing him.

Ouahh...just seeing the full draw now. It;s a whole Armada versus Djoko. Any player he has lost to recently is there.

NOt that easy for Fed me thinks while pretty cool for Nadal....but that can certainly be down to respective feel of strength from those 2 players.

Tenez wrote:Ouahh...just seeing the full draw now. It;s a whole Armada versus Djoko. Any player he has lost to recently is there.

I'm not worry for Djoko at all. He can handle them all, even Nadal, when he really turns it on. FO is his top priority this year. He'll be playing out of his mind comes who/what may.

I had another look at Roger's draw. Must say it's more than a decent draw. It's a dream draw. Don't see anyone stopping him til final, do you? That back of his better hold up now!

Hi hope you right about Djoko. I agree that I cannot see him lose to those guys unless his ankle plays up. I was however very surprised of the way he played v Berdych, trying to scrap everything back....after being clearly in the lead with a bit more aggressive game. As if something went wrong. I am sure that a 100% fit Djoko woudl have finished Berdych pretty convincingly so there might be something to worry about for his camp.

Hallelujah!

Pretty sweet draw for Roger; could not have asked for much more. Remains to be seen whether he is still good enough to take advantage of it - by which I mean whether he can reach the final.

Initially I thought Nole's draw looked hard but on further inspection I am not so sure. Who is actually going to take him out before SF? Can Dimi do it when it counts? Other than Dimi, there is nobody there who should even come close to troubling Nole if he is playing reasonably well.

Rafa's draw is average - not too hard nor too easy. He knew he would have both Nole and Roger in his path, and the order does not matter so much, so from his perspective there is not that much of a difference between being in Rafa's or Roger's half. He has some decent players potentially waiting for him in the early rounds, but nothing very much out of ordinary either way.

Berdych is most likely to fall before the QF. His draw is tough from the first match. If Gulbis catches fire, he can take out some top seeds. Rosol could face Nadal in the 3rd rnd but before that I think Fognini will take him out.

Wawrinka-Nadal QF could be interesting.

Djokovic has Tipsy or Haas as qf opponents. Fed has Tsonga scheduled in QF.

A

Waiting for the schedule to come out.

Ladies and Gentlemen, put up your thinking caps and find your crystal balls.

We are having a RG 2013 Daily prediction game. I promise, it will stay with us till we have the winners speech.

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:Berdych is most likely to fall before the QF. His draw is tough from the first match. If Gulbis catches fire, he can take out some top seeds. Rosol could face Nadal in the 3rd rnd but before that I think Fognini will take him out.

Wawrinka-Nadal QF could be interesting.

I think Ferrer will win his quarter and not Berdych. Nadal will thrash Wawrinka and Nadal'a quarter is a joke. Nobody can touch him in that quarter imo. Wawrinka is Nadal's pigeon and so is Gasquet. The only challenge Nadal will have in this tournament is in a potential SF with Djokovic.

summerblues wrote:

Rafa's draw is average - not too hard nor too easy. He knew he would have both Nole and Roger in his path, and the order does not matter so much, so from his perspective there is not that much of a difference between being in Rafa's or Roger's half. He has some decent players potentially waiting for him in the early rounds, but nothing very much out of ordinary either way.

Nadal has a very easy draw up until a potential Djokovic clash in the SF. That is Nadal's ONLY challenge in this tournament. If he gets past Djokovic in the SF and meets Federer in the final, I don't even want to watch the beating Federer will get. Or can you imagine a Nadal/Ferrer final?

[quote="SR"]

Tenez wrote:I'm not worry for Djoko at all. He can handle them all, even Nadal, when he really turns it on. FO is his top priority this year. He'll be playing out of his mind comes who/what may.

Wasn't the FO Djokovic's top priority last year?

BlueClay wrote:Nadal has a very easy draw up until a potential Djokovic clash in the SF. That is Nadal's ONLY challenge in this tournament.

Yes, Nole is his only real challenge, and in that sense any draw will be very easy for Nadal. However, when looking at the players in his quarter from an objective perspective, that quarter is neither particularly difficult nor particularly easy. Wawrinka or Gasquet in QF is a reasonably difficult QF; especially if it is Wawrinka and if he plays to anything like his form from most of this year. Would Nadal beat him? Well, almost certainly yes. Would it be an easy win? Well, very likely yes. But that does not mean the draw is easy. Also, guys like Fognini or Nishikori in the earlier rounds are about as difficult as one can expect there - again neither particularly hard (e.g., like say an early round Gulbis could be) nor very easy (e.g., like what Roger's draw looks like).

BlueClay wrote:
Wasn't the FO Djokovic's top priority last year?

Yes, it was but he didn’t make it. So this year he
repeats the same mission, as he stated in the following in Paris:

Djokovich: “(FO) is the No. 1 priority of my season and I will go for it. If I don’t
make it this time it’s not the end of the world. I will keep on working hard
and trying to make it another year. As I said, I will give my best to go all
the way.”

http://www.tennis-x.com/xblog/2013-05-24/12528.php

Order of play out for tomorrow. Roger is playing. He had better make good use of his kind draw.

I believe NITB is in Paris....so we shoudl get fresh news from her there....that is why she has been quiet recently....I think.

I am hoping that Fed will be in better form this year than last year.

summerblues wrote:

BlueClay wrote:Nadal has a very easy draw up until a potential Djokovic clash in the SF. That is Nadal's ONLY challenge in this tournament.

Yes, Nole is his only real challenge, and in that sense any draw will be very easy for Nadal. However, when looking at the players in his quarter from an objective perspective, that quarter is neither particularly difficult nor particularly easy. Wawrinka or Gasquet in QF is a reasonably difficult QF; especially if it is Wawrinka and if he plays to anything like his form from most of this year. Would Nadal beat him? Well, almost certainly yes. Would it be an easy win? Well, very likely yes. But that does not mean the draw is easy. Also, guys like Fognini or Nishikori in the earlier rounds are about as difficult as one can expect there - again neither particularly hard (e.g., like say an early round Gulbis could be) nor very easy (e.g., like what Roger's draw looks like).

Nah, I think all of those players will be easy for Nadal. He owns Wawrinka and Gasquet and Nishikori is not any type of clay match for Nadal IMO.

SR wrote:

BlueClay wrote:
Wasn't the FO Djokovic's top priority last year?

Yes, it was but he didn’t make it. So this year he
repeats the same mission, as he stated in the following in Paris:

Djokovich: “(FO) is the No. 1 priority of my season and I will go for it. If I don’t
make it this time it’s not the end of the world. I will keep on working hard
and trying to make it another year. As I said, I will give my best to go all
the way.”

[url=http://www.tennis-x.com/xblog/2013-05-24/12528.php

http://www.tennis-x.com/xblog/2013-05-24/12528.php[/quote[/url]]

He can repeat it all he wants. All the players repeat the same shit over and over. Means nothing. Federer always says he played pretty well, Nadal always says he is not the favourite and Djokovic says the FO is a huge priority.

I heard that Lucas the great Rosol is in Nadals quarter again
Is this true ??

BlueClay wrote:

summerblues wrote:

BlueClay wrote:Nadal has a very easy draw up until a potential Djokovic clash in the SF. That is Nadal's ONLY challenge in this tournament.

Yes, Nole is his only real challenge, and in that sense any draw will be very easy for Nadal. However, when looking at the players in his quarter from an objective perspective, that quarter is neither particularly difficult nor particularly easy. Wawrinka or Gasquet in QF is a reasonably difficult QF; especially if it is Wawrinka and if he plays to anything like his form from most of this year. Would Nadal beat him? Well, almost certainly yes. Would it be an easy win? Well, very likely yes. But that does not mean the draw is easy. Also, guys like Fognini or Nishikori in the earlier rounds are about as difficult as one can expect there - again neither particularly hard (e.g., like say an early round Gulbis could be) nor very easy (e.g., like what Roger's draw looks like).

Nah, I think all of those players will be easy for Nadal. He owns Wawrinka and Gasquet and Nishikori is not any type of clay match for Nadal IMO.

Wawrinka is injured anyway. He injured himself before that Madrid Final and he was not sure to be ready for the FO.

Tenez wrote:

BlueClay wrote:

summerblues wrote:

BlueClay wrote:Nadal has a very easy draw up until a potential Djokovic clash in the SF. That is Nadal's ONLY challenge in this tournament.

Yes, Nole is his only real challenge, and in that sense any draw will be very easy for Nadal. However, when looking at the players in his quarter from an objective perspective, that quarter is neither particularly difficult nor particularly easy. Wawrinka or Gasquet in QF is a reasonably difficult QF; especially if it is Wawrinka and if he plays to anything like his form from most of this year. Would Nadal beat him? Well, almost certainly yes. Would it be an easy win? Well, very likely yes. But that does not mean the draw is easy. Also, guys like Fognini or Nishikori in the earlier rounds are about as difficult as one can expect there - again neither particularly hard (e.g., like say an early round Gulbis could be) nor very easy (e.g., like what Roger's draw looks like).

Nah, I think all of those players will be easy for Nadal. He owns Wawrinka and Gasquet and Nishikori is not any type of clay match for Nadal IMO.

Wawrinka is injured anyway. He injured himself before that Madrid Final and he was not sure to be ready for the FO.

Injured or not he would not beat Nadal here. Bad match-up for Wawrinka.

Veejay wrote:I heard that Lucas the great Rosol is in Nadals quarter again
Is this true ??

Ha, ha. If Rosol gets to Nadal, I pity Rosol that is all I have to say.

BlueClay wrote: Nah, I think all of those players will be easy for Nadal.

Sure, they are easy for Nadal but it does not make the draw easy. Or, to put it differently, an average draw is of course going to be easy for Nadal.

BlueClay wrote:

Veejay wrote:I heard that Lucas the great Rosol is in Nadals quarter again
Is this true ??

Ha, ha. If Rosol gets to Nadal, I pity Rosol that is all I have to say.

Youre quite right and I agree,its highly unlikely that Rosol will upset Nadal again,but you cant deny that its going to be really funny watching Nadal try to reassert his authority over Rosol,especially since Rosol isnt intimidated by his shenanigans
Rosol has an advantage...Nadals wounds are probably still raw,all he needs to do is wind him up a bit or do a few things to unsettle him

Veejay wrote:

BlueClay wrote:

Veejay wrote:I heard that Lucas the great Rosol is in Nadals quarter again
Is this true ??

Ha, ha. If Rosol gets to Nadal, I pity Rosol that is all I have to say.

Youre quite right and I agree,its highly unlikely that Rosol will upset Nadal again,but you cant deny that its going to be really funny watching Nadal try to reassert his authority over Rosol,especially since Rosol isnt intimidated by his shenanigans
Rosol has an advantage...Nadals wounds are probably still raw,all he needs to do is wind him up a bit or do a few things to unsettle him

Nah, on clay Rosol has no advantage. As much as that beating Rosol gave Nadal at W was a classic , I don't like Rosol. I think he is an arrogant prat. Supposedly he is disliked by a lot of people in pro tennis.

In case you havent noticed,I feel the same way about Nadal
I didnt mean that the advantage would help him win,I mean just to get under Nadal skin some more
When you know youre going to lose you may as well make the most of it

BlueClay wrote:

Veejay wrote:

BlueClay wrote:

Veejay wrote:I heard that Lucas the great Rosol is in Nadals quarter again
Is this true ??

Ha, ha. If Rosol gets to Nadal, I pity Rosol that is all I have to say.

Youre quite right and I agree,its highly unlikely that Rosol will upset Nadal again,but you cant deny that its going to be really funny watching Nadal try to reassert his authority over Rosol,especially since Rosol isnt intimidated by his shenanigans
Rosol has an advantage...Nadals wounds are probably still raw,all he needs to do is wind him up a bit or do a few things to unsettle him

Nah, on clay Rosol has no advantage. As much as that beating Rosol gave Nadal at W was a classic , I don't like Rosol. I think he is an arrogant prat. Supposedly he is disliked by a lot of people in pro tennis.

I totally agree, I heard enough about him from tennis community.

Rosol would not have a chance on clay, but I think that Rosol would not play a bad match with Nadal even on clay when he is in a good form, which is not the case atm. I do not think that Rosol will go through Fognini though.

I am the only one who thinks Fognini is way too laid back during his matches,theres just no sense of urgnecy or trying his absolute best to win,he comes across as one of those kinds of athletes who completely relies on his talent
I think Rosol is far more competitve and that will always be an advantage over who isnt as competitve
I wouldnt be so quick to write Rosol off,stranger things have happened
When Solderling beat Nadal,the odds were completely stacked against him,especailly after having suffered a straight sets demolition from Nadal just a few weeks earlier

Veejay wrote:I am the only one who thinks Fognini is way too laid back during his matches,theres just no sense of urgnecy or trying his absolute best to win,he comes across as one of those kinds of athletes who completely relies on his talent
I think Rosol is far more competitve and that will always be an advantage over who isnt as competitve
I wouldnt be so quick to write Rosol off,stranger things have happened
When Solderling beat Nadal,the odds were completely stacked against him,especailly after having suffered a straight sets demolition from Nadal just a few weeks earlier

I do not think that Rosol does not have any chance to Fognini, but Rosol's form has dropped recently. It already looked that his mindset got improved after his father died, but it rather looks as a sudden glimpse, i.e. it showed a moment where he could possibly be if he had a better self/control and positive approach to tennis and having an open mind.

Fogni is actually not so a distant example to Rosol, although with more talent. As you wrote if they could play their best tennis then I would only slightly go with Fogni. But when Rosol does not look very focused on the game, then I believe that Fogni will get Rosol out of his rail by his more variable game and should win it.

Tenez wrote:Wawrinka is injured anyway. He injured himself before that Madrid Final and he was not sure to be ready for the FO.

I will believe it when I see it. I tend to be skeptical of player's injury claims; especially the convenient ones.

summerblues wrote:

Tenez wrote:Wawrinka is injured anyway. He injured himself before that Madrid Final and he was not sure to be ready for the FO.

I will believe it when I see it. I tend to be skeptical of player's injury claims; especially the convenient ones.

So I guess you must be extremely skeptical of Nadal's knee injuries.

Once again it was clear Stan was not moving well in that Madrid final. I said so back then....and then not surprisingly he gave a walk over 3 days later in Rome.

Anyway. I saw Rosol play recently on clay, was it Serbia? If he is hot he can really hurt Nadal. The key strengh of Rosol...is his power...it's enough to panick Nadal regardless the surface. I think Nadal will win but it's going to be tighter than some may think here....If Rosol gets there of course. I actually think Rosol, like in Wimby, would have more trouble again a journey man than against Nadal.

Nadal is to Rosol what Federer is to Nadal.

paulcz wrote:

Veejay wrote:I am the only one who thinks Fognini is way too laid back during his matches,theres just no sense of urgnecy or trying his absolute best to win,he comes across as one of those kinds of athletes who completely relies on his talent
I think Rosol is far more competitve and that will always be an advantage over who isnt as competitve
I wouldnt be so quick to write Rosol off,stranger things have happened
When Solderling beat Nadal,the odds were completely stacked against him,especailly after having suffered a straight sets demolition from Nadal just a few weeks earlier

I do not think that Rosol does not have any chance to Fognini, but Rosol's form has dropped recently. It already looked that his mindset got improved after his father died, but it rather looks as a sudden glimpse, i.e. it showed a moment where he could possibly be if he had a better self/control and positive approach to tennis and having an open mind.

Fogni is actually not so a distant example to Rosol, although with more talent. As you wrote if they could play their best tennis then I would only slightly go with Fogni. But when Rosol does not look very focused on the game, then I believe that Fogni will get Rosol out of his rail by his more variable game and should win it.

Cant argue with that Paul,my point was more along the lines of anything can happen,players get hot and cold all the time which can prove that going by current or recent form can be irrelevant or misleading,although having said that,the chances of that happening and it actually happening are few and far between
Im just keen for another showdown between Rosol and Nadal,cause I think Rosol really humiliated Nadal and dented his ego and nothing Nadal can do will ever change that,but it should be fun watching him trying to prove himself against a player he is expected to beat every time

Tenez wrote:So I guess you must be extremely skeptical of Nadal's knee injuries.

I do not know about "extremely skeptical" but I doubt they are as bad as they are portrayed by his team. I do think he has some knee issues though; I doubt he would take seven months off otherwise.

Tenez wrote:Once again it was clear Stan was not moving well in that Madrid final. I said so back then....and then not surprisingly he gave a walk over 3 days later in Rome.

My take on it was that Stan was running out of steam. He played a lot of matches and by Madrid SF you could see it was catching up with him. I would not be surprised if he just figured that with all the tennis he already played, the best thing would be to skip Rome, but he could not do that if he were healthy, so he "needed" to be injured. But who knows, maybe I am just too cynical, maybe he was genuinely injured.

summerblues wrote:My take on it was that Stan was running out of steam. He played a lot of matches and by Madrid SF you could see it was catching up with him. I would not be surprised if he just figured that with all the tennis he already played, the best thing would be to skip Rome, but he could not do that if he were healthy, so he "needed" to be injured. But who knows, maybe I am just too cynical, maybe he was genuinely injured.

That coudl be an explanation. However he still was not moving well in that Madrid final and was saying he was not sure to enter the FO. I do not see any benefit in telling your are not 100% unless you really are not and need to tell the FO seeding committee.

My theory about Nadal taking months of is that players get only tested in slams when they lose or when they win it. The top seeds take most of the drugs before or at the beginning of slams....by the time they reach the 3rd rounds or later they are "clear". I suspect this early loss v Rosol resulted in an early positive test. Nadal was desperate to win that one and even used ugly behaviour (intimidation, gamesmanship, etc....) to avoid the early tests and that also put amazing pressure on him in that match.