Roland Garros 2014: MOTD Day 1 Sunday 25/05/2014

Hello everyone,
         The second Grand slam of the year is starting tomorrow and with that starts the mother of all prediction games, the one and only, unlike anything anywhere, the OTF Daily Prediction game. Don't bother about the rules too much, just predict who is going to be the winner of a given match, you'll know the rules as it goes on. Send them before the start of play tomorrow.

So fasten your seat belts, put on your thinking caps and grab those Crystal balls. May the best predictor win.
All set? PLAY!!!  

The selected matches for tomorrow:

1. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) [13]
vs.
Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) [33]


2. Milos Raonic (CAN) [8]
vs.
Nick Kyrgios (AUS) [33]


3. David Goffin (BEL) [33]
vs.
Jurgen Melzer (AUT) [33]


4. Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR) [20]
vs.
Albert Ramos (ESP) [33]


5. Jeremy Chardy (FRA) [33]
vs.
Daniel Gimeno-Traver (ESP) [33]


My picks:


1. Roger-Vasselin
2. Raonic
3, Melzer
4. Dolgopolov
5. Gimeno-Traver

Thanks, rotla!

Tough choices as always  

Looks like for two matches we get the same points whether we win or lose, is that an error?

noleisthebest wrote:Thanks, rotla!

Tough choices as always  

Looks like for two matches we get the same points whether we win or lose, is that an error?

Error? No. If you are talking about this match:
3. David Goffin (BEL) [33]
vs.
Jurgen Melzer (AUT) [33]


Then both players are unseeded and hence have value 33 points. So assume you predict Goffin and Goffin wins tomorrow, you get 33 points. If Goffin loses, there are no negatives now, so you get 0 points. Same applies for selecting melzer.  


Every match will have potential of getting 33 points, and that will be till the end of the tournament. 






  

Tsonga
Raonic
Melzer
Dolgo
Chardy

1. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) [13]


2. Milos Raonic (CAN) [8]


3. David Goffin (BEL) [33]


4. Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR) [20]



5. Jeremy Chardy (FRA) [33]

Tsonga, Kyrgios, Melzer, Dolgopolov, Chardy

Tsonga
Raonic
Melzer
Dolgo
Chardy

Look forward to seeing Fed-Lacko.
I just read they both bagelled Nadal. I knew about Fed, but didn't know Lacko did as well!

Yes Lacko did in Qatar or was it Dubai....Nadal was sweating like a pig..but still was fitter over 3 sets! In fact some suspected it was a transfusion gone wrong!

Fed looking very comfortable and confident so far. He has a nice draw - the first couple of rounds should allow him to shake off any rustiness if needed.

Roger makes good use of his nice first round draw. Never looked threatened one least bit.

It was nice talking to you all on this busy match thread. Time to take a short nap maybe?

Just managed to see the last two games in which Lacko didn't bother moving much, was he injured?
Subscribed to  to ITVplayer for a month as BBC aren't showing RG any more... it was nice to hear Courier's voice.

Fed looked funny in that outfit, like a pair of summer pyjamas...must have been a really easy match for him, just over an hour!

Tenez wrote:Yes Lacko did in Qatar or was it Dubai....Nadal was sweating like a pig..but still was fitter over 3 sets! In fact some suspected it was a transfusion gone wrong!

Ouch!
That sounds really dangerous.
How much blood gets transfused and how often?
That must put some serious pressure on the body!
Is it really worth it?

I am not sure I like Sunday start to the slam. It just feels strange for some reason.
I don't even know why they changed it.

noleisthebest wrote:I don't even know why they changed it.

I think that is pretty obvious.

I used to not like it when they started it, but I am quite ok with it now.

It's not obvious to me at all.
Same number of seeds, matches, players as 20 years ago. The extra day just gives them another day to stretch round one over ridiculous 3 days for no reason. Is it USO or AO that have done the same?

noleisthebest wrote:It's not obvious to me at all.

My guess would be they want to sell an extra day worth of tickets. TBH, I do not know for a fact that was their reason, but it seems to me quite likely that is why they would have done it.

Yes, that's pretty obvious, I can't believe I never thought of that!
I need a holiday....

Order of play out for tomorrow, much more interesting than today: Nole, Stan, Nadal (go Robbie ), Nishi playing.
Apparently a very wet week forecasted in Paris...so the extra day will be helpful at least for that.
Just read that entire Federer clan is in Paris

noleisthebest wrote:Just managed to see the last two games in which Lacko didn't bother moving much, was he injured?
Subscribed to  to ITVplayer for a month as BBC aren't showing RG any more... it was nice to hear Courier's voice.

Fed looked funny in that outfit, like a pair of summer pyjamas...must have been a really easy match for him, just over an hour!

Lacko has been very unfortunate with the draws in Slams, on so many occasions he draws the top-4 seeds in the first rounds.

I did not realise Fed was playing today. I read SB saying he was surprised Fed did not use teh Sunday to have an extra day of rest so I thought he was not on....anyway I was playing and had a match so could not have watched it.

He looked like he had some clean shots....beautiful tennis on clay.

Tenez wrote:I did not realise Fed was playing today. I read SB saying he was surprised Fed did not use teh Sunday to have an extra day of rest so I thought he was not on....anyway I was playing and had a match so could not have watched it.

He looked like he had some clean shots....beautiful tennis on clay.

Yes it was good, lots of winners and some experimental UEs too. Lacko didn't challenge Fed at all, he didn't even try hard enough I would say.

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:

Tenez wrote:I did not realise Fed was playing today. I read SB saying he was surprised Fed did not use teh Sunday to have an extra day of rest so I thought he was not on....anyway I was playing and had a match so could not have watched it.

He looked like he had some clean shots....beautiful tennis on clay.

Yes it was good, lots of winners and some experimental UEs too. Lacko didn't challenge Fed at all, he didn't even try hard enough I would say.

Yes That is his problem. Otherwise a very talented player.

noleisthebest wrote:

Tenez wrote:Yes Lacko did in Qatar or was it Dubai....Nadal was sweating like a pig..but still was fitter over 3 sets! In fact some suspected it was a transfusion gone wrong!

Ouch!
That sounds really dangerous.
How much blood gets transfused and how often?
That must put some serious pressure on the body!
Is it really worth it?

Probably not the right place to discuss that, but then again - always relevant, especially at RG.

I just checked the match you were talking of. Doha 2011, R16: Lacko lost the first set in a tiebreak, won the second set 6-0 and then went on to lose in three. So if there was a transfusion gone wrong, it must have been a very mild case. It could be any number of other drugs side effects too - excessive sweating can be caused by anabolic agents.

In cycling there were some cases reported where the cyclists felt very bad after a transfusion. Mostly it's a storage problem that leads to very rare (bacterial) contamination of the RBCs and thus septicemia or an infection. Cyclist Riccardo Riccó was hospitalized with fever and liver failure after having administered stored blood the DIY way. More common side effects include of course the direct effect of a high RBC count - high viscosity, thus strokes and clots (looking at you, Serena!) So yes, it's very dangerous for healthy people to dabble with blood transfusions/ EPO, but I guess, the reward is high enough. 

Especially for athletes - they are a different breed, compare Goldman's dilemma ("If I had a magic drug that was so fantastic that if you took it once you would win every competition you would enter (...) for the next five years but it had one minor drawback, it would kill you five years after you took it, would you still take the drug?") The risk is decreased somewhat when the drugs used are thoroughly studied, but of course then the risk of detection increases too.

cyclingtips.com.au/2012/11/blood-doping-101/

Very informative wrt the limitations of the ABP for me was that interview with WADA blood passport expert Michael Ashenden about the case for blood doping of Nadal's buddy Contador:

nyvelocity.com/content/interviews/2012/behind-scenes-contador-cas-hearing-michael-ashenden

He strongly suggests that the small traces of Clenbuterol which Contador got busted for had come not from a steak   but from a blood transfusion. The interview might be a bit outdated wrt the use of EPO as a masking agent. I have read studies now which suggest that even mikrodosing of EPO still has considerable desirable effects all of its own.

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:

Tenez wrote:(...)
He looked like he had some clean shots....beautiful tennis on clay.

Yes it was good, lots of winners and some experimental UEs too. Lacko didn't challenge Fed at all, he didn't even try hard enough I would say.

I don't know whether I'd reproach him with that. I think he tried in the first 2 sets, but then gave up in the third, which was quite understandable after he was broken immediately. He was lucky to win the few games he did, because Fed didn't seem to try very hard to win more breaks. Probably wanted to conserve the energy. 

Lacko's main problem seemed to be that he could get no teeth in the Fed service games, no matter what. He had problems even returning the serve, let alone return it deep. The few points he won on the Fed serve, were mostly by unforced errors. When Fed is just breezing through his own service games, most opponents will find it hard to hold their serve. Plus, whenever the game got fast, Lacko seemed lost and coughed up errors more often, then not.

Autumnleaf wrote:
Probably not the right place to discuss that, but then again - always relevant, especially at RG.

I just checked the match you were talking of. Doha 2011, R16: Lacko lost the first set in a tiebreak, won the second set 6-0 and then went on to lose in three. So if there was a transfusion gone wrong, it must have been a very mild case. It could be any number of other drugs side effects too - excessive sweating can be caused by anabolic agents.

In cycling there were some cases reported where the cyclists felt very bad after a transfusion. Mostly it's a storage problem that leads to very rare (bacterial) contamination of the RBCs and thus septicemia or an infection. Cyclist Riccardo Riccó was hospitalized with fever and liver failure after having administered stored blood the DIY way. More common side effects include of course the direct effect of a high RBC count - high viscosity, thus strokes and clots (looking at you, Serena!) So yes, it's very dangerous for healthy people to dabble with blood transfusions/ EPO, but I guess, the reward is high enough. 

Especially for athletes - they are a different breed, compare Goldman's dilemma ("If I had a magic drug that was so fantastic that if you took it once you would win every competition you would enter (...) for the next five years but it had one minor drawback, it would kill you five years after you took it, would you still take the drug?") The risk is decreased somewhat when the drugs used are thoroughly studied, but of course then the risk of detection increases too.

cyclingtips.com.au/2012/11/blood-doping-101/

Very informative wrt the limitations of the ABP for me was that interview with WADA blood passport expert Michael Ashenden about the case for blood doping of Nadal's buddy Contador:

nyvelocity.com/content/interviews/2012/behind-scenes-contador-cas-hearing-michael-ashenden

He strongly suggests that the small traces of Clenbuterol which Contador got busted for had come not from a steak   but from a blood transfusion. The interview might be a bit outdated wrt the use of EPO as a masking agent. I have read studies now which suggest that even mikrodosing of EPO still has considerable desirable effects all of its own.

Yes I remember reading most of this at the time. Interesting points AL.

Thanks for the reply AL.
I don't know much about doping. It's such an ugly side of sport.
In my ignorance I used to think players drink these protein shakes I see in "health food" shops, go to the gym and lift weights to pump muscles.
It was a complete eyeopener to find out you can look skinny and still be doped...one look at cyclists confirms it. That they inject themselves between their toes, have blood transfusions, even animal blood!
But how can you blame general population for their ignorance...when do we get a chance to be educated on it?
Commentators just sell the show these days.

Right! OUT GOES NISHIKORI! Lucky Djokovic!!! !

Sad. It looks like it is going to take time to fix his back!

Tenez wrote:Right! OUT GOES NISHIKORI! Lucky Djokovic!!! !

Noooooo! what happened? Did the play start?

noleisthebest wrote:(...) It's such an ugly side of sport.

It is, isn't it? Such a microcosmos of human life, things great and admirable, disgusting and destestable. The highest peaks, the deepest lows. It makes for compelling stories too, to describe the forces that drive men to do such ugly things, from hero to zero and back.

Autumnleaf wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:(...) It's such an ugly side of sport.

It is, isn't it? Such a microcosmos of human life, things great and admirable, disgusting and destestable. The highest peaks, the deepest lows. It makes for compelling stories too, to describe the forces that drive men to do such ugly things, from hero to zero and back.

To me this very similar to the politics thread we started. People simply don't care, don't want to know even. As long as they have a show (or something in their plate to eat) they don't care. It's only getting interesting when a superstar has finished his career and then gets exposed like Lance. There people would buy the papers with glee.