French Open prediction game: Day 7

Some excellent matches today!! Not easy to predict the outcome. 

Delpo 20 -Murray 15
Monfils 25- Gasquet 15
Nishi 10 - Chung 30
Stan 5 - Fognini 30
Kachanov 20 - Isner 15
Cilic 5 - Lopez 30
Edmund 20 - Anderson 20

Joker (double points) staring today.

Delpo 20 - I had not selected here but was meant to pick Delpo.....unfortunately.
Gasquet 15
Chung 30
Stan 5
Kachanov 20
Cilic 5
Anderson 20 - Joker

15 points for murray?? 25 for monfils?? mate??

A question:

Why is only Chatrier court so big? (has twive as much space behind the baseline than other courts both in RG and elsewhere)

I don't know whether it's good or bad.

I hope to see some matches today.

Nishi-Chung is the most imtriguing for me.

Monf-Richie will be the battle of gutless (I think Monf is worse)

Stan-Fabio sounds fabulous on paper.

I hope Delpo knocks Murray out, a break up in the first set now.

On another note, did you know Agassi is coaching Nole for free.

I like that.

The whole tennis world was surprised by Agassi taking the job on (even temporarily), esp Murray whomused to idolise him and also approached him for coaching in the past.
Very interesting!

Delpo's FHTDL is something to behold!

Delpo, monf (joker), chung, stan, karen, cilic, anderson
B: murray, la monf (joker), nishi, stan, isner, cilic, edmund
T: missed it the fool of a took!
M: murray (joker) gasq, nish, fognini, isner, lopez, edmund

Annoying from Delpo...choked serving for the set...and noone but himself to blame.
No 1st serve to save his life then...

Murray wins the first .
CUevas getting battered by Nando.
Edmund Anderson going 5.

Verdasco could still lose.  An implosion is never far away.  It could come in the next round, or just as easily in the next three sets.

summerblues wrote:Verdasco could still lose.  An implosion is never far away.  It could come in the next round, or just as easily in the next three sets.

I hope Nando holds it together.
He is one of the few who doesn't play percentage tennis, plus that mega FH.

Lots of Spaniards still left in the draw. Rafa will win the title by beating Bautista Agut in R4, Carreno Busta in QF, Ramos Vinolas in SF, and Verdasco in Final.

... wrote:I hope Nando holds it together.
He is one of the few who doesn't play percentage tennis, plus that mega FH.

He is very watchable, for sure.  But I certainly would not want him to play excellent tennis all the way through to the final, because he would have zero chance there against Rafa.  So he needs to lose to someone before then.

I'm giving up on Delpo-Murray and switching to Nishi-Chung.

I think this is the first time I am watching two Asian guys play against each other!

summerblues wrote:Lots of Spaniards still left in the draw.  Rafa will win the title by beating Bautista Agut in R4, Carreno Busta in QF, Ramos Vinolas in SF, and Verdasco in Final.

You reckon Ramos will beat Nole?

It looks like Verdasco is up a break in the third set, so hopefully he should win from here.  The fly in the ointment is that Cuevas is a single-hander, so it would also have been nice to have him through too.

... wrote:

summerblues wrote:Lots of Spaniards still left in the draw.  Rafa will win the title by beating Bautista Agut in R4, Carreno Busta in QF, Ramos Vinolas in SF, and Verdasco in Final.

You reckon Ramos will beat Nole?

I was not entirely serious in my prediction.  But now that you ask, I have to say I would not be surprised.  Yeah, you could perhaps even say that I half expect Nole to lose in the next round.  I did not see Nole against the little Argentine, but Schwartzman is not the type of player who would often trouble top players, so going five sets against him is not encouraging.

Schwartzy is a quality player, I remember him even giving Fed trouble once.

Nole looked very hungry and determined against him, so I doubt he'll lose to Ramos.

I quite like Schwartzman, and was at one point hoping he could do better than he has done, but still, he is not the kind of player who should be taking Nole to five sets.

summerblues wrote:I quite like Schwartzman, and was at one point hoping he could do better than he has done, but still, he is not the kind of player who should be taking Nole to five sets.

This time last year maybe...but this year, it's a different story, it looked more like a match innwhich Nole shook his rust off and reforged some of that lost spark and determination.

Apparently, Agassi turned up in his box unexpectedly and that turned it around.

I am mot surprised.

Nole's brother is such a mega loser, the sight of him in the box wearing that idiotic Amor& Paz t-shirt would kill the life in me, too.

Chung is a a little too reactive vs Nishi.

Recovered the break and then later got broken again simply because he was unnecessarilly passive.
Not much, but enouh to give Nishi the right signal.

And now a bit of Stan-Fabio.

Let's see some magic!

Chung is actually fairly boring to watch in my opinion.  Still, I want him to do well - if we cannot do better at least we could replace today's boring players with new boring players.

He appears boring because he is mainly reactive.

But if you look at his shots and hand skills they are fantastic.

He needs a better coach to draw that talent out of him.

A bit hypothetical, but could Fabio beat Nadal and win the whole thing?

... wrote:A bit hypothetical, but could Fabio beat Nadal and win the whole thing?

No, he can't.
He can't even serve out a first set...

... wrote:

... wrote:A bit hypothetical, but could Fabio beat Nadal and win the whole thing?

No, he can't.
He can't even serve out a first set...

But!

He breaks back immediately, what a shotmaker!

Sublime tennis between Stan and Fabio!

its a real shame that del potro cant maintain his level consistently throughout a match cause i think that his best tennis beat murrays beats tennis
you have to wonder how different the dynamic of the match may have been had he just converted that set point in the first set

18:47 in Roland Garros with no play for while longer. Crowds here still good humoured but plenty have already left.

... wrote:Schwartzy is a quality player, I remember him even giving Fed trouble once.

Nole looked very hungry and determined against him, so I doubt he'll lose to Ramos.

yes I remember about a year or 2 ago in IW or Miami. Prob IW as fed has avoided Miami quite a bit recently.

Hi Turron

Welcome here. DO we know you from another forum?

Probably not, I was an occasional poster on 606 years ago. I'm pro Fed so anything I want to say has normally been well covered by .../NITB.

Turron wrote:Probably not, I was an occasional poster on 606 years ago. I'm pro Fed so anything I want to say has normally been well covered by .../NITB.

Don't be shy, Trur!

You can talk about Nole this RG!

And anyway, who do you think will win the whole thing?

I really want to see a Nole-Rafa showdown, so lomg as Agassi stays another few days.
If only that loser brother sits in the box, then... write it off!

After round one i said that Nadal will win RG hands down. I was optimistic: he will win RG without the loss of a set. I don't think i ever see Nadal being more powerful and energetic than this edition of RG. He used to be a defending player on clay, but you can't say that about a player who replies with rockets from both wings (hardly any slice balls) no matter how deep, fast or far away from him you hit the ball.
Plus: he has that crazy roid-rage'ish look again, runs around between the points and his confidence is bordering arrogance.

For the ones who still think Federer should have played RG, think again. That said, how sweet it will be if Federer puts NAdal back in his place on grass

gallery play wrote:After round one i said that Nadal will win RG hands down. I was optimistic: he will win RG without the loss of a set. I don't think i ever see Nadal being more powerful and energetic than this edition of RG. He used to be a defending player on clay, but you can't say that about a player who replies with rockets from both wings (hardly any slice balls) no matter how deep, fast or far away from him you hit the ball.
Plus: he has that crazy roid-rage'ish look again, runs around between the points and his confidence is bordering arrogance.

For the ones who still think Federer should have played RG, think again. That said, how sweet it will be if Federer puts NAdal back in his place on grass

Do you remember when Federer saod in one post Miami or AO interviews was how "Rafa" was going to clean up on clay?

It looked as if it was anotjer one of his cute Rafa compliments, but it did ring an alarm bell in my mind at the tome.

Did he know stg we didn't?

Anyway...looks like Nole doesn't have a chance vs the Cyborg, though...I am still hoping.

Nadal hasn't played anyone with any real class or threat yet, that's why. Thiem might have been up for the challenge, or Nishikori, or Murray, or Wawrinka... but he's escaped everyone yet again and ended up with Raonic (no good on clay) - or rank 20 quarter finalist.  If Djok shows up with any form, Nadal will be saying cheerio. It's easy to look good against useless players.

Have you seen Nadal play Daniel?

Bautista isn't a useless player. And he actually played quite well today, not much more he could have done.
 
Murray and Djokovic won't have a chance against Nadal. They even won't be able to make a fight out of it. Nadal plays too compelling here. He used to wait for a weak ball to counterpunch, he counterpunches now everything, left or right, fast or slow, short or deep.

It will take a top performance of the most powerful player around to get a decent match: Wawrinka. He is the only player who could challenge Nadal, but probably it won't be enough to stop Nadal.

BTW: given Nadal's luck, Verdasco will be his final opponant..

Daniel wrote:Nadal hasn't played anyone with any real class or threat yet, that's why. Thiem might have been up for the challenge, or Nishikori, or Murray, or Wawrinka... but he's escaped everyone yet again and ended up with Raonic (no good on clay) - or rank 20 quarter finalist.  If Djok shows up with any form, Nadal will be saying cheerio. It's easy to look good against useless players.

You may have a point.
Gutty is a great player, but lacks a strong serve to be comfortable vs Nadal on anything which is not ultrafast.
Busta is next, he is a great hitter but not a great mover, so easy fodder, too.

Nole is a different customer.

I still remember seeing him beat Nadal on Chatrier in straight sets back in 2015.

What worries me about Nole is he doesn't start the match gutlessly.

Nadal has been serving with a lot of muscle and from memory No,e,struggled to return that serve meaningfully ijntjeor last match.

The return of serve will be the key for him in that match.

gallery play wrote:That said, how sweet it will be if Federer puts NAdal back in his place on grass

This sounds like something we could have been saying in 2008.  Not encouraging

gallery play wrote:It will take a top performance of the most powerful player around to get a decent match: Wawrinka.

I am not sure Wawrinka is the best player to challenge Nadal.  I think, over 5 sets and on clay, he would get frustrated having to play high BH again and again and would not be able to sustain it, even if playing well.

For similar reasons I do not think Thiem could do it (he has been progressing through the draw quite nicely so far).  Djokovic, Murray and Nishikori are to me the best hopes.

However, I do not think Murray or Nishi would be good enough and Djokovic - who I think would be good enough when in top form - is not playing anywhere near well enough.

summerblues wrote:

gallery play wrote:That said, how sweet it will be if Federer puts NAdal back in his place on grass

This sounds like something we could have been saying in 2008.  Not encouraging

In 2008 something like that would have sounded desperate. Things are different now.
a. Fed 2017 is not recovering from mono
b. They won't meet a month after a slaughter on clay
c. Fed 2017 is on a 4 match winning streak against NAdal, not one match in that streak played in on his best and Nadal's worst surface.
d. 97"
Anyway, let's discuss this when time is right.

summerblues wrote:

However, I do not think Murray or Nishi would be good enough and Djokovic - who I think would be good enough when in top form - is not playing anywhere near well enough.

Djoko plays actually quite good right now against Ramos. Djoko had to dig very deep to get that first set though, and Ramos is nothing more than a light weight (make that feather weight) version of Nadal...

However: i think Djoko is getting back to his best. Best like in: 2011-2016 best. But i'm afraid Nadal is better than ever..

what a point. 41 shots.

Not only Ramos won that point, but also the game.
Both men limping now, tough battle

wow, again Ramos won a spectacular point

Could not see the match. Impressed by Djokos score as Ramos is no pinguin.