Roland Garros - 2019

Draw: http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2019/05/2019-french-open-roland-garros-mens-womens-draw/81745/

1st top half:
Djoko 
Shapo
Coric
Foggy
Kyrgios
Zverev

1st bottom half:
Thiem
Monfils
Kachanov
Felix
Delpo

=========

2nd top half
Tsi
Tiafo
Stan
Cilic
Fed

2nd bottom half:
Kei
Medveded
Goff
Nadal

Thanks Jahu, Saw the draw earlier on their official site but it was not that great to figure out who is where. I think Kyrgios is also in Thiem's quarter, IIRC.

Rafa has (AGAIN) by far the easiest quarter. Fed has a tough one, for a 37 y.o. especially. If Tsi makes it to QF (and Fed too, obv.), Fed will need to be feeling pretty good physically to have a decent chance. So he needs straight set victories the whole first week and R4, which is not guaranteed...

Djoker was not given an easy quarter but he can handle it by current form (his and theirs, as Zverev is not showing anything promising this year, etc.). Only hope for you is for Foggy to be at his best  . 

Thiem does not have an easy quarter but if he is anywhere close to his best he should get through relatively easily, only Del Po could be a threat as he can match his power.

Good draw for Rafa, harder for Nole.  Mostly because of Thiem.

Looks tricky for Fed, with Schwartzman in Rd4 and Tsitsipas in QF, but who knows if he even gets that far.  Also, if he does, who knows if Tsitsipas (or Schwartzman) makes it there.

Weren't draws on Friday morning before?

I d like to know what is the percentage of slams where most of us agreed Nadal had a tough draw.  On top of my head 1 or 2 out of what 13y x 4 =52 slams roughly?

Kyrgios is on 1st top half with Djoko.

NOTABLE FIRST-ROUND MATCHES:

Djokovic-Hurkacz
Shapovalov-Struff
Fognini-Seppi
Norrie-Kyrgios
Karlovic-Lopez
Jarry-Delpo
Krajinovic-Tiafoe
Opelka-Garin
Sonego-Federer
Herbert-Medvedev

PROJECTED FOURTH-ROUND MATCHES:

1 Djokovic - 13 Coric
9 Fognini - 5 Zverev
4 Thiem - 14 Monfils
10 Khachanov - 8 Delpo
6 Tstisipas - 11 Cilic
16 Cecchinati - 3 Federer
7 Nishikori - 12 Medvedev
15 Basilasvili - 2 Nadal

Tenez wrote:I d like to know what is the percentage of slams where most of us agreed Nadal had a tough draw.  On top of my head 1 or 2 out of what 13y x 4 =52 slams roughly?

and of course, you are all so impartial here

naxroy wrote:

Tenez wrote:I d like to know what is the percentage of slams where most of us agreed Nadal had a tough draw.  On top of my head 1 or 2 out of what 13y x 4 =52 slams roughly?

and of course, you are all so impartial here

I like to think a bit more than other forums. Unlike a few we have known we are not kicking out posters according to who they support.

PROJECTED FOURTH-ROUND MATCHES:

15 Basilasvili - 2 Nadal

That says it all!

Tenez wrote:

naxroy wrote:

Tenez wrote:I d like to know what is the percentage of slams where most of us agreed Nadal had a tough draw.  On top of my head 1 or 2 out of what 13y x 4 =52 slams roughly?

and of course, you are all so impartial here

I like to think a bit more than other forums. Unlike a few we have known we are not kicking out posters according to who they support.

PROJECTED FOURTH-ROUND MATCHES:

15 Basilasvili - 2 Nadal

That says it all!

After all that he won on clay, I guess it is normal that draws dont seem tough for Rafa. 

But his time is about to end, and more and more you see people that can hurt him... if he wins again (which I desire as much as I doubt) I would bet money on this one being the last one

Korgi quits RG, after he did a good video that RG sucksss hahah

Watched the last set of Fed.  He looked reasonably good I thought, though sometimes it is hard to tell against these weaker opponents that do not stretch top guys.  But Fed was hitting the ball quite well I thought - both FH and BH, and was very comfortable in his own service games.

Felix pulls out too.

Mahut comes back from 0-2 to be Cecchinato in five.  Mahut is 37 years old.  Very impressive.

Also very good.  If only Fucsovics can beat Schwartzman (they are tied after two sets), Fed's path might open a little.

I watched Fed and though his opponent wasn’t if very high standard, he was good enough and had enough shots to make it a match.

Federer looked very smooth; served well, brought loads of variety (nice drop shot return winner in there) and was playing attacking without looking like he was over pressing. The backhand looked very good, very reliable.

He’d have beaten some much higher standard players like that and it was a nice training session, carried out on Day 0 of most Slams. It’s effectively a 6-round Slam for him.

A few neo-BH from Fed today too, rockets, reminded me 2017.

This Sonego kid will be good in next 2-3 y.

Just saw the best points on highlight and he certainly looked good. We know he can on the day....it's the day after the problem.

What do we think about Hurkacz?  Can he give Nole a good fight?  He has played some decent matches earlier this season (albeit I believe it was all on HC).  A lot will depend on whether or not Nole is back in grand slam form.  He has looked fairly unconvincing since the AO, in spite of his Madrid title.

Hopefully Polish eagle can soar above Serbian falcon tomorrow (what am I doing rooting against Nole while Rafa is still in the draw )

...oh, and also, what do we think about Hanfmann vs Rafa tomorrow?  I do not remember ever hearing about Hanfmann before and he is 27 already.  I think this match may have a better chance of being a triple bagel than any in recent grand slam memory.

I see Hanfmann is currently ranked 180 but he was briefly in top 100 - his career best is #99 last year.

But wait, there is more for Rafa.  If he beats Hanfmann, then in the second round he will meet the winner of Maden - Coppejans match.

Maden is 29 years old, ranked #114, and has never been in top 100.
Coppejans (he is the only one of the three whose name sounds at least vaguely familiar) is 25, ranked #178, and never been higher than #97.

So if Rafa fails to triple bagel his 1st round opponent, he will have a good chance to do it in the second round.

Konta might well be one of the most horribly untalented players I have ever seen.

Her “process”, ffs. It screams absence of ability, as does her absurd service routine.

Medvedev gone :-(

Nadal messing a no-hoper around for time.

Do it, Hurkacz. Send Nole back to Monaco, as Jahu would say.

Hurkacz gets broken in the first game.

Nole looking a very well dressed man these days. Like a proper GOAT he is.

Lacoste.

Djokovic very sharp today.

This Djokovic will be hard to beat.

This Djoko of today would be crushed by Thiem or Tsi.

Serena with another joke of an outfit, don't know is it a blanket, a rain-coat or  nightgown. Once she quits tennis and no one cares for her, she will be depressed in her little fake world that she lives.

If this girl just keeps her moving around, she wins.

Well she is scared now, Serena 3:0 second set.

Thiem crushing rockets against this Tommy Paul who looks like he just came off a Miami Beach party and is also hitting balls on par with Theim!!! some super shots both side.

Jahu wrote:This Djoko of today would be crushed by Thiem or Tsi.

Thiem has no chance of beating Djokovic or Nadal when it counts. I'll be surprised if he even gets a set. Hugely overrated.

Thiem struggling against a nobody.

Emancipator wrote:Thiem has no chance of beating Djokovic or Nadal when it counts. I'll be surprised if he even gets a set. Hugely overrated.

Ha Ha Ha.  Watching him right now vs Paul is not exactly reassuring I admit.

Thiem should be good from here. I doubt Paul can go another set toe-to-toe with him. But very unconvincing. Thiem still does not really have a plan B in case his heavy hitting is not working.

Paul is a former RG junior champ who has struggled a bit with injury. Tough first round match for Thiem and he did well to turn it around from 0-4 in the third set tiebreak. He’s obviously not in the same league as a fully functioning Nadal or Djokovic - who are two of the greatest players of all time - but he’s got a chance of a win here if they are well below their best.

summerblues wrote:Thiem should be good from here.  I doubt Paul can go another set toe-to-toe with him.  But very unconvincing.  Thiem still does not really have a plan B in case his heavy hitting is not working.

Therein lies his problem (coupled with a very average return). He can only hit hard and harder. Exemplies the one dimensional style that dominates the tour. An incredibly boring player to watch.

In that instance so have half a dozen other players. It’s dissapointing that the best of the rest, even at his peak, is still not a match for 2 aging champions.

Fabio is a genius on clay.

Come on Millman, beat the shit out of himmm

Its weird to have a day without any of the top 3 playing...weird organisation again.

Aparently Djoko was meant to play Tuesday but asked the organisers to play on Monday....leaving Tuesday with no top 4.

https://fr.sports.yahoo.com/news/roland-garros-novak-djokovic-demand%C3%A9-083800166.html

This confirms what some of us said is that Djoko likes to spread his matches....probably more now than when he was younger.

Goffin in 3rd round can be tricky

naxroy wrote:Goffin in 3rd round can be tricky

I agree. Goff is often underrated here but I tjhi k on form he has good chance to hurt Nadal.

naxroy wrote:Goffin in 3rd round can be tricky

Agreed.

He is by far the hardest seed Rafa could have faced in Rd3.  Rafa could only have faced someone seeded #25-32 here, so it had to be one of:

Simon, Goffin, Edmund, Berrettini, Lajovic, Djere or Tiafoe.  Goffin is by a country mile potentially the most difficult of them.  I am not sure why his ranking dropped so much - form issues or injuries?  In any event, when he is playing well he is playing at a far higher level than his ranking suggests.  In addition, he has the kind of game that has potential to trouble Rafa.

Overall, one would expect Rafa to win easily anyway, but we should get some sense of how well Rafa is doing.  If he destroys Goffin with similar score like he did in the first two rounds, he is probably doing fine.  If he struggles a little, then there will be more questions.

It was hard to assess Federer yesterday; he was made to work and looked a bit wasteful. On the other hand he looked like his aim was to run the least and hit the fewest shots so that's bound to create error.

Still, through without too much stress and another LL in R3! He shouldn't be too spent as he goes into the last 16.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/federer-alphabetic-domination-continues-at-roland-garros-2019

The Alphabet slam...that's something Federer is head and shoulder above the rest and won't be caught up!

Amazing record!

Watching the Klizan match and - with all due respect Tenez - the French crowd really are assholes sometimes.

I am not watching but I know they can be. They drove me mad at times....Bear in mind that it is a holiday here today and you may have a higher number of kids than usual....wednesdays are known to be bad at the FO cause the kids are out. Today's holiday may have the same effect.

Having said that crowds are crowds....and I have watched very bad ones everywhere.

How realistic is the Fed-Rafa SF, and if it comes to it who's going to win?