Roland Garros 2013 Day 6

Play started on all courts, let's hope for a full day of uninterrupted tennis.

Order of play:

http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/scores/schedule/index.html

Rotla, please add the picks for day 6 as soon as you can

Nadal Klizan looking "competitive" , 3all, time to tune in, go Martin!!!

Klizan breaks, 4:3!!!

Klizan set 1 in the bag.. but brokne early in the 2nd

noleisthebest wrote:Rotla, please add the picks for day 6 as soon as you can

What to add today. 5 matches of yesterday still left for today .

Doesn't matter about day 5 matches, they will all catch up, there are a few close to call from day 6 , eg: Simon- Querrey, Almagro-Seppi, Raonic-Anderson, Troicki-Cilic, Jovanovski-Kuznetsova....gives you plenty of time for adding up the old scores

Matches up for prediction game:

1. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) [6]vs.Jeremy Chardy (FRA) [25]

2. Gael Monfils (FRA)vs.Tommy Robredo (ESP) [32]

3. Gilles Simon (FRA) [15]vs.Sam Querrey (USA) [18]

4. Andreas Seppi (ITA) [20]vs.Nicolas Almagro (ESP) [11]

5. Milos Raonic (CAN) [14]vs.Kevin Anderson (RSA) [23]

Quickly take your picks.

Mine are:
Tsonga, Monfils, Querry, Almagro, Anderson

Thanks rotla

Tsonga, Monfils, Simon, Almagro, Anderson

1. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA)

2. Tommy Robredo (ESP) [32]

3. Gilles Simon (FRA)

4. Nicolas Almagro (ESP) [11]

5. Milos Raonic (CAN) [14]

Nadal being lucky to break in that 3rd set. Net call if ever that was needed.

he also takes a miniumum of 30s (when in slams teh rule is 20s). We knew they would not apply the rule for him!

Klizan is not far from tiring Nadal. He just need to keep going. We have seen in teh past Nadal hitting the wall. Rarely I agree but he has and that makes teh task so much easier for his opponent.

Tenez wrote:Nadal being lucky to break in that 3rd set. Net call if ever that was needed.

he also takes a miniumum of 30s (when in slams teh rule is 20s) We knew they would not apply the rule for him! !

That is so disappointing!

Well looks like once again, the guy running less runs out of steam first.

As I said before, it's amazing to have the greatest clay court player* of all time having the worst clay court game. His legs are really what makes the difference not his game....even if they are part of it.

Edited: cahnged game to player*

Tenez wrote:Well looks like once again, the guy running less runs out of steam first.

As I said before, it's amazing to have the greatest clay court game of all time having the worst clay court game. His legs are really what makes the difference not his game....even if they are part of it.

Good legs in tennis have always been an important part of the game and a weapon just like good ball striking.

It's a shame that due to slowed down playing conditions, the legs (fitness) have taken over the hands (talent), and transformed the game and its dynamics in such a way that the court now looks small for the game and players.

I reckon if the area around the court was as big as a football pitch, Nadal would be getting to those balls pushing them back to play.

I can understand why Federer and many other players are frustrated by it. Although I didn't like the "roadrunners" tag to start with, he is absolutely right about it.
Still, I don't think it's Murray, Ferrer etc who have caused creation of Fedal gold egg laying hen and all the changes caused by it.
I am convinced tennis will get a lot healthier as soon as Nadal either retires or slides down the ranking. His fan base will soon abandon him as soon as he starts losing on a regular basis, and find a new "winning hero" instead.

Honestly I don;t think the slow conds are as much to blame as the spin and today's amazing fitness available to players in the know.

Clay has probably remained the same over the years but already the luxilon strings of Guga game him a huge advantage on this surface....and enough of it too to become number 1 thanks to some success on other surfaces. It is true that fast conds will certainly take away the string/spin effect...but on normal clay the new strings have simply completely changed the game.

What's interesting though is that despite clay being a slow surface, we do not have a wide range of moonballers like Nadal like we had when the first larger graphite racquets came up: Nilstrom, Sundstrom, Wilander, Carlsson,...to name only the swedish ones. And tha that is simply due to the fact that only Nadal can hit the ball as hard for so long and that without this sheer power Nadal woudl be creamed on clay as well.

What we have seen so far in this FO is how much Nadal relies on his power and stamina. We knew that but today we have the simple proof that he woudl not make the top 50 without it....as tough as might be for his fans.

I deliberately use the phrase "slow conditions" to include all the factors that contribute to it, not just slow courts.
Watching the replay of Lendl Mac 1984 RG final during that rain delay the other day couldn't have been a more obvious illustration of how the game has changed, despite the court probably being the same.
I could actually put myself in their shoes and they did not look sci-fi like players today.
Mac was really amazing with that racquet of his, sheer magic, despite the loss.
He'd probably look like a bad joke in today's turbo conditions.

Admirable and fair crowd in that Fed/Ben match!

One of these days I'll have to get hold of a wooden racquet and try to bash the ball with it, just too see what happens.
Have you tried to do it?

Tenez wrote:Admirable and fair crowd in that Fed/Ben match!

Yes, they are now. It's good they are following the nice example they witnessed on Tuesday.
Do you know that one stage one of the guys sitting behind me told me they were all cheering for me to " silence" THAT loud guy
If it comes to the Nole Fed final I can guarantee you they will be as good as gold

I was wondering about those new design tennis shirt from Federer. They actually hide a possible 2 t shirt underneath for his back.....and that coudl explain all this talking about Fed looking bulkier.

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:Matches up for prediction game:

1. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) [6]vs.Jeremy Chardy (FRA) [25]

2. Gael Monfils (FRA)vs.Tommy Robredo (ESP) [32]

3. Gilles Simon (FRA) [15]vs.Sam Querrey (USA) [18]

4. Andreas Seppi (ITA) [20]vs.Nicolas Almagro (ESP) [11]

5. Milos Raonic (CAN) [14]vs.Kevin Anderson (RSA) [23]

Quickly take your picks.

Mine are:
Tsonga, Monfils, Querry, Almagro, Anderson

And mine are Tsonga, Monfils, Simon, Almagro, Raonic.

noleisthebest wrote:One of these days I'll have to get hold of a wooden racquet and try to bash the ball with it, just too see what happens.
Have you tried to do it?

Oh yes. It's a make a break shot. That's why Lendl was so good and talented. He coudl stay with Borg with a wooden racquet while being aggressive...at 21.

Actually there is no secret he has a t shirt underneath. Pretty obvious on slow mo.

noleisthebest wrote:

Tenez wrote:Admirable and fair crowd in that Fed/Ben match!

Yes, they are now. It's good they are following the nice example they witnessed on Tuesday.
Do you know that one stage one of the guys sitting behind me told me they were all cheering for me to " silence" THAT loud guy
If it comes to the Nole Fed final I can guarantee you they will be as good as gold

It's also because Fed is nice enough not to crush Ben...

As soon as I said that, Fed broke in the 2nd set...

Tenez wrote:Actually there is no secret he has a t shirt underneath. Pretty obvious on slow mo.

That's a precaution measure to keep the back warm and absorb the sweat in the lower back, esp as it's not the hottest of summers in Paris atm, is it?

I reckon Paire will have a good chance of knocking out Nadal should they meet in the following round (Paire needs to beat Nishikori, Nadal Fognini)
The crowd can be as bad as possible

Nadull is playing not unbelievable, no?

Nadull.....I wish Sod was waiting for him in the next round instead of Fognini, he'd beat him now guaranteed: had the steely mindset, tons of power , big serve, consistency.....and hated Nadal!

I am still impressed by Fed's belly. I think he probably has the biggest belly on tour nowadays to the relief of Nalby.

rotla, calculate those points asap!!!

I am 6/6 on day 5
4/4 on day 4
and
5/5 on day 3

Interesting comments on Eurosport. They seem to all agree that Federer is not pushing his game too hard. He does just teh minimum to go through without too much sweat. And they are worried that if things get tougher he will not try to break his back on the task on clay.

To me this back is still the huge question mark.

And those comments certainly give support to SR and Sphair comments about the recent Madrid Final.

...and 5/6 on day 1

Tenez wrote:Interesting comments on Eurosport. They seem to all agree that Federer is not pushing his game too hard. He does just teh minimum to go through without too much sweat. And they are worried that if things get tougher he will not try to break his back on the task on clay.

To me this back is still the huge question mark.

And those comments certainly give support to SR and Sphair comments about the recent Madrid Final.

Federer has never pushed himself in early rounds, unless he was pushed by a keen opponent.
He has a dream draw and am sure will do everything to reach the final.

.....and will push himself against anyone except Nadal, maybe even Nadal for a set of two if his serve clicks in.

These commentators forget he only played a few matches on clay so, of course he was not ready for the desperate looking Nadal in that Madrid final.

Who were the commentators, anyway?
I have given up long ago on hearing anything insightful from them, although there are some good ones on Sky.

Ruds and Wade but also Mercer and someone else.

Monfils and Robredo both very tired after a set.

Tenez wrote:Ruds and Wade but also Mercer and someone else .

Say no more...even Mercer gets pathetic these days.

This is where Gulbis's comment could apply 100% safely among the commentators themselves!
I wish they had more guts to say what they really think, everyone would applaud it, it's not that hard for them to do it, esp the pundits...
Herman is probably the best of them all now, although he gets a bit flat if he has to commentate paired with someone as dull as Castle.

I now strongly prefer no commentating during matches ( very hard to find those streams) but like Sky's after match analysis.

You must all mean the Rome final... I know, strange innit (that it's not Madrid )?

sphairistike wrote:You must all mean the Rome final... I know, strange innit (that it's not Madrid )?

Yes, Rome!
I can't even remember whether Fed played in Madrid right now

I must say, despite the rain and all that, this RG looking pretty good so far.
Plenty of Frenchies in the draw, Nadal having to play big hitters, Fed's nice draw, Nole looking fresh and ready.....and Paire loving his current limelight and living up to expectations!

sphairistike wrote:You must all mean the Rome final... I know, strange innit (that it's not Madrid )?

Yes ...Rome I meant.

noleisthebest wrote:I must say, despite the rain and all that, this RG looking pretty good so far.
Plenty of Frenchies in the draw, Nadal having to play big hitters, Fed's nice draw, Nole looking fresh and ready.....and Paire loving his current limelight and living up to expectations!

Yes so far everything is going according to plan.

I have teh feeling that teh organisers are trying to help Fed in this tournament with draws and schedule.

[quote="Tenez"]

noleisthebest wrote:

I have teh feeling that teh organisers are trying to help Fed in this tournament with draws and schedule.

I don't mind at all.
The next question that comes to mind is: when was the last time a slam draw was NOT rigged?

I don't think they have all been rigged. My concern is that since IBM took care of "electronic" draws, it's much more difficult to be confident about them.

Speaking of scheduling, Nadal lets rip at RG organisers:

I cannot play third after men's and girls when our possible opponents plays second after girls. That's not fair. And today I was playing almost three hours on court, and my opponent was watching the TV in the locker room. So if you told me that's fair, I say that's not fair. Only thing that I can do is be positive, smile, and try to win my match and try to be ready for tomorrow. But that's not the right thing. And I hope they accept the mistake, because girls plays best of three. For them is a normal tournament. Even if they play Grand Slam and all the matches of the career and all the tournaments, they play best of three they have to play two days in a row, is not a big deal. For us it's completely different. That's the excuse they told me was because [Fognini’s opponent, Lukas] Rosol have to play doubles. I am sorry, but that's a joke. You have one more week to play doubles if you want to play doubles. Why do you want to protect the player who has to play doubles? So I'm going to write myself on the doubles draw then and I have the priority to play? I don't want to keep talking, because it seems like I am the bad guy saying that, but that's the real thing, and everybody here knows that's not right.

I never was against the longer schedule. If you have tournaments during every week during the whole year, 1st of January to 30th of December, for me is great. Because when that happens, you create jobs. More people have the chance to live from tennis. More player have the chance to win money to pay a coach and to travel with better conditions. The problem is the mandatory tournaments. The problem is the way that the ranking is made; that you cannot miss important tournaments if you want to have chances to be in the top. So at the end, you have to put everything on a balance and you try to make the right decisions. But is always the same. There is the same people here for long time. They are happy like this. They don't make big decisions. Probably most of the people who take positions are in a comfortable position in this moment, so they don't want to take a risk and take chances to change things that, in my opinion, are more positive for the players, more positive for the tournaments, and more positive for the show.”

Hasn't he become such a moaner now that things are not going his way, showing true colours to everyone now?

And does this Rosol/Fognini doubles talk mean that he wanted to play yesterday but they wouldn't let him?
In that case, he has every right to be upset.

Hey, Fognini effect seems to be striking again!

Right he has a point. Can we talk about him breaking the 20s rule on every point now?

Tenez wrote:Right he has a point. Can we talk about him breaking the 20s rule on every point now?

This is where we need a big mouth loser among the journalists to ask him the question

Raonic out in straight sets. Clay definitely not his surface.

noleisthebest wrote:Raonic out in straight sets. Clay definitely not his surface.

I saw some of it and indeed it's teh key points that let him down. He crumbles under pressure. Having a similar game than Anderson, there is no excuse.

he is a bit of a Goran....But I really liked Goran...I certainly won;t have the same passion for Rao.

Order of play out for tomorrow, some good matches on:

http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/scores/schedule/schedule12.html