Roland Garros 2018, Paris, France, ATP GRAND SLAM

[Chris Koziarz]

Future Trivia Question: What do Robin Soderling and Simone Bolelli have in common?

Apart from the obvious others have said: both tennis players both haven't won a major, etc., both list Gladiator as their favourite movie.
Silly & trivial but true, that's what trivia is about.

 

[Moxie]

Apart from the obvious others have said: both tennis players both haven't won a major, etc., both list Gladiator as their favourite movie.
Silly & trivial but true, that's what trivia is about.

That's excellent, though I think that something like 75% of tennis players list "Gladiator" as their favorite film.

 

[mrzz]

From 1400 down to 210 points. I think it's going to be a down-mover of the year at least. Or maybe a decade because I haven't heard of such a plunge by a player who has been saying for last few weeks that he "feels good" and his level is "high". Really? No, the results since the beginning of this year are saying something else: he's in the biggest dip of his career maybe he hasn't really recovered from his injuries or maybe something else. Out of touch a bit? I don't expect him to find his grove anytime soon as grass surface is his weakest.
The only good news: this is an absolute rock bottom for him. No points to defend for the rest of the year: Wimby - 10.points and that's it which is given for free if they let him play in the main draw. Or do they? Is it conceivable they have him play Q rounds, that he is likely to lose?
A sad time for Swiss fans, there is no Roger to cheer them up.

I saw most of the match, and I actually had GGL winning on my bracket, as he is a very good clay courter who also came back from injury and is ranked bellow where he should be.

Believe it or not, Wawrinka's level IS high. He is just still inconsistent, and physically (both speed and stamina wise) half a step behind, all of which is completely normal for a guy coming back from knee surgery. But watching him play at one point I thought that he will be surely a major threat later in the year. The weapons are there, and they are still clicking. Really no shame in that loss. Too bad for the ones who draw him on R1 (as he will get a lot of WC's) from now on...

 

[El Dude]

I messed up my joke. It should be:

Future Trivia Question: What do Robin Soderling, Novak Djokovic, and Simon Bolelli have in common?

 

[Carol]

I messed up my joke. It should be:

Future Trivia Question: What do Robin Soderling, Novak Djokovic, and Simon Bolelli have in common?

If you are thinking that Bolelli is going to beat Nadal too, yes, it sounds like a joke. Nadal's serve was bad and wasn't playing excellent while Bolelli was playing his best and even that Rafa was up for two sets. Now watching the replay the Italian was up 3-0 in the third set.....do you think for a second that he would have won that set and also the match? come on EL Dude, maybe you have to start to focus more in this next grass season.....

 

[mrzz]

Sad to see good ol' Baghdatis having to retire while leading his R1 match. Saw the video on a Braz. news site but it should be all over you tube and social media.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

As I said he would drop out of the top 200, live ranking has him now ranked
# 257. This could change by the time the next official ranking comes out, he may drop a few more.

Stan cannot even get a direct entry into a GS Qualifying Event with that kind of ranking. He should simply beg for a wild card
into qualifying draw of grand slams at the moment.

 

[10isfan]

Tuesday will be cloudy with light showers. The matches will get backed up probably.

 

[Moxie]

Predictably, Bolelli hasn't come out as hot today, Rafa more convincing. Back on serve...first 3 games to Nadal.

 

[the AntiPusher]

Predictably, Bolelli hasn't come out as hot today, Rafa more convincing. Back on serve...first 3 games to Nadal.

Bolelli is continuing to pummel the ball. He is really playing almost JMDP style of first strike tennis.. This is a very good test for Rafa..

 

[Moxie]

Bolelli is continuing to pummel the ball. He is really playing almost JMDP style of first strike tennis.. This is a very good test for Rafa..

Only today he's not much landing them. But he's making a valiant show of himself, esp. for a LL.

 

[herios]

One of the predicted dangerous floaters, J. Sousa lost 0-3 to Pella, who is also a clay courter, but less successful.

 

[Moxie]

One of the predicted dangerous floaters, J. Sousa lost 0-3 to Pella, who is also a clay courter, but less successful.

Every match in my draw I gave a 2nd thought to, I picked wrong. I like Sousa, but he's not esp. consistent.

 

[herios]

By the way, not just Stan drops like a rock this week.
Andy Murray also is in a free fall, losing 720 points.
Andy is #157 ranked in live ranking.

 

[Carol]

If I would be Moya I would say to Rafa: "your first serve sucks!"

 

[Moxie]

By the way, not just Stan drops like a rock this week.
Andy Murray also is in a free fall, losing 720 points.
Andy is #157 ranked in live ranking.

Funny, I was just wondering how long before Murray's ranking didn't hold up. Sometime later this year or next there are going to be a lot of "PR"'s next to folks' names.

Bolelli's stock went up with that match, I'd think, even though he still lost in straights. Entertaining match.

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Bolelli lost the right way. He attacked , created many chances for himself. Of course it is not sustainable but it is way better than slapping on the knee pads and bending over if you ask me.

Kudos to Shapo for winning his first main draw RG match.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Something isn't clicking with Nadal's game since after Barcelona. No reason to worry or anything if you're rational, but, I have a funny feeling about this tournament but I hope it's just me being an overly worried fan.

Nadal's serve needs a lot of cleaning up and he's been essentially playing without it all clay season. His shots are lacking depth too, and he really needs to figure out his return. Kudos to Bolelli who made him sweat and swung for the fences, and that was one hell of a tie-break by both players where almost every point ended in a winner, except the crucial error on match point.

 

[herios]

Nadal in R2 will not play the projected Sousa, rather Pella.
He is a better player on clay than his raking (78) would suggest.

 

[mrzz]

Nadal in R2 will not play the projected Sousa, rather Pella.
He is a better player on clay than his raking (78) would suggest.

Yes, when I listed some draw challenge "nightmares" I mentioned that some matches I did not include as it would be between players folks don't give much attention to, and this was the main one. Pella is a very fine clay courter, exactly the kind of player Nadal owns routinely, but in the last year Pella has added some sting to his shots. I could not check his match with Sousa, but if he won rather than Sousa lost it, considering that Sousa was playing really well, then he could give some trouble to Nadal.

All of this to say, hell yes, specially considering clay Pella plays much better than #78.

And I agree with @brokenshoelace , the Nadal of late is looking less unbeatable.