Roland Garros 2018, Paris, France, ATP GRAND SLAM

[GameSetAndMath]

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

Shapo has reasonable draw. His next two matches are winnable ones (and so he should be able to go further than his projection from the seeding). Then he faces dirt devil and there is no shame in losing that (plus lot of fame and glory in case he can manage to win that).

 

[GameSetAndMath]

NBC has owned the rights to RG SF and Finals coverage for years. On the weekends they will come on air for about 3 hours at 11am Central time and show the last 3 live hours of the day. ESPN lost the bid to carry RG exclusively to the TTC.

On the other hand, a few years ago NBC didn't renew it's Wimby contract and ESPN picked up coverage of that. After a long stint of carrying the USO, CBS stopped carrying it and ESPN owns the rights to the majority of the coverage including the final weekend. AO is a joint project covered by ESPN and TTC. You have to remember ABC owns the ESPN family of networks. So the Wimby and USO finals will usually be rerun on ABC in the afternoon of that day.

For USO, one does not need any specific channel. The USO website shows live all matches in show courts. In fact it is better than having a specific channel where the folks who run the channel decide which match you should be seeing. Here, you can pick and choose whatever match you want to see as long as it is on show court.

I wish all other GSs follow that lead so that I can watch matches without subscription to TTC etc.

 

[Moxie]

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.

I know I like to accuse you of being a pessimist, but I hear you. I hope he'll shake off the nerves in the next couple of rounds and bring his RG-level tennis. I'm a bit concerned about Shapo if he doesn't. On the one hand, Shapo lost at USO last year to PCB in straights, due to lack of patience and discipline. PCB just out-steadied him, so Rafa, on clay, should have a much better road. On the other hand, Shapo has been improving and maturing, and he'll do a better job than Bolelli of hitting the cover off of the ball and discomfiting Rafa.

Federer fans might laugh at us for being nervous, but no one hands anyone a Major, and Rafa needs to clean up his act.

 

[Chris Koziarz]

May be in the regular tourneys. In GSs, they mostly give it to players from the same country except for couple of spots which are given on reciprocal basis. But, I am sure they would give him WC into qualifying draw, if needed.

I'm confident Stan'll have to "beg" to get to Q Wimby, as he has no success there and they are conservative with their rules. Unlike Andy Murray, he does not qualify for PR.
But are you really saying the same happens in USO (as he likely won't improve his ranking on the grass)? A recent champion begging for Q WC? You can't be serious man. "You CANNOT be serious"

 

[britbox]

Results and Highlights

(1) Rafael Nadal def. Simone Bolelli: 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (9)
Pablo Cuevas def. Aljaz Bedene: 6-4, 6-3, 6-2
(3) Marin Cilic def. James Duckworth: 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (4)
Jan-Lennard Struff def. Evgeny Donskoy: 6-1, 6-3, 6-0
Maximilian Marterer def. Ryan Harrison: 6-1, 6-3, 7-5
Hubert Hurkacz def. Tennys Sandgren: 6-2, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
(24) Denis Shapovalov def. John Millman: 7-5, 6-4, 6-2
(6) Kevin Anderson def. Paolo Lorenzi: 6-1, 6-2, 6-4
Thomas Fabbiano def. Matthew Ebden: 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2
(9) John Isner def. Noah Rubin: 6-3, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (7)
Marton Fucsovics def. Vasek Pospisil: 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (5)
(18) Fabio Fognini def. Pablo Andujar: 6-4, 6-2, 6-1
Horacio Zeballos def. Yuichi Sugita: 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2
(16) Kyle Edmund def. Alex de Minaur: 6-2, 6-4, 6-3
Guido Pella def. Joao Sousa: 6-2, 6-3, 6-4
Ruben Bemelmans def. Yuki Bhambri: 6-4, 6-4, 6-1
Steve Johnson def. (25) Adrian Mannarino: 7-6 (1), 6-2, 6-2
Mischa Zverev def. Florian Mayer: 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (3)
Elias Ymer def. Dudi Sela: 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-1
(5) Juan Martin del Potro def. Nicolas Mahut: 1-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4
Sergiy Stakhovsky def. (28) Feliciano Lopez: 6-2, 6-4, 6-2

 

[britbox]

I'm confident Stan'll have to "beg" to get to Q Wimby, as he has no success there and they are conservative with their rules. Unlike Andy Murray, he does not qualify for PR.
But are you really saying the same happens in USO (as he likely won't improve his ranking on the grass)? A recent champion begging for Q WC? You can't be serious man. "You CANNOT be serious"

Ha, you'd think the USO would give him one! I think you might be right with Wimbledon. I think Borg was denied a wildcard to RG in 1982 and told to play qualies, and he'd won it on numerous occasions. Think things are a bit softer these days!

 

[Moxie]

Pick Me, Pick Me. I know the answer.

I'm dying...please do.

 

[the AntiPusher]

Disgusting result. Bolleli should've won the match

You may have done the impossible..the Rafa fans and Fed fans may have united in their replies to your posts..

 

[Moxie]

You may have done the impossible..the Rafa fans and Fed fans may have united in their replies to your posts..

Or lack thereof. Take the hint, A-P.

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Shapo has reasonable draw. His next two matches are winnable ones (and so he should be able to go further than his projection from the seeding). Then he faces dirt devil and there is no shame in losing that (plus lot of fame and glory in case he can manage to win that).

I agree. And if he gets a set from Rafa, that is a great clay court season for him already.

 

[Moxie]

I agree. And if he gets a set from Rafa, that is a great clay court season for him already.

He's rather the best great teenager we've had since, well, Rafa. He's making pretty quick strides. I don't want him to beat Rafa in the 4th round, but I'd have to say it would be poetic justice if he got done by a 19-year-old. Should they meet, in any case, I expect a fight. They both have a kind of live-or-die attitude, only just that Rafa's are much more considered.

 

[Mastoor]

Am I the only one cheering for Lajovic tonight? he will play at the same time as Nole, but I guess Nole's opponent may be a little too inexperienced and exhausted from the long battle with Daveed, so I think i can safely focus on Duci. There's another potentially interesting match at the same time Paire/Nishikori.

 

[britbox]

Am I the only one cheering for Lajovic tonight? he will play at the same time as Nole, but I guess Nole's opponent may be a little too inexperienced and exhausted from the long battle with Daveed, so I think i can safely focus on Duci. There's another potentially interesting match at the same time Paire/Nishikori.

I'll be rooting for Zverev in that one.

 

[Mastoor]

I'll be rooting for Zverev in that one.

Oh, I am so hoping you'll be disappointed in that one.

 

[mrzz]

Am I the only one cheering for Lajovic tonight?

Hell no. Not only I root for the guy regularly, I developed a tendency to root against A. Zverev, don't know exactly why. Hope I can catch his match on TV

 

[britbox]

Djoker through in straights. Not a match you'd expect him to lose even at his worst... but all good momentum going forward. This guy beat Ferrer in the opening round.

 

[isabelle]

Sasha took a bad start

 

[mrzz]

C'mon Lajovic! Heading for the title!

 

[britbox]

Is Sascha going to be the Maria Sharapova of men's tennis?

 

[britbox]

Lajovic gets a second set break. Sascha gets a code violation for racquet abuse.