Roland Garros 2018, Paris, France, ATP GRAND SLAM

[Busted]

Come on....please, I haven’t said it’s a dificult draw formNadal but look this one:
Federer’s draw AO
Bedene
Struff
Gasquet
Fucsovics
Berdych
Chung
Cilic

Carol -

Please don't make me bring up Nadal's US Open draw and the fact that he DID NOT play anyone inside the Top 28 to win the title. - AGAIN. Cuz, as you well know...I'm happy to keep harping on that....

#32 - Kevin Anderson
#28 - Juan Martin del Potro
#53 - Andrey Rublev
#64 - Alexandr Dolgopolov
#59 - Leonardo Mayer
#121 - Taro Daniel
#85 - Dusan Lajovic

 

[Carol]

Carol -

Please don't make me bring up Nadal's US Open draw and the fact that he DID NOT play anyone inside the Top 28 to win the title. - AGAIN. Cuz, as you well know...I'm happy to keep harping on that....

#32 - Kevin Anderson
#28 - Juan Martin del Potro
#53 - Andrey Rublev
#64 - Alexandr Dolgopolov
#59 - Leonardo Mayer
#121 - Taro Daniel
#85 - Dusan Lajovic

So do you think that Bedene, Struff, Gasquet, Fucsovics, Berdych (who is olaying worse and worse) and Chung who is getting even worse than Nishi between blisters and injuries are better than those? really?

 

[Busted]

This is a likely path for Nole on his way to the final with Rafa:

R1 Qualifier
R2 Ferrer
R3 Bautista
R4 Dimitrov
QF Goffin
SF Zverev/Thiem

It couldn't have been more evened out past round 1, all the good players, which means plenty of good practice for Nole, but also possibility of long matches in case he has a bad day.

Nole's playing better, so I think QF/SF is doable - because some of these guys are going to lose before he has to play them. If he's playing well enough to get to the semis then I like his chances to get to the final. He's not going to be Nadal, but at least he'll improve his ranking for Wimbledon.

 

[Busted]

So do you think that Bedene, Struff, Gasquet, Fucsovics, Berdych (who is olaying worse and worse) and Chung who is getting even worse than Nishi between blisters and injuries are better than those? really?

In a nutshell - they're about equal. I'm just saying - don't crap on Roger's AO draw when Nadal's is at most equally unimpressive. Added to that if - er, WHEN - Nadal wins RG if the top 10 players in his half (Anderson, Cilic, DelPo) lose before the round he's supposed to play them (and they will), then in his last 3 Slam wins he will probably have only had to beat 2 top 10 players (Thiem, Wawrinka). Assuming a top 10 player makes the final, then it'll be 3. Roger had to beat 3 just win the AO in 2017...2 to win Wimbledon last year...but only 1 to win this year's AO. That's...6 to 3, so don't say that Nadal's draws are tougher. They've been beyond lame.

 

[Moxie]

I'll say this: the last time I remember Nadal winning RG being the surest bet in sports was 2009. :skull:

 

[Moxie]

In a nutshell - they're about equal. I'm just saying - don't crap on Roger's AO draw when Nadal's is at most equally unimpressive. Added to that if - er, WHEN - Nadal wins RG if the top 10 players in his half (Anderson, Cilic, DelPo) lose before the round he's supposed to play them (and they will), then in his last 3 Slam wins he will probably have only had to beat 2 top 10 players (Thiem, Wawrinka). Assuming a top 10 player makes the final, then it'll be 3. Roger had to beat 3 just win the AO in 2017...2 to win Wimbledon last year...but only 1 to win this year's AO. That's...6 to 3, so don't say that Nadal's draws are tougher. They've been beyond lame.

The fault is not in the player who gets through a less than impressive draw, but with the field, then.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

The Quals are over.

Notable Winners: Gulbis, Tomic, Klizan, Dutra Silva, Casper Ruud and Denis Kudla.

Notable Losers (of the last round): Belluci, Stakhovsky and the Deaf player Lee (he lost in the last round in AO quals also).

Tomic will face Kyrgios in 1st round and Duta Silva will face Novak.

 

[Busted]

I'm LMAO at the ATP site. They're trying to build up interest/tension for RG with a story that Nadal vs. Dolgopolov is a "must see match." Yeah - if you're a Nadal fan! If Dolgo win more than 10 games the entire match I'm going to be shocked...

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Three lucky losers were placed in the MD: They are Stakhovsky, Polansky and Zopp.

This means three players withdrew after the qualifying began. Not sure who they are. I guess Chung is one of them.

Federer, Tsonga and Milos withdrew. But, they did before the quals began (and so don't need LL's to replace them).

 

[Busted]

I'll say this: the last time I remember Nadal winning RG being the surest bet in sports was 2009. :skull:

LOL! Yeah, well. Robin Soderling hung up his racket and Djokovic is still trying to claw his way back to his old normal.

I've thought about this off and on for years - I think the only clay match I'd ever see pay to see Nadal play would have been against Thomas Muster. Still can't believe Muster only won 1 FO. That sucker would have been a 10 hour match...

 

[Busted]

The fault is not in the player who gets through a less than impressive draw, but with the field, then.

You will get no argument from me on that score. Aside from Roger and Nadal - the men's "field" is starting to look like the women's "field." On a match-by-match basis you can flip a coin.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Zverev just turned 21 last month...why are we already talking about him potentially never winning a slam? I'm not even that high on him but jeez.

 

[herios]

The Quals are over.



Notable Losers (of the last round): Belluci, Stakhovsky and the Deaf player Lee (he lost in the last round in AO quals also).

Tomic will face Kyrgios in 1st round and Duta Silva will face Novak.

Bellucci won.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Bellucci won.

Oops, you are right.

 

[Moxie]

You will get no argument from me on that score. Aside from Roger and Nadal - the men's "field" is starting to look like the women's "field." On a match-by-match basis you can flip a coin.

If you agree, then I'm not sure why you like to continuously hammer away at how easy some of Rafa's draws have been in a few of his Slam wins. It does seem a Fed-fanish effort to downplay them.

I saw your post on the Grass Season thread to say "can we just fast-forward to grass?" (I didn't want to pollute the Grass thread with this response.) You're welcome to skip RG viewing, but I think there will be a lot of compelling matches and stories within it, for the tennis fan: Novak's progress, Stan's as well, if Zverev will step up at a Major, Thiem at RG, and some of the young guys we have our eyes on...etc. Contrary to current press hype, Nadal isn't the only player in the tournament and I think there will still be good tennis to watch, even if odds and predictions hold as to the eventual winner. B-)

 

[Moxie]

Three lucky losers were placed in the MD: They are Stakhovsky, Polansky and Zopp.

This means three players withdrew after the qualifying began. Not sure who they are. I guess Chung is one of them.

Federer, Tsonga and Milos withdrew. But, they did before the quals began (and so don't need LL's to replace them).

Used to be, we could get an easily printable draw to post, and often they listed withdrawals. Now that websites are so fancy, it's harder to get the down and dirty stuff. I have yet to get a printable draw for RG out of their website.

 

[Mastoor]

I'll say this: the last time I remember Nadal winning RG being the surest bet in sports was 2009. :skull:

I've just read an interview with the player who decided the 2009 winner. He thinks that Swedish tennis needs a superstar like Ibrahimovic.

 

[Moxie]

I've just read an interview with the player who decided the 2009 winner. He thinks that Swedish tennis needs a superstar like Ibrahimovic.

Just trying to back-translate from the Serbian, maybe: Who said what? And who's going to save Swedish tennis?? Wtf.

 

[Mastoor]

Just trying to back-translate from the Serbian, maybe: Who said what? And who's going to save Swedish tennis?? Wtf.

I don't know what are you talking about. I barely wrote two CLEAR sentences and you were not patient enough to read them.

 

[Moxie]

I don't know what are you talking about. I barely wrote two CLEAR sentences and you were not patient enough to read them.

OK, "the player who decided the 2009 winner." That could be either Soderling or Federer. (Though I'm guessing Soderling.) "He thinks Sweden needs a star like Ibrahimovic." A late-career footballer (of Serbian-decent, so I kind of get where you're going with that.) I'm still asking you: what is the point? That Sweden needs better tennis players coming up? I'm not sure that's a news flash.