Roland Garros - Day 5, Thursday May 28 - Order of Play

[Moose]

And Tsvetana "Big Sexy" Pironkova is into the 3rd R at Roland Garros for the first time in her career. Bravo, always liked her

 

[tossip]

I cannot see the match, only the score line. Does it look like her tennis elbow is acting up again? I see that she had 9 aces but 8 DFs, was Serena that bad with her 52 uFs or was the young lady she played playing really well?

its was clear that the young lady had studied Rena s game and she was doing all that we hear the commentators say..hit at the body...hit on the t..and then she got tired.
Serena was not playing well,her forehand and backhand were not there plus her foot work was terrible.I think she still has problems with the elbow because the errors and double faults were too many.
I hope to see a good match against Renka....she will win 16-3 sorry Zenka and bye Sascha..

 

[GameSetAndMath]

And Tsvetana "Big Sexy" Pironkova is into the 3rd R at Roland Garros for the first time in her career. Bravo, always liked her

So, is clay the new grass?

 

[GameSetAndMath]

I cannot see the match, only the score line. Does it look like her tennis elbow is acting up again? I see that she had 9 aces but 8 DFs, was Serena that bad with her 52 uFs or was the young lady she played playing really well?

its was clear that the young lady had studied Rena s game and she was doing all that we hear the commentators say..hit at the body...hit on the t..and then she got tired.
Serena was not playing well,her forehand and backhand were not there plus her foot work was terrible.I think she still has problems with the elbow because the errors and double faults were too many.
I hope to see a good match against Renka....she will win 16-3 sorry Zenka and bye Sascha..

Anything that does not destroy you, makes you stronger.

 

[sk310]

I don't know why I just really hate when any of you call Serena "Rena" like she's your cousin from down the block...

 

[Moose]

Timea B continues a fairly solid season - you look at her draw, you can see all kinds of possibilities for her being a dark horse semi-finalist (which means I just doomed her to lose next round).

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Timea B continues a fairly solid season - you look at her draw, you can see all kinds of possibilities for her being a dark horse semi-finalist (which means I just doomed her to lose next round).

At this rate of seeds falling, all four semifinalists might be darkhorses. :laydownlaughing

 

[tossip]

I don't know why I just really hate when any of you call Serena "Rena" like she's your cousin from down the block...

:laydownlaughing:lolz::snicker:hug...you funny

 

[colleen66]

So, three seeds gone so far today: Caroline, Kuznetsova and Pliskova.

p.s. I picked Halep for title and Caroline for finalist and Kuznetsova for semifinals. :cry

Play the lottery today, you might have better luck!

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

The thing about Serena is she has so many ups and downs lately that you can't judge how she will show up to the next match based on the previous one. Well with Serena, double faults mount when it is a close match, and this was a close match. I am glad she kept it together to win and not flame out. Azarenka awaits, so we will see what Serena brings to it.

 

[sk310]

The thing about Serena is she has so many ups and downs lately that you can't judge how she will show up to the next match based on the previous one. Well with Serena, double faults mount when it is a close match, and this was a close match. I am glad she kept it together to win and not flame out. Azarenka awaits, so we will see what Serena brings to it.

Right I also think she's kind of saving her motivation a bit for specific surfaces and events. I kind of felt like she felt she needed to prove she was as good on clay if she wanted to be. Now that she's won a second RG she kind of doesn't seem to care/prepare as much as she did in 2013.

 

[kskate2]

She's the most accomplished clay courter on her side of the draw. Why not take the opportunity to get another slam? I thought she was serious about running down Steffi's record?

 

[sk310]

She's the most accomplished clay courter on her side of the draw. Why not take the opportunity to get another slam? I thought she was serious about running down Steffi's record?

I kind of think it's a time and preparation thing. For hard and grass courts Serena barely needs a warmup. We know she could show up with very little preparation and there's a very good chance she'll win the whole thing. To become comfortable on clay and peak on time for RG she really needs to prepare for a really long period from Miami through RG. I imagine that's annoying.

 

[golds girl]

Anna Lena had a plan and tactics....and the folks from our tv were really salivating for an upset after set one.
Serena should work on her foot work and the fh was off...
I am picking Serena to beat Renka..

I agree regarding her footwork...that's what I noticed most in sets 1 and 2. Hopefully Patrick informs her so she can keep loose and moving for R3.

 

[10isfan]

As I said before, clay is not suited to Serena's mentality or game. Look at Nadal and Pova. They are prepared to hit a thousand balls if necessary. They fight to the death for every point. That is the kind of patience and determination needed to dominate on this surface. Pova is my pick for the title, but I hope I am wrong.

Disappointed Woz is out. I had high expectations for her. Happy for Fran. I have not seen her play recently, but when she won here, she was playing beautiful tennis.

 

[sk310]

As I said before, clay is not suited to Serena's mentality or game. Look at Nadal and Pova. They are prepared to hit a thousand balls if necessary. They fight to the death for every point. That is the kind of patience and determination needed to dominate on this surface. Pova is my pick for the title, but I hope I am wrong.

Disappointed Woz is out. I had high expectations for her. Happy for Fran. I have not seen her play recently, but when she won here, she was playing beautiful tennis.

Nadal yes Maria no. She's still trying to end points as quickly as possible with power. I can't stand to watch her move.

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

I don't know that I would say Serena's game is not acclimated for clay. I think her mentality isn't acclimated to it since RG has been the site for some of her more perplexing and apathetic moments in slams. It is easy to feel positive about a slam when you are making it far consistently. I mean why wouldn't she have a different feel for Wimbledon since she made it to the finals or better from 2008-2013 aside from 2011. Or the U.S. Open, where she has made the semis or better since 2009 aside from when she didn't play in 2010. It makes me wonder if her mentality would have been better about RG had she come out on top of Henin in 2003. It seems that match really changed her perception and approach to clay for a long time with perplexing losses to Stosur after holding match point and to Kuzzy being up a break in the third. It is very similar to essentially what happened to Maria concerning Serena after that Australian Open loss in 2005 where her mentality has just never been the same concerning Serena. I think at this stage Serena needs to look at every opportunity and approach it with gusto. It is why I am slightly concerned that she can go from having a fun calm match in her first round to a sluggish, emotional mess in her second round. It is like she forgets that she knows how to play tennis sometimes.

 

[rubydo]

And Tsvetana "Big Sexy" Pironkova is into the 3rd R at Roland Garros for the first time in her career. Bravo, always liked her

So, is clay the new grass?

A subtle comment re Pironkova! Game set and match.

 

[tossip]

I have a feeling that Serena will play good in her next match and will be ready for Vika.I see her winning
16-3..
It appears as if she is struggling but she has a score to settle with Vika s entourage and will prevail
just have a good feeling about her winning 3rd...

 

[10isfan]

As I said before, clay is not suited to Serena's mentality or game. Look at Nadal and Pova. They are prepared to hit a thousand balls if necessary. They fight to the death for every point. That is the kind of patience and determination needed to dominate on this surface. Pova is my pick for the title, but I hope I am wrong.

Disappointed Woz is out. I had high expectations for her. Happy for Fran. I have not seen her play recently, but when she won here, she was playing beautiful tennis.

Nadal yes Maria no. She's still trying to end points as quickly as possible with power. I can't stand to watch her move.

Power is the only way she knows how to win. I agree Pova has ugly movement. She is so often off balance. She was blessed with extraordinary hand-eye and fight and size. Those are enough to keep her in the top five.