Roland Garros - Day 9

First topic message reminder :

Thought I would start this early and allow some discussion to take place:

Andy Murray v Richard Gasquet. Interestingly enough Gasquet in their 3 meetings in Slams has never defeated Andy. Though Richard won their recent meeting in Rome.

Rafael Nadal v Juan Monaco. Juan has his work cut out. Never taken a set off Nadal on clay in 3 meetings. Needs a career best performance if he is to compete.

Janko Tipsarevic v Nicolas Almagro. Never met. This shall prove to be the most intriguing match of the day. Almagro being the better clay player should start as favourite.

David Ferrer v Marcel Granollers. The one meeting on Clay was a straight sets win for Ferrer. Have a feeling this might be tighter affair.

Tsonga/Wawrinka and Berdych/Del Potro shall continue where they left off.

I would put the womens up but the WTA website is being crap!

Predictions anyone?

Shame the crowd are taking their time getting into the match.

it's a shame we can't really get animated like that at wimbledon, understand why they ask for quiet on some occasions but woudl be good for matches involving the lesser british players like ward and bogdanovic

legendkillarV2 wrote:

Mike Selig wrote:

Mad for Chelsea wrote:

Mike Selig wrote:Murray is playing well now. However he firmly raised my hackles with his behaviour at the end of the 2nd set. Absolutely disgraceful stuff, and he's only started playing well once Gasquet completely lost the plot (which was obviously the plan). So well done Murray, but I won't be supporting you in the quarter. What a dreadful thing to have to resort to do.

what did he do?

From what I can gather it all started with Murray being upset at Gasquet querrying a line call (which was out, but only just) despite his (Murray's) assurances. Anyway Murray clearly made a conscience decision to apply some mental disintegration: this involved feeling his back every time he lost a point (this shouldn't have annoyed Gasquet as much as he let it) and refusing to acknowledge Gasquet signaling new balls. And not acknowledgeing a net cord. All in the attempt to rile his opponent because he was losing, and that's what he thought his best chance of winning was. Gasquet has proved him right, but it is a real shame. IMO.

So what about Ferrer accepting an out call by Granollers earlier? Far better cause to challenge than the Gasquet one.

Some players have class, like Ferrer. Others don't like Gasquet.

Oh come on! Given Murray didn't conceded one which the umpire called in later, do you think at that stage Gasquet should have just accepted Murray's word for it when it was that close? Really?

Wow what a way to see out the match.

A very quiet applause. Even some boo's in there.

and appropriately Murray ends it with a tremendous forehand winner. some morons booing him after the match, which is a shame.

Mike it would be nice if you got a few things straight. Murray was holding his back early doors, long before it blew up and Gasquet and the fans starting to make something of it. Odd don't you think that they only picked up on it when the tide started turning?

Murray through to the quarter final 1-6 6-4 6-1 6-2 an easy win in the end, but I thought the gamesmanship was unneccesary and distasteful. Gasquet on the other hand was a perfect gent, acknowledging net cords, lucky frame shots, over-ruling a linesmans call to give yield a point to Murray etc.

Anyway, what say Murray causing an upset in beating Ferrer to reach the semi-finals?

Mike Selig wrote:

legendkillarV2 wrote:

Mike Selig wrote:

Mad for Chelsea wrote:

Mike Selig wrote:Murray is playing well now. However he firmly raised my hackles with his behaviour at the end of the 2nd set. Absolutely disgraceful stuff, and he's only started playing well once Gasquet completely lost the plot (which was obviously the plan). So well done Murray, but I won't be supporting you in the quarter. What a dreadful thing to have to resort to do.

what did he do?

From what I can gather it all started with Murray being upset at Gasquet querrying a line call (which was out, but only just) despite his (Murray's) assurances. Anyway Murray clearly made a conscience decision to apply some mental disintegration: this involved feeling his back every time he lost a point (this shouldn't have annoyed Gasquet as much as he let it) and refusing to acknowledge Gasquet signaling new balls. And not acknowledgeing a net cord. All in the attempt to rile his opponent because he was losing, and that's what he thought his best chance of winning was. Gasquet has proved him right, but it is a real shame. IMO.

So what about Ferrer accepting an out call by Granollers earlier? Far better cause to challenge than the Gasquet one.

Some players have class, like Ferrer. Others don't like Gasquet.

Oh come on! Given Murray didn't conceded one which the umpire called in later, do you think at that stage Gasquet should have just accepted Murray's word for it when it was that close? Really?

Oh wow one point makes him a villan.

Take Razzano. Challenged everything that landed out!

Josiah Maiestas wrote:

Haddie-nuff wrote:

Josiah Maiestas wrote:Craig i'm talking about Ferrer v Nadal. :thumbsup:

Haddie is sooo bitter.

No Haddie isn´t JM i cant stand people who have to denegrade players or posters come to that. You obviously dislike Nadal.. I dont have a problem with that but calling him names does nothing for you.. because he doesnt even know. You just embarass yourself.
As I said.. if you want to be a WUM at least try being a good one

Boring me now :yawwwwwn:

Got news for you............so are you :vomit:

Can't agree with the boos. That's not on.

Murray paying respect to Richard after that match. Classy.

Still despite this and all of the good tennis he played some are dumb enough to focus on other things.

Nore Staat wrote:Murray through to the quarter final 1-6 6-4 6-1 6-2 an easy win in the end, but I thought the gamesmanship was unneccesary and distasteful. Gasquet on the other hand was a perfect gent, acknowledging net cords, lucky frame shots, over-ruling a linesmans call to give yield a point to Murray etc.

Anyway, what say Murray causing an upset in beating Ferrer to reach the semi-finals?

Well, as the commentators noted, if Murray does have back problems, Ferrer will not be a player he wants to face, and then if he advances from that quarterfinal, the prospect of facing Rafa (assuming he beats Almagro), will be further strain on his back. So we'll see.

Nore Staat wrote:Murray through to the quarter final 1-6 6-4 6-1 6-2 an easy win in the end, but I thought the gamesmanship was unneccesary and distasteful. Gasquet on the other hand was a perfect gent, acknowledging net cords, lucky frame shots, over-ruling a linesmans call to give yield a point to Murray etc.

Anyway, what say Murray causing an upset in beating Ferrer to reach the semi-finals?

Wouldn't be that much of an upset, despite Ferrer being a good clay courter he hasn't really done anything at the French Open in his long career. He's edged Murray a few times on clay when he was in that terrible post AO rut in 2010 but i call it a completely even match. If Andy can hit his forehand like today he wins hands down.

legendkillarV2 wrote:
Oh wow one point makes him a villan.

Take Razzano. Challenged everything that landed out!

Eh? You were the one suggesting Gasquet should have accepted Murray's word. I was just saying in light of what happened afterwards he was probably right not to. Whatever the rights and wrongs of that incident it doesn't forgive Murray's subsequent behaviour, which was pure gamesmanship. IMO.

Nothing excuses the boos at the end of the match though. That to me is on par with refusing to shake hands after a game. Not acceptable in any circumstance.

legendkillarV2 wrote:Murray paying respect to Richard after that match. Classy.

Still despite this and all of the good tennis he played some are dumb enough to focus on other things.

This will be a grist for the mill for those who put forth Murray Persecution Theory.

Haddie-nuff wrote:

Josiah Maiestas wrote:

Haddie-nuff wrote:

Josiah Maiestas wrote:Craig i'm talking about Ferrer v Nadal.

Haddie is sooo bitter.

No Haddie isn´t JM i cant stand people who have to denegrade players or posters come to that. You obviously dislike Nadal.. I dont have a problem with that but calling him names does nothing for you.. because he doesnt even know. You just embarass yourself.
As I said.. if you want to be a WUM at least try being a good one

Boring me now :yawwwwwn:

Got news for you............so are you

Am not your husband so don't give me grief

legendkillarV2 wrote:Murray paying respect to Richard after that match. Classy.

Still despite this and all of the good tennis he played some are dumb enough to focus on other things.

It is very easy to be a classy winner.

Murray did indeed play some tremendous stuff in the last couple of sets; perhaps that kind of mental shenanigans was what he needed to get going. Whatever, it doesn't excuse his behaviour.

Mike Selig wrote:

legendkillarV2 wrote:
Oh wow one point makes him a villan.

Take Razzano. Challenged everything that landed out!

Eh? You were the one suggesting Gasquet should have accepted Murray's word. I was just saying in light of what happened afterwards he was probably right not to. Whatever the rights and wrongs of that incident it doesn't forgive Murray's subsequent behaviour, which was pure gamesmanship. IMO.

Nothing excuses the boos at the end of the match though. That to me is on par with refusing to shake hands after a game. Not acceptable in any circumstance.

And? This is the whole thing of not just challenging the player's word but that of the line judge. Think your missing the point. Gasquet's behaviour wasn't that stunning neither. If he had a problem, there is the umpire to go to.

The boo's is not acceptable. But then with the French it doesn't surprise me. They boo their own.

Do the quarters start tmrw or is it just the ladies that play tmrw?

One match at a time and personally feel his run will end against Ferrer but I think it can safely be said that Murray is not useless on clay as claimed before on here.

Mauresmo laying in to Gasquet now. "Showed no fight". Well they do have a history of surrendering

Josiah Maiestas wrote:Mauresmo laying in to Gasquet now. "Showed no fight". Well they do have a history of surrendering

Gasquet's game is not one for fighting. SHBH and FH makes it difficult especially on Clay to really 'grind' out games.

legendkillarV2 wrote:
And? This is the whole thing of not just challenging the player's word but that of the line judge. Think your missing the point. Gasquet's behaviour wasn't that stunning neither. If he had a problem, there is the umpire to go to.

I have no idea what you are on about. A line judge called one of Gasquet's balls out; Gasquet wondered up to have a look; Murray assured him it was out; Gasquet asked the umpire to have a look; the umpire agreed with Murray. We agree that that's what happened? This is a fairly common occurance in tennis. Nothing unusual so far.

The point I am making is that Murray's behaviour after this was disgraceful. He plunged depths of gamesmanship I haven't seen from him before (in fact I have often supported him in casual chats with casual fans) which I found very disappointing.

I don't see what Gasquet did wrong (after the line call): he acknowledged his net cords and even conceded a line call himself.

SHBH and FH

Did you expect a DHFH?

Federer always fights back from the brink with his SHBH, it has nothing to do with SHBH.

Mike Selig wrote:

legendkillarV2 wrote:
And? This is the whole thing of not just challenging the player's word but that of the line judge. Think your missing the point. Gasquet's behaviour wasn't that stunning neither. If he had a problem, there is the umpire to go to.

I have no idea what you are on about. A line judge called one of Gasquet's balls out; Gasquet wondered up to have a look; Murray assured him it was out; Gasquet asked the umpire to have a look; the umpire agreed with Murray. We agree that that's what happened? This is a fairly common occurance in tennis. Nothing unusual so far.

The point I am making is that Murray's behaviour after this was disgraceful. He plunged depths of gamesmanship I haven't seen from him before (in fact I have often supported him in casual chats with casual fans) which I found very disappointing.

I don't see what Gasquet did wrong (after the line call): he acknowledged his net cords and even conceded a line call himself.

Which was?

Oh wait 2 back holds and it makes it a disgrace?

Gasquet giving verbal is acceptable then?

Keep digging.

See the pundits making Ferrer favourite.

Not sure if it is a gimmie by any stretches.

Which was the back holds every time he lost a point (I notice you've gone from 1 to 2, any chance you could accept it was a bit more frequent than that?), not acknowledgeing the new balls and not acknowledgeing a net cord.

You've accepted on the other thread you don't like what Murray did, so why get all upset about people getting upset about it?

Wow really impressed by Tsonga's crosscourt backhand pass to set up match point. It was nadalesque from two meters behind the baseline and going cross court. He has really hit that backhand well recently. But I think Novak will beat him as he is a better player and clay court player.

Gasquet was never gonna win. Fact. In all likeliness, he would probably lose from being 6-0 6-0 5-0 40-0 up. Note sarcasm...

Murray was decent nothing more.

Can be beat Ferrer? Yeah why not? So what if Ferrer's only dropped 20 odd games. Murray has more game then Ferrer previous victims.

Mike Selig wrote:Which was the back holds every time he lost a point (I notice you've gone from 1 to 2, any chance you could accept it was a bit more frequent than that?), not acknowledgeing the new balls and not acknowledgeing a net cord.

You've accepted on the other thread you don't like what Murray did, so why get all upset about people getting upset about it?

Maybe you could say when the others were? I saw the one at 5-4 and again at 4-1 in the fourth

A lot of players don't acknowledge net cords. And? Every player would be a disgrace.

Not upset, just not the only thing that occurred in the match.

I saw a good 4/5, lk, and I wasn't watching too carefully.

The commentators over here were getting into it big time.

Mike. I will say again that Murray was holding his back in the first set when things weren't going well but Gasquet powered on and the crowd ignored it. When the tide turned is when Gasquet began gesticulating when Murray held his back and the crowd then got involved. Now he made nothing of it whatsoever and it didn't affect him early doors so to say that caused his mental implosion - I don't accept it.

I saw 2 BB if I am honest. In blatant terms.

Id be disappointed if Murray was to grind out Ferrer. He can't hurt Nadal on this surface like Ferrer and we want a decent semi final this time.

Ferrer wouldn't give Nadal a decent semi.

Everyone wanted to see Raonic and Monaco ruined it

Josiah Maiestas wrote:Id be disappointed if Murray was to grind out Ferrer. He can't hurt Nadal on this surface like Ferrer and we want a decent semi final this time.

Ferrer has beaten Nadal once on clay, when Nadal was 15/16. Whatever Ferrer tries against Nadal fails...

I can recall at least 3 (1 at 4-4 and 2 at 5-4) in the second set, as well as 2 in the 3rd (which was quite an effort given Gasquet probably only won 5 points or something).

Anyway in answer to your second point, yes a player not acknowledgeing a net cord is a disgrace. It's something I honestly can't remember from the 90s (apart from a few well-known serial offenders) and I really dislike it.

Demon Racer wrote:

Josiah Maiestas wrote:Id be disappointed if Murray was to grind out Ferrer. He can't hurt Nadal on this surface like Ferrer and we want a decent semi final this time.

Ferrer has beaten Nadal once on clay, when Nadal was 15/16. Whatever Ferrer tries against Nadal fails...

Judging by clay results the last few years, Ferrer is a decent number 3 player, behind Nadal and Federer. Andy's best hope in beating Ferrer is food poisoning.

Josiah Maiestas wrote:

Demon Racer wrote:

Josiah Maiestas wrote:Id be disappointed if Murray was to grind out Ferrer. He can't hurt Nadal on this surface like Ferrer and we want a decent semi final this time.

Ferrer has beaten Nadal once on clay, when Nadal was 15/16. Whatever Ferrer tries against Nadal fails...

Judging by clay results the last few years, Ferrer is a decent number 3 player, behind Nadal and Federer. Andy's best hope in beating Ferrer is food poisoning.

He's so desperate and shameless, that he'd probably attempt to use that tactic too.

Josiah Maiestas wrote:

Demon Racer wrote:

Josiah Maiestas wrote:Id be disappointed if Murray was to grind out Ferrer. He can't hurt Nadal on this surface like Ferrer and we want a decent semi final this time.

Ferrer has beaten Nadal once on clay, when Nadal was 15/16. Whatever Ferrer tries against Nadal fails...

Judging by clay results the last few years, Ferrer is a decent number 3 player, behind Nadal and Federer. Andy's best hope in beating Ferrer is food poisoning.

Think you mean number 4 player, as only Nadal, Djokovic and Federer win the big ones on clay

Demon Racer wrote:

Josiah Maiestas wrote:

Demon Racer wrote:

Josiah Maiestas wrote:Id be disappointed if Murray was to grind out Ferrer. He can't hurt Nadal on this surface like Ferrer and we want a decent semi final this time.

Ferrer has beaten Nadal once on clay, when Nadal was 15/16. Whatever Ferrer tries against Nadal fails...

Judging by clay results the last few years, Ferrer is a decent number 3 player, behind Nadal and Federer. Andy's best hope in beating Ferrer is food poisoning.

Think you mean number 4 player, as only Nadal, Djokovic and Federer win the big ones on clay

Apart from last year, Djokovic didn't previously look as good as Ferrer on clay. This year the trend has returned, Ferrer is better on clay than Djok.

Whats your opinion on Federer v Del Potro?

Funny how most people were saying till yesterday how:

- Delpo hasn't got what it takes to compete for slams (anymore?) and he was even inferior to Tsonga and Berdy

- Muzza wasn't really competitive on clay and destined to an early exit.

Now look where those two have gone..........

Josiah Maiestas wrote:

Demon Racer wrote:

Josiah Maiestas wrote:

Demon Racer wrote:

Josiah Maiestas wrote:Id be disappointed if Murray was to grind out Ferrer. He can't hurt Nadal on this surface like Ferrer and we want a decent semi final this time.

Ferrer has beaten Nadal once on clay, when Nadal was 15/16. Whatever Ferrer tries against Nadal fails...

Judging by clay results the last few years, Ferrer is a decent number 3 player, behind Nadal and Federer. Andy's best hope in beating Ferrer is food poisoning.

Think you mean number 4 player, as only Nadal, Djokovic and Federer win the big ones on clay

Apart from last year, Djokovic didn't previously look as good as Ferrer on clay. This year the trend has returned, Ferrer is better on clay than Djok.

Whats your opinion on Federer v Del Potro?

I love Federer, but I'm also a huge Delpo fan. Federer has been up and down thus far, but with Delpo carrying a damaged knee. Federer should be able to run him all over the place and win in 3 close sets!!! (Fingers crossed)

Monaco fighting real hard early on and hitting well, but how long before Nadal finally breaks him down.

Del po is thru and fortunately for him he didn't expend a lot of energy today against berdy. I think Roger prefers playing Del PO, but Juan looked very impressive. If the Roger of the last two rounds shows up against Del Po regardless of Roger's recent dominance it could be trouble. If Roger of the last 6 months shows up then he will win.

I don't think Potro's knee is as bad as some make out. If it was, he can't dish out the beatdown on Berdych in 4. Federer's last match with Potro was 2 tiebreakers I think, could be a classic.

socal1976 wrote:Monaco fighting real hard early on and hitting well, but how long before Nadal finally breaks him down.

This match finished hours ago lol

oh Poopie, forgot I am watching it delayed. Sorry oops lol, damn DVRs throw off my sense of time.

Josiah Maiestas wrote:I don't think Potro's knee is as bad as some make out. If it was, he can't dish out the beatdown on Berdych in 4. Federer's last match with Potro was 2 tiebreakers I think, could be a classic.

Well ideally Federer would win in 3 sets, but going to current form, it may be a 5 set epic. If that is the case, Tsonga-Djokovic needs to go to 5 sets, otherwise Federer will get battered in the semi!!!

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:Funny how most people were saying till yesterday how:

- Delpo hasn't got what it takes to compete for slams (anymore?) and he was even inferior to Tsonga and Berdy

- Muzza wasn't really competitive on clay and destined to an early exit.

Now look where those two have gone..........

Then most people have poor knowledge, which is true so no wonder.

Even as early into his comeback as the last Wimbledon, Del boy gave Nadal a much better game than Murray was able to later, which came as no big shock to the neutrals in the know as he's got far more fire power.

And Muzza never going to go out early against such a mass of weak willed saps with zero drive. Was always going to bully his way through to the "business" end, whilst the field just lied down for him.

Even ex-players can predict matches wrong, knowledge isn't necessarily linked to predictions.
Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing