French Open 2015 - Day 11. LET'S GET REEEEEEADY TO RUUUUUMMMMMBLE!

First topic message reminder :

I thought I'd take a turn at starting the thread!

Chatrier
Women's Singles - Quarterfinal
Serena Williams (USA) [1] vs.Sara Errani (ITA) [17]

Men's Singles - Quarterfinal
Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1]vs.Rafael Nadal (ESP) [6]

Lenglen
Women's Singles - Quarterfinal
Timea Bacsinszky (SUI) [23] vs.Alison Van Uytvanck (BEL)

Men's Singles - Quarterfinal
Andy Murray (GBR) [3]vs.David Ferrer (ESP) [7]

I'll end with a short message for Novak:

Phew! Andy holds for 5-3. Looks the better player so far.

Come on Andy, come on Rafa

"Djokovic is a better wind player than Nadal"

FFS Wilander, you idiot. I'm a better wind player than Djokovic.

laverfan wrote:

bogbrush wrote:Time being taken on serve is absurd.

I presume SB is recording it for TV analysis, or perhaps ESPN will oblige.

I am not recording it (and cannot bring myself to time it now) but it will be available on ESPN post match so maybe I will time them later.

5-4 to Andy. Just a no nonsense hold and the set is his. Easy, right?

Not quite the quality of their 2013 encounter, so far.

Nadal too many balls mid court - neither challenging in depth nor angle - sometimes Djokovic doesn't take it on, and then he gets given a second chance, that's how he got his first break.

Nadal often just getting the ball back into court, make me want to support Novak.

Suspect some nerves from Novak though. 3rd set point he could have drilled a backhand from an attacking position but just lopped it back in. Kudos to Nadal for pulling off drop shots on set point he looks second best on shot making but not so suspect mentally.

I still think Djokovic can win in 3 or 4 but if it goes tight, not so sure.

By the way, I will start recording a sample of time between serves soon and do this during sets 2 and 3, if anyone wants to volunteer to cover sets 4 and/or 5 feel please free.

Why is Nole so agitated? He bungled the first set yet it did not cost him; he should be a happy man now.

bogbrush wrote:"Djokovic is a better wind player than Nadal"

FFS Wilander, you idiot. I'm a better wind player than Djokovic.

Almost as good as his comment a few days ago that Tsonga's upturn in form was due to shorter shorts.

This is shocking from Murray at the moment.

Ferrer breaks 5-5

Meek surrender from Andy and we're back on serve at 5-5. Not pretty.

I see a lot of people are watching the undercard contest.

Keep the Murray updates coming although I am watching the other match good to know what's going on

Might try ITV4 on computer later but I don't think my itnernet signal will be good enough in the room with the big TV

5-6 Ferrer. Andy needs to wake up. Had a bright start, but downhill since then.

3 of the worst games Andy has played in a long time.

I can see Rafa winning today. Nole not a happy camper for some reason and there is almost no difference in their quality of play now.

Tiebreak

2 BPs saved and it's TB time!

Awful miss from Ferrer. 3-0 Murray.

Shocking put away miss from Ferrer.

5-1 to Muzz

Andy ahead 5-1 at change of ends.

First set Murray!

Get the feeling Andy needs to win this in 3. Signs that the fitness may not be there for a longer match.

Ferrer bottled that for me, drop shot into the net and then missed a very easy smash and was 3-0 down and it soon became 6-1 which he couldn't claw back

This Djokovic / Nadal match is actually a bit carp.

Thank f*ck for that. Andy flops over the line in the TB. Clay demons apparently not laid to rest quite yet. Think Andy needed that one more than Daveed.

what was djokovic talking/arguing to the umpire about some while back? can anyone explain?

well it turns out that Ferrer/Murray is on another ESPN channel and the ITV4 stream did work for me, just about, occassionally freezing meant Ferrer had about 10 seconds extra to wait for the ball to come down for a smash, and the internet decide to fast forward and catch up on set point, so I missed that , othewrise worked and got 2 matches going at once

that's not going to leave much multi tasking ability left for timing points though, I'll still do a smaller sample

Good break from Nole, he once again looked quite focused - though not as sharp as early in the first set.

Winners 32:13 for Djoko

Set 2 for Djoko

Disaster.

Challenging for Nadal now.

Lots of choking by the Serb..

and then a beautiful few points puts him 2-0 ahead

Well... it had to end sometime

Novak takes the second set 6-3.

Took deuce and more than one set point to it but got there in the end.

Do I dare to believe yet? No.

2nd set to Novak. The crown is starting to slip.

Nole with a two set lead without playing quite at his best.  Maybe this will calm him down and he can find the form from the beginning of this match.

If it was not Rafa on the other side, I would say we are done now, but with Rafa one never knows.

Nole does not look like he is enjoying this to me. He is just trying to get through the match without mental demons taking over. He just needs it to be done. That is not ideal. He is making hard work of it. More a case of below par Nadal than top Djokovic.

summerblues wrote:Nole with a two set lead without playing quite at his best.  Maybe this will calm him down and he can find the form from the beginning of this match.

If it was not Rafa on the other side, I would say we are done now, but with Rafa one never knows.

My thoughts exactly.

Hopefully he'll start to swing a bit more freely now he has a cushion.

So up to Andy to beat Djoko now? YES!!!

Such is the expectation. Theyre both a bit too wound up, the Muzz Ferrer match is actually a lot better oddly enough.

Henman Bill wrote:Nole does not look like he is enjoying this to me. He is just trying to get through the match without mental demons taking over. He just needs it to be done. That is not ideal. He is making hard work of it. More a case of below par Nadal than top Djokovic.

He's definitely feeling the pressure.

He looks like a man thinking "ignore the pressure"... but by thinking it, he notices the pressure!

Big hold by Andy from 0-40 down.

This is now getting closer to the finishing line. Rafa also looks a bit nervous - he is making some errors that he normally hardly ever makes.

Nadal will be getting exhausted if this goes long, he's running much more than Djokovic.

Who are the folks who keep saying that Nadal is a good volleyer? That was a shocking miss....

It's easy to volley well when you're up two sets to love, 3-0, and 40-0, but's it's much harder to volley well when you're under the kosh...as Nadal found out a short while ago.

None of the top players can volley well...they pale in comparison with the likes of Edberg and Becker. That's why they've been hired as coaches....

No disgrace here, a record of 70-1 is ludicrous, a record of 70-2 is still ludicrous. Times time though, its going to be a stressful as heck 4 days for Novak now, and for my money.

Another early break for Djoko in th 3rd. Nadal doesn't look good. Not surprised by a straight set victory for the Serb now. He's better than Nadal in every dept of the game.

Andy breaks for 3-1. Ferrer has the yips on 2nd serve.

What disgrace? Djoko-Nad going exactly as expected, thus far.