French Open Day 6 - Halys In Wonderland/Alize Through The Looking Glass

Schedule - http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/scores/schedule/index.html

Gasquet vs Krygios

Act 1 - Kyrgios saves 9 match points to win.

Act 2 - Gasquet wins, Krygios hugs ball boy, throws racket, audible obscenty warning, perhaps doesn't try properly in one game.

Act 3 - their third slam meeting today after their two previous ones at Wimbledon

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/players/fedex-head-2-head/richard-gasquet-vs-nick-kyrgios/G628/KE17

Nishikori v Verdasco could be worth a look.

Yes, Kyrgios vs Gasquet definitely the standout match for me.  RG should make it more favorable for Gasquet but Kyrgios is now a better player than last time they played.

I hope that Kyrgios wins and I do think he has a good chance.

That section with Nishi, Verdasco, Kyrgios and Gasquet is quite intriguing.  They all can play.

I would be surprised if Kyrgios loses. My only real concern is how he will react to a hostile crowd. Should be good.

If Gasquet gets inspired by the crowd/occasion he could be quite a handful.
I also fancy Verdasco to push Nishi hard the whole way.
Wouldn't like to call either match tbh.

Sitting in a court 3 packed with Americans. Looking forward to see Jack Sock in action before hitting Chatrier later. Already very hot here and there is a risk of storm in the afternoon.

Jack Sock
Round 1) Haase
Round 2) Brown
Round 3) Ramos Vinyl Ass
What's going on? Is it being played on Shatrier?

At least today should be meltdown-free for Murray. Dr Ivo must be done in from his epic 2nd round, and he's made for Murray.

Yep...12-10 in the 5th not good for a 37 yo.
Cake walk for Murray today...finally.
Yep believe sunny/warm until storms around 4-5pm?
Andy should have come/gone by then.

Dr Ivo isn't massively affected by tiredness. He's not going to do much running anyway. So long as he can serve he will be fine.

Obviously, Andy should win but he needs to be a whole lot better than R1 and R2. All it will take is a duff early service game or a woeful tiebreak and he will be under immense pressure.

Just caught a bit of Osaka vs Halep.
Don't know who Osaka is (well I just read she's 18, 5'11 - but doesnt look that tall - and from Japan but doesn't look Japanese at all) but she looks like a future WTA prospect...ripping winners left and right.
Reminds me of a young Serena. One to watch for the future me thinks.

Think Sock lost 4 games in a row to lose the second set.

so far it's a very weary looking Karlovic against a very focused Murray, and Murray has raced to a 5-0 lead.

Karlovic looks absolutely cr@p today tbh...Murray not having to do much! Nice rest for him...

Murray breaks again at the start of the second as Karlovic misses a makeable FH volley. Cutting a rather sorry sight out there is Ivo at the moment, but this is so much better from Murray.

Karlovic & clay is like fish & bicycle...

lydian wrote:Karlovic & clay is like fish & bicycle...

A really old fish that bicycled up a salmon river the day before.

Yeah...more an old trout really.

Oh dear...this is such a dull match

to be fair to Karlovic, he's now held 9 times in a row, and has hit 7 aces so far this set, he's definitely serving much better than at the start of the match.

True, and Murray won't want to go into a 4th set.

Yes its better but boy the rest of his game is woeful...missed v.easy volleys in that game just then.

He'll be hoping for a TB but cant see him winning that as just too patchy even by his own standards right now.

Its still a dull match whichever way you slice/dice it though.

Has Murray's heart rate got above 100 on any ralley yet?

In the old days this is where Ivo would suddenly hit a couple of smoking groundshots on return and serve it out, leaving the opponent flummoxed as to how he ever lost that thing to a guy who didn't appear to be able to play the sport.

Ivo seems incapable of hitting any shot that isn't a serve...

Andy Murray has been in total control of this match. That must do wonders for the confidence.

Thank goodness for that...get some real tennis on now...

solid TB from Murray, earning two mini-breaks with lovely winning passes, one off either wing, and serving it out comfortably 7-3. Dull match? Certainly, but after his first two rounds I'll take that very happily

A much improved effort from Murray certainly.

bogbrush wrote:In the old days this is where Ivo would suddenly hit a couple of smoking groundshots on return and serve it out, leaving the opponent flummoxed as to how he ever lost that thing to a guy who didn't appear to be able to play the sport.

For someone with such a massive serve, Ivo's TB record is pretty awful TBH. Add, because as you say you'd expect him to smoke a couple of FHs and the serve to do the rest, but seems incapable of doing so (notwithstanding that today he was clearly not anywhere near his best).

The upside is Murray didn't waste energy.

The downside is Murray didn't work his game over.

Anyway...if he faces Isner next then its more of the same. Great.

Apparently Murray is off to eat some beef and house chips.

The potential saviour of Men's tennis is on court Kyrgios can he beat the Gasquet?

Ramos serving at 5-4 in the 5th vs. Sock...can he serve it out.

Ive just woken up and missed the end of that scintillating Murray match
what a shame:erm:

Tell you what, Raonic is one who's made his way through the first few rounds in great comfort. Anyone watched him at all? He's in Stan's quarter isn't he?

Mad for Chelsea wrote:

bogbrush wrote:In the old days this is where Ivo would suddenly hit a couple of smoking groundshots on return and serve it out, leaving the opponent flummoxed as to how he ever lost that thing to a guy who didn't appear to be able to play the sport.

For someone with such a massive serve, Ivo's TB record is pretty awful TBH. Add, because as you say you'd expect him to smoke a couple of FHs and the serve to do the rest, but seems incapable of doing so (notwithstanding that today he was clearly not anywhere near his best).

His old tactic was to look absolutely benign in rallies and then suddenly, with no apparent change of pace, welly the thing. The opponent would be unnerved, knowing that one dropped point on serve was it, and he'd sqeak through.

That was the tactic. Obviously as you say it usually didn't work, mainly because most of the time he really was unable to win rallies.

Since then he's lost some of his fabled mobility.........

Vernando Fiasco loses the 2nd set against Nish.

Verdasco was actually a break up in that set two, rather annoying.

Verdasco does take the third though.

Kyrgios looking very lacklustre so far, Gasquet leads 6-2 4-4

Isner saved a couple of set points in the first set TB against Gabashvili to take it.

Rats I wanted the 5-set matches to continue. 5 sets in every round!

Thanks for the updates everyone. Difficult to know when to take a break from work and join the tennis..can't justify watching the whole match...I think end of set 3, second half of set 4, and most of set 5 could work. Assuming Gasquet doesn't win in straight sets of course.

On second thoughts f*** it, I think I'll take the end of set 2.

It's definately in my company's interests that I take a break here otherwise the tiredness could risk errors creeping into the excel sheet.

Gasquet takes a tight second set TB, leads two set to love. Kyrgios still looking a bit not-quite-right to me.

Verdasco has levelled the match up at two sets all against Nishikori.

Rafael Nadal has pulled out of rg with a wrist injury.
I'm sure some will be very happy about that and he deserves it for overtraining but it's a crushing blow to the tourny, Noonr should go out like that

What looked liked a dream
Second week is in tatters
Novak is 99 percent nailed on now

Rafa has pulled of the tournament with a wrist injury, terrible news for the tournament. Said he's been suffering with the problem for several weeks

Could life get any better for Djoko .....??

That's a huge deflation. It's fine to take being beaten out of s tourny but an injury in great form...

Well so called next generation, it's up to you to make a fist of it this tourny. Speaking of which Kyrgios is crashing out...

So is this the end of Nadal challenging at the elite level?  He has had so many injuries in his career and now a wrist injury which can take over a year to recover from without ever getting back to full strength.  He depends so much on his wrist with that special whippy action of his.  Maybe he was trying to get back to his former patterns of play and his body just couldn't take it anymore.  It must be soooo frustrating for those that are fans of his.  To be honest I was hoping that he would be getting back to better days.  I can't see him winning any other slam nowadays apart from Roland Garros - and now this.  Next year he will be 30 but in terms of physical stress 36 years.

Del Potro and Laura Robson (probably) had career ending wrist injuries (in terms of challenging at the elite level).

Oh my, that's terrible news

It must be very bad for him to actually pull out, especially after a couple of very straightforward matches. I haven't watched any of him so far, but were there any signs?

So sad

Great opportunity for Thiem other Zverev to make a massive move

lags72 wrote:Could life get any better for Djoko .....??

Or Murray?  Or whoever.  There are still a few doubts with Djoko regarding recent clay form.  But certainly this is good boost for Djoko given that Nadal was showing signs of being in very good form.

What a blow for himself, his fans, and the whole tournament. Sorry to Rafa's fans, this is not the way it should be.

Federer pulling out was a blow, but this is a whole other level. Even Novak in my opinion would have wanted him to stay in the tournament - would want to win against Rafa. The only people perhaps quietly celebrating this in the draw in my opinion would be lower ranked players like Granollers, who now gets a walkover, and Thiem.

Remember when Rafa lost to Soderling in 2009, Federer's next match was quite nervy if I recall (was it the Haas match). However Novak should be OK, his next two matches look easy.

I did take a few hits on yesterday's thread for saying Nadal was playing poorly hitting errors and dumping mid court balls. I think that this explains that, anyway. A better opponent might have taken advantage.

That's quite the shock, isn't it? Was anyone expecting that? Rafa's not someone I like particularly, but he does certainly bring a different style of play, particularly at the French, and potentially matches with Thiem and Goffin or Tsonga or even Gulbis looked like good ones.

Wasn't it a wrist injury that kept him out of the US Open in 2014? That seemed to be the start of a number of issues that derailed him for about 9 months before he started looking more like the old Rafa. Hopefully this is less serious than that.

Djokovic has certainly gone from draw loser to draw winner. He didn't look threatened until the semi final anyway, and now even that threat has gone. Still, that brings its own pressure - let's see how he handles it.

Yeah so sad for him. He was already having wrist problem before this FO. When asked he said he felt some pain and had some injections but it was not revealed that its so serious.

Poor Rafa, just when his knees are getting better, the back seems not bothering him and now this! He already had a minor injury to his right wrist in 2014 that he had to pull out of USO series that year, now its his left wrist.

I think the end is near for Rafa in terms of his tennis career, what a pity, for he's so blessed with talent and athletic gifts and abilities. Imo he has not realized his full potential (Toni Nadal not the right one to help him does that). Still, he's my favorite tennis player and will always be so.

Get well soon Rafa, tennis is better with you around. (Same to Fed too!).