The Tennis Thread

[Scott]

you know it's uncertain what decisions are up to her or up to her dad. i don't think though the WTA would necessarily force a player to play if they are legitimately injured. i mean look at zvonareva last season...after she injured her ankle she had to pull out of everything. and it's not like caroline would have lost a great deal of points had she decided not to play warsaw. she still actually has a nice edge over those beneath her.

i do feel though as if a lot of these young girls they tend to still think with that junior mentality. you know,play,play,play and nothing will happen to me. even azarenka has been doing this....she got injured at marbella and the following week she was playing at charleston where she retired. and she too has lost early in every event she's played.

 

[miu_miu]

^That's where JDMP is being smart, he said he won't come back till at least Paris but definitely won't defend his USO which is disappointing but will hopefully be for the best longterm. Even Rafa is slowing down!

RG draws are out, thoughts?

 

[xerq]

i am so looking forward to the men's RG this year. can rafa redeem himself?
as for the ladies, i hope a quarterfinal meeting between Serena and Justine occurs

 

[Scott]

not a good half for sam stosur...she'll most likely face justine in the 3rd round. also a couple of very capable upstarts in that half as well....pavlyunchenkova and zakapolova.

jankovic seems like she has the toughest half though. she's got safina,radwanska,zvonareva,wickmayer,kleybanova,suarez navarro & ivanovic.

and svetlana....if sveta doesn't get through with wozniacki dealing with an injury,i will be terribly disappointed. she has by far the easiest half by comparison. the only real outright danger in her half is flavia.

elena is in the same half as venus. but what i find odd is that yet again she has oudin as a possible second round match-up. but i am happy lena is not in justine's half again. martinez sanchez and rezai are also in there too. those two are real dark horses and if neither elena nor venus are on these two may in fact go far.

 

[Scott]

and i must say looking at the draw now,miu miu,i really hope elena can sneak through to the final....perhaps against justine or jelena.

 

[Chaky]

Gasquet just won Nice beating Verdasco in the final and now faces Murray in the first round of RG with a partisan crowd. Anyone seeing a potential upset?

 

[Scott]

well so much for my prediction on marinez sanchez. that's a big surprise.

 

[Chaky]

Disappointing day for me. Anna Chakvetadze came within about two points of winning her match in straight sets and she choked it. Judging by the stats she was hitting winners all over the place. But as soon as she gets ahead in a game, let alone a match, she just goes to pieces.

I was really looking forward to seeing Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez against some of the top players. Her game is great to watch because hardly anyone else plays on the clay like her. Unfortunately I hear she injured her neck early on in the match and was having to serve underarm for a large portion of it.

Roger starts his title defense tomorrow.

 

[miu_miu]

Safina! I'm glad Andy R made it through, I've lost so many favourite players already!

Btw, I like this Gianni Mina! He was great today And my favourite bit of Roland Garros is back

 

[Scott]

oh dear sveta stresses me out! glad she made it through and hopefully she'll relax a little bit.

i have to say though,andrea petkovic really impressed me. and rather refreshing she's so smart and interesting. i mean oscar wilde and goethe.

 

[AnaBGD]

I was actually hoping Andrea could win. She was so good, some of those shots were impressive, but it was Sveta's experience what got her the win in the end. Petković is definitely going to be serious contender in the future.

I'm glad Caroline is looking good again, I hope her injury won't trouble her much.

Soderling is looking impressive too, RG really seems to be his tournament.

 

[Chaky]

I didn't realise Roland Garros had a night session.

 

[Scott]

yeah,what a crazy situation that was indeed. the italian had a legitimate argument. i don't really get that as the only light they really had was coming from the scoreboard.

 

[AnaBGD]

^ it happens every year, I don't get it. Is it that hard to put lights at least on the two main courts?
It sure will happen tonight again since it's raining again and the matches will be at least 3hrs late.

 

[miu_miu]

Covers are *just* coming off now apparently...Rafa was scheduled 4th on Chatrier but now is cancelled, amongst others - irritating but at least they won't be hanging around all day. Hopefully everything that remains can be finished today...there's more rain forecast for the weekend which could be disastrous!

 

[Scott]

oh no...poor vera...

i would say poor ana too but not that shocked as it was kleybanova afterall.

 

[Scott]

close call for lena....glad she was able to dominate the tie-break.

 

[Chaky]

Vera, what happened?

And Fognini finally finished off Monfils. Justice done, perhaps?

 

[Nonobstant]

Talking of Fognini, bb Stan is playing him in 3 quarters of an hour!!
I have no idea if Fognini played great or if Monfils was just in a bad day...
But he shouldn't threaten Stan...

GO STAN!!
I wanna see some backhand action too

 

[Scott]

^well monfils has been injured of late and it most likely is a contributor in his poor play.

a nice looking match today between petrova and rezai....anybody want to predict this? petrova has a nice history at RG and is a good clay courter and rezai is very confident. i wonder if experience might prevail? personally,as much as i like rezai,i'd love to see a resurgent petrova again.