French Open Day 11 - Can Wawrinka Stop Rafa?

What a day we had, finally a French hero rising to the occasion to down a legend, but his work is not over indeed got 2 crucial matches ahead to be considered as a GS champ. Rise of underdogs as been the theme of the day will it continue another day? the biggest question is can Wawrinka somehow outset the off-color Rafa?

Haas has in him to beat Nole, but not sure Wawrinka has in him to take Rafa to even 4 sets let alone a win, but would certainly love a complete underdogs semi.

Schedule of Matches

Court Philippe Chatrier
2:00 PM Women's Singles - Quarterfinals
Jelena Jankovic (SRB) [18] vs. Maria Sharapova (RUS) [2]


Followed byMen's Singles - Quarterfinals
Rafael Nadal (ESP) [3] vs.Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) [9]

Court Suzanne Lenglen
2:00 PM Women's Singles - Quarterfinals
Maria Kirilenko (RUS) [12] vs.Victoria Azarenka (BLR) [3]

Men's Singles - Quarterfinals
Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] vs.Tommy Haas (GER) [12]

Jelena is a surprise semi's in my view, could get toasted at Sharapova's hands, Kirlenko vs Vika could be interesting, Two Maria's can do it.

I would love to see Wawrinka -Nadal match start atleast an hour early, so if miracle happen and Wawrinka upset Rafa I will be fully rooting for Haas, if not I would love to see Nole-Rafa semi's, so either Waw-Haas or Nole-Rafa, no other combination pls.

Tommy Haas got a good 7 odds to win the match, if people buying the hype of underdogs then Tommy's odds are eye catching. Wawrinka gets 10 odds on the other hand, I won't advice this unless somebody is an extreme gambler .

Let the theme "Rise of Underdogs" continue, most tennis fans want to see a new champ, let see whether Haas and Warinka has any say in it.

R We seeing a French Revolution in Tennis?

Lead by Jo Wilfred Tsonga we had atleast 17 players from France in the main draw if not more. Is this a French Revolution we are seeing in Tennis right now? It can be argued French Open being the home tournament and hence lot of home players, but most of them deserved a chance and some of them had mad use of it full like in case of G Monfills who over came the spirited challenge of Berdych in the 3rd and 4th set to win in 5.

This is the list of main draw players, please let me know if I missed some unknown player.

8 JW Tsonga - 2nd round

9 R Gasquet - 2nd round
18 S Gilles - 2nd round
26 B Paire - Likely 2nd round
27 J Chardy - 2nd round
32 J Benneteau - 2nd round
55 M Llodra - 2nd round
65 E Roger-Vasselin - 2nd round
69 PH Mathieu - not sure
81 G Monfils - 2nd round
91 K De Schepper not sure
98 G Ruffin eliminated 1st round

126 M Gicquel not sure
131 F Serra not sure
173 N Mahut - 2nd round
174 R Stephane not sure
182 D Guez not sure

May be USO in 90's had might have attracted more home players in a slam.

Whats the record for maximum representation of Home players in a given tournament be it slam or masters or any ATP tournament [atleast 500's]

Novak Djokovic Luck running out?

Novak Djokovic © Gallo Images

This match will be labelled some kind of classic, but in fact it was anything but. Far more noteworthy for the stakes than the performances, the drama lay only in a combination of extreme nerves from Nadal and the rain-affected conditions, in particular last night.

It opened in fairly predictable circumstances and Nadal sprinted to 3-0, 30-0 only to exhibit the tension that he normally masks. Djokovic also showed us the shape of things to come by giving up two breaks of serve on double faults. The Djokovic serve was abysmal, with under half 1st serves finding their mark. And so the match progressed fairly steadily to 6-4, 5-3 - despite turgid conditions - until the rain forced the players from the court.

On resumption Nadal secured that set and ran into a 2-0 lead only for heavy rain to come down. The effect on Nadal was astonishing; his shots lost their pace and kick, his movement deteriorated and he became weaponless. Djokovic sensed the kind of break he got at USO '11 when his desperate slap shot on match point surprised him by landing in, and he capitalised in the same way, playing tidy, controlled tennis against the hapless Nadal as eight games routinely came his way. Eventually good sense prevailed over the desire to keep the show on the and the match was suspended. That was the moment the final was decided; as predicted by many experienced posters there was to be no serious contest once the conditions became playable.

On resumption Djokovic showed what a factor the rain had been by being broken immediately, but he creditably played his best tennis of the match to hold on to 5-6, unable as he was though to make the slightest impression on the Nadal serve.

And so to the final game, and Djokovic reprised his nervous show earlier by cracking on the first break point, handing over the match with a fearful push of a 2nd serve. In truth Nadal probably appreciated it as his nerves were somewhat shredded.

So what do we learn from this? Quite lot really;

Nadal is still the man on clay, though perhaps we have seen more vulnerability than before. He was nervous long before the rain (choking up the early 3-0 lead).

Djokovic fell sadly short on his big day, and in reality needed a downpour to give the scoreline a respectable look. In hot conditions this would have been a schooling. The double faults on THREE break points brought back memories of the "Chokovic" tag he earned after losing the USO 2007 first set to Federer. He will win more Slams, as Federer has declined, Nadal perhaps leaning that way and no competition in sight, but the myth of INAT has been laid bare.

It wouldn't be a bogbrush article without a mention of Federer! The old guy looked his years in labouring through this event but his two runs in the past (three, if you count the USO 2009 loss as also stopping him) at the Grand Slam will be revised upward, having taken sets off Nadal in his final attempts in prime clay conditions. He will also feel that the #1 slot is still there to take - he's survived his worst phase of the year, passed the highest points to defend and will fancy his chances of pipping Djokovic.

There is only one King of Clay and that can't be a joker

Rafa came firing after the rain break and inspite of Djoko doing his best scummbed to pressure by double faulting at the match point.

Its not joke this guy won 7 slams in a row or utter dominance and holds 52-1 record, Rafa means business in clay, congrats Novak you did your best with some stunning comebacks in the tournament and saving 4 match points against Tsonga but everybody have to go down to the King of Clay.

Vamous Rafa, The King reigns.

Congrats Rafael Nadal for the 5th French Open Roland Garros Title

What a performance from rafa,sod couldn't blast his way out of it.i feel so sorry for sod he didn't deserve that kind of beating in the final,but he cant complain rafa handed him plenty of chances but he couldn't break through
without dropping a set and his first serve was amazing 95% first serve in the 3rd set when he realy needed it,easily the best player under pressure and controlling the nerves,incredible the last time he won without dropping a set he won Wimbledoncant wait for the grass season.

This Session is Sponsored By

Roland Garros French Open 2010 Final Preview - Nadal vs. Soderling

No. 2 Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs. No. 5 Robin Soderling (SWE)

Rafael Nadal will look to both win his fifth Roland Garros title and reclaim the No. 1 spot in the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings when he faces Robin Soderling, the only player ever to beat Nadal on the clay in Paris, in Sunday’s final. Soderling, through to the Roland Garros final for the second straight year, has already ousted World No. 1 Roger Federer en route to his second major final and will look to win his first Grand Slam trophy.

Head-To-Head

Soderling has won the past two matches against Nadal, including in the round of 16 at Roland Garros last year, which ended the Spaniard’s 31-match winning streak in Paris. That is Nadal’s lone loss at Roland Garros (37-1) and the only time he has lost a best-of-five sets match on clay (55-1).

        Soderling    Nadal
Aces    75    12
Double Faults    25    7
1st Serve %    64%    74%
1st Serve Points     77%    72%
2nd Serve Points     58%    55%
Broken    11    11
Break Points Faced     36    35
Games Served     100    86
Fastest Serve     142mph    126mph
         
1st Return Points Won     35%    40%
2nd Return Points Won     53%    59%
Breaks of Serve     34    34
Break Points     70    63
Pct. Converted     49%    54%
Return Games Played     98    84
         
Forehand Winners     101    106
Forehand Unforced Errors     98    81
Backhand Winners     54    33
Backhand Unforced Errors     88    54
         
Winners    260    179
Unforced Errors     216    146
         
Net Points Played     119    101
Net Points Won     61%    70%
         
Games W-L     123-75    112-61
Sets W-L     18-4    18-0




RANKINGS UPDATE – If Nadal captures his fifth Roland Garros title in five years, he will also return to No. 1 in the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings. If he fails to win the title, Roger Federer will retain the top spot and will also hold the position until Wimbledon, therefore surpassing Pete Sampras’s record of 286 weeks at No. 1 on June 14. Nadal last ranked No. 1 the week of June 29, 2009 after holding the top spot for 46 consecutive weeks. Soderling is guaranteed to attain a career-high ranking after Roland Garros, reaching No. 4 if he wins the title and No. 6 if he finishes runner-up.

Streak Stopper Super Swede Soda

Many Felt Soda head best times are over with 2009, and that GS streak was just an one-time wonder, but now he is making it a habit to stop significance Tennis streaks to an end.

Last year at the same tournament he ended Nadal's RG streak and now he stopped RF's semi streak from growing numbers.

Semi-final match against Tommy Berdych will be tough, Tommy has a better game than Soder but his consistency is questionable, but given the form of Soderling I back him to make the finals but no case it would be an easy task if Tommy hits his purple patch.

I badly miss Del Potro's game this year, I would have personally loved to watch in form DelBoy vs current Soder in the humid and heavy conditions.

Will there be any more upset?, I guess Melzer can do it, however may not do it.

Wish you all the best RS, now go and prove that you can win a GS.

Winning French Open or Wimbledon more Important for Federer in 2010?

An awful lot of talk on 606 over the past weeks and months about Roger Federer going for a 7th Wimbledon and the total weeks at no 1 record. That has importance for sure, but if Federer were to wish for one thing in 2010, surely, it has to be something different: the French Open.

Here´s why:
Let´s have a look at the list of players who have won each slam twice:
Roy Emerson
Rod Laver

But now let´s exclude amateur tournaments. Who has won each slam twice in the professional era.

Here's the list:
.

Hm. No-one on it.

Now let´s look at the list of players who have defended every slam title (i.e won two years in a row). This is for the entire history of tennis, amateur, professional, 1900s, whatever.
Here´s the list:
.

Hm. No-one on that one either.

Federer has already defended the other three successfully (he had that by 2005). If Federer could not only win each slam twice but defend every slam it would be an absolutely unique achievement.

Now I´m not saying the FO this year for Fed is even half as important as last year, the first one. It isn´t. But surely more important than a 7th Wimbledon or total weeks at no 1 - because when tennis history is written many years from now the question of GOAT won't be about Sampras versus Federer. Sampras will be in the all time top 5 or the top 10 at least while Federer will be up for the no 1 spot against perhaps Bill Tilden or Rod Laver or perhaps more likely some future champion who has yet to play a professional match or hasn't even been born. And so a 2nd French has to beat a 7th Wimbledon, if you could choose one.

Now I am saying it will be great if he gets it (for his legacy). I am not saying that it will necessarily actually happen. Djokovic, Del Potro and Nadal will be gunning for a perhaps no longer peak Fed on his weakest surface. And you can even see a shock(ish) defeat in an earlier round. Haas nearly had him this year, you can´t keep repeating matches like that against lower opponents and never lose one, this year he did, but sooner a later he will lose to someone outside the top 5 in a slam. On the other hand, the man has been in every final since 2005 when he lost to Nadal in the semi so he can hardly be written off. On the whole I´d rate his chance at about 20% maybe 25% max.

But if he does do it, the no 1 record would likely follow in any case. And perhaps so would another Wimbledon, the confidence would be so high. A very big if but a very big achievement if he makes it.

The absolute ideal would be to do in a five set thriller against a fully rejuvenated Nadal in the final. Maybe I am dreaming a bit now, but you never know.

Can Del Potro Be No.1 as early as FO 2010?

Looking at his current Ranking points at 5,985 he could add another 1300 if he wins the title today, that means 7285 RP by the end of this year. He earned 360 Ranking Points for reaching QF on AO this year, so if he takes effort to win AO 2010 ,he could end up something around 8925, which will still be short of Fed's 9350 [even if Fed lose by 1st round].

So yea DP cant become No.1 by the end of AO, but can he achieve that feat by the end of FO? where Fed is defending 2000 Pts compared to Del Potro's 720.

Interesting things ahead, nobody spoke about him till the USO win that he could be the no.1 by the year 2010, but now there you go its well within reach of DP.

But saying all that DP have to win today's match first and then AO, which is no easy task, but I guess and hope DP will do it.