Weeks 3-4 - Australian Open (men's)

TMH · Futures qualifying

RE: Weeks 3-4 - Australian Open (men's)

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

philwrig wrote:
korriban wrote:
I think Lopez will be quite tough, but I presume Andy will be improving with every match, so will prevail. With the draw so open in his section I'd expect him to reach the QF now. Any more would be unexpected and, frankly, a huge bonus.
For the record, there are EIGHT French men in the L32. A quarter of the entire field. Puts things into perspective, since we failed to get anyone apart from Andy in the L64......in both mens' AND womens'. LTA take note.
I wonder whether the French would trade 8 frenchman in the L32 for a grand slam champion. Both would be nice.

Interesting question.

My view is that the FFT would give its right arm for a (male) winner of Roland Garros but that anything else wouldn't rank up there. However, I agree completely with Korriban and that a national federation should be judged by its strength and depth (and public participation) and that a one-off winner is a statistical fluke and wonderful,, but hardly relevant.

As such, I think the FFT are wrong to be so obsessed with their quest for a bloke to win RG (and it's rather self-serving).

I also think it wouldn't make much difference. The huge benefit for French tennis was done (and is now entrenched) when Yannick Noah won back in the 80s. In the year that followed, practically every tiny village in every far-flung corner of France built municipal tennis courts (thanks to lots of specific grant money and general sports funding now being ear-marked for tennis).

And, just as importantly, thanks to the 'profile' of Yannick, tennis lost its white, middle-class tag and became the second most widely practiced sport in France (behind football) and a real democratic sport. A male winner of RG would not, IMHO, make a huge amount of difference (but would justify the salaries of a few of the bigwigs).

steven · Tennis legend

Andy moves to 8-0 v F-Loppy

L32: (4) Andy Murray WR 4 beat (26) Feliciano López (ESP) WR 27 (CH 15 in 2012) by 7-6(2) 6-4 6-2

L16: (4) Andy Murray WR 4 v (LL) Stéphane Robert (FRA) WR 119 (CH 61 in 2010)

Robert's last match against a Brit was his 2 & 2 loss to James Ward in Brisbane qualifying 3 weeks ago, but of course long-term forumites will know that in 2001-8, he compiled 15-match and 16-match Brit-bashing streaks, with just a single loss against Boggo separating them.

However, Muzz has won his last 19 slam matches against French players (since losing to Tsonga at the AO 6 years ago) so I doubt he'll be quaking in his boots!

steven · Tennis legend

A couple more things about Robert - at 33, it turns out he's the oldest player in the Open Era to reach the last 16 at a slam for the first time.

Also, he wanted to play Andy rather than F-Loppy ...

"Q. And you might play Andy Murray in the next round. How would you feel about that?

STEPHANE ROBERT: Yes, I don't know. He's still playing now. He's playing against Lopez. We'll see, eh? Hopefully I prefer against Andy Murray, because Feliciano Lopez, I don't like so much his game (Laughter.)

Yeah, maybe Andy is better, but is tough to play against Lopez. I play him one time in final in Johannesburg, and is difficult to play against this guy. He has tough game for me.

Q. So you prefer to play Andy Murray?
STEPHANE ROBERT: Yeah."

Still a wannabe Brit-basher at heart then!

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

I think maybe he just wants the more high-profile match. Or perhaps he is hoping Andy is still not back to his best.

Delighted to see the straight-sets win over Feli. Their last match was so very close and tough, today's looked much easier from the scoreline. I'll have to go over to the AM forum and read the comments of those who watched: I was restricted to getting up very early and creeping into the next room to check teletext.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I have NO idea about the head-to-heads but I reckon that Stephane must have got embarrassingly trounced by Lopez a couple of times (they're a similar age) and it's stuck in his memory and he'd rather anything rather than that again.

NB Making the last 16 - it's certainly taking 'Lucky Loser' to the limit !

RJA · Hall of fame

Very encouraging result.

Miriambee · Futures level

Andy's got to step it up somewhat, going from 33yr old qualifiers, to Tsonga/Federer!

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

Madeline wrote:
I think maybe he just wants the more high-profile match. Or perhaps he is hoping Andy is still not back to his best.

Delighted to see the straight-sets win over Feli. Their last match was so very close and tough, today's looked much easier from the scoreline. I'll have to go over to the AM forum and read the comments of those who watched: I was restricted to getting up very early and creeping into the next room to check teletext.

I watched with the magic of a recording that actually worked - always a complete shock when recording a tennis match on Eurosport in the middle of the night!! Still, the first set was pretty bad, Andy couldn't find a good serve and was missing the lines on the wrong side, only by inches but on every shot he off loaded on so a bit concerning. He did however come alive and play some sublime tennis in the tiebreak and to break at the beginning of the second before settling down into a slightly higher level than before but still not his best by a long shot. That changed in the third set which had some excellent points and a very high level with only the odd ue to keep us guessing

All in all I'd say it was pretty good match for the 3rd round of a grand slam, he got himself out of a few holes in the first set (broken 1st game and broke straight back for example) and that is all to the good for tougher matches down the line. He also seemed to have re-found his head in terms of shot selection and the crafting of the points, whilst the ues were higher than he'll be happy with it was a case of poor execution rather than poor shot selection and that is a real positive in my opinion - especially as through the match he was able to increase his level and cut out those errors by the end.

All in all it was quite a nervy first two sets to watch but the third was a delight.

steven · Tennis legend

As far as I can tell, Robert is only the 2nd lucky loser to make R4 at a slam after Dick Norman at Wimbledon in 1995.

Spectator · All-time great

According to Ben Rothenberg, there have been nine ... most recently David Goffin at Roland Garros in 2012. I checked that one, which is correct, but haven't checked the others. But Mr Rothenberg is a good journalist, so I'd guess he's correct. www.nytimes.com/2014/01/18/sports/tennis/for-lucky-losers-at-australian-open-a-chance-to-be-contenders.html

steven · Tennis legend

Oops, thanks. Yes, I'm sure he is - it didn't seem that important but I'd been asked the question so I dug up what I could but didn't go through all the draws. However, it should have been obvious from the start that there would have been a few in 1973.

indiana · Tennis legend

Hee Hum, I guess it's now got quite interesting. So that's the end of my cool detachment from a Murray Slam !

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Surely you can keep it up for one more match?

indiana · Tennis legend

Oh, while I am not really concerned about Andy's next match, once he got past Lopez in reasonable style, the overall tournament has become rather more of a passing concern. So, I'm into it all now...