Week 20 French Open Qualifying

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

RE: Week 20 French Open Qualifying

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

To Jaggy and Oakland.
What would I advise ? Watch it on TV

Go to General Discussion Section and look up my thread called Roland Garros Rant from last year

RJA · Hall of fame

Jaggy1876 wrote:
Bob in Spain wrote:
Oakland2002 wrote:
I think he took exception to the fact that the next step for him was to play 5 set tennis, by keeping all subsequent matches to 2! Fantastic results. I presume RG has no on the day ground access unlike wimbledon ie tickets on line or foget it? Does anyone know?
Don't even go there. Last year I turned up and went to the ticket office - or at least I would have done if there had been one.
You CAN NOT buy tickets on the day, either at the stadium or even online. Roland Garros has NO TICKET OFFICE. You have to buy online and at least 24 hours in advance.
I ll be in Paris from Tuesday thinkibig of going to RG to see Andy on Wed or thurs depending on when he plays I assumed I could just rock up is this not the case Bob what would you advise

The top half of the draw (Andy's half) will play their second round matches on Thursday.

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

As a more serous response, you have to buy a ticket online as it is the only way. Also, you must buy at least 24 hours in advance which is not much help as you don't know the OoP and who will be playing on which court. When I say 24 hours, I mean 24 hours and not just the day before. For example, you cannot buy tickets for Weds morning on Tues afternoon. That is too late.

Good luck. Hope you get in. And it goes without saying that we want detailed match reports.

-- Edited by Bob in Spain on Friday 22nd of May 2015 10:02:21 PM

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Bob in Spain wrote:
To Jaggy and Oakland.
What would I advise ? Watch it on TV

Go to General Discussion Section and look up my thread called Roland Garros Rant from last year

You've got me scared now Bob. I've been to Wimbledon twice and Aus Open twice in 2009/10 going to New York next year so all four slams can be ticked off bucket list style. The Australian Open is excellent you can rock up to venue and buy tickets for all rounds and courts on the day. Looks like Thurstay for Andy then but my problem is staying in a hotel for four nights how do I get the tickets.

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

I guess if I do see Andy match reports probably won't be needed as I would imagine all Brits in the second round games will be on Eurosport but i ll do it anyway. Assuming I get a ticket. So basically I have to buy a ticket for thurs by knowing what court Andy will be on so its a complete guess that's ridiculous

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Not sure if you buy a ticket for main court, whether this is also valid for other courts. That would be your best bet. I know that in Madrid, if I buy a ticket for Centre Court, I can use the same ticket to get into court 2 as well.

If I had internet connection rather than having to sit in a cafe with my iPhone I would have a look for you.

TMH · Futures qualifying

Oakland2002 wrote:
Now here's a question, Stephane Robert v James Ward, who has had the biggest impact on their nations tennis? Does Roberts CH of 99 swing it for him over Wardys Davis cup magnificence ?

Robert's CH is #61 and he set that at when he was older than James is now.

indiana · Tennis legend

Certainly if Robert's CH had been WR 99, I would have very definitely plumped for James. WR 99 / top 100 is really much more 'just' a personal milestone or kilometer stone.

Even with a CH 61, I'd still say that James has had the bigger impact on his nation's tennis. He has his Davis Cup exploits abd the fact that France has now and has had so many pretty well ranked players that WR 61 can't really be that significant to them.

#20JamesWards #ifonly

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Frankly, barring one fact, there's absolutely no question, IMHO.

Stephane Robert, top 100 or not, top 70 or not, has had practically no impact on French tennis as a whole. As Indy says, France has a whole army of players. One more or less (at his level) is barely noticed.

However, his main 'impact', in my view, (and admittedly an important one) has been to show that you can still achieve, and get better, and continue to achieve, even at a relatively 'elderly' age, and even when you were never a star to begin with, and aren't part of the system.

Stephane is 35 now.

And he's currently ranked WR 550 !

He didn't reach his CH (so far) until about age 30 (note LTA!)

Has been majorly injured and come back.

And has a real 'surfer' style - none of the 'blazer' look of tennis.

So I would certainly vote for James - Stephane has done nothing that has animated national tennis anywhere near like that which James managed to achieved in David Cup matches.

And that;s how I understood the question.

But as a message to the sport, both domestically and internationally, he's played an important role so, obliquely, may end up with more indirect impact . . .

P.S. I think that Robert also coaches; he's certainly still listed as the coach for Laurent Rochette, another 'surfer' style player, about 27 years old, who's about 400 or so now, and texting cute texts to Robert along the lines of : "35 years old and still got all his teeth! Good going and now onto RG main draw . . ."

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Saturday 23rd of May 2015 01:50:49 PM

indiana · Tennis legend

Good point, CD, maybe Stephane could / should have an impact on BRITISH tennis and the LTA's ongoing over ageist outlook on our pro players.

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

Jan wrote:

6-1 6-4
very well done Kyle!

Just catching up...fantastic; well done Kyle biggrin

GL in R1 smile

Ratty · County player

indiana wrote:
Good point, CD, maybe Stephane could / should have an impact on BRITISH tennis and the LTA's ongoing over ageist outlook on our pro players.

Robert's success shows that it's not IMPOSSIBLE to get significantly better at tennis relatively late in life.

But it doesn't show that it's LIKELY.

And in allocating scarce resources, surely the LTA should go for what's likely?

baxi2 · Lower Club Player

Ratty wrote:
indiana wrote:
Good point, CD, maybe Stephane could / should have an impact on BRITISH tennis and the LTA's ongoing over ageist outlook on our pro players.
Robert's success shows that it's not IMPOSSIBLE to get significantly better at tennis relatively late in life.
But it doesn't show that it's LIKELY.
And in allocating scarce resources, surely the LTA should go for what's likely?

Those scarce resources are not what you think ! When you ad up the income from Wimbledon and factor in all the money from sponsors you are looking at a figure well above 50 million pounds per year.

That makes the LTA the wealthiest federation in the world and their decisions to limit player funding are totally nothing to do with the finances ! disbelief

The question should be whether it is morally correct to continue to fund the likes of Andy Murray (who earns multi millions per year) by paying for his staff while cutting funding at lower levels which in turn makes it much tougher for players to find a way through !

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Do you have any source proving that the LTA continues to pay for any of Andy Murray's staff? They certainly don't pay for Mauresmo or Bjorkman, nor did they for Lendl. I understood that physios, fitness trainers are shared - i.e. they work for both the LTA and Andy, not that the LTA pays for them full-time and lends them to Andy free of charge.