Weeks 22 & 23 - French Open (Roland-Garros) - Paris, France (clay) - main draw

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Weeks 22 & 23 - French Open (Roland-Garros) - Paris, France (clay) - main draw

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Phew. Not the most convincing win for Badosa, but just about came through - Davis served for the 2nd set, and had 3-1 in the TB. You could tell she was massively feeling the pressure, and the pressure was all on her after being talked up a lot, and she has largely come from pretty much nowhere in Feb/Mar to all of a sudden be the circa 7th outright favourite, and have a lot more eyes on her. She'll surely know that she'll be on a lot more radars than what she normally would be in a slam. Her last 5 wins were all pretty much routine, so maybe good to get a minor scare, but still come through.

Osaka also came through, 6-4 7-6 against Tig, so that could be a high profile 3rd round match on Friday, if both come through their respective 2nd round matches on Wednesday.

Dan subsequently warming up on that same court now on ES2.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Only one representative in the women's doubles - dear old Hev - so no justification for a separate thread. Arguably, it's a rotten draw:

L64: (9) Sharon Fichman & Giuliana Olmos (CAN/MEX) 62 (32+30) vs Anna Blinková (RUS) & Heather Watson CR 178 (58+120)

Edited to add: Definitely a rotten draw.

-- Edited by Stircrazy on Sunday 30th of May 2021 06:10:47 PM

Andy Parker · Club Coach

Anna always seems to come with a little noisy fan club of 10 or so people, so at least they should have some vocal support.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Stircrazy wrote:
Only one representative in the women's doubles - dear old Hev - so no justification for a separate thread. Arguably, it's a rotten draw:
L64: (9) Sharon Fichman & Giuliana Olmos (CAN/MEX) UNR (0+444) vs Anna Blinkova (RUS) & Heather Watson CR 178 (58+120)

There's always some justification for a separate doubles thread SC biggrin wink , but I guess in this situation it's fine - it could well be a short thread without it, about from any further external non GB chat.

brendan · Strong Club Player

Stircrazy wrote:
Only one representative in the women's doubles - dear old Hev - so no justification for a separate thread. Arguably, it's a rotten draw:
L64: (9) Sharon Fichman & Giuliana Olmos (CAN/MEX) UNR (0+444) vs Anna Blinkova (RUS) & Heather Watson CR 178 (58+120)

Why would WR 444 and an unranked player be seeded?

indiana · Tennis legend

brendan wrote:
Stircrazy wrote:
Only one representative in the women's doubles - dear old Hev - so no justification for a separate thread. Arguably, it's a rotten draw:
L64: (9) Sharon Fichman & Giuliana Olmos (CAN/MEX) UNR (0+444) vs Anna Blinkova (RUS) & Heather Watson CR 178 (58+120)
Why would WR 444 and an unranked player be seeded?

Those are actually these two's singles rankings. Their doubles rankings are Fichman WR 32 and Olmos WR 30.

Andy Parker · Club Coach

I thought Vesnina would be the easiest player for anyone to play - she has just beaten Govortsova 6-1 6-0. This is why I don't bet - 34 years old, 2 years out to have a baby, specialist doubles player...well that is quite a start for her Grand Slam singles comeback.

-- Edited by Andy Parker on Sunday 30th of May 2021 03:05:17 PM

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Slam statement regarding Osaka:

www.rolandgarros.com/en-us/article/statement-from-grand-slam-tournaments-regarding-naomi-osaka

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Ace Ventura wrote:
Slam statement regarding Osaka:

www.rolandgarros.com/en-us/article/statement-from-grand-slam-tournaments-regarding-naomi-osaka

If Naomi has to relent and go and give press interviews, because she's now being threated (quite rightly in my opinion) with being defaulted here, or at Wimbledon (the next GS), THEN she'll know what it's like to have a pretty antsy press interview !

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

I'd be all for them kicking her out before round 3. biggrin

But on a less jokingly note, I think it's completely fair to be honest. She's not bigger than the sport, or any slam. By all means, discuss issues going forward, possibly delay press conferences etc. as other have brought up on here on the other thread, but if she's not ready to do her duties, then she could sit the events out, until she is ready.

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Sunday 30th of May 2021 03:36:24 PM

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
Jo generally doesn't have the best of reputations on TennisForum, and I'm sure that'll will have played a part, but there's one of those 'who will win' poll threads on there, one where you can't see the results without voting, nor can you change your vote, 52 people have votes thus far, and a massive 47 are going with Cirstea (32 of those in straight sets). Now that really is extreme.
Well, that's got to be worth a 10p on JoKo, hasn't it, then... And Hev while I'm at it.
And one on Andujar, who's playing Thiem, coz Thiem has ben 'dissing' our Evo). Nothing like plain old jingoistic 'allez les Brits! betting'

smile

DF · Tennis legend

Ace Ventura wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
Jo generally doesn't have the best of reputations on TennisForum, and I'm sure that'll will have played a part, but there's one of those 'who will win' poll threads on there, one where you can't see the results without voting, nor can you change your vote, 52 people have votes thus far, and a massive 47 are going with Cirstea (32 of those in straight sets). Now that really is extreme.
Well, that's got to be worth a 10p on JoKo, hasn't it, then... And Hev while I'm at it.
And one on Andujar, who's playing Thiem, coz Thiem has ben 'dissing' our Evo). Nothing like plain old jingoistic 'allez les Brits! betting'

Didn't he do well ?! wink

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Yeah

Lost 50p on Dan though..... but hey....

Andy Parker · Club Coach

I think it is ridiculous to force any player to do post match conferences, especially if they have lost. The players have the upper hand here - they can just sit there, give monosyllabic answers and then they will have fulfilled the tick box for having been in attendance.

Lots of sports interview the winners, and in a final both winner and loser are rightly interviewed in recognition that it is an achievement to have reached a final, and in the hope that they will say something nice about their opponent; normally with the crowd watching how the interviewer handles the situation, the interviewer is kind and on their best behaviour to whoever has lost.

Outside of finals though, the losing players should have the chance to lick their wounds, assess what has gone wrong and then go public if they want, at a time of their choosing.

The pre-match interviews are a joke - no player wants to reveal their game plan or state of mind, and nor should they have to - and normally you learn nothing from them, other than that the players really hate being asked intrusive questions about what they intend to do in a match.

Going forward I would like to see the mandatory interviews purely restricted to winners. Journalists can play their part by asking open and intelligent questions when asking those who have agreed to be interviewed after losing - asking a player how they feel having lost is likely to simply elicit some version of them feeling down or rubbish, and it is far better to ask an open ended question to a player as to why they feel they came off worse on the day, and then the player can talk about what went wrong in their strategy or right for their opponents.

Anyway I am right behind Naomi on this one - I don't think most players are traumatised from post-match defeat interviews, but on the other hand I am sure lots regret saying things afterward and wish they had had time to reflect and come up with more measured answers, and sometimes it feels like the interviewer is simply enjoying wallowing in someone else's pain and distress..

-- Edited by Andy Parker on Sunday 30th of May 2021 04:11:17 PM