2014 French Open...Roland Garros, Paris, France

[stotty]

Gulbis versus Djokovic

Can anyone see Gulbis knocking Djokovic off his perch? What will he have to do to win? Will he try to hit right through Djokovic or will he employ more subtle tactics? What do you guys think? How do you think will it play out and what will Gulbis have to do to win?

[klacr]

Can anyone see Gulbis knocking Djokovic off his perch? What will he have to do to win? Will he try to hit right through Djokovic or will he employ more subtle tactics? What do you guys think? How do you think will it play out and what will Gulbis have to do to win?

Nope. Can't see it. But if Gulbis does, it will be because of his backhand down the line. He should hope he plays as well as he did against Berdych. That match he was in the zone. He said so as well.

Gulbis will need to serve well and keep Djokovic on total defense. Avoid drop shots and the cute cat and mouse points. Just stay in the zone. Be a hero in Latvia.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

Belief...

Can anyone see Gulbis knocking Djokovic off his perch? What will he have to do to win? Will he try to hit right through Djokovic or will he employ more subtle tactics? What do you guys think? How do you think will it play out and what will Gulbis have to do to win?

Greetings from Paris...now I know why it's called the Parisian hour.

First of all...Ernest's must believe that he can beat Djokovic and trust me he does. Then he must have a game plan that best allows him to dictate play. Then he is going to have to "play the game" and ride out the ebb and flow.

Does he have a chance? Absolutely...and as klacr notes he must be in the zone. Well he has been in the zone and what better scenario for him to lift it to another level. Semifinals of the French Open against Novak Djokovic.

Novak will be looking for that higher ground also. The one advantage that Gulbis has is that he has less to lose and more to gain than Novak. Gulbis can play it loose and go for it a bit which makes him a dangerous opponent. He had no qualms about psyching Federer...with the injury timeout. Gulbis is hungry and aggressive. This could be the match of the tournament.

[stotty]

Beating Djokovic

Let's wait and see...but the odds are certainly against Gulbis. The trouble with "throwing rocks and muscling serves" is the ball will always be moving in straight lines. Djokovic loves that. He gets great rhythm when players try to do this to him. Sure, he can drop a set to players in the zone, but once he clicks into place and locks down it's a big ask to beat him this way.

Murray and Federer have had success against Djokovic and it's clear their sliced backhands have played a major part. Mixing up slice and topspin backhands to Djokovic's backhand can make it at least a little more tricky for him to find his full rhythm. Federer and Murray have both been able to pull Djokovic off the court with angled topspin forehands...another rhythm breaker. I like the way Murray deals with Djokovic. It's a bit cat and mouse. He's actually fathomed Djokovic better than anyone else. He can play him like Roger does AND give him a taste of his own medicine here and there...and with a bit of cat and mouse thrown in. It's clever. I like it.

I think to beat Djokovic you have to look at who has been able to beat Djokovic in recent times (not many) and look at what they employed to do it. Federer and Murray do have decent sliced backhands and perhaps more variety to their games than others. I haven't seen Gulbis enough to know if he has anything else other than "wham bam thank you mam" to his bow.

But of what I have seen of him there is little doubt in my mind that Gulbis will try to blast his way to victory. He'll hit in straight lines both on serve and in rallies. I can't see him doing it this way unless Djokovic gets jittery...which he does...sometimes.

Hope you're enjoying Paris, don_budge. It's a wonderful city. I went there many years ago.

[don_budge]

All...

Can anyone see Gulbis knocking Djokovic off his perch? What will he have to do to win? Will he try to hit right through Djokovic or will he employ more subtle tactics? What do you guys think? How do you think will it play out and what will Gulbis have to do to win?

...that I said is that Gulbis has a chance. Trust me... He will take that chance. No mistake...Djokovic is the favorite.

[gzhpcu]

Rafa demolished Murray. Looks like he found his form just on time...

[stotty]

Rafa demolished Murray. Looks like he found his form just on time...

I knew after the first handful of games that Murray wasn't feeling it and was never going to either. He needed those flat backhands to work well but it was one of those days where his ball control was on a knife-edge and it wasn't going to happen. He became tactically confused once he realised his assertive game wasn't there. Sure, Nadal played well but when Murray has days like that he'd lose to anyone in the top 20. I know Murray. I've been watching him all his life.

It was inevitable, wasn't it? Nadal versus Djokovic. Who will win this time?

[klacr]

The match was over at 2-0 in the first set for Murray. He had nothing in the tank and Nadal ran rough shot over him. Nadal in very good form.

Djokovic-Gulbis match was a bit of a snooze as well. Djokovic went away tye last two sets but woke up when he needed to in the 4th set to close the door on Gulbis.

Djokovic was complaining he wasn't feeling well during last two sets and he pushed back his post match press conference a few hours

Nadal vs. Djokovic. This is what they want. Nadal looking healthier in Djokovic. Djokovic may need to hope for wet and cool conditions to limit the pace and bounce of that Nadal ball.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[stroke]

No big surprise: Nadal is oddsmakers favorite vs Djokovic in final. Nadal is -130, Djokovic is +110.

[klacr]

Today's the day! Nadal vs. Djokovic.

I think a overlooked stat in this match and a key to winning will be those 2nd serve points.

Nadal and Djokovic have met 20 times since beginning of 2010 (including today's final). When Nadal wins over 50% of his 2nd serve points he's won 9/9 matches. When Nadal is under 50%, he's 1/10. Let's see if Djokovic can keep that Nadal 2nd serve from doing damage.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[gzhpcu]

Rafa does it again! Is now tied with Sampras in the number of Grand Slam titles: 14, closing in on Roger...

[klacr]

Today's the day! Nadal vs. Djokovic.

I think a overlooked stat in this match and a key to winning will be those 2nd serve points.

Nadal and Djokovic have met 20 times since beginning of 2010 (including today's final). When Nadal wins over 50% of his 2nd serve points he's won 9/9 matches. When Nadal is under 50%, he's 1/10. Let's see if Djokovic can keep that Nadal 2nd serve from doing damage.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Nadal's 2nd serve points won...50%.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[stotty]

I don't think the result has anything to do with second serve stats or any stats come to that.

It came down to repeatedly having to pummel shoulder-high and often paceless balls to the corners over and over again. It's a big ask against the world's greatest retriever. This happened last year. Countless times Nadal scooped forehands back from wide positions and ended up winning the point. It's tough for Djokovic to play one great shot after another over and over again, brilliant though he is at it. In the end it's the straw breaking the camels back situation.

On any other court it's doable for Djokovic, but the Philippe Chatrier court has a long, slow bounce that can be exploited to good effect - and Nadal does just that.

The TV pundits were banging on all day about how the dry conditions suited Nadal's forehand - which it does. But he didn't use that benefit all that much. The crux of it came down to the good old hacker versus the attacker syndrome.

We had some excellent TV coverage here showing many rallies at court level. It tells the story so much better.

[klacr]

Stotty, Not saying result is all about 2nd serve, but it is interesting to see that the stat held up. Nadal is 10 for 10 vs. Djokovic when above 50%. Just find that interesting.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[stotty]

Stotty, Not saying result is all about 2nd serve, but it is interesting to see that the stat held up. Nadal is 10 for 10 vs. Djokovic when above 50%. Just find that interesting.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

I am sure you could well be right. But for me Nadal could get 100% of his first serves in and the scoreline would be much the same.

It came down to Djokovic pressing and eventually missing under strain...same last year.