2015 French Open…ATP 2000...Roland Garros, Paris, France

[stotty]

I thought Murray had Djokovic for a moment, then all of a sudden Djokovic showed him a clean pair of heels in that fifth set.

I hope Stan really does for it in the final. There is no other way

[klacr]

I thought Murray had Djokovic for a moment, then all of a sudden Djokovic showed him a clean pair of heels in that fifth set.

I hope Stan really does for it in the final. There is no other way

Djokovic has that extra gear that no one else possesses. Federer has it when he is at his best but Djokovic has that uncanny ability to rebound after what seems like a total momentum swing. Djokovic gets broken and he breaks right back. Djokovic loses set and he pounces early in next set to make it non-competitive.
I saw it in Miami during the final up close. Djokovic just too good...despite the lack of forecourt game Just sayin'

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[GeoffWilliams]

In order for Wawrinka to win:

Serve a lot of high quality first serves
Joker misses too many serves
Attack jokers second with deadly back hands
Joker takes it easy on his returns

Bring in joker to the net where his volley resembles mine! Look for the drop volley first.

Attack the back hand sharp cross and heavy flat dtl.

That and hope for a joker injury. Good luck on that game plan.

[don_budge]

The Finals…The 2015 French Open, Roland Garros, Paris, France

I thought Murray had Djokovic for a moment, then all of a sudden Djokovic showed him a clean pair of heels in that fifth set.

Djokovic has that extra gear that no one else possesses. Federer has it when he is at his best but Djokovic has that uncanny ability to rebound...
Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

The 2015 French Open at Roland Garros in Paris, France. Man…it brings back memories from last year. Sitting in that cafe with that beautiful woman (and her boyfriend) with Frank (the Dutch dude born in 1984) and of course the ugly American. My best friend and best golfing buddy…Greg. The hotel manager who couldn't find anything right about the accommodations in Europe. From Amsterdam to Paris. Finally to Sweden. It's true. You cannot compare anything to America…it's right out of Disneyland. It was the greatest party this world has ever known.

I remember watching Roger Federer losing to Ernests Gulbis in the quarterfinals last year. Another inexplicable loss on the Maestro's part. This year he loses to his compatriot and Davis Cup partner Stan Wawrinka. He's getting close to the end of the line. Very close. The end of the line is where he no longer viably competes in Grand Slams to win. He has one more left in him. The comment about the extra gear was so applicable to Federer back some years ago. He would arrive at a point in the match where it seemed as if the match were hanging in the balance and then he would just turn it on and leave the opposition behind.

One might say that this is their trademark culmination point. We see now in Djokovic what we used to see in Federer. That point was the product of all that proceeded it in a match and even what had proceeded the actual match. It is "Match Play and the Spin of the Ball". The summation of the pressure that they put on their opponent. The physical and the psychological. Andy Murray may have appeared to have been on the verge of an upset but that was merely an illusion cast by the master. Andy merely dodged a bagel in the fifth and Djokovic pounded him into submission while giving the paying customers their money's worth.

Djokovic knows the score and he knows where the finish line is. He has it all down by numbers. He has mastered the modern game and he can ebb and flow with the best of the all time great players of the game…which is a far cry from saying that he is the greatest of all time. He is one who has mastered the game relative to his competition…which I maintain is historically slim.

Djokovic absorbs pressure as only the super tennis player can. He can take the best shots of his opponent and merely wait him out until he has shot his load…then he rights his ship and he proceeds to whittle and slash away until he has pared them down to a mere stick…and then he chops off their nuts. The classic castration…as illustrated in Psychology Today some 35 years ago. Tennis is a game where the two players are trying to castrate each other. You have the racquets that are symbolic of swords. The balls represent each other testicles. The game is played by viscerally attacking the opponents weaknesses until there is no resistance left and then you go in for the kill. Like any great championship teams Djokovic's game is based in his defence…in his ability to take the best of his opponents attempts to apply pressure and then turn it back on them with an increase in energy. Watching him neuter Nadal this year is a good case in point…on how he has learned and how he has mastered the game. He has let the game come to him…in the largest of senses.

There is only one question remaining. Can Stan Wawrinka keep up the pressure where all others have failed? The question within the question becomes that of his backhand. Can he apply enough pressure with this great stroke to accomplish the impossible? The seemingly impossible. To penetrate the defensive veneer of Djokovic. He has done it once before in a Grand Slam Final but Djokovic doesn't forget. His psyche is what is separating him from the herd these days. He will use that loss to make himself that much stronger and resilient…whereas Wawrinka will be trying to use that experience to get himself over the hump. Over the hump in the psychological balance and the physical act of neutering the opponent. Here is where Bill Tilden hit the proverbial nail on the head when he wrote his chapter on "Maintaining Pressure on Your Opponent".

Serena won yesterday in another drama fest. My wife commented that she doesn't walk like any woman that she has ever seen. They showed an amazing still shot of both of her hands and my eyes were quickly comparing the length of her ring finger and her index finger. My eyes cannot ever believe what they are seeing when they see Serena. That is one strange character.

[bottle]

Two Sets to One and Totally Dictating!

Hop Swiss!

[GeoffWilliams]

Does anybody still think Feds' bh is better than Wawrinkas'? Not after today. He still missed too many first serves, and won anyway. Wow. Stylish shorts as well.

[don_budge]

Stan Wawrinka…2015 French Open Champion

Does anybody still think Feds' bh is better than Wawrinkas'? Not after today. He still missed too many first serves, and won anyway. Wow. Stylish shorts as well.

His backhand was great today…but more importantly so was his forehand. He maintained pressure on Novak Djokovic right until the end which is exactly what he had to do. His nerves held up and so he is the French Open Champion for 2015.

I don't think Novak played as well as he could for whatever reason. Huge victory for Wawrinka…he has done twice what the rest of the field has not been able to do.

[GeoffWilliams]

Great happiness for stan, who had to beat: Fed/Tsonga/Joker in a row in some tough heat. He's the one who brought the heat! Wow, just wow. Norman improved both his offense and his defense, and his mental toughness.

[stroke]

Does anybody still think Feds' bh is better than Wawrinkas'? Not after today. He still missed too many first serves, and won anyway. Wow. Stylish shorts as well.

I agree. I was kind of on the fence, but Stan looks like he now has the best one hander in tennis. The spintracker feature on tennis channel was very interesting. It reported that Stan was hitting a virtually identical ball of his forehands and backhands. His average balls off both sides were high 70's mph's and 2700 plus rpm's. Courier pointed out Stan was the only player to produce these virtually identical balls off both sides.

[klacr]

STANIMAL!!!!!!

What a match. He prolongs the Djokovic Roland Garros Coronation for one more year. Djokovic continues to have an Ahab-esque struggle with the mighty whale that eludes him.

"Call me Ishmael..."

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[stotty]

I haven't seen the final yet but Stan must have been outstanding. It's not that Nadal (playing well) or Djokovic cannot be beaten, it's just that a player has to try to punch straight through them for three out of five sets...that's an awfully high level to sustain. Stan must have been really on form.

[klacr]

Exclusive Company

Only 6 men have ever won both the Junior boys singles title and men's singles title at The French Open.

Ken Rosewall, Roy Emerson, Andres Gimeno, Mats Wilander, Ivan Lendl and Stan Wawrinka.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[GeoffWilliams]

I agree. I was kind of on the fence, but Stan looks like he now has the best one hander in tennis. The spintracker feature on tennis channel was very interesting. It reported that Stan was hitting a virtually identical ball of his forehands and backhands. His average balls off both sides were high 70's mph's and 2700 plus rpm's. Courier pointed out Stan was the only player to produce these virtually identical balls off both sides.

On the average speed of shots, stan is at: 81mph fh, and 80mph bh, and a hundred rpm under on bh: 2772 vs 2675 or so bh rpms. No one else matches their fh rpm on average shot. He does have the best bh notwithstanding the crappy slice shots, that Nadal kills him when he hits them, and gaINS HIM NOTHING using the slice, as his does not bite, but lays up for clobbering.

IN his interview, he mentioned that the best thing Norman did for him was mental: getting him to believe he could beat the best, and he has.

[gzhpcu]

Stan's victory was also a victory for the one-handed backhand and flat hitting. The final game was a cliff-hanger. It seemed as if Djokovic was on verge of getting a break. Hope Stan does well in Wimbledon...

[GeoffWilliams]

He was 3-17 against joker, and 2-16 against Fed. 60 winners to 25, and that's called out hitting. The blaster won for a change. So how did Norman get stan to blast so consistently?

And that's it for Becker, looking so guilty, as the joker volley is still so suspect. The one thing he was hired to do, to help with the volley/serve game, he can't do, so why pay him $80,000 euros a week after the lack of said results anymore?

Hey, Djokovic, come on over to Oakland and I will teach you to volley.

Drills all day long at the net, coming in against real time passing attempts, not easy rhythm feeds that teach nothing but how to hit lay up volleys that are fodder.