2021 Roland Garros...ATP 2000...Paris, France

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Tsitsipas in the left lane on cruise control vs Carreno Busta. Stef had 10 winners and 2 unforced errors in dominating the 2nd set. Busta is a fine clay court player, but a terrible match up for him vs Stef. Stef looks great. Best scenario for him to me is extend Nadal to 5 grueling physical sets. He will definitely have to cut the head off the snake so to speak. Not going to be pretty. Hard hat all day. Still think Sinner has a chance though. Nadal's forehand looked as brutal as ever in plummeting Norrie.

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One stand up guy...glacierguy. Go ahead and drill him between the eyes. Jerk! Roger is nobody's waiting post! Neither are you or anybody else for that matter. It was the best drama I have seen in ages from the ATP. Hawkeye removes all of the edginess...and that is what Roger implied about injecting some "energy" into the match.

On a similar line the commentating has been just abysmal. Mark Woodbridge has been embarrassing himself terribly with his walks down memory lane provoked by his stupid moronic partner. Right now there are two WOMEN announcing the Tsitsipas match and it left me no choice than to turn off the volume. The shrill insights were too much to bare. Not a single announcer knows when to just shut up and let the play work on its own. Aways trying to hype something or other. The most guilty have been announcers for Nadal and Serendipities Williams. They just couldn't gush enough over either. The stupid endless remarks about the wonderful fashion sense of Serendipities makes me throw up. The gushing of Nadal adoration is particularly galling. Somebody should drill him between the eyes over his obsessive compulsive routines. He subjects not only his opponent if that isn't bad enough but he ropes in anybody watching. I cannot watch him...unless his opponent shows that he is going to beat his ass. Which doesn't happen very often at the French...once in a blue moon.

How about Mary Carillo on the "Peacock" channel for the Fed match yesterday. She takes sucks beyond belief as a commentator to a whole nother level.

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Medvedev rolling under the radar. And I think he likes it that way.

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https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/roger-federer-french-open-withdraws-b1860551.html

It's official

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Medvedev finishes the match strong vs Garin. Quite the matchup next round Medvedev vs Tsitsipas. Berrettini obviously gets a big boost with extra rest going into the semis.

Stef a solid favorite vs Medvedev with a 69% implied probability of winning the match.

[stroke]

I loved Roger for making this an issue. The Bouncy-Bouncy routine is clearly an abuse of the 25s rule. It's not a right to make your opponent maintain maximum alertness in the ready position for 23s and then, just as he's getting pissed and losing focus, finally serve.

There's a guy at my club I refuse to play unless in a tournament because he holds a pose early in his serve for ages, during which time I lose the will to be standing on the same court as him, and develop an overwhelming urge to drill my return between his eyes. I don't know how the regular pros put up with Nadal, Cilic, Djokovic, etc. The offenders should at least be ridiculed, but preferably not allowed to get away with it.

Your story brought back memories of irritating guys I have played regularly in recreational tennis. I also used to play with a guy who would through his quirky antics and made me(or whoever was waiting to receive his serve) wait way too long in a state of "alertness". Very irritating. The most irritating server I ever faced had this routine. If he missed his 1st serve, he immediately declared "2nd" as he, like a old fast draw western gunslinger, drew the tennis ball from his pocket and delivered his 2nd serve like in 2 seconds. It was unbelievable. It did not matter where the 1st serve fault was on the court. His 2nd was coming. Of course, he received a lot of negative feedback on his "routine ", but it fell on deaf ears for him.

[stotty]

“I wasn't sure after the second set how much was left in the tank, so, you know, it was a good battle until then. I feel like I needed to maybe pace myself ever so slightly at that moment, especially emotionally, of not pressing too hard and wanting it too badly. So maybe just get a bit more mellow and relaxed about things and just go with the flow a little bit, let the experience take over.”


Wonderful post match summary by Roger on his match with Koepfer. It's funny because I sensed he had become more relaxed about things compared to the first two sets. It's physically sapping to expend too much nervous energy and want it to much versus going with the flow and letting the game come to you. Roger at his best will take any match by the balls but even he recognises conservation can be paramount. I guess no one knows tennis quite so well as Federer, except maybe Pancho Gonzales, who would fuss over string tension aged 42 when he played those Hilton matches way back when. The wrong string tension, Pancho worked out, could extend matches against someone like Rosewall because it meant he couldn't be accurate enough to knock him off....fine margins become even finer when you're passed your sell by date.

Good move by Roger. The FO was always going to be unwinnable. Both Novak and Rafa are in way better form and Roger cannot match them right now.

SW19 will be different. On modern grass there are only two players that are any good. Roger is one and Novak the other. That's why Roger thinks he can do it. There are literally hundreds of amazing hard and clay court players out there, but on grass...virtually no one can play on the stuff.

[arturohernandez]

“I wasn't sure after the second set how much was left in the tank, so, you know, it was a good battle until then. I feel like I needed to maybe pace myself ever so slightly at that moment, especially emotionally, of not pressing too hard and wanting it too badly. So maybe just get a bit more mellow and relaxed about things and just go with the flow a little bit, let the experience take over.”


Wonderful post match summary by Roger on his match with Koepfer. It's funny because I sensed he had become more relaxed about things compared to the first two sets. It's physically sapping to expend too much nervous energy and want it to much versus going with the flow and letting the game come to you. Roger at his best will take any match by the balls but even he recognises conservation can be paramount. I guess no one knows tennis quite so well as Federer, except maybe Pancho Gonzales, who would fuss over string tension aged 42 when he played those Hilton matches way back when. The wrong string tension, Pancho worked out, could extend matches against someone like Rosewall because it meant he couldn't be accurate enough to knock him off....fine margins become even finer when you're passed your sell by date.

Good move by Roger. The FO was always going to be unwinnable. Both Novak and Rafa are in way better form and Roger cannot match them right now.

SW19 will be different. On modern grass there are only two players that are any good. Roger is one and Novak the other. That's why Roger thinks he can do it. There are literally hundreds of amazing hard and clay court players out there, but on grass...virtually no one can play on the stuff.

And everyone is upset that he did not play. No one knows his body better than him. It was just a matter of not winning. He needs to get back into form physically. He needs more recovery and his team must know that going too far could lead to an injury.

I think he knew that he could not play that many matches on clay. He is shooting for Wimbledon but Paganini thinks that the rode back will be very long. The time off was very long and he lost a lot of muscle.

Wimbledon might be a possibility but he may be working himself back with the hope for a run in a year. He will be older but it might take that long for him to be in form again.

I guess we will find out in a few weeks.

If Stotty is right, then maybe Djokovic and Nadal will play some ridiculous long match. Tire each other out and then have nothing left for SW19.

The draw will open up and Roger will win number 21.

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Yahoo Sport Australia: Ugly Naomi Osaka twist in Roger Federer's French Open withdrawal.
https://au.sports.yahoo.com/french-o...225909962.html

Everything that happens nowadays is not fair treatment. Unbelievable, but so predictable. Guy and the French Tennis establishment may simply be not woke.

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https://www.skysports.com/tennis/news/32455/12326626/french-open-victoria-azarenka-bemoans-a-lack-of-equality-in-scheduling-at-roland-garros

Victoria is also offended...

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Musetti wins 1st set in tiebreaker. Musetti looked very comfortable playing with Novak the entire set. Long wat to go obviously, but this would be a very big upset certainly. 1st set Novak has lost at this tournament.

[glacierguy]

Before anyone beats me to it..... I'm predicting some Djokovic "injury" problem, trainer on, followed by miraculous recovery and eventual victory.

[don_budge]

Before anyone beats me to it..... I'm predicting some Djokovic "injury" problem, trainer on, followed by miraculous recovery and eventual victory.

At the very least a remarkable resurgence in the tie-break should he get there by holding on to his bounce...I mean his serve.

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Novak down 2 sets. Musetti to me just playing solid clay court tennis as he does. Novak seems just not in the mood so far, and certainly not playing lockdown tennis. It seems like is I accepting what is going on here.

[don_budge]

Novak down 2 sets. Musetti to me just playing solid clay court tennis as he does. Novak seems just not in the mood so far, and certainly not playing lockdown tennis. It seems like is I accepting what is going on here.

Lock down coming in 3...2...1???