2012 French Open

[foobar75]

Stephens defeated in straight sets by Stosur.

Tsonga seems to be wildly popular with white French fans.

That is certainly good news, as this leaves no blacks on the women's side for the rest of the tourney. I must say, Azarenka is a very poor loser and seeing Williams like behavior from her today was disappointing. It would be nice if there would be something on the women's side as we have on the men's side: Consistently dominant white players who are class acts both on and off the courts.

Matra, Tsonga (and Monfils) are popular with white fans everywhere, not just France. It goes to show you, the DWFs are the same regardless of which country they come from.

As for the men's side, it's looking like Nadal's tournament to lose. He's looked solid, while Djokovic and Federer haven't played their best tennis. I'm hoping for a Djokovic-Nadal final, and if Novak wins, his legacy would jump to another level.

Looks like Federer-Djokovic could meet in the semis, and we know that Federer can occasionally put up a great match and beat Djokovic in a major. He did it last year in Paris, and almost in NY. I hope it doesn't happen again, because I don't want to see a Nadal-Federer final. That movie has played out several times, and the ending never changes. Federer simply has no shot to beat Nadal at the French Open. But Djokovic has now built this aura about him that when it really matters, he believes he'll find a way to win and that's why I think he's the only man who can beat Nadal this year.

 

[Matra2]

How clutch is Novak Djokovic? He faced four match points in the 4th set against Jo-Wilfred Tsonga with the crowd roaring for Tsonga and he won them all, then took the set in a tie break. This is reminiscent of the way he faced a bunch of match points against Federer two US Open semi-finals in a row yet still managed to win. I laughed when I saw the French media lining up to interview Tsonga at courtside expecting him to win only to see them go back to their seats in disappointment. Now the Djoker has got to be favourite to follow through and win the 5th.

 

[darthvader]

For some reason I expected del potro to win because for one I think he is finanlly due after coping with his injury and also federer has not been sharp in this tournament. But somehow federer managed to elevate his game again similiar to 3 years ago when he was 2 sets down also to del potro. I guess the same thing happened in the djokovic-Tsonga match where nole was able to reach deep down for that extra mojo. I definitely am looking forward to watching the replays on the tennis channel when I go home. I would not have been shocked if both tsonga and del potro both won because they are both very talented players ( yes I have to give credit where it's due to tsonga). I can also see one of them winning the us open this year because their style is suited for the hard courts especially del potro with his heavy groundstrokes. As far as the women are concerned one can argue it is not boring because there is simply no woman who can really dominate the field unlike the men's side. Variety can be a good thing because I can say with absolute certainty that federer, nadal, and djokovis will be in the semis before any grand slam begins. However I am kind of rooting for murray or ferrer in this tournament even though nadal is practically invincible on clay.

 

[Matra2]

I didn't see the Del Potro v Federer match but from what I heard DP was killing him then got some kind of injury in the 3rd set and never really recovered. By all accounts Federer was poor but got lucky.

 

[foobar75]

I didn't see the Del Potro v Federer match but from what I heard DP was killing him then got some kind of injury in the 3rd set and never really recovered. By all accounts Federer was poor but got lucky.

Matra, that's not quite true. Del Potro's knee was bandaged and bloodied by the 2nd set, and he still won that one. By the third set, you could see a combination of Federer turning it around, while Del Potro was somewhat slowed down by the injury, but still put up a great effort. If that had been anyone other than one of the big 3, Del Potro would've managed to win it.

The Djokovic-Tsonga match was an instant classic. I just cannot believe how he manages pull out these victories from almost certain defeat. His mental strength and confidence must be off the charts. Tsonga is a very good player, just outside the big 3, but he probably will never win a major as long as those guys are around.

Now we have a big semifinal coming up. Federer seems capable to rising up and playing well against Djokovic in majors. He can still do that and win. However, I will be rooting heavily against Federer for the first time in my life. Because if he wins, it's virtually guaranteed, 100%, that he will receive a brutal beatdown by Nadal in the final. It would be like the 2008 final (6-3, 6-1, 6-0). I want to see competitive final and for Djokovic to do something special by holding all 4 majors and still with a chance to complete the calendar year grand slam. He's the only man who can beat Nadal at Roland Garros.

 

[Zeus]

Djokovic' s the only man who can beat Nadal at Roland Garros.

Guys, have you seen how Rafa is playing on the clay of French Open this year?
I believe there's no man in the history of the sport (Nadal's previous editions as well) who could beat this man. He's breaking the record of my hero Borg and wins FO for the 7th time in my opinion, easily I believe.

Juan Monaco is a GREAT player on clay and the way Nadal smashed him was scary. A true destruction 6-2, 6-0, 6-0, I believe that Nadal this year is the most dominant player I have ever seen on any surface and trust me I watch tennis for many ages now!

 

[darthvader]

It's kind of weird that the one player who has ever beaten Rafa in Roland Garros has been out of the tour for I think two years now. And that's Robin Soderling. I didn't realize this until maybe two or three months ago. If I remember he was ranked 5th or 6th on the tour and then he just disappeared. I heard he contracted a virus of some sort. I don't know what it is but I hope it's not life threatening. Somehow he was able to do one thing which the other players have not been able to do to rafa and that is as John Mcenroe stated "hit him off the court". The only player I can see doing this is Nole but it will require a herculean effort on his part. On a lighter note did anybody see sharapova in that black dress. WOW!!!! Can sombody please post a picture on this thread. There may not be a female tennis player better looking than her for quite awhile. On a marketing level there is nobody who sells the sport more than her not even Roger.

 

[Matra2]

foobar75 - Admittedly I did not see the match I was just going by what the commentators said. I did see bits of the first set when Federer was awful. He couldn't even get any pop on his serve. It was as if he was injured. Anyway, he's struggled, by his standards, throughout this tournament and Djokovic will be favourite to beat him on Friday.

As for Nadal, after losing two finals in a row on clay to a superior Djokovic last year, the Spaniard has now taken his clay court game to a totally new level at this French Open. (Right now he is pummelling a very good and in form clay court specialist N Almagro).

Robin Soderling of Sweden has been suffering from mono. One of the FOpen commentators said he'd be back on the tour soon. But it's taken Del Potro over a year and a half to get back to where he was - or close to it - before his wrist injury so even when he comes back Soderling won't be a factor for some time.

 

[Freethinker]

On a lighter note did anybody see sharapova in that black dress. WOW!!!! Can sombody please post a picture on this thread. There may not be a female tennis player better looking than her for quite awhile. On a marketing level there is nobody who sells the sport more than her not even Roger.

darthvader, I might not be the biggest tennis fan but I am a fan of Maria in that dress. This should be the one you're referring to....

 

[darthvader]

Thank you Freethinker for those wonderful pictures. Do we need anymore reasons to preserve the white gene pool? Anyway back to tennis. I am hoping and expecting that the two men's semifinals will be the kind of classic matches that you will see on the tennis channel when they replay them next year and beyond. I could see Ferrer pulling off the upset because he is a pitbull that keeps coming at you. But I still see nadal pulling through although not in the fashion that he is been doing it in this tournament. As for federer-djokovic, I am up in the air. I think though that djokovic gets under Roger's skin more than any other player. Of course I do want to see federer win another grand slam and if he is serious about being No 1 again as he says he does then he will have to go through nole and nadal whereever he plays.

 

[Quiet Speed]

You have to admire what Sharapova has done. She’s worked her way to the #1 ranking once again with today’s semifinal victory over Kvitova. No doubt, she’s a hard worker and her competitive nature is second to none. The 2008 Australian Open was the best that I’ve seen her play. That was the highpoint of her playing form. How she has regrouped after the shoulder surgery is a lesson in determination. She will face Sara Errani in the finals. Errani upset Stosur. I think it will be an interesting final (let’s hope so, anyway).

Congrats to the long cool woman in the black dress:

[video=youtube;NYeIpDMNM5U]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYeIpDMNM5U&feature=related[/video]

 

[Matra2]

From a mainstream website (Grantland):

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is the country's top-ranked player, fifth in the world, and considered to be one of the sport's most athletic players. In truth, Tsonga is no more athletic than Djokovic or Nadal or many others on tour, but he has darker skin, which allows the lazy stereotype of his athleticism to be one of his defining traits.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id...g-generation-french-players-win-roland-garros

That's in a paragraph about 2/3 into the article.

 

[frederic38]

From a mainstream website (Grantland):



http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id...g-generation-french-players-win-roland-garros

That's in a paragraph about 2/3 into the article.

yes, nadal is athletic, but let's not forget that every spanish athlete is on performance enhancing drugs:


[video=youtube_share;UqS7vfxUtrg]http://youtu.be/UqS7vfxUtrg[/video]

http://youtu.be/NJ70vbud78U

Former tennis great Yannick Noah accused Spanish athletes of widespread doping in an interview published Saturday, adding the only way to level the playing field would be to allow everyone to use banned drugs.The 1983 French Open champion told Le Monde newspaper that French athletes no longer had a chance against their Spanish opponents and said his homeland was wrong to impose such stringent testing on its athletes.
"How can a country (Spain) dominate sport from one day to the next?" he asked. "Had they discovered avant-garde training techniques and methods that no one else imagined?"
He said Spanish athletes were consistently beefier than French ones and said the only conclusion was that they must be doping. He offered no other proof.

http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/i...yannick-noah-believes-spanish-athletes-doping

the spanish athetes are white, and they beat our "super-athletes", so there is obviously something wrong

 

[Zeus]

I found a stream to watch Nadal vs Ferrer for a little and I must admit, I was expecting Ferrer to make it hard for Nadal, I mean David is arguably the second best player in the world on clay behind Rafa and I see there's a total destruction as well. It doesn't matter who goes to the final between Roger and Novak, Rafa will smash either one 3-0 probably and win another FO without losing a set. Rafa is the best player on clay in the history of the sport.

As for the lame excuse that Negroes don't play tennis or they would dominate it hahahahahaha what a lie?!!!!!
There are two Negro Frenchmen, there are a couple Negro Americans and a few more and they all get destructed. When is the last time a male Negro won a major tournament really? Back in the 80's or something? hahahahaha Jews must be pissed!

 

[frederic38]

As for the lame excuse that Negroes don't play tennis or they would dominate it hahahahahaha what a lie?!!!!!
There are two Negro Frenchmen, there are a couple Negro Americans and a few more and they all get destructed. When is the last time a male Negro won a major tournament really? Back in the 80's or something? hahahahaha Jews must be pissed!

almost all the tennis players that were produced by france (by the "pôle espoir") were blacks
we have also ouanna who has the same age than monfils and tsonga

 

[darthvader]

It should be an interesting men's final as both men will fighting for a place in history. Nadal trying to break Bjorn Borg's record for most french open title and djokovic trying to first man since rod laver to win four grand slams in a row. I was hoping for 2 classic semifinal matches but instead they were 2 beatdowns. In ferrer's case it was a slaughter plain and simple. Of course rafa is and should be the favorite but nole has the groundstrokes to pin nadal back on the baseline and dictate the rallies as he did in his previous victories but this is clay and there seems to be no kryptonite to nadal's game. But i will be rooting for nole. As for federer there will be the obvious articles about his demise and having to play second fiddle now to djokovic and nadal which certainly true to an extent. Wimbledon, the olympics and the us open will really be the defining moments in which I think is the beginning in this last stage of his great career.

 

[Matra2]

He said Spanish athletes were consistently beefier than French ones and said the only conclusion was that they must be doping.

What the heck is Yannick Noah smoking? Other than Nadal who are these "beefy" Spanish tennis players or footballers? Fernando Torres? Verdasco? Ferrer? Xavi? Has Noah seen Serena Williams lately?

 

[Matra2]

Weather conditions suit Nadal in the final. The court is playing slower which usually means Nadal is unbeatable.

 

[Zeus]

Rafa finished the job as I expected and broke the record of the legend in my avatar!
Congratulations to both white athletes, actually they are both winners of the prestigious athlete of the year Laureus award(from all sports on a worldwide level), Rafa for 2010 and Nole for 2011...........Exceptional demonstration of athleticism, stamina, speed and talent by these two super athletes. I bet if they were Negroes from the US, especially if they had this rough dark brutal (for the eye) black skin and the non so human features (ala Serena) they would now be worshiped from the Jewish American dominated media x100 more!

 

[Matra2]

Nadal is now better than ever. He is simply unbeatable at the moment on clay. Djokovic deserves credit but he was always struggling to stay in the match. Those two are the guys to beat heading to Wimbledon.

Nadal has now won more French Opens than Bjorn Borg. The way he is going he could end up winning ten FOs, as long as his knees hold up.

Almost forgotten is that Maria Sharapova completed a career slam by winning on Saturday.