French Open 2016

[Quiet Speed]

Roger Federer will miss his first major since 1999. That's a long time. Novak Djokovic will try to capture his first French Open title, the only major that eludes him. Seeded #2 is Andy Murray who is coming off his recent victory at the Italian Open, beating Djokovic in the final. He and coach, Amelie Mauresmo, have split. A weird pairing that should have never been. Nadal is seeded 4th and seeking an incredible 10th title. The semis would look like this if form holds: Djokovic vs Nadal, Murray vs Stan Wawrinka.

 

[Quiet Speed]

Nadal pulled out of his 3rd round match due to his injured wrist, not wishing to do further damage. Must be fairly serious. That makes Tsonga the next highest seed in that half of the draw. On the wimmin's side, Australian champion Kerber and Azaranka are out, injuries being the key factor. I think both were in the linebacker's side of the draw. No. 2 seed Aga Radwanska moved on today with defense and shot skill. I'm not familiar with American Shelby Rogers, but she had a big, big win against No. 10 seed Kvitova.

 

[Matra2]

Tsonga may be the next highest but he was lucky to get past Baghdatis in 5 sets so he's not playing that well. He would also likely play Djokovic if he made it to the semi-finals. I'm not worried. Well, not yet anyway. I would say Nishikori is the biggest non-white threat to win at Roland Garros.

 

[Quiet Speed]

Love the point with Radwanska hitting two overhead backhand smashes. Not easy shots, but on top of that the placement of the shots are terrific.

 

[Matra2]

Nishikori defeated by Richard Gasquet of France. We'll have a white winner on the men's side.

 

[Matra2]

I hope I'm not tempting fate here but at present Serena Williams is down a set and a break against some ethnic Russian representing some Central Asian country. Serena is really struggling with the conditions and is now starting to rely almost exclusively on power to overcome them.

 

[Matra2]

Ugh. I shouldn't have commented. Serena managed to eke out the 2nd set then the Russian collapsed in the 3rd. Oh well. At least Serena was given a tough workout that might come back to hurt her. She's not getting any younger and clearly struggles on long points. Serena's now got to come back tomorrow and if she wins the day after that for the final.

 

[Don Wassall]

I haven't been able to watch much of the tournament yet, concentrating mainly on the Stanley Cup finals, but have seen parts of some matches on the Tennis Channel. One thing I've noticed is that the Hulking Linebacker's primal "grunts" have become way over the top obnoxious and offensive. Maria Sharapova's seem dainty by comparison. I can just imagine Margaret Court or Chrissie Evert being fast-forwarded 40 years ago to today's game to see and hear the likes of Serena on the court. Incredulous wouldn't begin to describe their reaction.

 

[BeyondFedUp]

And unless she's falling down lunging for a shot we know those grunts are 100% fake. It's totally to annoy opponents. It probably works, despicable as it is.

 

[Matra2]

On the day the world remembers Cassius Clay Serena Williams was unable to equal Steffi Graf's 22 grand slam singles titles as she lost to Venezuelan-born Garbine Muguruza. No doubt Serena would've dedicated a win to "the Greatest". Alas, it was not to be. When she goes to the All England Club in a few weeks she will be defending her last major title. Yes, it's been a year since she won a major. Time is not on her side. I think she's only got about another year left to break the records or it won't happen.

 

[Quiet Speed]

The highlight package I saw of Garbine Muguruza's victory showed a great tenacity on her part. Congratulations Garbine. BTW, championship point ended with a helluva executed lob.

 

[Don Wassall]

Nice to see that another player stepped up and beat the Hulking Linebacker, that's three slams in a row where that's happened. Too bad though there's still no real competition to Williams in the form of a consistent and formidable women's player. One will pop up and win a slam, and then they're out in the early rounds at the next slam.

Who was the last dominant white female tennis player? The closest is Sharapova, but four slam titles over 11 years is a little short of dominance. Maria has the mental toughness but too many injuries; unfortunately she's been an easy win for Serena ever since triumphing at Wimbledon at the age of 17. Clijsters and Henin also fell short. I guess it's Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, and Martina Navratilova; that's going back a full generation.

 

[white lightning]

Yeah but I'm still glad the cry baby lost. She is such a poor sport and a sore loser. I love hearing her whine.

A few more years and they will be done. It cannot come soon enough!

 

[CrazyFinn]

It's been frustrating to watch as no real threat to Serena has emerged over the past few years. It's nice to see someone get hot and beat her on a given tournament, but most of these players seem to be in their mid to late 20s, and when they win that first GS, it's like the air goes off their balloon.

Muguruza could be the exception. She's only 22, and hopefully can stay hungry. But then again, we thought the same of players such as Bouchard, Ivanovic, Azarenka, etc none of whom have panned out as a perennial GS winner.

Williams is 34 years old. Her roided body can only hold up for so long. I'd be content with another year or so one one-and-doners to keep beating her so she never wins another slam. Mother Nature will take care of the rest.

 

[DixieDestroyer]

Dunno if I've ever posted in the tennis forum, but I saw Serena Gorilliams got whipped in the French Open & stopped by to say "HA HA!!" ;-)

 

[Quiet Speed]

Somewhere on this forum I touted Garbine Muguruza a couple of years ago. It took a little longer than I thought for her to get to the top echelon. As already stated, consistency is what is lacking with many of these gals. A healthy Muguruza has no excuse not to be a factor each and every outing. She has the goods, but can she do it mentally?

 

[Don Wassall]

Murray and Djokovic have split the first two sets. Neither has ever won the French, but Murray only has two slam titles. If Djokovic breaks through, he'll have 12 Slam titles and will hold all four of them, which would make him the first man to do so since Rod Laver. A feat by the way that has only rated footnote mention in the anti-White U.S. media.

Edit: Just realized the Tennis Channel's coverage isn't live, and the Djoker does it, winning three straight sets after dropping the first one! Many congrats to a most deserving champion, who now has to be on the short list of the best ever.

 

[BeyondFedUp]

Djokivic has been phenomenal now for the last few years. However, holding all 4 Majors at the same time is extraordinary. Regardless of tennis popularity waning in the ussa in recent years, this should be covered more, tonight, and yes even with the NHL and NBA finals going on.
Oh wait. Djokivic is White...
Can you even imagine the coverage if he was Black, and this feat not accomplished since 1969??