French Open 2022

First topic message reminder :

Draw sections

1- Djokovic (possible R4 Schwartzmann or Dimitrov)
2 - Nadal (possible R2 - Wawrinka, possible R3 Fognini)
3 - Zverev
4 - Alcaraz (possible R4 Norrie/Thiem)
5 - Ruud
6 - Tsitsipas (possible R4 Shapovalov)
7 - Rublev
8 - Medvedev

Possible QFs
Djokovic vs Nadal (!)
Zverev vs Alcaraz
Ruud vs Tsitsipas
Rublev v Medvedev

Tough draw for everyone in the top half. Tsitsipas moves into contention a bit more after this draw.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/tennis/french-open-2022-draw-possible-routes-to-final-for-djokovic-nadal-alcaraz-swiatek-and-raducanu-explained/ar-AAXu4Mz

Nadal holds to 15, 5-1

Djokovic holds to love 2-5

Nadal takes third set 6-2. Djokovic seemed to expend a lot of energy in that 88 minute second set.

One observation I made, the longer the set goes on the more dry the court it favours Djokovic. Depends on how much he’s got left in the tank.

Such an odd match, I don’t think the quality has been anything like their great matches. This has been quite poor, way too many errors. Djokovic like he didn’t want to be there in set 3 but who knows what might happen in set 4

slashermcguirk wrote:Such an odd match, I don’t think the quality has been anything like their great matches. This has been quite poor, way too many errors. Djokovic like he didn’t want to be there in set 3 but who knows what might happen in set 4

Djokovic has definitely lost a step with the reduced number of matches this year.

Djokovic holds, first game fourth set

Djokovic breaks 2-0

This match is bananas. What is going on?? So random

Djokovic holds to love 3-0

Nadal gets on that board 1-3

Djokovic holds 4-1

Nadal holds to love 2-4

Djokovic holds to 30, 5-2

Nadal holds to 15, 3-5

Nadal saves 2 set points and breaks back 4-5
Djokovic saved 1 BP but Nadal takes the second one.

Nadal holds to 15, 5-5

Djokovic easy hold 6-5

Nadal love hold 6-6
Tie break

Nadal 3-0 up with a mini break

4-1 Nadal two mini breaks

5-1 Nadal

Rafael Nadal wins a monumental match 6-2 4-6 6-2 7-6. Djokovic saved 3 MPs but Nadal took the fourth. Nadal found the extra gear at the end of set 4, when Djokovic got tight.

Possibly that last time we see these greats play against each other at Roland Garros.

How on earth are they doing this at 35? It’s quite frankly crazy.

Nadal now the overwhelming favourite to win Roland Garros #14 and major #22

Djokovic wasn’t vintage tonight, but he would’ve beaten anyone else tonight. That’s how great Nadal was.

IMO Djokovic is arguably the second best clay courter of all time. He’s been the only one to keep Nadal honest at Roland Garros. The 2021 win over Nadal probably the keystone moment for Djokovic on clay. Yes he had the win in 2015, but it was a bit hollow as Nadal looked like he was cooked.
Djokovic 2x RG, 11x 1000s on clay, 2 wins over Nadal at RG. Incredible

Rafa learned the lesson from watching Roger and Tsonga play against Novak - if you get 2 match points in your favour, you´re in trouble. Against Tsonga he even had 4 match points saved and won. Rafa managed to get 5 match points up, I don´t think even Novak has ever come back from that!

In the end I paused it for half an hour in the middle so I could finish some work and then after that fast forwarded all the adverts and breaks between points. You can watch a 4 hour match in 2 hours by doing this.

I am so happy

Surely Rafa for the title now?

Also goes favourite for year end no 1 again after today

No points at Wimbledon is in his favour - if anyone can beat him they´ll likely need a strong hard court performance in second half of the season

He´s already more than 2000 clear of Medvedev and Djokovic, and that´s assuming he loses in the semi!

Tsitsipas and Alcaraz are his nearest challengers so far but you can´t really expect either of them (especially not Tsitsipas) to go on a major tear in the hard court season

https://live-tennis.eu/en/atp-race

I can see Rafa needing a win or two in the last couple of tournaments of the year to clinch it, but you would probably back him at this point but let´s see

Nadal hinting he won’t play Wimbledon. I’m assuming he’ll be targeting that elusive tour finals title.

I don’t think that was one of their better matches to be honest. Sure there was some drama but too much of the match was plagued with unforced errors by Djokovic. As for blowing a 5-2 lead in 4th set, I do fear as a Novak fan he is on the way down. So many needless errors throughout, absolutely atrocious in the 1st and 3rd sets.

Kudos to Nadal who stayed much more consistent throughout. Djokovic had 53 unforced errors

Not their best match for sure, but it was also too early in the tournament for both to meet. I think it is the time I have seen them both more preassured and tight.

I should have known not to go against a lifetime of RG predictions for Rafa and forecast he would be defeated by Djoko.

Clearly, the foot cannot be too much of a problem as it withstood two successive 4hr+ matches.

Incredible that the 59 head-to-head tally is now as close as it could be. This has been one of sport's greatest rivalries.

Nadal-Zverev to win as a parlay was 11.5

I literally have no clue what the tennis world was collectively on yesterday

Agree, it’s a truly remarkable rivalry. To think they have played 59 times and it’s 30-29 to Novak.

What’s particularly special about it is they can beat other on any given surface, there is always that huge unknown even within each match.

For me that was the problem with Federer vs Nadal, too often you just knew Nadal would get in his head and beat him, particularly in the biggest matches. Obviously on hard courts it was quite level and on grass Federer had slight edge but Nadal still beat him in 2008 and went to 5 sets in 2007. Federer could never get near beating Nadal at the French and I think only managed 2 wins ever on clay against him.

You look at Djokovic his best surface is hard court but he has beaten Nadal twice at French (and countless other clay masters finals), beat Federer in all 3 Wimbledon finals.

Nadal has also managed a couple of us open wins vs Novak so he has proven it against big 3 away from clay.

I just think Nadal and Djokovic are now out in front and their own rivalry is basically unrivalled

quote="sirfredperry"]I should have known not to go against a lifetime of RG predictions for Rafa and forecast he would be defeated by Djoko.

Clearly, the foot cannot be too much of a problem as it withstood two successive 4hr+ matches.

Incredible that the 59 head-to-head tally is now as close as it could be. This has been one of sport's greatest rivalries.[/quote]

Swiatek takes the first set 6-3 against Pegula. Highly controversial money at 3-3, when Swiatek ‘won’ the point off the double bounce which was on BP. Pegula understandably not very amused.

sirfredperry wrote:I should have known not to go against a lifetime of RG predictions for Rafa and forecast he would be defeated by Djoko.

I also got this one wrong. It turned out it went with the RG pedigree rather than the form this time.

Jeff Navarro wrote:Nadal hinting he won’t play Wimbledon.

If he wins RG and is at even 3/4 fitness he should play Wimbledon simply because the calendar year grand slam (CYGS) is such a great, almost mythic, achievement, and this would be his only chance to ever win it. This is the first time in his career that he has ever won the AO and got as far as the FO semi final, he is already as close as he has ever got before.

To do so at 35 does seem very far fetched, and Rafa hasn't been competitive at Wimbledon for years, so it would be a tremendous long shot, but you never know.

To win the CYGS at the age of 35 - while simultaneously moving a few slams clear in the leaderboard - might even end the GOAT debate in his favour forever.

If there's even a 5% chance surely you have to try.

Let's come back to this after the FO, I am being a bit premature.

Swiatek wins #33 straight match as she moves into the semi finals. Final score 6-3 6-2. The match changed on the terrible call. Pegula crumbled.

Nadal had a series of knee injuries and although he came back strong in other slams and surfaces he was never able to (physically?) get back to the demands of Wimbledon grass court tennis.  His record before 2012 and his record from 2012 onwards at Wimbledon are chalk and cheese.  It has been suggested for grass you generally need very elastic knees to bend and stabilise the body on an uneven and slippery surface where the ball often bounces low because of skidding effects as well as in not quite predictable angles (unevenness).

While I'm more a Federer fan, I have to say that Djokovic is the only player who can compete with a fit Rafa at RG by playing his game at a normally good level - anyone else (Soderling for example) just had to play the match of their lives to win.

Not sure where another Nadal French Open win leaves the GOAT debate - Rafa long ago confirmed he's the best ever on clay, so anything after the 8th or so French Open title was just some cherries on the icing on the cake. OK, 14 titles (if it happens) is beyond ridiculous and a record I struggle to see being matched in my lifetime, but he's still 'only' won 8 slams elsewhere, so his historically greatest strength is also what undermines his overall GOAT credentials, despite his lead now in GS titles overall. Also, his time spent at #1 in the ranking is surprisingly short, considering his achievements, when compared with Federer or Djokovic.

That he has achieved so much when his prime years have strongly overlapped with both Federer and Djokovic does though bolster his GOAT candidacy, along with the bald count of slam titles - it's arguable that Federer's dominance really came before Rafa's and especially Djokovic's peak, and that Novak has to some extent bolstered his slam count after Federer and to a lesser extent Nadal have faded or become more injury prone.
tl:dr - picking the GOAT from the big 3 will always lead to arguments because you can pick weaknesses in all three's records (probably, although it pains me to say it as he's the one that excites me least as a player, Djokovic's record objectively has the fewest weaknesses).

Rublev took the opening set 7-5 against Cilic. Cilic looked a bit off in the opening set, unsurprisingly after the incredible performance against Medvedev.
Cilic warmed up in second and took it 6-3

I also think djokovic is the most complete of the three

But as a fan, for me it was great to see Nadal beating Novak again on clay. He might not be goat, but he is the absolut best ever on clay

Cilic takes the third set 6-4, he’s found his best as the match goes on

Rublev levels up 6-3 fourth set. Final set shootout

Cilic beats Rublev 5-7 6-3 6-4 4-6 7-6, the big Croat makes Roland Garros semi finals for the first time in his career. I’d fancy him to make the final.

Fast start from Ruud as he takes opening set 6-1 against Rune.

Rune takes the second 6-4. Good back and forth match now.

Did you see the champions tie break that Cilic played earlier, tell me anyone who has played a tiebreak better than that, unreal!!! Rublev playing unreal and he lost it 10-2. Cilic has lit up this French open for me in his last two matches. He hit another 33 aces and another 88 winners today. Immense from the big man. Won’t happen but would give anything to see him win it.

slashermcguirk wrote:Did you see the champions tie break that Cilic played earlier, tell me anyone who has played a tiebreak better than that, unreal!!! Rublev playing unreal and he lost it 10-2. Cilic has lit up this French open for me in his last two matches. He hit another 33 aces and another 88 winners today. Immense from the big man. Won’t happen but would give anything to see him win it.

His serve has been incredible these last two matches. Like video game mode. Crazy.

Ruud takes the third on the tie breaker. This has been very entertaining