French Open 2015 - Day 14

First topic message reminder :

There's a final. There's the end of a semi-final. There's doubles and boys, girls and old people playing. Probably.

... and Djokovic being more aggressive. Murray wants to get off the court.

Good fight by Andy, and a great clay season after all.

Djoko is just a robot on a mission to ruin the tennis world

Come on STAN thennnnnnnnn

Andy has done more than many in a good long time...

Disappointing set.

Wawrinka v Djokovic it is. Well played to both.

I spoke of peaks and troughs as to why I thought Novak would win here and that has played out here. The troughs you cannot afford against Novak. Well done to him and I do hope he completes the career grand slam tomorrow. He is so good that he merits it plus it may teach Stan a lesson for wearing those shorts. YUK.

Good match. Always hard to win three sets in a row.  Murray has though just hurt novaks chances in the final

Jahu wrote:Djoko is just a robot on a mission to ruin the tennis world

Come on STAN thennnnnnnnn

At least Wawrinka will try to hit winners.

CaledonianCraig wrote:I spoke of peaks and troughs as to why I thought Novak would win here and that has played out here. The troughs you cannot afford against Novak. Well done to him and I do hope he completes the career grand slam tomorrow. He is so good that he merits it plus it may teach Stan a lesson for wearing those shorts. YUK.

CC, don't turn your anger of Andy's loss, into a Pro-Djoko RG title.

chill papi.

laverfan wrote:

Jahu wrote:Djoko is just a robot on a mission to ruin the tennis world

Come on STAN thennnnnnnnn

At least Wawrinka will try to hit winners.

yes please, hope he turns up in a good fearless mood and just crushes the ball.

And Jahu be nice and don't tell posters what to post there's a good boy.

CaledonianCraig wrote:And Jahu be nice and don't tell posters what to post there's a good boy.

same for you, stop pushing down my throat what Djoko deserves, don't play the God

Andy dropped in intensity AND consistency at the start of the 5th and Novak took advantage. Well played Novak. Overall he deserved the win to be honest.

For Andy, unbelievable clay court season... But he will never get a better chance to win a French open. He had Novak on the back foot, but backed off.

Bring on Wimbledon, Andy has a great chance.

Ok I had my daily dose of anti-Djoko stuff, so I'm cool, I'm cool for the weekend

Excuse me? Did I post that to you in a PM? No. Did I mention you in that post? No. It was a post to the forum so trot along.

I hope for a great final.  That match just increased its odds

Get in there Novak!! Should never have let it get to 5 but all credit to Murray for pushing him.

Djokovic showed serious mental strength in that 5th set!

Danny_1982 wrote:Andy dropped in intensity AND consistency at the start of the 5th and Novak took advantage. Well played Novak. Overall he deserved the win to be honest.

For Andy, unbelievable clay court season... But he will never get a better chance to win a French open. He had Novak on the back foot, but backed off.

Bring on Wimbledon, Andy has a great chance.

It is the peaks and troughs. His peaks like that cross court passing winner yesterday that fired him up are the peaks and enable him to compete and win sets. Troughs are these slack service games that hand the initiative over to Djokovic. You cannot do that and hope to beat the world No.1.

CaledonianCraig wrote:Excuse me? Did I post that to you in a PM? No. Did I mention you in that post? No. It was a post to the forum so trot along.

Papi, empty your rage on me, no problems, away from home, you are melancholic, still Love you and Andy too

So Stan after a year and a half of AO GS win honeymoon is back on clay strong, which was never his best surface I guess.

Pretty good return to the GS level, after a disasters hiatus.

Hey hey behave!  So will serena come out today right as rain?

Well done to Djokovic. Think the intensity Murray was playing at to win the 4th set today can only be sustained for a short period. Once the set was won he dropped off a bit and Djokovic stepped up. So a deserved win. Should be a good final. Think that Wawrinka can definitely test him as proved at the last two AO's. Plus Djokovic having to play a set and a bit today might have an effect.

Someone announce over all the Waitrose tannoys across the country that Djokovic has won, so poor HM can come back home.

hahaah HMM posts more when Djoko loses, then when he wins. Modest guy.

I went to the French Open in 2012, to answer a question from a lot earlier.

I remember Rafa giving Andy some constructive criticism a few years ago about his intensity at the start of sets. "That's the time to be more intense than ever, but Andy sometimes relaxes too much" (or words to that affect). I agree. But he has those mental dips unfortunately, more than his peers do and at more damaging times.

That said, if he's that competitive on clay I can't wait to see him on grass. I really fancy him to take the Wimbledon title.

Well, that was a pleasant surprise!

Just watched the recording.

Novak holding his first service game under pressure and then Andy surrendering a break pretty cheaply was the turning point. From that point Novak looked a little more relaxed and like Andy was no longer playing havoc with his confidence.

My feeling now is a bit like I felt after Novak's match with Rafa at AO12. Novak may have won the match but I think the momentum in the rivalry has probably now transferred to Andy. Should they meet at Wimbledon, I'd expect Andy to win, perhaps comfortably.

Onto the final now. I suspect that playing 13 "real" games today may actually be beneficial for Novak's chances. It wouldn't have been too physically draining but I think it has sharpened his game and probably burnt off some nervous energy.

Commiserations to the Andy fans. I haven't read your comments yet but despite today's disappointment, I'd imagine you must be feeling pretty good about where his game is now at with Wimbledon just a few weeks away. I'd make him favourite at this stage.

I would also make Murray favourite for Wimbledon but HM I would disagree that this match turns their rivalry in murrays favour. That is 8 consecutive wins for Novak against Murray including at the last 3 slams.

That will surely bug Murray and give Novak confidence. That said I would agree that Murray would be favourite on grass

temporary21 wrote:So will serena come out today right as rain?

Key stat: Serena is 19-4 in GS finals....

Good match. Djokovic really doesnt give an opponent much room for error...and at crucial points in the match Andy made some bad ones. He deserves great credit in fighting back to take that to a fifth ; but I reckon the intensity of his fourth set effort told - a lapse on that first service game and Novak was never going to let him back into it...
Well played Novak and I think he'll win his final now. But Murray has had a terrific clay court season and surely will be confident for Wimbledon .

Danny_1982 wrote:I remember Rafa giving Andy some constructive criticism a few years ago about his intensity at the start of sets. "That's the time to be more intense than ever, but Andy sometimes relaxes too much" (or words to that affect). I agree. But he has those mental dips unfortunately, more than his peers do and at more damaging times.

That said, if he's that competitive on clay I can't wait to see him on grass. I really fancy him to take the Wimbledon title.

Yeah, he gets away with it against lesser players but its an absolute killer against Novak. Had he held it together at the start of the 5th he had a great shot but it was always likely that the intensity would dip. Real shame as I think this was his shot at winning RG. Still, the game looks great and his chances on the grass have to be high.

Serena, playing within herself, probably due to the illness, takes the first set at three....

No coughing yet, so that's a good sign.

Wow...Serena was leading 4-1 in the second, and Safarova won it on a tiebreak.

Safarova has played very well. Can she keep it up though? Williams has leaked sets through this slam, but can she repeat it?

Safarova is now up a break in the third, due to errors from Williams. Slowly slipping away from Williams?

Bartoli likes saying "pi$$ed" on TV.

And Serena likes saying f**k it,,,,

Williams really is a pig of a person; graceless, loud mouthed, and pretty much a nasty piece of work.

bogbrush wrote:Williams really is a pig of a person; graceless, loud mouthed, and pretty much a nasty piece of work.

Yep you got it in 1

Nope too flaky. As usual with almost all the women's game. Given up with easy errors again.

Some of the rallies in this women's final are right up there with the men's semi; they're really spanking the ball at times!

come on Sufferova, beat that whale.

The women's game needs a coaching overhaul.  Spanking it and folding mentally is all any if then except serena who doesn't fold, can do.  They need to start sorting their serves out and strengthening their mind or it will never be anything but the inferior undercard to the men's game

Well serena won   The best layer won for sure.  It's a shame that there's no one strong enough to match her anymore, and that I could never support her after what happened in 2009 and 2011

temporary21 wrote:Good match. Always hard to win three sets in a row.  Murray has though just hurt novaks chances in the final

I think it is just typically crappy scheduling by the French, this is not the first time. They have to know that Murray and Djokovic over 5 sets have a 90 percent chance of going over 3 hours. Why not start the matches one hour earlier? I honestly think the light issue bothered him and played a role in his frustration at the end of the third set. He started lunging around like he was picking up the ball late. Credit to Andy he did play better but Djokovic was very tetchy in the third set and where he had been striking the ball so clean in sets 1 and 2 all of sudden he kept lunging for the ball and making errors. Murray did up his game so I don't want to take anything away from him.

I don't know if it hurts his chances that much unless the Wawrinka match goes 5 sets. He hasn't played a lot of tennis in the fortnight and should be able to handle a little more than set of tennis ok with some physical rallies for sure.

kingraf wrote:NostRafdamus' prediction
Murray breaks immediately. Serves out the fourth set. Djokovic promptly gives him the business in the decider.

Not quite immediately... But quite accurate

Very happy it ends up being a quick last set, but Murray always sh8ts his pants in the last set of a match with Djoko. Sort your toilet activity out ffs

Josiah Maiestas wrote:Very happy it ends up being a quick last set, but Murray always sh8ts his pants in the last set of a match with Djoko. Sort your toilet activity out ffs

Aye. Like the US12 final

Danny_1982 wrote:I remember Rafa giving Andy some constructive criticism a few years ago about his intensity at the start of sets. "That's the time to be more intense than ever, but Andy sometimes relaxes too much" (or words to that affect). I agree. But he has those mental dips unfortunately, more than his peers do and at more damaging times.

That said, if he's that competitive on clay I can't wait to see him on grass. I really fancy him to take the Wimbledon title.

I think his intensity at the start of sets is greatly improved. He was a notoriously slow starter, who used to go behind in the first set against anyone almost as a fashion statement

For me it was inevitable, just like Nole at US12, that there is a mental let-down when you've comeback from two sets down - it then depends on the ability of the opponent to take advantage which of course these two will always do so and hence win the five setters over anyone else

Murray's only bad spell was the second set, when he felt sorry for himself. Otherwise, compared to just even the last slam, I'm excited by his form and I do believe if it's a fast Wimby and he plays like he has in the last couple of months, he should win

Funny how folks on this MB don't have a problem with Murray swearing on court, but when Serena does it, they use it as an opportunity to reveal their true colours....

Well done, Serena! Congrats on your 20th GS title. Let the haters stew....