Day 11 Roland Garros Update

Hey Y'all. Galileo here.

The Djokovic/Nadal semi is finally here. It is the one we have all been looking forward to immensely. If Nadal wins, he wins the title, but if Djokovic wins the title isn't sewn up. I think Ferrer or Tsonga have a chance of the Djokovic upset. Ferrer, at 31, would be one of the oldest male players ever to be a debutante in a slam final. Incidentally, Ferrer has a better winning percentage in grass court finals than Federer. Ferrer is at 100% whilst Federer is at just 75. Tsonga, meanwhile, is trying to become the first Frenchie since the fabulous Leconte in 1988 to reach the final. I think, though I am of course going to be proved wrong as usual, Djokovic will surprise everyone and actually beat two Spaniards in a row, both in four sets to complete his Grand Slam but I don't think he will win another French Open. In fact, I am going to be bold and say that after next year, Fedalovic will never win another French open between them. In 2015 we will have a surprise winner. Del Potro, Paire, Todd Spiker, Janowicz to name but a few. Any one of these "household names" could win the 2015 French Open -which really will be very open- but I'm getting ahead of myself here.

Let's focus on the blockbuster that Friday is going to become. I think It will be interesting to see the Nadal crosscourt forehand into the Djokovic backhand battle. I also think it will be interesting to see how Nadal serves there. He can't really serve effectively to Djokovic. He sort of loops his serve in, especially on the second, and Djokovic just munches it up.

In the Boys, Baldi, seeded seventh, lost on day ten but no other seeds fell. He lost to Hemery of France 6-1, 4-6, 6-3. On day 11, the third seeded Serb Djere lost to Garin of Chile, who I think I've mentioned before. Seeds 2,4,6 and eight progressed. Ditto for the thirteenth seed. The eighth seed progressed against the eleventh seed 7-5, 0-6, 8-6.

In the Doubles, Cuevas and Zeballos continued their title charge with a victory over Bedanek and Janowciz on day ten. The second seeds crashed out to Llodra/Mahut in the doubles, too, on day ten 6-3, 1-6, 6-3. Perhaps France will win the doubles and the singles...hmmm...

Marach and Kas retired to the Bryans after a game and one point. Dodig/Melo, the twelth seeds, lost to the seventh seeds Peya/Soares, too. On day 11, the Bryans won surprisingly easily against eighth seeds Verdasco/Marreo 3 and 4. The seventh seeds won through to the semifinals when Frystenberg/Matowski retired 3-1 down in the third. So these are our semis:

Bryan/Bryan [1] ~ [7] Peya/ Soares
Cuevas/Zeballos ~ Llodra/Mahut

Which big seeds fell in the mens singles? The 32nd seeded Robredo went, so did Fed, seeded second, the ninth seed Wawrinka and 12th seeded Haas, too.

Djokovic [1] vs. Nadal [3]
Ferrer [4] vs. Tsonga [6]


MARQUEE MATCH: Tsonga def. Federer
...Tis the changing of the guard. I fell in love with Fed's game a while ago. A love affair I guess I'll miss forever when its over. I don't care about the grand slams anymore and in fact once he won the 2009 French Open, I stopped really caring about the slams as much as I did before. I just want to see him play the tennis that is so uniquely his. It's the same with Monfils, Gasquet and Dimitrov. I love the way they play. It's unique and it inspires me to go out there and try the things they do so effortlessly, though of course it looks dreadful when I attempt it. Anyway, Tsonga who also plays a fantastic brand of tennis went out there determined to beat Federer and he succeeded. He and Federer have met in every slam quarter with Fed winning the two hard court meetings and Tsonga taking the other two, though Tsonga has only beaten Fed very rarely. He played his heart out here and came away with a career changing moment. He becomes the first Frenchman in a long time to make five grand slam semifinals. He has achieved so much and I think he is heading towards top five, and possibly a grand slam awaits.
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ROSOL MOMENT: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA
...I rather feel Tsonga is going to make a sweep here. It really was an amazing match. He literally was exceptional in just about every way. Even though Fed played the shot of the match-a backhand flick pass- , Tsonga was better, stronger and more consistent in just about every department. He played the perfect match and he could win the tournament, but it shall depend on that French magic.
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BLINK AND YOU MISS IT: David Ferrer/Tommy Robredo, ESP/ESP
...It took Ferru an hour and twenty five minutes to completely obliterate Robredo 2, 1 and 1. An hour and twenty-five minutes to utterly destroy his hope and will power, to grind his game into the red dust, to pulverize and dominate him unreservedly. Luckily there was time to wash the blood off the court so the women's doubles match afterwards could go ahead. Robredo's gas metre read zero coming into this match and I think normally he would have been good enough to push Ferrer, but he was too tired and too gone to do so. Ferrer hasn't dropped a set so far and has pretty much thrashed everyone so far. He plays Tsonga and I think Ferrer is the slight favourite there, though only marginally.
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ELVIS AWARD: Tommy Haas, GER
...What a career Haas has had. With a decent performance at Wimbledon -and we're only talking fourth round here, which would be the round he is seeded to reach anyway- he could just about make the top ten. A first Roland Garros quarterfinal at the age of 35 and then in that QF losing respectably to the world's best player. What he has achieved over the past six months is truly exceptional. I think Haas is the tennis equivalent to Elvis and one can only hope he doesn't pass away on the, uhh, commode.
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HOME GROWN HERO: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA
...Music and passion were always the fashion at the Copa Mousquetaires. Ahem. Tsonga has so much Passion and it's no wonder that the French crowd really 'dig him'. Anyway, the French roar was so loud I could hear it in London. Wimbledon's Centre Court has never been that loud before and it is the greatest stage in tennis. Like some title from a fifties film long gone by now, Jo's journey is entitled "A Love Affair In Paris." He has played exceptional tennis, gained himself new fans and generally had a fabulous week.
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I shall now quickly preview some of tomorrow's action....


...I think I will go for Azarenka in three. I think she has the game that can really trouble Sharapova on all surfaces, although Pova did win their last clay clash back at Stuttgart last year. If Pova can drag Azarenka out wide then she can move her about and hurt her that way. Azarenka does not like moving on clay because she can't slide like JJ, Sveta, Clijsters and others. I do miss Clijsters, actually, as do we all if I may go off on a tangent. I think, though, Azarenka will move on to the finals after winning through here.

I think Serena will win and the scoreline will be ridiculous. It'll be something like 6-1, 6-3 because honestly Errani may as well turn up dressed up and Godzilla and play left handed whilst singing "Ring of Fire." The result would be about the same excpet more entertaining and certainly more watchable. If Errani is secretly a sorceress the match might be close. I would love to see Vinci/Errani versus Williams, the doubles number ones playing the singles number one. It might go three, maybe, but I wouldn't put it past Williams to still win in two. Or perhaps she could bring two rackets and play with one in each hand. Roller blades, maybe? Realistically speaking, though, Errani just needs to really spank that first and second serve, go for every shot and if something can be hit give it a good smacking. If Serena doesn't turn up at all and is absolutely awful perhaps, just perhaps Errani might have a chance. She has to pray Williams doesn't turn up.

Thanks and visit WTA Backspin.

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