Roland Garros Day Cinque: Actually, we're bored with upsets

Hey Y'all. Galileo here.

Let's open with some stats I have stolen from Sports Illustrated, who have stolen them from Twitter: "Ivo Karlovic in his opening 2 matches has hit 92 winners and 19 unforced errors, one of the more remarkable stats from roland garros so far."

Direct quote from Nick Lester on Twitter: "Verdasco becomes just the 6th man in Open Era to come back from two sets down at all 4 slams (Federer, Becker, Krickstein, Noah, Nalbandian)"

Josh Meiseles @jmeistennis: "Yes. Today it was agreed that upsets were boring. Even Verdasco came back from two sets down."

As Mr. Meiseles points out, he only lost one set and, really, that was not a big upset especially considering Lopez has lost some of his attractiveness form. Deliciano will do well on the grass.

Speaking of grass, the specialists are starting to come out of the woodwork. Mahut, Flipkens, Paszek, Pironkova, Kohlschreiber, Federer. Federer achieves new levels of special on grass.

In other news. Nadal is good on clay. Like not good, but absolutely positively excellent. Off this planet good. The court seems smaller. In fact, I will just start there.


MARQUEE MATCH: NADAL d. THIEM
...6-2/6-2/6-3. Two hours, five minutes. Incredible defense. Test passed. It is just amazing watching Rafa play. The first time people play him they are overwhelmed. It is like playing nobody else. With Federer you can almost feel like you can play some of the match on your terms. It is the same with Nadal as it is when rookies or younger players play Serena. It is such a heavy powerful ball coming at you. The match is played on her terms. The same with Djokvoic, Del Potro, Stosur even, Azarenka and Shararapova. Nadal was 16-19 with winners to errors. He did not play a good match offensively. He played it perfectly. He just absorbed what Thiem had to give and then put a ball in a particular place and got the error. Time and time again, great defensive skills for 8, 9, 10 balls. Then Thiem gives him the slightest whisper of a chance and bang. I thought Thiem might win 12 games, but Nadal won 91 points to his 59 and just stopped him. That is the best way to describe it. Nadal stopped him. Thiem had to consistently go for more and he could not manage it. There is nothing more to be said of the match other than it was disappointing, especially considering its billing. Nadal plays Mayer, a finalist on clay this year. Mayer is consistently top sixty or thereabouts. The Argentine has now been to the French Open third round four times since 2010. Clay is his best surface, too. With all that going for him, he will get eight games. Maybe.
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Un autre match intéressant: GASQUET d. BERLOCQ
...I love a good one-handed backhand. There is nothing quite like a one-handed backhand. As I have said there are certain two-handers which are beautiful. Venus' crosscourt backhand is one of my favourite shots. I could watch that all day. In fact I will go completely off topic and post this here:



Anyway, we had an all one-hander affair on Chatrier. With 113 points won to 108, Richard Gasquet came through 7-6/6-4/6-4. The Frenchman hit 53 winners with two aces in 2 hours and forty minutes. That is a surprisingly long time for a straight set match. Berlocq was more modest with 39 winners but just 26 errors to Gasquet's 33. The Argentine never really went away despite Gasquet slowly walking away with the match. He used drop shots a lot. He also used his backhand up the line to great effect. Gasquet just remained solid. He used the slice a lot and also served pretty well. 63 per cent of the time, he landed his first delivery and 74 per cent of the time he won the point. Gasquet is going to need that when he plays Ferver next. Ferver leads 7-6 but they have split their last two meetings. The crosscourt forehand of the Spaniard has less effect but the up the line is much stronger. Essentially the major weapon of both is cancelled out. Form-wise, neither are on fantastic form but the crowd gives Gasquet an advantage. I think the Frenchman wins in four on Chatrier in dramatic fashion.
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ROSOL MOMENT: YOUNG D. LOPEZ
...Young has arrived. He beat Deliciano in emphatic fashion, dominating with his serve and forehand. He played how he should play. He has matured enough. He was actually 17-32 with regards to winners. He just pressured Lopez into 48 errors. He also broke 4 times from 5 chances whilst Lopez broke just twice from 6 opportunities. It was not a quality match, but nobody can out-rubbish Donald Young and I mean that as a sincere compliment. Young has the kind of game that is oh so difficult to play against. He gives you nasty spinny ones [technical term there] out wide and moves you around. He also has a serve that is a nightmare to deal with. This is when he is on. He puts a lot of pressure on himself. He has high expectations for himself. He has learned how to somewhat temper those. He now plays freely and is back in the top eighty because of that ability. Tennis is more, I think, about mentality than anything else. Unless you're Del Potro, in which case just clubbing it is fine. Young made the fourth round of a major for the first and so far only time at the US Open back in 2011. With a memorable victory along the way against Wawrinka, he was eventually dispatched by Murray. He made the third round of the Aussie this year, losing soundly to Nishikori. It was his best performance there. He has just had his best performance at Roland Garros now. He plays Garcia-Lopez and then Fognini or Monfils next. Anything can happen at slams and I think just maybe he might have an outside shot at a quarterfinal.
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ISNER-MAHUT WANNABE'S: VERDASCO D. CUEVAS
...Try three hours and fifty-three minutes on clay in humid heat. Try that against a defensive opponent who likes longer rallies. It took Verdasco that long to subdue Cuevas 4-6/6-7/7-5/6-4/6-3. Cuevas hit just 40 winners to Ferver's 65. He did however only miss 34 times whilst Ferver missed 54 times. He also out-aced his Spanish opponent 16-15. Verdasco loves a good five set comeback. It's trivia time now. Can I name the opponents he has come back against at each slam? I will say Ferrer at the US Open. I will say pass after that. Tipsarevic he beat in Australia in 2011, 6-0 in the fifth. He did the same at Wimbledon in 2011, but to Stepanek 9-7. I was at least correct about Ferru. Anyway, Verdasco survived and will live to see the French crowd again. If he does not get on Chatrier, I'm Serena Wlliams.
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BLINK AND YOU MISS IT: FERRER/BOLELLI, ESP/ITA
...The matches get quicker at Wimbledon I promise. Ah, Wimbledon, 'tis not long till we can rest upon your grassy bank. It took Ferrer less than two hours to win a best of five clay court match. Fine he won 6-2/6-4/6-2, but still. His opponent was 20-49 in the winners department but Ferrer managed to hit 22 of each. With that win Ferrer continues his good form. He is looking for ten straight grand slam quarterfinals. How ridiculous does Federer's 36 in a row look now? Ferrer has not looked even close to losing a set. I just think he is a lock at the moment for the quarterfinal. I think he will get decimated by Nadal again. I mean look what Nadal did to some kid he thought might be a threat. Ferrer in a slam quarterfinal, seeded fith? Nadal will be on full alert. Before that comes 32nd seeded Seppi for the fifth seeded Spaniard.
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ELVIS AWARD: VERDASCO, ESP
...For doing it the hard way. Gasquet up next.
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HOME GROWN HERO: GASQUET, FRA
...This guy was on a tennis magazine at, what, age five? He was France's right hope. Then all the bad things happened. Then 2007 happened. Then bad things happened again. Then 2012 happened and since then, Gasquet has been back. Not many people have had two careers. Steffi has, Monica has, Haas has had about five. Gasquet has reached two of the four semifinals. The draw has opened for him. He is for once riding the crowd and he is playing well. Is it possible? Can he do it? Only time will tell.

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Any other notes?

* - Tomic has been questioned with regards to a cocaine party. Welcome to a new low...

* - Taylor Townsend is wow. Also, she looks a bit like Zina Garrison. I'm not being racist, I just genuinely think she does from what I can recall of the 1990 Wimbledon finalist. Also I think the people who care judging her and calling her big and unfit [to put it kindly] should take a look at themselves. To quote Serena, ""you're unattractive inside."

* - Where is Stefan Edberg?

* - Can the WTA please decide who its rising stars are? There is not enough room in the top ten for all of you girls. Also, Ash Barty is a fantastic doubles player.

* - Kvitova versus Kuznetsova. Call that one Todd! [Ed.note: Flipping a coin. (Literally... heads/Kvitova, tails/Kuznetsova.) It says... Sveta. -tds]

* - Ferrer is still not being noticed. I find this strange.

* - Am I a fan of Nadal's outfit? I am not sure about that one. It is better than Berdych's, but then again H&M clearly have a personal vendetta against the Czech.

* - The French crowd is very loud. I'm all in favour of more time penalties [and foot faults] but there has to be lenience. Nadal took more than the allotted time with a silent crowd and the umpire consistently did nothing. Gasquet stops to ask the crowd for silence and he gets docked a first serve. That to me is not right. Punish everyone equally and only if they really deserve.

Thanx all and visit WTABACKSPIN please.

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