French Open Day 9: What if Fairy Tales Were Realistic?

Hey Y'all. Galileo here.

Snow White moves in with the Seven Dwarfs and things go well for a while. But then they begin to disagree on rotas and income and being flat mates suddenly becomes hard. The witch in Hansel and Gretel decides simply to murder them with her wand. And then cook them. Perhaps Prince Charming prefers other princes.

But fairy tales occur in the real world. Look at Obama. That had something of the fairy tale about it. Look at sports. Sports are full of Cinderellas and fairy tales. The 2004 Red Sox. And in tennis we have a variety of fairy tales. Nice guy Pat Rafter was world number one for the shortest time ever. A week. Federer and Murray finally winning that one major they wanted above all else that eluded them year in, year out. Ivanisevic winning that Wimbledon against nice guy Pat Rafter. Lovely Guga was like some tall, dark and handsome prince.

But sometimes reality comes back and bites fairy tales in the posterior so to speak. And this French Open is all about the busting of the myth that is the fairy tale.

Gasquet [20], Sock and Chardy were all lower ranked players. All were in the top fifty but all went on fairy tale runs which pleased their respective countries. Gasquet won a five setter over two days before ousting a higher ranked player in a dramatic four setter. Could he be our prince? No. He was dismissed and had this been a fairy tale he would have prevailed against Djokovic then Nadal before going on to win.

Sock dismissed both Coric and Dimitrov and he beat Busta in four long sets. He has played great tennis and really lit up Roland Garros. Could he be our prince? No. Nadal was just too good despite a fight back at the end from Sock. Had this been a fairy tale he would have come back from two sets down before winning the whole thing.

Chardy in front of the home crowd, like Gasquet, beat the sixteenth and seventeenth seeds and dropped just one set. He has played inspired tennis and brought the crowds to their feet. He has caused some upsets and fought hard against Murray. Could he be our prince? No. Had this been a fairy tale he would have won and then rolled on from here.

It is a pity that these runs all ended, but tennis is no fairy tale world...

*Suicide Pick*
We all know how this works. Pick a player to win each round but you cannot pick them again.

Now we are in the quarterfinals. And it's time to gamble. So I gamble with Tsonga. From there the path to winning the suicide is clear.

Men's Singles 1st: Verdasco [32] d. Daniel [Q]
Men's Singles 2nd: Cilic [9] d. Arnaboldi [Q]
Men's Singles 3rd: Ferrer [7] d. Bolelli
Men's Singles 4th: Nishikori [5] d. Gabashvili
Men's Singles QF: Tsonga [14] d. Nishikori [5]
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Women's Singles Barthel d. Kania


PHILIPPE CHATRIER: FEDERER D. MONFILS
...I was at Wimbledon the day the Isner/Mahut fifth set started. I watch their score go up and up over the course of the day. I watched the match before on court eighteen and skipped Ishut as it looked boring. And I sat on Henman Hill [anyone who calls it Murray Mound needs to have a look at themselves] at about 8pm still watching. I kept thinking this lunacy has to end. But the lunacy didn't end. For three straight days the lunacy didn't end. It is horrible to have to play a match over two days. Monfils played a brilliant second set to level it and go into the second day 3-6, 6-4. But then it became a best of three. And Federer was supreme, winning it 6-4, 6-1 Fed lost his serve just twice and won 70% of his service points. And his 41-35 winner to error ratio is solid. Improvements can be made but that should be good enough to see him into the final where anything can happen. Monfils let it go. He probably had Federer here but, hey, it's Monfils. Federer/Wawrinka again. It's hard to pick against Federer simply because Wawrinka can't beat him. And he really can't beat him over five. I think Wawrinka has the weaponry but not the mental capacity to do so. In fact, Federer looks on course to make his first semi-final in Paris since 2012. Fed is 5-2 in semi-finals. If he reaches eight he will be second all time in French semis. His 65 wins in Paris is second all-time, too. You'll never guess who has the most semi-finals or wins. That person is 9-0 in semis. How's that for a record?
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SUZANNE LENGLEN: DJOKOVIC D. GASQUET
...Predictably I shall offer a defense for Gasquet here. He didn't actually play badly. In fact, for a player who lost 1, 2 and 3 easy as ABC, he played decently. Djokovic was in no mood for games and therein lay the problem. Djokovic was far too good for an outmatched Gasquet. Novak led 6-1, 6-2, 4-2 despite Gasquet and the crowd. Then Gasquet began to fight to even harder. He never used to fight did Richard. He just went away quietly. Now he fights and he broke back. He broke back to get it back on serve. But Djokovic took the next two games with ease and sealed the match with a lovely drop shot. 47 winners for Djokovic and 52% of his opponents service points won. Throw in four aces and seven breaks and you have a near perfect match. A lesser player than Gasquet would have gone away quietly. Silver linings and all that. Who cares about Djokovic though [for the record ATPBACKSPIN thinks he is a very competent world number one] when you can do this:



and this:



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SUZANNE LENGLEN: MURRAY D. CHARDY
...This was surprisingly stuck on Lenglen. Perhaps they didn't realize Chardy was a Frenchman? Jeremy has reached a quarterfinal and a few fourth rounds at slam level. He also won Wimbledon as a junior. He will be around 37 once the tournament finishes. If you throw in his fourth round Wimbledon points and if he can do well at just one grass event, he may well be a seed there. Murray got past the determined Frenchman 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. Just under a third of the games resulted in breaks. Chardy managed to hit 10 double faults. He also hit 56 errors. The 49 winners was very impressive, though. Murray played a very solid match and nullified the power of Chardy well. His first serve percentage of 63 needs work but this was a good match from the Scot. Well, the French Open has reached the quarterfinal stage. It still feels like the tournament is new and fresh. But of course we are now close to the end. The fireworks are just getting lit. This four setter should whet the appetite sufficiently.
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COURT ONE: NADAL D. SOCK
...Two incredible forehands. Two big guys. This was a physical contest. Nadal looks like he is in trouble against Djokovic, but looks can be deceiving. For Sock, one decent grass result will give him a Wimbledon seed. Nadal served for it but lost his serve and then the fourth set. Nadal recovered from that to come through 6-3, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2. To be honest I don't know what is worse, Sock's nine doubles or Rafa's 32 errors. It was a high quality match with a lot of really good rallies and some out of this world fight. Djokovic/Nadal. What can I say about that match? We have had it circled in bright blood red permanent marker since the draw arrived. And I'm sticking with Nadal. My bold prediction? It's more likely that Nadal wins in four than Djokovic wins the match. I hope you all enjoy that match.
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COURT ONE: FERRER D. CILIC
...This is the invisible man.



It's really David Ferrer. A recent finalist and seventh seed, he has had no attention. Two top tenners played their match on court one. Everybody is ignoring Ferrer and they do that at their peril. He has cruised, a slip-up against Bolelli aside, and has also hit form well. Murray needs to be worried. It appears unclear to me how Murray is going to win over five. He has to be aggressive over five. And that will be the big struggle. Ferru won 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 and reminded Cilic why he is not in the top ten. Ferrer is the gatekeeper to the top four and Cilic couldn't get through the gate. 47 errors contributed to Cilic's inability to break Ferrer. Ferru not only held every game but broke Cilic five times. Ferrer now leads the head to head 4-1. Ferrer could make a second final here. If Djokovic and Nadal play an absolute epic, Ferrer may be able to grind down the winner. If the winner of that clash is not at their best Ferrer will punish them. Of course, how he solves the Federer problem is anybody's guess.
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Any other notes?

* - The umpires do quite well. They're mostly rather good. Sometimes there is the odd decision.
* - Casey Dellacqua and her partner Shvedova play tomorrow.

Well, I'm out for now.


Thanks all and visit WTA BACKSPIN please.

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