French Open Day 4: A French Festival of Tennis

Hi All. Galileo here.

Mixed doubles is the most underrated Olympic sport there is. Synchronised swimming is rubbish- perfectly rated. Diving is overrated but still fun. The sprints are great and are again perfectly rated as the cream of the crop. Mixed doubles is so special because no other sport views gender as equally as tennis. Nobody watches softball. Nobody can name more than about two WNBA players. Women’s soccer is kind of popular. Women’s tennis *is.*

Everyone has heard of the William sisters, Sharapova and even Steffi Graf. They know about Caroline Wozniacki, even if it as “the Danish chick who dated the golfer dude.” And yet we only get four events a year, occasionally five. You have the Hopman Cup, too, but that is a borderline exhibition event. So rejoice in this year’s mixed event.

It’s an exciting time now- the first four days of a slam are the best. There is so much going on. Your favourite players are probably still in. All the fun players with no mental staying power are still around and wreaking havoc. You don’t have to watch the boring matches. There’s early round doubles, which means funky partnerships. It’s a celebration, a festival of tennis.

Marach/Pavic, the second seeds, have breezed through 6-2, 6-2 in just 59 minutes. They defeated Arends/Shamasdin. The top seeds, Kubot/Melo, edged a tight two-set affair 6-4, 7-5. Sixth seeds Herbert/Mahut edged a very tight match 6-4, 3-6, 7-6[6] against Lindstedt/Matkowski. The big upset of the day came on court 16. In two and a half hours Donskoy/Reyes-Varela saw off Qureshi/Rojer [7] 6-7[2], 7-6[5], 6-4. Going any longer than two hours in a three set men’s doubles match is unusual in itself, rarely do they go beyond two and a half.

*SUICIDE POOL PICS*
MS 1st Rd: Djokovic [20] d. [q] Dutra Silva {W}
MS 2nd Rd: Gasquet [27] d. Jaziri {W}
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WS 1st Rd: Bertens [18] d. Sabalenka {W}
WS 2nd Rd: Keys [13] d. [Q] Dolehide {W}
WS 3RD Rd: Wozniacki [2] d. Parmentier [WC]

CHATRIER: CHARDY D. BERDYCH
…This BACKSPINNER believed in the impossible but alas for ‘twas in vain. Over the course of two days the Frenchman outlasted Tomas Berdych 7-6[5], 7-6[8], 1-6, 5-7, 6-2. It took him four and a quarter hours. Berdman won more games, more points and broke more times. He went a fantastic 75-53 on the W/UE count and saved an incredible 16 break points but still could not get over the line. The fourth set was key. Berdych served for it at 5-4 He lost his serve, broke again and then closed it out. But in losing his way at 5-4 he lost the momentum. An early break in the fifth set the tone and the Czech never really recovered. Jeremy Chardy is one of the worst names to draw in the first round. He is never seeded, or if he is it’s usually around the 32 mark. He is a floating bomb. Chardy won 78 per cent of his first serve points, Berdych won 81. But second serve? 37 and 38 per cent, respectively. If Berdie had a reliable second serve, mental toughness and was just a shade better at closing out matches he would have a good case for the hall of fame. Pierre-Hugues is up next for Chardy. The big seed lurking is Isner and both Frenchies will fancy their chances if they play Isner, so that will be a very tightly fought match indeed.

CHATRIER: NISHIKORI D. PAIRE
...Kei Nishikori owns the head to head 3-2 but Benoit Paire won their last five setter. It was in New York. Nishikori had won their previous Roland Garros encounter. This was always going to be a beautiful clash of styles, like wearing Daphne Blake’s outfit but with a kilt instead of a miniskirt. There were 12 breaks and both men won around 40 per cent of receiving points. Kei won 6-3, 2-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, in a minute shy of three hours. This was every Paire match ever. He went 49-63 on the winners ratio and lived by the sword. Which meant that was how he died. This is no different to all the other five setters he has lost. It was very entertaining and utterly random. All Nishikori had to do was be consistent. And that’s the one thing he can do. Paire has top ten talent and club level smarts. But at least he puts on a good show. And, hey, there’s a reason we don’t put artificial intelligence in fireworks. Nishikori is through to face another Frenchie. Except this one is very different- it’s Gilles Simon. It will be his third in a row. Here’s a tip- don’t watch that unless you want help sleeping. This BACKSPINNER predicts at least one 50-shot rally and at least 8 20-shot rallies.

LENGLEN: DJOKOVIC D. MUNAR
...Jaume Munar plays with a lot of spin. He has nice movement and a little bit of deft touch. The backhand technique is pretty whacko but there’s nothing wrong with that. He is pretty handy. He has guts too. Novak Djokovic got up an early break but Jaume came back and forced a tiebreaker. Unfortunately he lost it 7-1. If there was ever going to be an upset he had to take the first set. After Nole got a set up he controlled the match. It is worth pointing out, however, that Nole has never looked so unconvincing. He has not dropped a set yet but it is hard to remember a worse way to win six sets. He looks uncomfortable out there, lacking in motivation and generally upset. He hit 39 winners to 33 errors, which is good, but losing serve three times and hitting five double faults isn’t like him at all. He pays Roberto Bautista Agut next and unless he pulls a rabbit out of his hat how does he win that? After that he plays the winner of Fernando Verdasco and Grigor Dimitrov. He is going to struggle.

LENGLEN: ZVEREV D. LAJOVIC
...Dusan Lajovic is a pretty capable player. He has a bit of talent and some good shots. But Alex Zverev should not be needing three and a half hours to beat him. He should not be down two sets to one. In fact he should have been down two sets to none but Lajovic blew it. The Serb showed great fortitude to come back and take the third. Zverev survives 2-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. At least he dominated the last two sets. This BACKSPINNER is sick of it. He can win Masters tournaments and beat Rafa, and Roger Federer too, but it comes to a slam and he chokes. It is ridiculous. He needs to dominate. He should be wrecking guys like Lajovic. His backhand is too good and too vicious a weapon for someone like the Serb to handle. He plays Damir Dzumhur in the next round. He has a chance to make a huge statement, and against a top 30 guy. How good your result is against the first seed you play is so important. It sets the tone for your slam run. He will have confidence and believe he can cause an upset. Let’s see how the young star does. He can’t have a 42-53 winner ratio. It’s so poor.

COURT SEVEN: DIMITROV D. DONALDSON
...There was a point where Dimitrov, Zverev and Nishikori were all in a 5th set and facing an early exit. Again. At least in the case of Nishikori it would have been acceptable. Dimitrov is the fourth seed. And a favourite for the title. It is time he justified his talent by making a final. Aided by the American getting cramps, he won 6-7, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 10-8. The American actually served for the first set at 5-4. There were only ten breaks in the four hour, 20 minute match. It was a clay court epic. Donaldson incredibly went 39-47 on the W/UE count. Dimitrov was a masterful 67-49. That is excellent. This match was on all day it seemed and this BACKSPINNER kept checking in and out of it. It really was a spectacle. This is why the five set match is so special. There should be a tiebreaker at 10 all. If there was a champions tiebreaker at ten all in the fifth that would solve it all. Yoshihito Nishioka was 5-3 up against Verdasco in the 5th set of their first round match. He also had Verdasco when the Spaniard was serving at 4-5 40-40. But he couldn’t put him away. Now Verdasco is through to the third round and is very dangerous, especially if Dimitrov is a little tired from his round two efforts. Here is a reminder of what Ferver can do:




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