TENNIS: French Open - fin
Jun. 10th, 2013 07:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllAs predicted, then, Williams and Nadal won. I didn't think Williams would have a walkover with Sharapova, but she wasn't going to do something like give her a set either. She has to be going into Wimbledon as the undisputed champion as well.
I did end up watching the last two sets of the men's semi final, and although things looked different in close-up, with lots of break points and breaks on either side, the scoreboard kept going Nadal's way. Once he won the second set, after an understandable wobble after the flare incident, well, going in, it was obvious that Ferrer didn't have anything to threaten Nadal, except, perhaps if Nadal had some sort of injury or let-down, he'd be there to fight him. (It would have been the same had Ferrer been facing Djokovic.)
Nadal wasn't his usual self, but the longer the tournament went on, the more he competed each point and found a way to win. That he cancelled the next tournament says something about his knee. That he beat Djokovic, probably the only player who looks like he can challenge him for the French Open and stop it from being nine ~(Nine!), in this state proves that his love affair with the red clay of Roland Garros is still going strong.
However, he's not going to be quite such a big favourite for Wimbledon, and his second round there is going to be a big deal. If he's drawn to play Rosol, expect conniptions. Despite the quirk of Ferrer, comprehensively beaten, leapfrogging him in the ranking, I think the seedings will differ from the rankings there.
The only other thing that I'd say about this slam was that no bright young thing really broke through, on either the men's or women's side. Some callow players showed potential, but it was mainly about consolidation - Tsonga and Ferrer (and Azarenka?) took steps forward at the French, but they've been around for a while. Haas, Robredo and hey, Williams proved that maturity and experience has its value.
I had forgotten that Queen's starts this week. I'll probably blether on about what I see of that. Let us hope that the finale isn't spoiled.
I did end up watching the last two sets of the men's semi final, and although things looked different in close-up, with lots of break points and breaks on either side, the scoreboard kept going Nadal's way. Once he won the second set, after an understandable wobble after the flare incident, well, going in, it was obvious that Ferrer didn't have anything to threaten Nadal, except, perhaps if Nadal had some sort of injury or let-down, he'd be there to fight him. (It would have been the same had Ferrer been facing Djokovic.)
Nadal wasn't his usual self, but the longer the tournament went on, the more he competed each point and found a way to win. That he cancelled the next tournament says something about his knee. That he beat Djokovic, probably the only player who looks like he can challenge him for the French Open and stop it from being nine ~(Nine!), in this state proves that his love affair with the red clay of Roland Garros is still going strong.
However, he's not going to be quite such a big favourite for Wimbledon, and his second round there is going to be a big deal. If he's drawn to play Rosol, expect conniptions. Despite the quirk of Ferrer, comprehensively beaten, leapfrogging him in the ranking, I think the seedings will differ from the rankings there.
The only other thing that I'd say about this slam was that no bright young thing really broke through, on either the men's or women's side. Some callow players showed potential, but it was mainly about consolidation - Tsonga and Ferrer (and Azarenka?) took steps forward at the French, but they've been around for a while. Haas, Robredo and hey, Williams proved that maturity and experience has its value.
I had forgotten that Queen's starts this week. I'll probably blether on about what I see of that. Let us hope that the finale isn't spoiled.
