Loki Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 The draw for Roland Garros is tomorrow and to me this quite possibly the most interesting Roland Garros I can remember. The King of Clay Rafa Nadal is going into the French Open without a European clay court title for the first time in his career. He has lost to players this season on clay that he would never have lost to at his peak on clay (Fognini, Murray and Wawrinka). The two best players in the world currently (using the ATP Race rankings) have easily dispatched Nadal on clay. With these surprise results he has slipped down to #7 in the world and is also seeded 7 in the draw tomorrow. This leads to the possibility of facing the tournament favourite Djokovic as early as the Quarter Finals. Djokovic has looked in unstoppable recently. In the big matches he has been to hold on and destroy opponents in the deciding set when he has been under pressure. He has bagelled Murray (twice), Wawrinka, Berdych and Dolgopolov in deciding sets. He has won 38 matches in a row at Tier 1 level (Masters and Australian Open) and has only lost twice this year, to an on fire Federer and surprisingly to Karlovic. In both instances his opponent served superbly. He desires this title more than any other title, and in that I think an opponent can exploit a weakness in him. You seen the flaw in him against Federer last year at Wimbledon and with Nishikori at the US Open, he doesn't control his anxiety in the major points as well. Federer was just a bit too far past his peak to ultimately capitalise, but the fact Novak gifted him two sets. If anyone has studied psychology at all it is called the Ironic disorder effect. Losing total control of your motor skills in instances of extreme stress, has been quite often been attributed to golfers putting but is recognised and observed across all sports now. He has also lost to Nadal six times at Roland Garros. Rather surprisingly we have seen the emergence of an Andy Murray that not only looks capable of playing on clay, but one that has won on clay. His wins in Munich and Madrid have given him the confidence to believe he can win the French. His destruction of Nadal on clay showed his vastly improved game since the close season. The days of restricted movement on the surface due to his back seem to be far from over. However taking the title away would be a big ask. Tomorrow's draw is more than likely going to see one side of the draw stacked. So I am backing three players heavily and hoping that the draw sees their prices come in and I can profit instantly. Nadal can be had at 10/3, Murray 9/1 and Federer at a huge 20/1. I can not see their pirces increasing after tomorrow, but if one of them happened to be in the opposite side of a stack draw their price would definitely come in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tintax Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Murray in the same half of the draw as Djokovic and Nadal. Potential QF v Ferrer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Bairn Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Hopefully Rafa and Djoko beat each other up for 4 hours in the quarters and Murray gets a tired opponent in the semi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Posted May 22, 2015 Author Share Posted May 22, 2015 Yeah a tough draw for Murray with Kyrgios 3rd round opponent, Isner 4th, Ferrer QF, Nadal/Djokovic Semi final, Federer final. He plays a qualifier in the First Round and didn't catch his potential second round opponent. As predicted one half is stacked and Federer on paper has an easy draw as does Berdych. Edited to add: Pospisil is his potential second round opponent. Murray avoided the clay court specialists in the earlier rounds and is playing against players he usually does well against. Kyrgios, Isner and Pospisil are all big servers that Murray does well returning against. We will get to see how well Murray is on clay against Ferrer though. Nadal Djokovic quarter final could be five hours easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The-coo-shed Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Horrible draw for Murray. Still expect him to get the semis though. Kyrgios match should be fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Posted May 22, 2015 Author Share Posted May 22, 2015 Ferrer has only lost to one person at Roland Garros in the last three years and that has been Rafa Nadal. Murray has never looked like beating him on clay, and under Lendl he lost in the QF in 2012. On clay Ferrer is an exceptional returner, so if Murray doesn't serve well he could again find himself in real trouble. Ferrer would be favourite against Murray. I don't mind Andy's draw to be honest. He has been given big servers and is the best returner on the tour against big servers, he has avoided Wawrinka and Nadal in the QFs. A potential semi final with Djokovic or Nadal is helped by the fact they will no doubt grind each other down over five sets. The other side of the draw is wide open, so there is plenty potential there for a surprise finalist. It could have been a nicer draw (Federer's half, Nishikori in the QF) but apart from that it could have been a lot worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Posted May 22, 2015 Author Share Posted May 22, 2015 Kyle Edmund could join Bedene and Murray in the draw later on if he wins his final qualifying match Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The-coo-shed Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Looking at Ferrer's section, he has it pretty easy until the QF. Cilic is his main seed and he is having a mare this season along with Gulbis. Gulbis must surely drop down to about 70-80 in the world if he goes out quickly. Might even be out of the top 100?! Completely agree about the big servers and Murray, especially since it is on clay. There is always something a bit nervy about playing them though! Also for anyone else finding the official draw on the RG website horrible to use, wikipedia always makes it clear: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_French_Open_%E2%80%93_Men%27s_Singles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Posted May 22, 2015 Author Share Posted May 22, 2015 Looking at Ferrer's section, he has it pretty easy until the QF. Cilic is his main seed and he is having a mare this season along with Gulbis. Gulbis must surely drop down to about 70-80 in the world if he goes out quickly. Might even be out of the top 100?! Completely agree about the big servers and Murray, especially since it is on clay. There is always something a bit nervy about playing them though! Also for anyone else finding the official draw on the RG website horrible to use, wikipedia always makes it clear: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_French_Open_%E2%80%93_Men%27s_Singles I always love how quick someone updates Wikipedia. Even the flags have been put in for the Second Round clashes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
booitsme7 Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Kyle Edmund could join Bedene and Murray in the draw later on if he wins his final qualifying match Kyle Edmund has qualified for the French Open after winning his last qualifying match against Adrian Menendez-Maceiras 6-1 6-4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lichtie23 Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Kyle Edmund has qualified for the French Open after winning his last qualifying match against Adrian Menendez-Maceiras 6-1 6-4. Great result for the young man and hopefully he can at least get to the 2nd round Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
booitsme7 Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Johanna Konta has joined Heather Watson in the main draw by beating Clothilde de Bernardi 6-2 6-1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Posted May 22, 2015 Author Share Posted May 22, 2015 Kyle Edmund could meet Andy Murray in the Third Round. Edmund has to navigate Robert and Kyrgios though. Murray will play a lucky loser Facundo Arguello.who recently won a challenger on clay. He faced Nadal earlier on the year and didn't look very good at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyAnchor Posted May 23, 2015 Share Posted May 23, 2015 Djokovic's to lose unless he pulls a Hibs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lichtie23 Posted May 24, 2015 Share Posted May 24, 2015 Federer cruising in his opening match Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
booitsme7 Posted May 24, 2015 Share Posted May 24, 2015 Federer cruising in his opening match Easy 6-3 6-3 6-4 win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
booitsme7 Posted May 24, 2015 Share Posted May 24, 2015 Play for tomorrow sees Andy Murray 4th on the Philippe-Chatrier Court. Philippe-Chatrier Court 11:00 AM WOMEN'S SINGLES - Alize Cornet v Roberta Vinci MEN'S SINGLES - Lucas Pouille v Gilles Simon WOMEN'S SINGLES - Kaia Kanepi v Maria Sharapova MEN'S SINGLES - Andy Murray v Facundo Arguello Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
booitsme7 Posted May 24, 2015 Share Posted May 24, 2015 The 4 other Brit`s all play tomorrow as well. Mathilde Johansson v Heather Watson Dominic Thiem v Aljaz Bedene Denisa Allertova v Johanna Konta Kyle Edmund v Stephane Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lichtie23 Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 Did any seeds fall yesterday? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
booitsme7 Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 Did any seeds fall yesterday? Yeah a few lower rank seeds lost yesterday. WOMEN'S SINGLES Donna Vekic beat Caroline Garcia (31) - 3-6 6-3 6-2 Polona Hercog beat Shuai Peng (24) - 6-0 2-0 Ret. MEN'S SINGLES Steve Johnson beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (26) - 6-3 6-3 6-7 3-6 6-3 Marcos Baghdatis beat Ivo Karlovic (25) - 7-6 6-4 6-4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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