French Open... The Dark Horses.

i don't think there are any, its a three horse race as far as im concerned, the closest would be Davydenko but I don't consider him a contender
 
flyer said:
i don't think there are any, its a three horse race as far as im concerned, the closest would be Davydenko but I don't consider him a contender
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I would call Davydenko, Nalbandian, and Ferrer the 3 "dark horses". Maybe Wawrinka as well. Federer, Djokovic, and Nadal are by far the 3 favorites though I agree.
 
I would actually sign out Coria and Puerta. Based on results and winning streaks both are not ready and not confident I think. Puerta I've got to watch live, and his ball bites well as it did before, but the percentages and consistency are not there.

Plus, you're looking for both to win their qualifying matches and the main draw matches? On clay that's a lot to ask for!
 
jmsx521 said:
I would actually sign out Coria and Puerta. Based on results and winning streaks both are not ready and not confident I think. Puerta I've got to watch live, and his ball bites well as it did before, but the percentages and consistency are not there.

Plus, you're looking for both to win their qualifying matches and the main draw matches? On clay that's a lot to ask for!
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Coria is in the main draw, I think. Protected ranking of #104 if I'm not mistaken.
 
Fedace said:
Do you think, Coria downfall was caused by the fact that he could no longer use steroids ?? or was he even using steroids to begin with ??:confused:
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In my opinion, Coria's downfall was caused by:

1) the constant change of his service motion (from plattform, to pinpoint, back to plattform) to preserve his shoulder, and subsequent absolute loss of confidence on the stroke (leading to loads of DF) and

2) Huge confidence loss by losing to Rafael Nadal three times in a row in three finals in a row. Rome's final, IMO, was a devastating blow for Coria.
 
Andres Guazzelli said:
In my opinion, Coria's downfall was caused by:

1) the constant change of his service motion (from plattform, to pinpoint, back to plattform) to preserve his shoulder,
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Just one small aside, AG. What bearing does platform or pinpoint stance have on shoulder injury ?

btw, I do not know anything about Coria or his service motion. Is it the abbreviated type, or the Henin racket lift type.
 
Sentinel said:
Just one small aside, AG. What bearing does platform or pinpoint stance have on shoulder injury ?

btw, I do not know anything about Coria or his service motion. Is it the abbreviated type, or the Henin racket lift type.
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I cannot really say, since I have used pinpoint my entire life, but apparently, he said plattform made his shoulder hurt, so his coach suggested him to switch to pinpoint. The shoulder didn't hurt, and he was serving way bigger, but his % dropped. In fact, when this happened (early 2005) he was averaging 123 mph on his first serve (huge improvement) and even served 10 aces on clay against Berdych, including a 134 mph serve.

But his % was around 50%, instead of the 70+ he was used to.

Then, tried to go back to plattform and it was like he forgot how to serve, and the DF started to pile up.
 
In my draw I have Federer losing to Monaco, Nadal to Verdasco and Djokovic to Moya. Federer will choke when he loses the first set to Monaco, Nadal will get absolutely exhausted and Moya will play the best match of his life because there is some extra motivation in playing against Djokovic. Haha, I have Davydenko winning a GS!! A dark horse for me, if you ask.
 
Love Ferrero's chances at making a run. He has a good draw, and has the confidence from beating Nadal in his corner. With JCF it's all about confidence that he can compete with the best again
 
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