The Official 2014 WTA French Open Thread -- For General Discussion

[Gonzo_style]

Man I would rather play a Russian roulette than Errani on clay.

 

[Djokovic2011]

Man I would rather play a Russian roulette than Errani on clay.

I'd rather play Russian roulette than have to listen to her.

 

[Supertegwyn]

Never seen Errani play before.....

That noise makes me want to commit Seppuku

 

[FuriousYellow]

I'd rather play Russian roulette than have to listen to her.

Was thinking the same thing. Sounds like she's dry-heaving on every shot.

 

[romeo8880]

Halep Stephens is some high quality tennis for the most part.

 

[Chico]

Errani tried to cheat with that ball mark. Why don't they use the Hawk Eye on clay and leave it to interpretation of players and umpires is beyond me. They often make it wrong or try to cheat.

 

[Chico]

Errani can win this sucker. Serena gone, Li Na gone, Kvitova gone, Ivanovic gone. All of them have serves with their power.

Maria is around, but she's capable of 10 DFs, which opens her up for a close match, and Errani wins all of those.

Please no!!!!!! Anyone but Errani.

 

[jakemcclain32]

What is it with this board and complaining about grunts.

IGNORE THEM! It's not that hard.

 

[Fed881981]

Man, I like both Halep and Stephens. Hard for me this match.

Any way, Halep is up a set.

 

[Supertegwyn]

What did she say to the crowd?

 

[SLD76]

Sloane needs to be more aggressive and stop counter punching. Just take what Halep gives you, but take it aggressively. She always seems behind in the point

 

[FuriousYellow]

Errani can win this sucker. Serena gone, Li Na gone, Kvitova gone, Ivanovic gone. All of them have serves with their power.

Maria is around, but she's capable of 10 DFs, which opens her up for a close match, and Errani wins all of those.

It won't matter. Sharapova can DF a lot and still win matches because Errani won't be able to hold her own serve enough against her. Jankovic may not be able to take advantage of her weak serve but Sharapova almost certainly will. That high bouncing FH that's giving Jankovic so much trouble is right in Sharapova's wheelhouse. That's why Sharapova smashed her in the 2012 FO final and why she would again.

 

[Djokovic2011]

Has Errani ever hit an ace before? I just can't imagine it.

 

[Chico]

Has Errani ever hit an ace before? I just can't imagine it.

I can't imagine her hitting a winner at all actually.

Jankovic is pathetic. She should have blown Errani off the court. But instead she gifted her first after losing that set point set and than went AWOL in the second.

 

[Chico]

I hope Petkovic can take care of Errani now.

 

[SLD76]

Sloane needs to anticipate and recognize that Halep likes to play the ball down the line on both wings.

 

[Djokovic2011]

I can't imagine her hitting a winner at all actually.

Jankovic is pathetic. She should have blown Errani off the court. But instead she gifted her first after losing that set point set and than went AWOL in the second.

Commiserations Chico- here's hoping that Nole will carry the Serbian flag all the way to victory on Sunday!

 

[Peters]

I have absolutely no problem with Errani - she makes the most of the ability she has.

The problem is with her opponents not performing at a decent enough level and using their own abilities in a consistent way.

 

[Supertegwyn]

4 of Sloanes six games have come from breaking Halep and six of Haleps ten games have come from breaking Sloane


Women's tennis *facepalm*

 

[jakemcclain32]

I can't imagine her hitting a winner at all actually.

Jankovic is pathetic. She should have blown Errani off the court. But instead she gifted her first after losing that set point set and than went AWOL in the second.

Forehand winner? Never. Net drops? Many. She's a master doubles player.

 

[Chico]

Commiserations Chico- here's hoping that Nole will carry the Serbian flag all the way to victory on Sunday!

Thanks. Let's hope so

 

[Chico]

Forehand winner? Never. Net drops? Many. She's a master doubles player.

Yes I should have said, winner other than a drop shot.

 

[President]

Sloane needs to anticipate and recognize that Halep likes to play the ball down the line on both wings.

Honestly, Halep is just a flat out better player than Sloane at this point in time. Her court sense is much better developed IMO, and as you said her down the line shots are excellent. This is an expected result, IMO.

 

[Warmaster]

Go Halep! I love how she's able to hit DTL from both wings with ease.

 

[SLD76]

Honestly, Halep is just a flat out better player than Sloane at this point in time. Her court sense is much better developed IMO, and as you said her down the line shots are excellent. This is an expected result, IMO.

She was definitely in a higher gear t h an Sloane. She was all over the ball and the court whereas sloane seemed hesitant and slow to react and wasn't thinking too clearly on court. She definitely got outclassed today.

Halep is dangerous.

 

[jaggy]

And Sloane goes out

 

[SLD76]

Go Halep! I love how she's able to hit DTL from both wings with ease.

Like I said halep is like a nightmare from topspin 4. Hated playing the players with down the line ball patterns.

 

[iri10]

I actually thought Sloane would only win 4 games instead of 7, but the end result wasn't really in doubt anyway. The Haleps, Wozniackis, and Radwanskas of the world have always been a serious problem for Sloane. Her game and mentality can't find a happy medium against them: she's not as good as them at defensive grindfests, and she makes too many errors if she ups the aggression too much.

If she improves her brain and improves her footwork, she might be able to manage some controlled aggression, and that's what's needed to beat those players.

 

[Amelie Mauresmo]

Sloane is a good player BUT she will never become a great player until she develops consistency at the regular WTA events. Halep was aggressive she took charge while Sloane was passive waiting for errors. Sloane is talented BUT she will not become a contender for slams or a top ten player until she learns to win. The commentators said when you learn to win titles it helps a player at the slams. Sloane is good enough to reach fourth round but not good enough to win a slam.

 

[DRII]

I actually thought Sloane would only win 4 games instead of 7, but the end result wasn't really in doubt anyway. The Haleps, Wozniackis, and Radwanskas of the world have always been a serious problem for Sloane. Her game and mentality can't find a happy medium against them: she's not as good as them at defensive grindfests, and she makes too many errors if she ups the aggression too much.

If she improves her brain and improves her footwork, she might be able to manage some controlled aggression, and that's what's needed to beat those players.

Amen!

her footwork is horrible at times...

 

[THUNDERVOLLEY]

Honestly, Halep is just a flat out better player than Sloane at this point in time. Her court sense is much better developed IMO, and as you said her down the line shots are excellent. This is an expected result, IMO.

Agreed. Halep seems to be absorbing every experience and taking her game forward. Few players do that once stuck in "i'm a pro" mode.

 

[ScentOfDefeat]

Now that they moved Safarova-Kuznetsova to Court 1, all the streams expecting the match to be on Lenglen are showing Murray-Verdasco. Annoying.

 

[Amelie Mauresmo]

I hope the USA Media dial down the hype their young female players are not impressive at all.

 

[romeo8880]

French open favorite kuznetsova maintaining her strong form so far.

 

[ScentOfDefeat]

French open favorite kuznetsova maintaining her strong form so far.

If she wins this tournament I'll build a shrine for her in my backyard. That's how impressed I'd be.

 

[romeo8880]

If she wins this tournament I'll build a shrine for her in my backyard. That's how impressed I'd be.

Not sure why. She's easily the 2nd best player left.

 

[ScentOfDefeat]

Not sure why. She's easily the 2nd best player left.

If nothing else because she hasn't won it since 2009.

 

[romeo8880]

If nothing else because she hasn't won it since 2009.

She also has mental problems lol.

 

[THUNDERVOLLEY]

She also has mental problems lol.

Yes--historically low key, lumbering and appears disinterested in the game, but Kuznetsova as the FO champion would be the unexpected surprise--particularly at this stage of her career.

 

[Down_the_line]

I usually don't like it when a bunch of the high seeded players drop like flies, especially on the women's side where it usually results in a joke of a tournament and ugly tennis (like last year at Wimbledon when the semifinalists were Radwanska, Lisicki, Bartoli and Flipkens). In this case however I'm actually intrigued because what we have here is a handful of legitimate young talent - Halep, Bouchard, Muguruza - breaking through. It feels different. It feels like a generation shift is going on, rather than inferior players acting as placeholders in the tournament simply because the top players bombed.

 

[Team10]

I usually don't like it when a bunch of the high seeded players drop like flies, especially on the women's side where it usually results in a joke of a tournament and ugly tennis (like last year at Wimbledon when the semifinalists were Radwanska, Lisicki, Bartoli and Flipkens). In this case however I'm actually intrigued because what we have here is a handful of legitimate young talent - Halep, Bouchard, Muguruza - breaking through. It feels different. It feels like a generation shift is going on, rather than inferior players acting as placeholders in the tournament simply because the top players bombed.

Nice post except Lisicki and Radwanska definitely don't play ugly tennis, especially at Wimbledon.

You only left out Tomljanovic who lost to CSN in R16 who is also up and coming. Would be amazing to see one of the three you mentioned win here.

 

[Down_the_line]

Nice post except Lisicki and Radwanska definitely don't play ugly tennis, especially at Wimbledon.

You only left out Tomljanovic who lost to CSN in R16 who is also up and coming. Would be amazing to see one of the three you mentioned win here.

Ugly tennis was the wrong term. What I meant was, usually when all the seeds fall the level of tennis goes way down because the players still alive didn't necessarily rise to another level, the top players just kind of bombed. Now I guess that's to be expected most of the time but in this case you have a group of young players breaking through so the level of tennis isn't necessarily going down.

 

[Midaso240]

I usually don't like it when a bunch of the high seeded players drop like flies, especially on the women's side where it usually results in a joke of a tournament and ugly tennis (like last year at Wimbledon when the semifinalists were Radwanska, Lisicki, Bartoli and Flipkens). In this case however I'm actually intrigued because what we have here is a handful of legitimate young talent - Halep, Bouchard, Muguruza - breaking through. It feels different. It feels like a generation shift is going on, rather than inferior players acting as placeholders in the tournament simply because the top players bombed.

Still,the only young player who appears even close to being ready to win a slam is Halep.

 

[Fifth Set]

What's really exciting is that this late in the event a Petkovic-Bouchard final remains a possibility! How cool would that be? Two of the most deserving and popular players. Would love to see it, although I would be quite conflicted about who to cheer for!

 

[Chico]

What's really exciting is that this late in the event a Petkovic-Bouchard final remains a possibility! How cool would that be? Two of the most deserving and popular players. Would love to see it, although I would be quite conflicted about who to cheer for!

That would actually be great. I would love that final.

 

[Steve0904]

What's really exciting is that this late in the event a Petkovic-Bouchard final remains a possibility! How cool would that be? Two of the most deserving and popular players. Would love to see it, although I would be quite conflicted about who to cheer for!

I doubt this will happen, but I would love to see it. They had a great match in Charleston on the green stuff.

 

[TheM@trix]

c'mon Muguruza! Let's kick some a!!

 

[Fed881981]

Mugu should go more down the line with the BH. That will catch Annoypova off guard.

 

[counterloop]

I don't like Maria but I definitely respect her game. She fights till the very end, true mark of a champion.

 

[Fed881981]

I don't like Maria but I definitely respect her game. She fights till the very end, true mark of a champion.

Being a fighter is the only thing I respect in Maria.


She annoys me even on MUTE. Boring tennis, annoying facial expressions, celebrating every point as if she won the title, the steps she makes backward and then forward before each point, the look she makes at her opponents before each serve and so on.

Annoying player.