Worst French Open In Recent Memory?

[TheMusicLover]

And all the hate started when Fed announced he was gonna skip it to save his body. Coincidence? I think not lol.

People just need to accept that he is semi retired and will be fully retired soon. He's had an amazing career, be happy with that.

Exactly.

BTW, the word 'hate' appears to get just as much overused on this forum as does 'choke'. Tone it down, folks.

 

[metsman]

ITT:

Posters with Federer avatars claiming that they dislike RG because:

• facilities
• Adidas zebra kits
• rain
• topspin

Other reasons I predict:

• with a poor internet connection, neon yellow-green ball on red clay is hard to see, unlike neon yellow-green ball on bright green grass, or dull green rebound ace
• dirt is for poor people (I guess this does not extend to those guys who can't afford better internet)
• it is all ball bashing
• you can't hit winners off everything

Absolutely nothing, zero, nada(l), to do with the fact that:

• claydal won nine times
  
• fedr goat only won once
• fedr not playing this year

For sure they gonna be the most fair and balanced fanbase, no?

Seriously, no one cares if you dislike an event just because your favourite player doesn't do so well there. That's what preferences are all about. It is, however, disingenuous to claim that you hate it for completely unrelated, often 'selfless' reasons.

well sure I'll admit clay has always been my least favorite surface making rain delays at RG harder to put up with than previous rain delays at Wimby or USO, but that was well before roger and rafa so again it has nothing to do with them.

 

[sarmpas]

Nadal's odds on to win it but with Novak and Murray way off form the chances for a new first timer finalist are much higher than the past several or more slams. Seeing how a new slam finalist performs always interests me as a tennis fan. In the lesser events I don't see it but in slam finals you see part of the inner self of a player.

 

[Capulin Zurdo]

Love the Joker

 

[zagor]

I've already addressed your post in my other post.

As sweeping as my original post was (it has to, because it's a 'ITT' post), at its core, it was pointing out the correlation between posters who disliked clay, and posters with Federer avatars / known Federer fans / Rafa haters, and the fact that no one has admitted that the reason for their distaste for RG has to do with Nadal. Now while it's perfectly possible that their claims could be true, I find it highly unlikely, which was why I posted what I did to begin with--which even you agree as you say right at the beginning of your reply.

Just saying it's a bit of a chicken and egg question, a lot of people who prefer certain tennis qualities that are most rewarded on a specific surface will also tend to gravitate towards a player that embodies said qualities the most. Take away both Fed and Nadal and those preferences might still remain the same more or less.

Grass being an antiquated surface is not a common argument you see on these boards or anywhere else for that matter. Maybe I'm not around here often enough, but I haven't seen that argument being made in ages.

I read that argument from a Nadal fan like a week ago when people argued for an extended grass sesion/grass masters. How grass is an antiquated surface that is all about the serve while you need a complete/rounded game for clay. I tend to think both surfaces reward certain strengths and expose cetain weaknesses. I do consider clay the best surface for a player to grow up on but I don't subscribe to the notion that point construction to rule supreme on it when it comes to the big leagues, not compared to consistency off the ground, fitness and ability to create angles.

I have seen quite a few arguments about the grass season being extended, which I agree with, and the HC season being shortened, which I also agree with (which is a matter of me believing that HCs are over-represented, grass underrepresented, and clay being prevalent but the European clay swing being around right, but on the cramped side). On the injury side, I think I agree that HCs are damaging to the knees, as will anyone else who plays a lot on them. But where Rafa is concerned, he ought to do his part to reduce injury rather than purely complaining about it, which is what he's been doing too much of.

All is relative, what goes for amateur players (even high level amatuer players) might not hold true for the pros, atleast not to the same degree. The vast majority of CC players burn out quite a bit faster than HC players so I have always been sceptical about claims of clay beaing easier on the body overall compared to HC taking everything into account. I've seen quite a few players remain HC contenders at an advanced tennis age, long after they're washed up on clay (and grass for that matter), for ATG examples just look at Agassi, Sampras, Lendl and Fed (still a contender on grass though).

I agree about making changes to the season you suggested, but then again I'd also bring carpet back while it seems that most of today's pros (or atleast stars of the game) are glad it's gone.

Don't think Nadal's that injury prone to be honest (as evidenced by him still going strong at 30 and having a 10 year slam winning streak), he just vastly prefers clay to anything so he's looking at it from his point of view.

 

[Jaitock1991]

Because it's a slam and most people who attempt to devalue it all have alterior motives than the ones they claim to have. Had another slam been Rog's worst, the hatred would have been towards that slam. Even if Rafa had done poorly on the clay so far, suddenly less fans would show their disliking of RG

Couldn't agree more. But the people doing it are too biased to even realize they're doing it.

 

[SLD76]

The top 2 players on the WTA are out.
The GOAT and #1 until recently ATP race leader skipping.
The current top 2 players on ATP in a slump

Pretty bad no?

On the men's side it's a shambles

Unless Wawa and Fognini go super Saiyan it's a foregone conclusion who will win. And while Nadal being tapped to win at the FO is nothing new, the issue is there may not even be many compelling or entertaining matches leading to the final


As for the ladies, even with Serena and Maria there will still be a competitive field with Halep, Kerber, Mladenovic, Konta, Plishkova, Kuznetsova and a bunch of other ladies that could get hot out of nowhere and make a run.

It's been an entertaining clay season for the WTA, but Halep is my pick for the FO

 

[Sellers]

Ye, and Murray should never have been in a RG final. He was like a deer in the headlights. Or like Safin in a Wimbledon final.

Why not? he dumped out the defending champion with relative ease and came through some brutal matches to get there, compared to Novak's draw which dissolved after the 3rd round.

Actually that's probably why it's the worst FO for me, that or 15 as I wanted to see someone get the CYGS in my lifetime. Andy came through some really tough matches and played a fantastic SF, then vanished after the 1st set in the final, was painful to watch for me.

I think his SF win over Stan was his best performance of the year.