OT: French Open

[wire chief]

If you scroll down to the 2nd article, highlights of the match-ups are given.

http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/i...lliams-withdrawals-validate-scheduling-issues

 

[EricLA]

Losing such high seeds and marquee names is a huge blow to the tournaments, and the actions of the players certainly raise some legitimate questions about their professional obligations to their respective tours, the tournaments and the fans.

Sorry, Peter Bodo (tennis writer), but tough crap. The only time these players really have "off" is late December until the Aussie Open, and even then there are probably tourney's they could/should play in. Asia, which has never really been a "hotbed" of upper level tourneys suddenly has a boatload of them in Oct thru Dec. You can't expect these people to play 24/7. Professional obligations? Sorry, but I just don't see it. I get that every major city wants to have a tourney there because tennis is so popular, but I have zero issue with players pulling out even for very very minor injuries. If they want to fix the system, then schedule less sanctioned tournaments.

 

[wire chief]

We're in day 2 and yesterday pretty much went on form.
The evening match (1pm EST) has Venus vs. Sloane Stephens. Briefly Sloane looked like the next American
hope, and she was ranked in the teens. But like Melanie Oudin a couple of years ago, early results have now
fallen off. At the same time, clay is not big in Venus' likes, and, as we know, it is not predictable how her game will
go nowadays. Still, she is formidable enough to have earned a # 11 seed here.

As always, I'll be at my TV, exultant or crestfallen.

 

[triaddukefan]

Losing such high seeds and marquee names is a huge blow to the tournaments, and the actions of the players certainly raise some legitimate questions about their professional obligations to their respective tours, the tournaments and the fans.

Sorry, Peter Bodo (tennis writer), but tough crap. The only time these players really have "off" is late December until the Aussie Open, and even then there are probably tourney's they could/should play in. Asia, which has never really been a "hotbed" of upper level tourneys suddenly has a boatload of them in Oct thru Dec. You can't expect these people to play 24/7. Professional obligations? Sorry, but I just don't see it. I get that every major city wants to have a tourney there because tennis is so popular, but I have zero issue with players pulling out even for very very minor injuries. If they want to fix the system, then schedule less sanctioned tournaments.

Peter Bodo is still around ? He was covering tennis when i first starting buying Tennis Magazine back in the mid 1980s.

 

[AnotherVolFan]

Finally the French Open!!! It seems like it takes forever and day between the Australian and French!

 

[DaddyChoc]

Sloane up a set and 3-0 in the 2nd over Venus on the Tennis Channel

 

[AnotherVolFan]

Sloane up a set and 3-0 in the 2nd over Venus on the Tennis Channel

 

[DaddyChoc]

they had some good rallies but Sloane was better today, first time meeting

 

[meyers7]

they had some good rallies but Sloane was better today, first time meeting

 

[EricLA]

Jack Sock is having a surprising and fantastic day against #10 Grigor Dimitrov - 7-6, 6-2, and 2-0 in the 3rd set and serving already up a break...

 

[EricLA]

they had some good rallies but Sloane was better today, first time meeting

Agreed. I was rooting for both of them - wish they wouldn't put 2 Americans in the 1st round, or at least throw in a kid who had no chance of beating Williams. I like Stevens a lot but she is SO up and down with her game. Thought she was going to be the next really good American, and then she fell off the face of the tennis earth, so to speak...

 

[triaddukefan]

Agreed. I was rooting for both of them - wish they wouldn't put 2 Americans in the 1st round, or at least throw in a kid who had no chance of beating Williams. I like Stevens a lot but she is SO up and down with her game. Thought she was going to be the next really good American, and then she fell off the face of the tennis earth, so to speak...

By the way people were talking... I thought her ranking was in the triple digits or something... but found out she is still around 40 or so? I root for her.... but the most exciting player for me to watch in women's tennis is Taylor Towsend. I love her game.....

 

[EricLA]

By the way people were talking... I thought her ranking was in the triple digits or something... but found out she is still around 40 or so? I root for her.... but the most exciting player for me to watch in women's tennis is Taylor Towsend. I love her game.....

Townsend lost today in straight sets to the #65 player in the world - Smitkova from the Czech Republic. Townsend is #99 so it's not like she was supposed to win. BUT... she needs to work on her fitness. She's a large girl and strong, but carrying way too much extra weight. I'm not saying she should become body obsessed, but if Stef Dolson can take fitness and nutrition seriously enough to transform her body, so can Taylor...

BTW Genie Bouchard went out in straight sets also - to Mladenovic. The #44 ranked Russian out played her - which is too bad cuz they love to promote Genie since she's so photogenic. I hope she does not become the next Anna Kournikova...

 

[EricLA]

By the way people were talking... I thought her ranking was in the triple digits or something... but found out she is still around 40 or so? I root for her.... but the most exciting player for me to watch in women's tennis is Taylor Towsend. I love her game.....

Well the thing about Sloane is she got as high as about 15 or so. For her to be down at 40 and not seeded is pretty bad. It's not like Azarenka who was out for about 8 months and has had to rebuild her ranking, which is why she faces Serena in the 2nd or 3rd round...

 

[triaddukefan]

I dont watch nearly as much tennis as i did when i was younger, but the French Open has always been my second favorite tournament. My favorite thing was to watch the fast court guys (Edberg, Becker, Stich ... et al) play on the slow clay.

 

[iri10]

Townsend lost today in straight sets to the #65 player in the world - Smitkova from the Czech Republic. Townsend is #99 so it's not like she was supposed to win. BUT... she needs to work on her fitness. She's a large girl and strong, but carrying way too much extra weight. I'm not saying she should become body obsessed, but if Stef Dolson can take fitness and nutrition seriously enough to transform her body, so can Taylor...

I get the impression that she may be badly managed in general. Her schedule is also rather odd at times, with long gaps between tournaments where there shouldn't be gaps, etc. After this loss, her rank will fall from 130 to something in the 170s. So it's basically back to the drawing board.

Her current level of fitness would be fine for doubles. Whether she would be satisfied with that is a question I cannot answer.

 

[wire chief]

ESPN2 is going back and forth right now between Serena(down a break in set 1a0 and Rafa, who has taken set 1 vs. Amalgro.
Biggest upset so far is #3 Simona Halep from yesterday.

 

[wire chief]

Serena needed 3 sets. Madison Keys has easy 2nd round win. Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova, #4 is ousted.
Caroline Wozniacki is #5 and is no more. Victoria Azaranka continues her comeback, now ranked 27, is easily
through to the 3rd round.
Sloane Stephens had an 0-4 record vs. Brit Heather Watson. She's now 1-4 in straight sets, just a moment ago on the Tennis Channel.

 

[EricLA]

Nice day for the American women as Stevens, Williams and Falconi all won and are on to the next round!

BTW ESPN scores said that Kvitova won the 3rd set 6-2. is that an error?

 

[wire chief]

Nice day for the American women as Stevens, Williams and Falconi all won and are on to the next round!

BTW ESPN scores said that Kvitova won the 3rd set 6-2. is that an error?

It WAS an error on the French Open site, since corrected. Petra is through to the 3rd round.

 

[wire chief]

Now and then a megamatchup appears during week one. While Serena and Maria are the favorites this year, probably the 3rd pick is a woman whose current seed is 27. Serena's reward for being #1? To play Victoria Azaranka in the 3rd round. WOOOOO HOOOO.
Look for them tomorrow at 1pm EST.

 

[VAUConnFan]

It seems that in major tournaments, the best time to catch Serena is in the early rounds. The farther she advances, the tougher she becomes to oust. Azarenka in the 3rd round has a chance.

 

[BreckenJ05]

Excited for the Serena vs. Azarenka match, they played a good one a couple of weeks ago, Vika had like 3 match points but Serena ended up winning the match.

 

[EricLA]

Looks like Serena is going down to Azarenka. Not putting up much of a battle. Too bad...

 

[DaddyChoc]

Looks like Serena is going down to Azarenka. Not putting up much of a battle. Too bad...

update your post (had me scared for a moment)