OT: French Open

[wire chief]

Sloane Stephens is not going anywhere. And she is doing it her way. She won yesterday's match against Keys without a single ace, only nine winners, and never seemed threatened.

And that's because Madison had about 4x the unforced errors as did Sloane, a player who tests one's patience. She gets Simona (another player who tests one's patience) at Saturday's breakfast at Roland Garros. You won't believe how long the points will be.
It will be somebody's first win there.
Meanwhile Sunday's breakfast features Rafa(ho hum) vs Thiem.

 

[wire chief]

Now, you must wait until next month for strawberries and cream, but grab your coffee and popcorn and watch Sloane at work. RIGHT NOW!

 

[eebmg]

Now, you must wait until next month for strawberries and cream, but grab your coffee and popcorn and watch Sloane at work. RIGHT NOW!

So far she looks good. Halep only gets into points when Sloane gets careless. No real weapons to hurt her. Up 4-2 with a break in 1st set. Halep must be under incredible pressure in trying to win her first grand slam after coming so closes many times.

 

[DaddyChoc]

Sloane started strong... and I think she'll lose. 3rd set is about to start

 

[triaddukefan]

I jinxed Sloane

 

[eebmg]

Sorry Sloane lost but if it had to be to someone, I am glad it was Halep who had such brutal results in prior grand slams
Sloane will learn from this. She needs to mix offense and defense better. You can't rely on your opponent making mistakes.

 

[wire chief]

Here's an oddity. Concerning broadcasting. As the match began my screen showed a brilliant red brick surface. But the ball was faint against it. I lost the bounce sometimes. Then the clay came through brown, and I could follow the ball better. Then an apparent change of filter, and we are back to bright red, only this time the ball was clearer. So I applaud the technicians who found and fixed things.

One of the talking heads quoted Sloane's coach as saying, "When you play Halep, you must play her for the whole match".
He could just as well say, especially when you are up a set and an early break.
I agree with eebmg that I am happy that Halep broke through, following in the footsteps of the Woz, also an often #1 player who could not secure a Major title until recently.

 

[Waquoit]

Very happy for Halap. She's such a class act and plays so hard.

 

[wire chief]

Well, we exit from Roland Garros for a year. The King of Clay persists, securing his 11th crown. Surely more than even Queen Elizabeth has. When you consider that not only has he 11 championships here, but also 11 each from 2 important lead-in events to the French, and 19 Majors total, including a career Grand slam, you have to say, as Geno said about Diana, that there will never be another Rafa.
(How's that for a run on sentence.)
His Austrian opponent relies on a powerful forehand and a monster first serve. To make a go of it, he needed a high 1st serve percentage. Not good enough today.
There was an uh oh moment early in the 3rd set, when Rafa went to the bench to get fingers on his service hand retaped. There was an apparent numbness. No matter, for he finished things off with 2 service breaks there and won in 3.
Since his 1st crown at age 19, Rafa has one lone hiccup--a puzzling defeat by Robin Soderling (who promptly celebrated by having a few months of conjugal bliss with the Big Bang Theory's Penny, then never heard from again).

Roger awaits, and really, who will prevent that meeting?

 

[eebmg]

A surgical dismantling. Rafa's backhand has never been better getting great angle and variety. The best of the best keep improving. Thiem needs to get his emotions and his body language under better control but he is definitely talented.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

And that's because Madison had about 4x the unforced errors as did Sloane, a player who tests one's patience. She gets Simona (another player who tests one's patience) at Saturday's breakfast at Roland Garros. You won't believe how long the points will be.
It will be somebody's first win there.
Meanwhile Sunday's breakfast features Rafa(ho hum) vs Thiem.

What is interesting is that Sloane is a "backgboard" player in many ways - chases every ball down, does not have the big weapon of other players (e.g., Graf's forehand, Martina's volley, Serena's serve, etc.). So is Halep, in a lot of ways. And so is Caroline Wozniacki. They do have power on their shots, but they are more known for extending rallies, shot placement, etc. All three also have to be in phenomenal physical shape, even by the standards of a professional athlete.

All three have combined to win the last three Grand Slam tournaments (Sloane - 2017 US Open; Woz - 2018 Australian Open; Halep - 2018 French Open).

 

[JordyG]

What is interesting is that Sloane is a "backgboard" player in many ways - chases every ball down, does not have the big weapon of other players (e.g., Graf's forehand, Martina's volley, Serena's serve, etc.). So is Halep, in a lot of ways. And so is Caroline Wozniacki. They do have power on their shots, but they are more known for extending rallies, shot placement, etc. All three also have to be in phenomenal physical shape, even by the standards of a professional athlete.

All three have combined to win the last three Grand Slam tournaments (Sloane - 2017 US Open; Woz - 2018 Australian Open; Halep - 2018 French Open).

I am far from a tennis expert. I was a big fan of tennis during the Laver era and forward when players had to have big weapons in order to win consistently. I gradually lost interest when the US changed from having generally grass and hardcourt/concrete surfaces to composite surfaces which made tennis a more ecumenical game. To my eyes it also favored "backboard" style players, took the advantage away from US, British and Aussie players and made the game boring and repetitive in my eyes. I was glad to see players like Serena and Venus enter the game, who with their big serves played more of that old school, serve and volley game I enjoyed. Which is one of the reasons I fervently wish for Serena to return to top form.

 

[DaddyChoc]

lets see how this pans out

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