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The French Open 2009 Thread - Page 3

post #31 of 116
5/31/09 at 7:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spatlese View Post
I agree. And, nothwithstanding it would still be a great achievement if Fed wins it, there will be naysayers who put an asterisk by this victory due to the absence of Nadal.

And those people are f*cking idiots and should be ignored at all costs.
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post #32 of 116
6/1/09 at 9:01am
Thread Starter 
Goddammit Federer. Choke in the making?
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post #33 of 116
6/1/09 at 9:08am
Cant watch in China =(
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post #34 of 116
6/1/09 at 10:34am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ghulkhan View Post
In my dream French, I would personally love to see Marat Safin beat Nadal on the way to a final against Federer. I could care less who wins at that point. I guess seeing Safin take it all would be nice. But so would Federer...

Unfortunately this wont happen this year. But there is always next.

Federer all the way for this year

Safin is retiring at the end of this year I believe. He's always been one of my favorite players

Plus, ZOMG! Federer!
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post #35 of 116
6/1/09 at 11:01am
^^ Was it a good match? I didn't get to catch any of it this morning.
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post #36 of 116
6/1/09 at 11:05am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cheessus View Post
Safin is retiring at the end of this year I believe. He's always been one of my favorite players

Plus, ZOMG! Federer!

Cannot begin to believe that. Great last three sets--but wow, way to close. Tommy Haas of all people!

How does everyone see the final shaping up? I imagine it'll be a Murray v. Federer final, but we'll see. Would love to see Fernando Gonzalez sneak into the final...
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post #37 of 116
6/1/09 at 11:49am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spatlese View Post
^^ Was it a good match? I didn't get to catch any of it this morning.
It certainly wasn't an epic match by any means. There were a lot of peaks and valleys throughout the match, but more valleys if you know what I mean. For instance, Federer lost the first set despite not losing a single point on serve until the tiebreaker. Then Haas gets bagled in the fourth. The key point in the match was in the third set with Federer serving at 3-4(?), 30-40. He hits a ridiculous, low percentage (in my opinion because i think 75% of his errors were forehand errors), inside-out forehand to win the point. After that, Haas was mentally in shambles. There were some great points, but it wasn't all that great of a match. It certainly was no Nadal-Soderling (FO), Federer-Berdych (AO), or Nadal-Verdasco (AO) this year. With Federer playing like he has been so far, he is not a lock to make it to the finals. Playing from behind and hanging tough will work against old-timers like Haas and Acasuso, but when he meets Monfils, Roddick, Robredo, Del Potro, or Tsonga, these guys will not let up. The FO right now is wide open, and logically, I'm leaning either towards Davydenko, Murray, or Federer.
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post #38 of 116
6/1/09 at 12:24pm
Have any of you played on clay before? I still haven't found anywhere around here that has a clay surface to try out.
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post #39 of 116
6/1/09 at 12:28pm
^^ I've played on clay many times when I was in S Korea years ago at a tennis club over there. It was awesome, I've always been a baseliner, heavy topspin (Mats Wilander was my tennis inspiration in HS) so it's the perfect surface for me. It really is a lot different from US hardcourts, and obviously from grass which I sort of played on once and didnt like, but it was an artificial turf, not real grass, so it was odd.

I'm bummed Nadal lost, esp to Soderwhatshisname. I'm more bummed that Federer now has a good chance of winning the French, so hopefully one of the other players will step up and knock his ass out
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post #40 of 116
6/1/09 at 12:34pm
I am going to make it my mission to one day play on a clay surface. I've done concrete, har-tru, synthetic grass, and a gravel type surface and so far like the hard courts the best but that's due more to familiarity than anything. I agree synthetic grass is odd and grass courts are probably as rare as clay here just due to the maintenance alone. I am assuming the winter and cold temps keep both types of courts out of the Northeast.
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post #41 of 116
6/1/09 at 12:36pm
Thread Starter 
There was one school in my high school league that had clay courts. Shocker they won every single home match.
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post #42 of 116
6/1/09 at 1:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by visionology View Post
I am going to make it my mission to one day play on a clay surface. I've done concrete, har-tru, synthetic grass, and a gravel type surface and so far like the hard courts the best but that's due more to familiarity than anything.

And this is why Americans are faring so poorly in mens tennis right now IMO. The game is very different -- to be successful on clay, one needs to be more fundamentally sound and patient enough to carve out a winning point. Unfortunately, hard courts reward power tennis and most rising juniors don't develop the well-rounded game necessary to win consistently on the tour.
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post #43 of 116
6/1/09 at 1:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by visionology View Post
I am going to make it my mission to one day play on a clay surface. I've done concrete, har-tru, synthetic grass, and a gravel type surface and so far like the hard courts the best but that's due more to familiarity than anything.

I agree synthetic grass is odd and grass courts are probably as rare as clay here just due to the maintenance alone. I am assuming the winter and cold temps keep both types of courts out of the Northeast.

Har-Tru, to the best of my knowledge, is a clay court. Granted, it's not the red crushed brick you're probably referring to, but Har-Tru plays very similar, if not slightly faster.
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post #44 of 116
6/1/09 at 2:32pm
It seemed like small gravel but I've never even seen a clay court in person so I'm not sure. I didn't have enough play time on it anyways, 95% of my play time is probably on concrete / hard composite surfaces with the other 5% on the fake grass surface.
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post #45 of 116
6/1/09 at 4:55pm
Not really surprised at Nadal's loss. The players that are still in the Open are heavy hitters. Can't call it for sure. Still hoping Federer goes straight through and wins it.
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