CAMELOT FANTASIES

Chardy removed Isner from the facilities.



http://www.livescore.in/tennis/

Pretty convincingly too. No breaks of serve in the match.

rafa's match was not early today but also just 1 hour and 50 minutes long. and it was a very easy match.


there is no reason why he should not have scheduled a 2 hour practice session later today.

key matches for tomorrow:


KEY MATCHES - FRIDAY, 29 MAY 2015


Singles – Third Round
[2] Roger Federer (SUI) vs. Damir Dzumhur (BIH)
 [4] Tomas Berdych (CZE) vs. Benoit Paire (FRA)
 [8] Stan Wawrinka (SUI) vs. Steve Johnson (USA)
 [12] Gilles Simon (FRA) vs. Nicolas Mahut (FRA)
 [13] Gael Monfils (FRA) vs. [21] Pablo Cuevas (URU)
 [14] Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) vs. Pablo Andujar (ESP)

Singles – Second Round
[20] Richard Gasquet (FRA) vs. Carlos Berlocq (ARG) To Finish 36 63 61 46   

 Doubles – Second Round
 [1] Bob Bryan (USA) / Mike Bryan (USA) vs. Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) / Lucas Pouille (FRA)
 [2] Vasek Pospisil (CAN) / Jack Sock (USA) vs. Robert Lindstedt (SWE) / Jurgen Mezler (AUT)
 [6] Simone Bolelli (ITA) / Fabio Fognini (ITA) vs. Frantisek Cermak (CZE) / Jiri Vesely (CZE)
 [7] Marcin Matkowski (POL) / Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) vs. Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP) / Daniel Gimeno-Traver (ESP)
 [9] Rohan Bopanna (IND) / Florin Mergea (ROU) vs. Austin Krajicek (USA) / Donald Young (USA)
 [10] Daniel Nestor (CAN) / Leander Paes (IND) vs. Andre Begemann (GER) / Julian Knowle (AUT)
 [11] Jamie Murray (GBR) / John Peers (AUS) vs. Santiago Giraldo (COL) / Dusan Lajovic (SRB)
 [13] Marin Draganja (CRO) / Henri Kontinen (FIN) vs. Maximo Gonzalez (ARG) / Andre Sa (BRA)

Federer has a date with monfils. should be a good battle.


monfils just won.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2015/05/20/Roland-Garros-Nadal-Brain-Game.aspx






ROLAND GARROS 2015 

Nadal's Empire Built On One Golden Number

Paris, France

by Craig O'Shannessy
  | 29.05.2015
 

Rafael Nadal celebrates winning his ninth Roland Garros crown in June 2014.

Dominance has a number, and it’s a lot lower than you might think.

Rafael Nadal has won nine titles in 10 previous appearances at Roland Garros, firmly cementing his place as the greatest men's winner at a single Grand Slam tournament the sport has ever known.

A deep-dive analysis of his Roland Garros history between 2005-2014 reveals much: He came into Paris this year boasting a supreme 98.5 per cent win rate from 66 victories and a solitary defeat. He had played 9,968 minutes at Roland Garros - time mostly spent mauling opponents with ferocious spin on the terre battue.

But those numbers do not come close to telling the whole story. His journey of 12,632 steps, or points played on the beaten earth at Roland Garros, reveals that his supremacy has a secret: It's built on very small margins.

Matches are comprised of sets, and Nadal has won 198 of them while relinquishing 20, for a 90.8 win percentage. It's impressive, but the separation is a little closer.

Nadal has won 1302 games over his previous 10 appearances, losing 693. That's a 65.2 win percentage, and as you can clearly tell, the authority he commands diminishes.

The building blocks of tennis are points, and this is where the real numbers of Nadal's conquests in Paris are revealed. Points tell the real story.

Nadal has won 7,160 points at Roland Garros, and the mythical aura that he has built on Court Philippe Chatrier has his opponents, and the tennis world, presuming he is also putting up invincible numbers in this critical metric. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Nadal has also lost 5,472 points at Roland Garros - that's a lot of points any way you slice it.

The 'King of Clay' has won 98.5 per cent of his matches, 90.8 per cent of his sets, 65.2 per cent of his games, but only 56.6 per cent of his points.

The reality of tennis is that you only need to tip a 50/50 battle around five or six per cent to rule the world. Players such as Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Roger Federer, who have all finished No. 1 in the year-end Emirates ATP Rankings over many seasons, are typically winning right around 55 per cent of their points for their entire year.

Professional tennis is a game of very small margins, played over very great distances.

In the nine finals Nadal has won in Paris, his win percentage is a combined 54.2 per cent.

NadalServing

Nadal has served 184 aces and 92 double faults the past 10 years, for exactly a 2:1 ratio. He has made an incredibly high 71 per cent of his first serves, winning 72 per cent of the time. Those numbers are impressive, but his 58 per cent points won on second serves is from another planet.

Returning

This is the real engine room of Nadal's success at the French, applying an incredible amount of pressure every time his opponent steps up to serve. Nadal prefers to stand way back near the linesmen, closer to the back signage than the baseline, taking full swings to neutralise his opponent’s strength.

Nadal has won an incredible 41 per cent of his opponents' first-serve points, and 58 per cent of his opponents' second-serve points - the exact percentage as his own second serve. It does not matter who is hitting a second serve on the court, Nadal clearly has the edge.

Break Points

Nadal has converted 45 per cent of his break points over his career, which by comparison is much higher than Federer's 41 per cent, but that surges to a jaw-dropping 52 per cent for the Spaniard at Roland Garros. Opponents have converted 34 per cent of break points on Nadal's serve over his career, but at Roland Garros, that drops to 30 per cent.

Nadal has won 64 per cent of his service points in Paris, which is actually three per cent less than his career average of 67 per cent, but he has won 43 per cent of his return points on the red clay, which is one per cent better than his career average. It’s clear that it's the return game that grows an extra leg in Paris.

Nadal's nine Roland Garros titles command ultimate respect and his 56.6 per cent points won is the small margin that his empire is built upon.

Brain GameCraig O'Shannessy uses extensive tagging, metrics and formulas to uncover the patterns and percentages behind the game. Read more at www.braingametennis.com.

This is a great article!

nice 1/2 volley from Rafa as he closes out the 2nd set.




http://www.livescore.in/tennis/

Yeah, that was sweet. His match against Sock will be interesting since they play kind of similar.

Brad always speaks his own mind. He doesn't go for the okey-doke. He's the only one who is willing to stand alone. i respect him the most out of all the commentators.

TN Interview: Brad Gilbert on Federer-Monfils, Chair Umpire Controversy and Top 5 Young Talents

http://www.tennisnow.com/News/2015/May/TN-Interview-Brad-Gilbert-on-Federer-Monfils,-Cha.aspx#sthash.2jAv0xsC.dpuf
By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, May 30, 2015

ESPN analyst Brad Gilbert has a long history in Paris as a competitor and commentator, but perhaps his most impactful commentary came behind closed doors. Blown out by Andrei Medvedev at the the start of the 1999 French Open final, a visibly tight Andre Agassi got a reprieve in a rain delay. Agassi got an emotional and loud lecture from then coach Gilbert he later credited with helping him turn around the match, win Roland Garros and complete the career Grand Slam. "If you're going down, OK, go down, but go down with guns blazing. Always, always, always go down with both guns blazing!" Agassi wrote in his memoir Open, detailing the one time he recalls Gilbert screaming at him during that 1999 rain delay.

The Winning Ugly author's voice is familiar to tennis fans. We caught up with Gilbert for this Q & A on French Open first week story lines.
Tennis Now: Brad, what do you think of Rafa's level of play thus far? Looking ahead what do see you see in a Djokovic-Nadal quarterfinal blockbuster?

Brad Gilbert: Rafa looked a lot better in the Almagro match. I'm still very annoyed the tournament didn't put him to the No. 2 seed where he should have been. This tournament does have that right, but they've never done that. I'm not sure playing Djoker earlier or later at the moment is a great thing. I think Rafa is playing a lot better. Obviously, he's been amazing at this place. I think the way Rafa is, he won't be focused on [Novak] yet.

TN: Sock beat Coric today. What is the potential upside for those two players?
BG: Sock has gotten a lot better. Very soon he will be the top American. I fully believe he's become a different player since winning the doubles title at Wimbledon and now the success has translated to his singles game. He was just unlucky at the beginning of the year when he had to have the hip surgery. Otherwise, he would have been at the Australian Open and probably would have been different if he had been playing from the start of the year. Sock's got an explosive forehand, a very explosive forehand. I think he's got a chance to be a Top 10 player. I don't know exactly how far he can go.

Coric, for 18 years of age, his upside is [high]. I mean, he's a mini-Djoker. He's got an explosive serve, his movement is off the charts. I think three or four years down the line Coric's upside is Top 3 in the world. [Nick] Kyrgios, [Thanasi] Kokkinakis, Coric, [Alexander] Zverev and this kid [Andrey] Rublev, to me are the top five young talents in the game.

TN: First-week controversy came with Rafa confirming he asked Carlos Bernardes not work as chair umpire at his matches. In your experience, how common is that? What's your view on the chair umpire issue?

BG: I don't think it's that common. I think even Federer had a problem with Jake Garner, did he not?
TN: Right. In the US Open final.

BG: I think the requests happen. Maybe it's not granted that much. I think in that one particular match in Rio when [Bernardes] gave him the time violation, he had his shorts on backwards and wanted to turn his shorts around that he had on backwards and they were playing at like freaking 3 in the morning.

I just feel like so much of it will go away with a shot clock on the court. I just feel like the umpires are in a tough position. You don't call a time violation the entire match and then some are doing it at like 4-5 break-point down. If you have a shot clock on court, wait for the fans to stop clapping and turn it on just like in basketball. I think it is a joke that it's 20 seconds in a major and 25 seconds in the ATP. They should be the same times.

TN: Uncle Toni has pointed out after excruciatingly long rallies, and sometimes the crowd going crazy, umpires should use discretion calling time violations. Do you agree?

BG: Well, when there's an ace, you shouldn't be given any leeway. If it's a 30-shot rally and there's a long clap then you take 10 seconds until the crowd quiets. Once the crowd is quiet, then I start the clock. Once the umpire calls the score, then the shot clock goes. Now, it could take a little longer to call the score after a 30-ball rally and I would be a little more lenient there.
TN: Looking ahead to Federer vs. Monfils, which could be electrifying, how do you see that match going?

BG: I gotta be honest, two sets to one, down 1-4 double break, I went to go eat dinner. I came back at 11 and never checked my phone. I checked the scoreboard and was shocked Monfils came back and won. He's beaten Fed two times in a row on clay, should have beaten him at the Open, he had him dead there. I remember in Monte Carlo, Monfils played like a brutal three-hour match against Dolgopolov and then the next day he comes right back and plays a great match against Fed. So I think Fed fans are worried a little bit. Monfils is one of these guys on a big stage, who loves it, the crowd could be rocking I think it's gonna be a real good match.
TN: Stan Wawrinka started the year on a bit of a roll, had some puzzling losses, but beating Rafa in Rome was such a big win for his game and confidence. What do you think about Stan's chances here? BG: Stan's playing well. He's gotten a lot of confidence from beating Rafa. He's had some strange results losing to Dimitrov a couple of times. At this point in his career, he's 30, it's all about the majors. I think he can potentially go a long way, except for I just don't think if he wins and Fed wins that Stan can [beat Federer]. That head-to-head against Fed is a tough match for Stan. First, he's got a tough assignment playing Gilles Simon.