CAMELOT FANTASIES

Well here we are, the quarterfinals and semifinals at Roland Garros.

In the top half, we have a quartet from Western Europe, the finalists from last year, the two top Spaniards, Rafael Nadal vs. David Ferrer are in one quarterfinal and France's Gael Monfils and Scotland's Andy Murray in the other.

In the other half, the semifinals are set with the eastern Europeans, Serbia's Novak Djokovic vs. Latvia's Ernests Gulbis.

Nadal now has 20 clay matches under his belt after the hard courts, the minimum to be near his best. 

I think the only thing that can beat him now is bad luck. What kind of bad luck?   Well if he hurts himself, or perhaps bad weather comes along that will hurt his topspin.  Also, he will not play tomorrow against Ferrer on the higher bouncing and bigger court, Chatrier. Instead it will be the  lower bouncing and faster court on the smaller stadium, Suzanne Lenglen. So this is a bit of bad luck for Nadal and good luck for Ferrer. 

Ferrer beat Nadal the last time they played, and is playing well, but this is still best of 5 sets.  Ferrer might take a set, even two if the conditions favor him, but I can't see Nadal losing unless he has bad luck. In any case, I think the winner here will be in the finals.

Gael Monfils has made the quarter finals and will be highlighted on Center Court along with his opponent, Andrew Murray, OBE.
Monfils is yet another player that Murray will face that is not in the top 20, so I think Murray has a good chance to move into the semis.  But you can't count Monfils out on his home dirt.  No doubt the crowd will be behind him if he can get his nose in front.

Ernie Gulbis has played very well in eliminating Federer and Berdych.  He is serving very big.  Was up around 225 kph (close to 137 mph) today, and is playing strong off the ground, with his backhand down the line quite dangerous.  Still Novak Djokovic just played Milos Raonic, so he has gotten used to the big serve, and Nole returns and moves much better than Berdych.  Gulbis is going to have to play a heck of a match to beat Djokovic.  Can he keep it up?  I don't know.

Respectfully,
masterclass

I don't think Ernests will beat Novak. He'll get frustrated by all of the balls coming back at him.

Nadal should get by Ferrer. Ferrer is a disappointment when it comes to big matches so I'd like him to bow out. His final last year was pathetic, a downer after two weeks of tennis played at the highest level.

I think Murray will be too much for Gael. I can't see Monfils buckling down and taking it seriously. Once Andy starts getting his shots back he'll turn it into trick shot heaven.

I have a good/bad feeling about this final, but I can't share it, because your words carry significant weight, and you have to be careful what you put into the universe.