[Archived] French Open Tennis

[neekoy]

Grands Slams shouldn't be the only maker, the eras have to be put into context. Although tennis is rapidly improving right now few of them have proven themselves on the biggest stage, that wasn't the case in the 90's or in previous eras.

Isn't it amazing the former powerhouses of Tennis the US, Australia and the UK fading whilst Argentian and Spain continue to get players in the top 100.

I actually think Sampras was better but in the interest of debate I was playing devil's advocate.

[bellamy11]

Impossible to say who was the best ever but I think that something that holds Rog back a lot is his record against the players who can truly call themselves his rival (I'm going to include Murray despite his lack of a GS title). The way he dismissed Hewitt and Roddick was very impressive (he made them look a lot worse than they were) but neither of them have a claim to be an ATG.

His records against Nadal and Murray are extremely poor, though there are certain things which make them look worse than they are. For example, Nadal struggled to regularly make hard court finals at the time when Rog was at his peak, so a lot of their meetings have been on clay where Rafa has a big advantage. With Murray, he is well behind in the H2H but his victories have come in finals.

With Novak, I'd imagine he is winning H2H but I bet he is behind in meetings since Novo made the top 10.

Does Rog's inability to dominate his true rivals undermine his claim to be "the best ever"? I'd say so, but then I read the other day that he's made something like 20 GS semi finals in a row. The guy is a phenomenon.

[jim mk2]

For me the greatest of them all has to be Roger Federer - and I have been watching Wimbldeon avidly since the 1950s.

In the modern era I enjoyed watching Agassi because of his quick eye for the ball but I thought the likes of Borg, McEnroe, Connors, Sampras were just functional baseliners and very dull to watch. The behaviour of two of those players was disgraceful at times as well.

I would place Federer above all the others because of his grace and beauty of movement - quite simply when he is in form and playing at his best he has elevated tennis to a different level.

Sampras, Borg and McEnroe have all come out and proclaimed Federer as the best of all time. I think that says it all.

[benhben]

Its no surprise british tennis, along with most other sports in this country is fading. When you have to travel for miles in any direction to find free areas for kids to play these sports then theres something wrong. Around Lancaster its almost impossible to play football for free nowadays. All pitches have locked 15ft high fences and charge £40 a game. Then on the local park grass pitches they have the genius idea of taking all the goal posts down just as summer starts, which is when everyone gets time of school college work etc. Its the same with tennis, no free courts anywhere. Improving sport and subsequently health is wayyyyyyy down on this governments agenda. Anyway rant over.

Its currently a battle of the forehands with Soderling vs Gonzalez in the semis. Soderling 4-2 up in the 1st set. Gonzalez looks much weaker than he did against murray. Dont know whether the balls have slowed or soderling is just coping better than murray. Guess that consistency is why Gonzales is 12 in the world rather than in the top 6

[T4E]

Its currently a battle of the forehands with Soderling vs Gonzalez in the semis.

Its a great match - Soderling went 2-0 up, Gonzo got back to 2-2 and was a break up in the decider, Soderling broke back and they're now at duece at 4-4.

BTW - could someone change the thread title to just "Tennis" or something similar, as I'm sure the debate will carry on after Roland Garros as we head towards Wimbledon.

EDIT: Soderling broke that game then served out to seal a place in the final. He deserves it.

[benhben]

74 winners from Soderling, 54 from Gonzalez lol! Still think Murray has a great chance of getting the the Semi's or beyond at this years Wimbledon.

Still dont like Soderling. Something about him annoys me.

[benhben]

There are some massive forehands at this years french. Del Potro is giving federer the runaround at the moment. Seems to be alot of quality players around at the moment

[benhben]

Nice to see Federer through, hope he wins it

[Eddie]

Isn't it amazing the former powerhouses of Tennis the US, Australia and the UK fading whilst Argentian and Spain continue to get players in the top 100.

I actually think Sampras was better but in the interest of debate I was playing devil's advocate.

Yep, the USA's fall from power is especially shocking. Look at the resurgence of French tennis too, quite an amazing development over the past 2 years or so, despite just losing one of their more talented players.

[benhben]

Some idiot just ran onto the court during the final and tried to put something on federers head. Funny to see the security guards running after him though

[thenodrog]

Its no surprise british tennis, along with most other sports in this country is fading.

It can't be fading cos it's never been anything better since Fred Perry was a lad. I take your other points though.

One could also argue that parents being over protective to kids (caused by successive governments going soft on perverts and sicko's) and play stations play their part.

btw whats wrong with playing across a pitch and putting yer coats down as goalposts? Difficult to judge goals into the top corners but it does give the goalmouths chance to recover.

[thenodrog]

Some idiot just ran onto the court during the final and tried to put something on federers head. Funny to see the security guards running after him though

Whether Federer is the best of all time I am not qualified to judge but I have been watching tennis albeit with luke warm interest since the days of Rod Laver and imo Federer is the best that I have seen and also the player that gives me most pleasure to watch.

[neekoy]

Well now he is only the second player in Open history to win all four majors. Can it be repeated by Nadal this year?

[T4E]

Murray is 1 set up against Mardy Fish in the QF at Queens. He has a real knack for breaking serve at just the right time in these matches, on this occasion he broke at 5-5 and served the set out next game.

He's clearly a notch above all but 2 players in the World. He's a Grand Slam away from being up there with Fed and Nadal. Hope he does it this year.

[benhben]

Hes looking pretty good on the grass so far. Not really faced any top level opponents yet though

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Murray is 1 set up against Mardy Fish

I thought you were taking the p!ss.

What a name.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Murray cruises into the Queens Final against Blake.

[benhben]

Murray serving for the match at Queens. James Blake seems like a nice guy, had a hard time in his early days with ilness and injury according to the bbc. Nice to see him in a final.

EDIT: Murray just served to love. Wins the Match 7-5 6-4. Well played. Didnt drop a set all week. looking good for Wimbledon.

Wont win but good chance of the semis i think

[Exiled_Rover]

The problem Murray has when trying to win Grand Slams is that whilst he's an excellent player and well worthy of his #3 world ranking the two guys ahead of him are on a different planet to their peers. Murray is going to hope they're out of form or injured to stand a chance really - over 5 sets they're incredibly difficult to beat.

[T4E]

The problem Murray has when trying to win Grand Slams is that whilst he's an excellent player and well worthy of his #3 world ranking the two guys ahead of him are on a different planet to their peers. Murray is going to hope they're out of form or injured to stand a chance really - over 5 sets they're incredibly difficult to beat.

I don't agree with that aside from the last bit.

Murray has beaten Federer and Nadal several times. His head to head record against Federer is 6-2, however he is 0-1 at best of 5 sets. His head to head against Nadal is 2-7, and 1-2 at best of 5. He can beat either of them on any given day.

He's never played Federer on grass, and has only played Nadal once on the surface, losing at Wimbledon last year.

I fully believe he can beat either. Chances are he wont, but he most certainly can - under his own steam, without needing injuries.

[Exiled_Rover]

Obviously he could potentially beat them and has previously, but five sets are a different animal than 3 set matches. He has a shot because he's in great form, but it's going to be very difficult.

When pretty much ever single tennis player on the tour admits that Federer and Nadal are on a different planet to them who am I to argue? The results at Grand Slams bear that out.

[Eddie]

He flatters to deceive still. He's obviously very young, but his game still isn't developed enough to pose a serious threat to the big guns. Murray managed to win Queens without playing any potential winners of Wimbledon (Blake has a very long shot, but doesn't have enough to his game). If I had to make a bet it will be that Murray will never win a grand slam and will fall inbetween generations. Realistically there will be at least 4 more years of Federer/Nadal dominance and who knows who will have cropped up by then. There are too many players out there who can beat him and he's still well behind the two who will be favourites for everything. Roddick, if he can recover from his injury, would still be my outside bet for Wimbledon. His serve gives him an advantage that none of the other contenders have.

[bellamy11]

Murray would have beaten Roddick on Sunday. Roddick just doesn't have enough to trouble the top players.

[Eddie]

He hardly eased past Blake and Roddick is a better grass player than Blake.

[Exiled_Rover]

He wasn't troubled by Blake though was he.