Roland Garros 2012: FRAZZLE POST

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Alberta Brianti, Alize Cornet, Bellucci, Bernard Tomic, Gilles Simon, Li Na, Lleyton Hewitt, Matt Ebden, Novak Djokovic, Philippe Kohlschreiber, Roger Federer, Sorana Cirstea, Tobias Kamke, Victoria Azarenka, Viktor Troicki

Thanks PJ for doing the Frazzle Post yesterday.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love the 3 days of first rounds at Roland Garros? It gathers up all that positive buzz of the early rounds and spreads the goodness across 3 days for us all to savour. ALLEZ to that!

xx doots

OOP Preview

Play starts 11AM local time.

• Vika plays the poor man’s Henin – Alberta Brianti (first up Philippe Chat)
• Li Na to be potentially fistpumped in the face by the feisty Racoon (2nd on Philippe Chat) 
• Satan should have no problems with Potato Star Ace, while Gillay Symmo looks to stomp his funny calfs all over the Great American Dream in Ryan Harrison. (3rd and 4th respectively, Philippe Chat)
• Woger plays the wanky Tobias Kamke on – GASP – Lenglen (2nd).
• Alize Cornet, finalist last week in Strasbourg, takes on Zheng Jie (2nd in the Bull Ring).
• Troicki and Bellucci first round, how did that happen? (3rd, Court 3)
• Tommy Haas to rage against the dying of the light, or – more likely – himself, in his first round match against Volandri (4th, Court 3)
• Aussies alert: Ebden takes on Kohlwhatshisfaceshreiber (4th Court 4), Lleyton to play Kavcic with his brand new foot (1st, Court 7). Bernard Toomuch v Andreas Haider-Maurer (3rd Court 16)

Full OOP HERE.

Roland Garros 2012 Day 3 & Day 4: What you don’t expect.

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Juan Martin del Potro, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Tommy Haas, Venus Williams

Ah, gay Paree and clay Paree. I’m not a huge fan of clay-court tennis, or Roland Garros in general – my best moments of the Slam stands alone at Ferrero winning and Federer winning. Adding on the magnificent time difference from Land of Oz plus hectic times at work…let’s just say I haven’t feel so disconnected from a Slam in a very long time.

But still, it is a Slam, and it still invokes feelings of excitement and anticipation in me, even if, so far, I haven’t had the opportunity to properly watch a full match that features another player not named FederBrainfart, or read up on full tennis analysis and news etc etc etc. And things have been happening. Man, have they been happening.

Perhaps the biggest news thus far is Serena Williams losing to Virginie Razzano in the first round. It may be worth noting that Serena has never ever lost in the first round of a Slam – until now. It was a match full of drama and momentum swings and stuff that’s Hollywood-worthy, or so I heard. Serena was up 5-1 in the tiebreaker in the second set, lost the set. She was trailing 0-5 in the third, and clawed back nail and tooth and guts and spleen to come back to 3-5. Razzano needed 9 match-points before finally managing to win the last set 6-3.

Wowza.

Roland Garros Day 2: Drama Kings.

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Bethanie Mattek, David Nalbandian, Roger Federer, Sabine Lisicki, Tobias Kamke, Victoria Azarenka

The day started off with 2 unfortunate retirements… Feli  (Pulled muscle) and Dancevic (Lower back)…and with that the Roland Garros 2012 casualty list was off to a great start.

Princess finally made a decision on what colour socks to wear..Black it was…

Our wonder boy Wogie McFudd was second out on Suzanne Lenglen…up against German Tobias Kamke. I missed the first half of the match due to mandatory nommage of birthday cake bought for Dad, but the last half which I did see consisted of:

yes kitteh…it was kinda horribleh

Roland Garros Day 1: That Tricoloured Bubble.

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Ana Ivanovic, Andy Roddick, Angelique Kerber, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Nicolas Mahut, Sam Stosur, Venus Williams

Despite having never been a fan of Roddick at any point during his career, there is still something thoroughly depressing about watching him lose first round at a grand slam. Even if he did lose to a Frenchman … in France … on clay - by far his least relevant surface. (It may be of relevance to mention here that the Frenchman in question had a win/loss record of 1-9 at Roland Garros coming into the match, so clearly, the said Frenchman is not your typical, dreaded clay machine).

The Manny Brigade.

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Roger Federer

Woger and Luthi on shopping and pram duties.

Myla and Charlene, eating apples AS BIG AS THEIR FACE.

INTERWEBS, you are TOO MUCH. TOO. MUCH. 

Roland Garros Preview: A Conference of Anti-Experts. Pt 2

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Agniewszka Radwanska, Angelique Kerber, Francesca Schiavone, Li Na, Maria Kirilenko, Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvitova, Samantha Stosur, Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka

Doots: Interesting thing when I mentioned the women’s draw, PJ said the field is “wide open”. I feel as if we’ve gotten used to saying this in the past few years, but actually this is the least wide open slam I’ve seen in the past few years.

PJ: Really? How so?

Doots: The women’s tour has been dominated this year by Sharapova and Azarenka. We’re literally looking at a Big 2 situation – with Serena occasionally popping up on the radar because she’s that awesome.

LJ: but it’s clay, I think therein lies the problem.

PJ: I guess for me, I feel like it’s “open” in the sense that there are no sure favourites despite domination from Azarenka and Shrieky. Not like how Rafa is for the men’s.

Doots: Well, I still don’t know. Sharapova has had her best results this year on clay: Rome, Stuttgart, and lost to Serena by the same scoreline as Vika in Madrid. She comes into Roland Garros with by far the best clay season record of the women, which is incredible considering how bad she was on this surface a few years ago.

PJ: That is true. I was rather impressed with Sharapova’s clay showing this year. I know clay isn’t her forte but going by recent form and results, I’ll peg her as one of the favourites. Historical showing otherwise.

LJ: I think Shrieky, Azarenka and Serena for me, but hey if previous results are to be followed, it’ll be a crapshoot for the win.

Doots: They do tend to be the “Big 3″ these days, which was precisely my previous point – it’s not as open as in previous years where you just knew that Wozniacki or Jankovic or whoever was up at the top couldn’t do it. But looking at the draw quarters again -

Roland Garros Preview: A Conference of Anti-Experts. Pt 1

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Andy Murray, Andy Roddick, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Seppi, Stanislas Wawrinka

Ahead of the French Open, your Aussie blog mistresses – Doots, PJ and LJ – convened for a cosy fireside chat of the anti-experts in place of your usual ‘draw analysis’, pointless predictions, and French Open themes. Best enjoyed with a glass of wine, a hint of sarcasm, and a dash of hope.

Read on and enjoy! 

Doots: So I posed a question on the blog yesterday about the lesser of two evils between Rafa and Novak. Obviously now that Roger has drawn Novak, this is kinda redundant but what did either of you think about which is the “easier” side?

PJ: I actually hope for Federer to land on Rafa’s side of the draw. If I have to take another 2011 redux where he plays brilliant to beat Satan and then fart to Rafa in the final…I may just jump into Yarra River.

Doots: But surely a final is better than a semifinal?

LJ: It is, but fuck – losing another French final to Rafa? Seriously every time I venture onto the Roland Garros website, I cry a little looking at the scoreline.

That perennial question.

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Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal

Nadal or Djokovic. Who is the lesser of 2 evils in a grand slam draw? Specifically – who would you prefer in Paris:

Djokovic? An obvious choice, since he has a far greater losing record in Paris than Rafa. On the downside, your reward for beating him would most likely be a final against Rafa, which makes a mockery of the concept of ‘victory’.

Nadal? Much riskier choice, and by risky, I mean - the guy has lost just once in Paris, and so you have a 1 in 7 chance of being the Robin Soderling of 2012. On the up side, you’ll most likely save yourself the inevitable pain and humiliation of losing in a grand slam final, and head to the grass season early enough to be ready to roll at Queens/Halle.

So at the risk of making this sound like a drinking game: who would you rather?

 

xx doots

Somebody that we used to know.

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Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal

Novak Djokovic wasn’t always the impenetrable titan he has turned into since Serbia took home the Davis Cup in 2010.

Sure, he has always had the ability to change the direction of ball seemingly at will, to pounce on the serve early, to defend like his legs were made of springs. But back in the days of 2007-2010, Novak was also a man who at times couldn’t always finish a point he had set up for himself under pressure or convert the chances he had against Federer or Nadal. And one of his biggest accomplishments over the past 18 months has been to make that player that we used to know disappear. 

Bobby Sod expecting Baby Sod.

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Robin Soderling

HURRAH! Myla and Charlene will finally have someone to beat 11 times in a row now, as Robin Soderling announced on Twitter today that he and his wife Jenni Mostrom are expecting a bébé late September this year. CONGRATUMALATIONS!

With Roland Garros around the corner and Soderling still yet to play any tennis since last July, I find myself missing his blunt, powerful game and yoking ways more than ever.

Although he’s still slowly recovering from the kissing desease, Soderling has insisted that he has not given up on returning in 2012.

We wish him all the best on his road to recovery.

Too full.

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Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer

I’m hardly a conspiracy theorist who speculates about players tanking, or strategically conserving themselves at a tournament for some future benefit. Nor do I think Federer would resort to such tactics unless presented with clear, irrefutable evidence to the contrary. And yet I found myself watching McFudd lose to Satan dismally in straight sets on Sunday morning, feeling relatively unconcerned, and in fact, a little glad.

After all, a few extra days of physical and emotional recuperation might just be what the doctor ordered … for me that is. Being a McFed freak is hard work, ya know?!