Great post again Rotla! and well done on your 10k.

1. Juan Martin Del Potro(ARG)[9] vs. Albert Montanes(ESP) - JMDP (though a tempting one as we do not know JMDP form.
2. Nicolas Mahut(FRA) vs. Andy Roddick(USA)[26]
Yes tough one too. I'll say Roddick still.
3. Fabio Fognini(ITA) vs. Adrian Mannarino(FRA)
Fognini
4. Michael Berrer(GER) vs. Jurgen Melzer(AUT)[30]
Melzer
5. Kevin Anderson(RSA)[31] vs. Rui Machado(POR)
Machado.

Tough choices I must say...bar Fognini who of course will want to meet Djoko for a revenge and beat him to prove Socal wrong once and for all.

Match of the day begins.. Delpo-Montaneas
Delpo is really standing too far back, looking to grind out this win. Strange tactics for a big man.

What do the playing conditions appear to be like?

I'll join you for the prediction game up until Sunday,when I take off for my holiday for a week. Not sure if/how I'll be able to post from there but will try...Return flight on Sunday afternoon. What was I thinking...

So you cannot watch Nole win the final. Should that not improve his chances? As a fan, I think you are doing the right thing - you are making a personal sacrifice to help him out.

Just saw a few points from Delpo Montanes....the court looks slower than ever, I can't believe it!

yes SB, if that final happens (Nole vs Nadal) I probably would'n't've watched much of it even if I was at home.
It's sheer agony to watch that physical bludgeoning for me to be perfectly honest. I feel physically beaten up when I watch it...not doing it any more....but will enjoy the trophy presentation

Court is slow indeed. Delpo is hitting bullets but still some of them flow away slowly. A Nadal or Djo will be able to make many retrievals on this court.

No news about the balls except its 'different'.

Also heard the commentators talk that RG center court is the largest center court among Grand slams. I felt Miami was also very big. All the more suitable for retrieving game.

"A Nadal or Djo will be able to make many retrievals on this court. "
so will everyone else as there don't seem to be any S&V players in the top 10

Everyone else? Do you want to suggest everyone plays this retrieval game? Some players have their game built on defense and they definitely will like the courts which allow such kind of play. Some others whose game is more offensive trying to hit winners will find it difficult as many of those will just not on go through. Hence its advantage defender and retriever. Players can't turn the switch to the defensive counter puncher mode just because the court is slow.


Yes there are no S&V players in top-10. Its obvious. Tennis hasn't moved in the direction to keep that play. There have been no S&V players because of slow courts which don't benefit development of that game. Fed initially was a Predominant s&v player. Watch his old videos. But he had to transform his game to suit the slow courts. Look at the players of late 80s and 90s. So many S&V players. The courts were fast and that allowed the development of that kind of game.

Have you not seen Nadal's game on clay? He will stay back very far behind, take that extra second that the slow courts give him and then hit a pass. On slow courts the incoming volleyer is at a major especially now with the modern strings which allow winners to be hit from even 4m behind the baseline.

Yes slow courts give opportunity to everyone to defend and retrieve. But everyone can't have the lungs and legs of Nadal and Djokovic. They are somehow super humans who just don't get tired, or cramp despite their game being so much energy consuming. No one once though was ever possible. Now it is. I don't know how.

Forget Fed and Murray - no chance, especially after Babolat slowed the balls down from last year. It all plays into Rafa's hands and he will be smiling - could it be a coincidence that he uses their equipment? Surely not...

The FO will be even more of a slugfest than normal.

It will be a Djokovic Nadal (JMD-P may be a factor) final with the Spaniard to win in 4..penny for Borg's thoughts.

Something has to be done about the game in general. Balls are too big and courts too slow, ending up with one dimensional players dominating - its all about fitness.

People will look back at the AO open final with Rose tinted specs - it was great etc. Looking back, now, it was just a grueling duel that seemed to go for ever.

Whilst I am not advocating a return to the Serve and volley tennis of the 70's and 80's - some middle ground needs to be found to promote reward for variation.

The Majors have become too similar - at least in the past they differed from each other by some margin - encouraging the players to move out of their comfort zones and find something different.

"Do you want to suggest everyone plays this retrieval game? "
Novak does not play any more retrieving game than Federer, the only difference he is better than Federer at it.
Tetrieving tennis i splayed by counter-punchers such as Murray and Monfils.

Live Thread@ http://www.ja606.co.uk/articles/viewLiveArticle/122002

1 match ban enabled

What do you mean by one match ban enabled?

If you delete a comment, that user is kicked off the thread.

Is that for all threads or just this one?

Just this one.

But if you filter a user they become invisible to you and they can't comment on your threads. That is for all your threads.

order of play out for tomorrow

http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/scores/schedule/schedule7.html

See, ja606 features are better than the BBC's.

Admins are ok too, but there was a rumour a little while back that one of them had a crush on Rick Astley.....

"But if you filter a user they become invisible to you and they can't comment on your threads." On balance probably a good feature to stop someone commenting on your threads. I have had idiots follow me around in the past commenting nastily on all my threads because I beat them in an argument and they resented it (not on here). So a better feature than available on other forums. If I'm really fussy would be nice to filter someone from your own threads but be able to see their comments elsewhere. I guess that isn't possible though.

Nothing wrong with having a crush on Rick the Voice

Yes, this filtering is fabulous.....where has it been all my life

Troicki- Bellucci could be good tomorrow? I'll be at work though.

Yes, Troicki coming off from the fresh victory in Dusseldorf will be on high...
Noel Potato should be good to, provided Fog's countryman turns up