Running tennis thread 2024

Having exited Rome early, Djokovic has decided he needs a little more work before he plays in a major, so he got himself a wild card into the 250-level tournament that starts tomorrow in Geneva. As the top seed, he gets a bye into the round of 16, where he could face Andy Murray.

 

Zverev's victory in Rome, combined with Medvedev's loss in the round of 16, has vaulted Zverev past Medvedev into fourth in the rankings heading into the French Open.

And it has been pointed out in a number of outlets that Djokovic's decision to play in Geneva was motivated not only by his desire to get more clay court time and build confidence going into the next major, but also earn some extra points to try to hold off Sinner for the No. 1 spot.

 

Taylor Fritz snaps his racket over his knee after match point in his upset loss to 19-year-old Alex Michelson (about 2:50 mark):

 

French Open draws are out, and the King of Clay's favorite tournament did him no favors.

Rafa will open probably his last run at Roland Garros against Sasha Zverev, who's coming off a big tournament title in Rome that lifted him into No. 4 in the rankings.

I hope they get their tribute to him in quick, 'cause he might not be around long.

 

Not an easy draw for the American men...
Eubanks draws (2) Sinner
Tiafoe gets a qualifier in round one but may have to deal with Shapovalov in the second
Korda's draw is pretty decent but he'd likely get Alcaraz in the third round
I don't know much at all about Ben Shelton, the 15 seed. Seems like he has a favorable draw to at least get to the fourth round?
Fritz probably has the easiest past among the American men

 

Eubanks on clay has no chance regardless of who he's matched up against. He's played four tournaments on clay this year and has lost his first match in all of them to players ranked 80th or worse, including losses to the No. 115 and 137 players.

Tiafoe has been mediocre at best this year -- his match record is 10-10 and his ranking has dropped from 10 to the current 26 in the span of nine months. Shapovalov will be lucky to get to the second round. He's fallen off a cliff -- 6-12 for the year and currently ranked 123.

Korda's been playing well recently, but you're right, his tournament will end in round 3 unless Alcaraz hasn't recovered from his injury.

Shelton is a stud in terms of talent, but he's been wildly inconsistent, and like all the Americans, clay is not a good surface for him. He did win a clay tournament in Houston, but that was a low-level event early in the clay season in the U.S., with a watered-down field that included none of the big dogs. Shelton was the No. 1 seed and the best player there by far. He beat Tiafoe in the final. Shelton's draw is pretty favorable. He could get Auger-Aliassime, who hasn't done much lately but did back his way into the Madrid final when three of his opponents withdrew due to injury, including Lehecka in the quarters and Sinner in the semis. FAA did pick up a nice win over Ruud in the round of 16, though.

Fritz opens with Federico Coria, who isn't great (ranked 69th, 8-8 for the year), but he's a clay-court guy who could make Fritz work for the win.

Tommy Paul has a decent draw, too. He could face one of the biggest assholes in tennis -- Fabio Fognini -- in the second round.

 

Danielle Collins won today in Strasbourg, which not only gets her into the semifinals there, it also vaults her back into the top 10 when the new rankings come out Monday.

Collins has been playing lights out this year. She's won tournaments this year on hard court (the Miami 1,000) and clay and she's won 19 of her past 21 matches, with her only two losses in that span to No. 2 Sabalenka, one of which was a tight three-setter. Her loss just before that run was to No. 1 Swiatek. She might very well be the third-best female player on the planet right now.
I can see her playing in the final of the U.S. Open, on the hard courts and in her last major before she retires after this season.

Also, No. 5 Jess Pegula has withdrawn from the French, saying she's being "super safe" as she recovers from a neck injury that has kept her out for the past month.

And Djoker's drive to save his No. 1 ranking is going well so far. Two wins to reach the semifinals in Geneva, where he'll play Tomas Machac, but more important, 100 points in the bank!

 

Wasn't Collins out for injury for a year or so? She disappeared for a while IIRC.

On the French, bummer about Rafa, getting a hot Zverev to start when you're ailing and not in good form is rough. Maybe somehow he makes a Connors-like miracle run?? That would be fun because we all know his knees are shot and he's not long for the court (unless somehow he gets platelet injections that regenerate cartilage).

The very best French Open match that have ever seen was Djoker v. Rafa in 2021(?) in the semis? Djoker won then beat Ruud in the final I think. (Most memorable for me was Chang v. Lendl).

On the women's side, probably 1990 when Seles (16) took down Graf, Seles was the perfect anti-dote to Graf until she got stabbed (what a shame that was), she took the ball on the rise and smoked it with two hands from both sides and could crush Graf's slice.

 

Collins has rheumatoid arthritis and a rare disease called Endometriosis.

 

I'm a Virginia Tech grad, but I root for UVA grad Collins whenever, because I enjoy watching her play. Hope she kicks ass in Paris.

 

I'm shocked the French Open would do this to Nadal. No, he's not a real threat to win, but for a sport that invented the practice of manipulating the bracket, this is an odd move, to say the least.

 

The French is just following policy.

You can do "favors" by giving players starting times they prefer (Steffi always asked for first match). But opponents are a blind draw. And the policy is to seed by rankings only these days. You can't make exceptions for certain players, even if they are icons.