started Sunday.

Isner up 2 sets to 1 on Nadal in the first round

5/24/2011 10:40:42 AM

Novak took care of business in the first round. He's the one to beat.

5/24/2011 10:49:41 AM

finally. a thread.

isner is playing well but going to have to dig deep to pull it off in the 5th. nadal has really taken him off his game in the 4th. overall though, excellent effort from Isner to get to this point. his serve is monstrous.

5/24/2011 11:12:30 AM

weird that this was a first round matchup

5/24/2011 11:15:02 AM

isner is donezo.

5/24/2011 11:25:55 AM

i apologize, since the thread was made, it went down hill for Isner.

5/24/2011 11:35:04 AM

tons of unforced errors by isner

5/24/2011 11:36:35 AM

rafa is really starting to piss me off with his leyton hewitt style fist pumps. they just look stupid to me.

5/24/2011 11:38:45 AM

Djokovic seems unstoppable. He's at 38 wins in a row this year (42 in a single year, and 46 total are the records) and looks poised to break those records. Rafa seems like he can't get his mental edge back since he lost to him in Madrid, Rome and I think the Azzure Coast tournaments with at least one of them being on clay. I'm a Federer fan and I'm hoping he'll rebound on the clays. The French is my favorite major. Also, Ana Ivanovic. Sucks the Amazon Sisters are out on injury. No American winners this year for men's or women's.

5/24/2011 11:59:06 AM

Nadal wins in 5. I wish I could have watched the match.

^^ I love his fist pumps. The best ones are the ones that lift him off the ground.

5/24/2011 12:44:45 PM

American tennis =

5/24/2011 1:19:29 PM

how on earth does rafa almost lose to 6'9 isner on clay? looks like the guy is really coming back to earth

anyhow I'd like the frenchies to do well except prob for monfils who's demeanor on the court sometimes just isn't very likable for me

[Edited on May 24, 2011 at 8:16 PM. Reason : k]

5/24/2011 8:14:43 PM

^the big guys like isner and karlovic are always potentially scary opponents for Nadal because it's so tough for ANYONE to beat them when they're serving. They're less scary on clay, but still a factor. The service points of Isner go really quickly, with few rallies, and Nadal doesn't have the opportunity to construct a point or take the offensive. Isner's got a good chance of taking anyone to a tiebreak, because there are few breaks either way. To add to that, he does well in tiebreaks because he just doesn't drop many service points. Note that Isner only broke Nadal's serve once today despite taking him to 5 sets.

Rafa played like his normal, dominant self this clay season, but obviously Djokovic is playing better than him and anyone else this year. It's really amazing how well the Serb is playing. Like most of us, I really really really hope we get to see a Nadal-Djokovic finals. Best of 5 at Roland Garros will be the ultimate test for the new and improved Novak.

It's hard to pick a winner on the women's side. Wozniacki? She's #1 with great anticipation and mental strength, but still moves a little awkwardly on clay and hasn't made a slam final since 2009. Sharapova wouldn't have been considered a favorite a couple months ago, but all of a sudden she's showing signs she might finally be "back." Azarenka has been the other dominant player lately, but she's retired from matches 9 times since the start of last year, and has never made a slam SF. Clijsters played her first clay match of the year TODAY (she hadn't played since Miami due to injury). As for more outside contenders, Kvitova's having a great season, Zvonareva's consistent game should keep her alive into the second week, Stosur's kick serve game really works well on clay, and no one is talking about the defending champion, Schiavone. Her results have been pretty spotty lately, but I think they're a result of a lack of drive. She loves Roland Garros and will give her all here. There are a handful of others that could get hot and conceivably win too.. it's just wide open.

I'd guess Wozniacki, Schiavone, Kvitova, and Sharapova will make the semis, with Schiavone beating Kvitova in the finals.

[Edited on May 24, 2011 at 8:45 PM. Reason : -]

5/24/2011 8:41:50 PM

I doubt sharapova can win on clay, I don't know I think the women's game is still in a big time slump it seems esp on clay, it would be nice to have henin again right now, what about ivanovic, is she still playing like crap? and I guess all in all it wouldn't be a bad story for wozniacki to win her first slam but she would never be a number one player if there wasn't a slump going on

[Edited on May 25, 2011 at 2:12 AM. Reason : k]

5/25/2011 2:09:50 AM

^Ivanovic lost yesterday, and hasn't been playing anything like she did in '08. She's had no confidence, especially after being up *5-1 40-0 against Clijsters in the 3rd set in Miami...and losing in a tiebreak.

Clay is Sharapova's worst surface but she's still very good on it, she beat Wozniacki and Stosur in straight sets in Rome. You're right though, the field is weaker, you can see anyone losing, but hopefully it makes for an exciting tournament.

5/25/2011 8:47:05 AM

hmm wozniak vs wozniacki, some very distant relation I wonder

5/25/2011 4:46:38 PM

annnd down goes clijsters

5/26/2011 7:14:31 AM

sharapova's in trouble now, down a set to a great 17 year old talent, Caroline Garcia of France. You had to risk $100 on sharapova just to win a buck.

5/26/2011 11:29:38 AM

She's about to go up 4-1 in the second.



[Edited on May 26, 2011 at 11:47 AM. Reason : Holy image size Batman.]

5/26/2011 11:46:41 AM

Ok wow. Sharapova just came back to win the second at 6-4. She picked up a game or two, and then youth and inexperience really started to show through for Garcia. I feel sorry for the kid

5/26/2011 12:11:57 PM

yeah I hope Caroline can bounce back in the 3rd set. To Sharapova's credit she finally stopped hitting so many errors (except the DF's)

5/26/2011 12:12:55 PM

kirilenko is in to the third round

5/26/2011 1:19:43 PM

i would take arantxa rus to a nice dinner and be a total gentleman about it.

5/26/2011 2:29:17 PM

looks like sharapova has more nuts than that guy who got too spooked to actually take a set from rafa

5/26/2011 6:06:10 PM

^^rus has some niceeeeee legs

^^^and i love when she advanced,,, hottest woman in sports is kirilenko

5/26/2011 9:19:04 PM

Quote :

"rus has some niceeeeee legs"

you are correct my friend.

so did that garcia lady who should have beaten sharapova. not much in the face area, but the legs were fantastic.

5/26/2011 9:58:29 PM

tipsarevic is looking, and playing like a clown. Fed just NEXT'd him.

5/27/2011 8:21:31 AM

oh my god i'm at home and apparently we get the tennis channel. there's an HD channel for every court at the open. peace guys.

5/27/2011 9:19:28 AM

^direcTV channel 700

5/27/2011 9:42:31 AM

Wozniacki done

5/27/2011 11:17:33 AM

Was aware that Kirilenko and Rus were lined up to play one another. That had to be the most attractive tennis match in history. And Rus didn't even show up.

5/28/2011 3:57:38 PM

I've never heard of this "rus", how about a pic

5/28/2011 4:34:01 PM

^http://bit.ly/kO4TRL

5/28/2011 5:14:26 PM

^^^ i was really looking forward to that, but missed it. i have the network coverage recorded though... going to watch it to see if they showed any of it.

5/28/2011 7:14:24 PM

that schiavone or whatever her name is was pretty intense


also I don't understand why the players wave (presumably as an apology) whenever they hit the ball over and it clips the net and lands in

you should be happy you got the point

I'd do a fist pump there LOL

5/29/2011 12:47:03 PM

^yeah it's schiavone, the defending champion and my pick to repeat. That was a fun match.

There's one lower-ranked guy on the tour who celebrates let cord winners, even going as far as to run up and kiss the net out of gratitude. All the other players hate him.

5/29/2011 1:09:21 PM

of course dulko had to give out against the ugliest player to watch on the women's tour

5/29/2011 2:39:26 PM

it's funny how few people show up for doubles matches

5/31/2011 2:47:48 PM

so I guess all the french guys are out now, maybe they should just move the tournament to spain

5/31/2011 9:09:37 PM

^if they did slams like that, wimbledon would only get a couple rounds of WTA action before the slam moved

Schiavone just one win away from being a really unlikely back-to-back champion

6/2/2011 5:55:03 PM

well, it's easy for a man to win the women's singles

6/2/2011 6:01:45 PM

what channel are the men's semifinals gonna be tomorrow morning?

6/2/2011 6:23:34 PM

Tennis channel, and nbcsports.com. Nbc's tv coverage starts at 11 am

6/2/2011 8:23:20 PM

go rafa! it's your (and my) birthday! being 25 is awesome so far!

6/3/2011 8:20:49 AM

very displeased that i can't watch this on espn360 right now.

6/3/2011 9:49:11 AM

what time does the federer djokovic match start?

6/3/2011 10:13:01 AM

LET'S GO FED!!!!!!!!!!!

6/3/2011 10:17:19 AM

^^ scheduled for 11:00EST and will be streamed for free by nbc. not the nadal/murray though, for whatever reason.

6/3/2011 10:28:41 AM

big time break of murray's serve for nadal at 5-5 in the 2nd. now up 2 sets to 0

6/3/2011 10:40:18 AM

what in the fuck

why did they bring us straight to the 3rd set?

6/3/2011 11:01:57 AM