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2021 Roland Garros


Who will win the ladies' side?   

5 members have voted

  1. 1. Who will win the ladies' side?

    • Ash Barty
    • Naomi Osaka
      0
    • Aryna Sabalenka
    • Bianca Andreescu
      0
    • Serena
      0
    • Iga Swiatek
    • Garbine Muguruza
      0
    • Other (specify in comments)
      0

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  • Poll closed on 06/01/21 at 05:00 PM

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Starts Sunday, the 30th. TC has pretty much exclusive coverage, but some of the regional Fox Sports channels will have morning matches too. 

 

Men's draw

Novak, Fed, Rafa all in the top half. That should be fun. 

 

Women's draw

Barty & Swiatek both in the top, wild West in the bottom. 

 

I added a poll just for the fuck of it. 

Edited by shadow_operative2.0
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It wouldn't let me quote the posts the normal way across a new thread, so I'll just do it like this. 

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#4 Kenin v. Ostapenko is a tossup. Not the 1st round Kenin was hoping for

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If were forced to wager, I would take Ostapenko in this matchup.

Kenin has been playing like dog shit the last several months, fired her dad, is still trying to figure out how to pick & choose tournaments, and is basically a head case at the moment.

Ostapenko hasn't challenged for any tournaments this spring, but she has had some solid wins in the clay court season. She's not much of a threat to string 7 matches together at the moment (nor was she when she won the French Open a few years ago), but she is much more likely to win a one-off.

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The bottom quarter of the draw is a toss up.:
-Naomi Osaka (2) is horrible on clay
-Bianca Andreescu (6) has been dealing with injuries and I'm not even sure she'll play
-Alison Riske (27) hasn't done anything in at least a year, but is benefitting from the crazy scoring system
-Johanna Konta (19) only wins 1 to 3 games at majors
-Kiki Bertens (16) [same]

I would pick Belinda Bencic (10) to make it out of this quarter if she can get past last year's semifinalist from Argentina, Nadia Podoroska, in the first round.

 

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The Tennis Podcast has done a Legends of the French Open focused podcast the last two Thursdays and the one that dropped yesterday (May 27th) focused on Jim Courier and the 1991 French Open Final vs Andre Agassi.

The week before it was that Suzanne Lenglen.

That podcast is usually Mondays & Thursdays, but during Grand Slams, they do a show every night after the day has wrapped and it comes out the next morning (Local time), so if you're a night owl or work a graveyard shift, you may even catch the daily show around 1:00am.

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29 minutes ago, perfectchaos007 said:

Nadal and Iga are my picks. Nadal has not had a great clay season but that doesnt mean he won’t steam roll at RG 


He's played pretty well at sea level, so you have to ride him until he loses.

Iga, Barty, & Sabalenka with Gauff being a wild card.

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On 5/28/2021 at 2:41 PM, shadow_operative2.0 said:


Badosa has been HOT this spring.

I'm talking about tennis as well. She's really been playing well.

Every seeded player should want to be in Osaka's quarter of the draw in Paris and Wimbledon. In Queens & Melbourne, you don't want to be anywhere near her.

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8 minutes ago, Hefeweizen said:

Dodin is surprisingly good looking and not great at tennis.

 

 Thiem choked earlier.  I wish zverev had too.  Tsitsi looked really solid today.

She's turned it around, though, for the time being.

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I imagine this is old info but I see they have lights and a roof at Chartrier now.  

It stays light till after 9pm in Paris so you can play pretty late even without them.  I was reading how the FFT was considering moving the tournament to the Versailles area a few years ago, so they forced some modernization.  Tore down the old Bullring (Court 1) and I assume replaced it with something more modern.

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22 hours ago, Bullneck said:

No fans in the stands.  Weird how uneven some EU countries are with their Covid response.  16,500 fans at the Champions League final this weekend in Porto.

And today Goffin is playing Musetti on one a side court in front of 50% filled stands.  

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Serena just slid and fell bopping her butt on the red clay and it was very funny. 😆

Especially if you don’t like Serena. 
 

Serena was up 5-3, serving for the first set. Now Serena is down 5-6 and Begu is serving for the first set after the commercial break. This could very well be Serena’s second first round loss in a Grand Slam.

🙏

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4 hours ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

Ha, she took her shit & went home. 

 

She does not have the correct people in her corner. She is going about the worst way of bringing attention to athletes' mental health - if indeed that is her goal. If her mental health troubles were causing her that much distress, she should not have entered the French Open. 

The sports body that governs in Japan needs to make an intervention immediately. After reminding her that she is supported by governing body and the nation in addition to ensuring that she has the access and resources to better address her mental health struggles, she should also be reminded of her duties and obligations in representing her nation internationally. She shouldn't forget that she isn't the first Japanese female to break into the top ranks at the WTA. For that matter, Ai Sugiyama, who IIRC has become a tennis coach, might be an option as a mentor. 

2 hours ago, HoustonFrog said:

Lol at Osaka

Fighting the good fight for her fellow multi millionaires

I remember seeing something online about her having earned $55M last year and earning the title of highest paid female athlete. Sure, mo' money mo' problems, but her behavior is unacceptable (unless there is something I completely missed regarding the media's treatment of her and even then she's going about it incorrectly).

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I remember seeing something online about her having earned $55M last year and earning the title of highest paid female athlete. Sure, mo' money mo' problems, but her behavior is unacceptable (unless there is something I completely missed regarding the media's treatment of her and even then she's going about it incorrectly).

Spot on. Her behavior is tacky and so hollow. She needs to get a grip

I mean it’s not like her actions even will help the lower ranked players in Challengers and Futures who aren’t wealthy and actually grinding it out.... they don’t have to do media. The only players who have media obligations are people who have made it. Bet the #300 ranked player would LOVE to be forced to give a few interviews at Roland Garros
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1 hour ago, HoustonFrog said:


Spot on. Her behavior is tacky and so hollow. She needs to get a grip

I mean it’s not like her actions even will help the lower ranked players in Challengers and Futures who aren’t wealthy and actually grinding it out.... they don’t have to do media. The only players who have media obligations are people who have made it. Bet the #300 ranked player would LOVE to be forced to give a few interviews at Roland Garros

 

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If she really suffers from mental health issues, hopefully she gets help. If she was acting immature, got called out for not meeting her obligations and then blamed depression, that’s pretty low.

and the tournament and reporters shouldn’t be blamed. The question should go directly back to her camp, why was she competing if she was in a poor mental state? 

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I know many don't like Stephen A but I liked his take. 

TL;DW - Osaka deserves credit for being open about her mental issues and seeking help. However, she doesn't get to change the rules - media availability is part of the job and is part of her (and others) responsibility to promote the sport. 

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She's is not good on clay. 

Negative pestering questions from the press after losses, or even negative questions after eking out a win on the surface pile on the doubt.

She doesn't need the negativity. She has FUCK YOU money.

She was pushed, and so she's out. She'll skip Wimbledon, hit the Olympics, hit the hardcourt season, and be twice as powerful when season ending discussions are had regarding press requirements. Her sponsors are rallying to her side like rarely seen in any sport.


In other press conferences news that is giving the French Open more publicity that they would prefer NOT to be receiving...


PETRA KVITOVA HURTS ANKLE DURING POST-MATCH PRESS, AND PULLS OUT OF FRENCH OPEN

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To say the least, press conferences have played a major role in this year's French Open.

First, Naomi Osaka's refusal to participate in them eventually led to the No. 2 seed withdrawing from the tournament after the reaction her move caused.

But that's not all. On Tuesday, No. 11 seed Petra Kvitova tweeted that she has pulled out of Roland Garros after she fell and hurt her ankle "during my post-match press requirements":

The news is particularly concerning given Kvitova's history at Wimbledon, which begins just two weeks after Roland Garros, later this month. The two-time champion at the All England Club saved a match point in her first-round win over Greet Minnen, prevailing 6-7 (3), 7-6 (5), 6-1.

Elena Vesnina, like Ana Bogdan, receives a walkover into the third round.

https://www.tennis.com/news/articles/petra-kvitova-hurts-ankle-during-post-match-press-and-pulls-out-of-french-open

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I assume that many fans' takes will ultimately based on whether they like Osaka or not, before this situation.

I've read some pro-Osaka tweets where people argue that they don't care about press conferences so that the tournaments should let her (and anyone) skip them. Obviously as Stephen A points out that interviews help with tournament coverage which helps with prize money. Obviously she can accept less prize money by paying fines as opposed to attending the press conferences.

My criticism of her is how she handled this event and she comes across as critical of the tournament in her tweet.  And it comes AFTER they fined her. I  wonder if she spoke to the tournament officials prior to her missing the press conferences, or did she just skip it?

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1 hour ago, Napoleon said:

She was pushed, and so she's out. She'll skip Wimbledon, hit the Olympics, hit the hardcourt season, and be twice as powerful when season ending discussions are had regarding press requirements. Her sponsors are rallying to her side like rarely seen in any sport.

It really depends on what she does next IMHO. 

They're rallying around her because of her claim that she's having mental health issues. Everyone wants her to get help because she's an incredible talent and one of the faces of the WTA and the game of tennis. 

If she actually goes to seek help then she will have a powerful voice like you say. However, if she just takes a vacation to Bora Bora or something then comes back like nothing happened and says something like "I just needed time off" then it won't work out as well for her.  Skipping out on a slam is a very big deal and it's not something the overwhelming majority of players can do since most need to play as many tournaments as possible just to make ends meet.

I wouldn't be surprised if there is a LOT of resentment from players outside of the top 100. They don't get the luxury of being able to just bail on a potential big payday like she can.

15 minutes ago, perfectchaos007 said:

So the root of her depression stems from the 2018 US Open. Hmmm I wonder what happened there. Perhaps it was Serena completely ruining her maiden slam win moment by making it all about herself with those 3 code violations in the finals bringing Osaka to tears at the awards ceremony? 

I hate Serena and have never felt that she was appropriately called out for her behavior in that match. She's the biggest fucking diva in the history of women's tennis. 

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14 minutes ago, The Dog said:

 

I hate Serena and have never felt that she was appropriately called out for her behavior in that match. She's the biggest fucking diva in the history of women's tennis

Well her and Renee Richards...

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17 minutes ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

She told the planet beforehand.

Thanks. So she told the twitter world that she was skipping the press events, even though she most likely agrees to it when agreeing to participate. Then Roland Garros exercises their penalty clause. She gets upset and leaves because they're not supporting her mental and emotional needs.

I'm sure there are mistakes on both sides. Regardless a top level athlete needs to learn how to deal and cope with negative comments from the press. I'm sure there are people in her camp that tell her that she doesn't have to deal with it.

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1 minute ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Thanks. So she told the twitter world that she was skipping the press events, even though she most likely agrees to it when agreeing to participate. Then Roland Garros exercises their penalty clause. She gets upset and leaves because they're not supporting her mental and emotional needs.

I'm sure there are mistakes on both sides. Regardless a top level athlete needs to learn how to deal and cope with negative comments from the press. I'm sure there are people in her camp that tell her that she doesn't have to deal with it.

What mistake have the WTA and the Grand Slam tournament organizers made? I'm genuinely asking because I honestly don't see any error made by those entities thus far.

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6 minutes ago, UDontKnow said:

What mistake have the WTA and the Grand Slam tournament organizers made? I'm genuinely asking because I honestly don't see any error made by those entities thus far.

I said there were probably mistakes on both sides because there almost always are.  One could argue that Osaka didn't make any mistakes either. She told them in advance she wasn't talking to the press. Do we know if they re-iterated her commitment to the press or they were fining her?

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Yes, we knew. 

Quote

Naomi Osaka has been fined $15,000 after skipping her mandatory news conference following her first-round win at the French Open on Sunday and could face stiffer punishment, including default from the tournament, if she continues to avoid speaking to the media.

In a joint statement from the four Grand Slam tournaments, the organizations said they had written to Osaka after she announced she would not be participating in her media obligations during the fortnight and reminded her of the consequences stated in the 2021 rulebook should she opt out.

The four tournaments, which also include Wimbledon, the US Open and the Australian Open, said there would be further and greater consequences if she continues to decline her media obligations.

"As might be expected, repeat violations attract tougher sanctions including default from the tournament (Code of Conduct article III T.) and the trigger of a major offence investigation that could lead to more substantial fines and future Grand Slam suspensions (Code of Conduct article IV A.3.)," the statement read.

The Slams said the decision was a matter of fairness.

"We want to underline that rules are in place to ensure all players are treated exactly the same, no matter their stature, beliefs or achievement," read the statement. "As a sport there is nothing more important than ensuring no player has an unfair advantage over another, which unfortunately is the case in this situation if one player refuses to dedicate time to participate in media commitments while the others all honor their commitments."

The organizations called the engagement of players with the media a "core element of the Grand Slam regulations" and an important part of the sport's continued growth. The statement also referenced Osaka's citing of her mental health in her decision to not speak with the media and said it was a priority of the tournaments.

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