Lucie Safarova has dethroned the reigning ladies champion. The big 6 ft 2 grunting Floridian is out.
Obligatory Julia Georges photo
The Great Man was in imperious form this morning and polished off Monfils 6-3 4-6 6-4 6-1
The overnight break killed me.
Nadal has dropped the third set. Sock.took the 3rd set 7-5 after nadal had served fir the match.
[QUOTE=“tazdedub, post: 1151119, member: 312”]If Sock can play like he did against dimitrov he could make things difficult for Nadal. Would still expect nadal to win.
[/QUOTE]
Nadal was 5-3 up in the 3rd and was serving it out for the match. Sock reeled off 4 games in a row to take the 3rd set and pull one back.
Nadal was penalised by the umpire for cheating on the first two break points he faced in the match. Took longer than the requisite time allowed on both and forfeited his first serve twice.
[QUOTE=“Manuel Zelaya, post: 1152041, member: 377”]Nadal was 5-3 up in the 3rd and was serving it out for the match. Sock reeled off 4 games in a row to take the 3rd set and pull one back.
Nadal was penalised by the umpire for cheating on the first two break points he faced in the match. Took longer than the requisite time allowed on both and forfeited his first serve twice.[/QUOTE]
They should stick a clock at either end that counts down the time between points. It woukd then stop the likes of nadal taking ages.
Its interesting that the umpires are not letting Nadal away with it, despite the ATP capitulating and standing down the experienced Carlos Bernardes.
The all-too-cosy relationship between tennis players and administrators came under the spotlight in Paris on Tuesday, when Rafael Nadal confirmed [I]Telegraph Sport[/I]’s exclusive report that he had asked for the respected umpire Carlos Bernardes to be removed from his matches.
Nadal was almost nonchalant in his acknowledgment that he had sought to influence the officiating process. “Yes, it was my request,” he said. “I consider him [Bernardes] a great umpire and a good person, but I think when you have some troubles with the same umpire, sometimes it’s easy to stay for a while away, no?”
The Association of Tennis Professionals confirmed on Tuesday that the situation was far from unique, as supervisors at each event take into account requests from both players and umpires when they draw up the officials’ schedules. Yet this is surely a suspect protocol. It is hard to imagine a football manager being allowed to veto refereeing appointments in any self-respecting league.
Novak Djokovic was later asked about the situation in his own press conference and he offered a critical response. “There are some chair umpires in some matches that I remember that I wasn’t very happy with how they did their job,” the world No 1 said. “But I never thought of requesting a chair umpire not to be a chair umpire in my matches. I don’t think that’s fair.”
The details of Nadal’s beef with Bernardes are too lengthy to fully explore here, but their last meeting on the court came in Rio on Feb 22. After receiving a series of time violations in that match, Nadal told the umpire that “I will make sure that you don’t arbitrate me any more”, during one of the changeovers.
A month later, he told reporters that “he [Bernardes] has been putting more pressure on me than other umpires” – an explanation he augmented on Tuesday with the bizarre detail that he had gone on court in Rio wearing his shorts back to front, only to be warned that he would receive another time violation if he stopped to change them. “For me, that shows not respect,” he said, “because I cannot play a full game with the shorts the other way.”
Apologists would argue that the relationship between the two men has developed a personal element, which makes it counterproductive for them to work together in the future. But it still sends a worrying signal when Nadal – whose slow pace of play continually pushes up against the stipulated 25-second interval between points – can bite back at an umpire for simply applying the rules. It also highlights the weakness of a tennis tour that is run 50 per cent by the players and 50 per cent by the tournaments: an independent viewpoint is hard to come by.
Line up for quarter finals complete
Novak Djokovic (1) -v- Rafael Nadal (6)
Andy Murray (3) -v- David Ferrer (7)
Kei Nishikori (5) -v- Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (14)
Stan Wawrinka (7) -v- Roger Federer (2)
[QUOTE=“Manuel Zelaya, post: 1152041, member: 377”]Nadal was 5-3 up in the 3rd and was serving it out for the match. Sock reeled off 4 games in a row to take the 3rd set and pull one back.
Nadal was penalised by the umpire for cheating on the first two break points he faced in the match. Took longer than the requisite time allowed on both and forfeited his first serve twice.[/QUOTE]
Did you make any comment on the time violations Andy Murray had a few days ago?
Here’s what Andy had to say about his time violations
Andy Murray admits he was probably playing too slowly after he was given two time violations during his win over Joao Sousa in the French Open second round.
The Briton, seeded third, won 6-2 4-6 6-4 6-1 to set up a match with Australia’s Nick Kyrgios in the third round in Paris.
After being given the violations Murray says he tried to speed up his play, but added it is a “grey area” that needs to be looked at as players do not think about time while on court.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/tennis/32927651
Any comment on Nadal’s intervention to get Carlos Bernardes one of the most respected and experienced officials in the game kicked off the panel for Roland Garros?
Carlos Bernardes never gives Nadal a fair shake.
Nishikori is getting hammered by Tsonga at the moment. Tsonga won the first set 6-1 and is 2-1 in the second.
Meanwhile Federer and Wawrinka are putting on a tennis masterclass in the other quarter final. Seemingly Wawrinka is on fire. He is a break up and leads the first set 3-1.
Stan beats Federer in 3 sets 6-3, 6-4, 7-6. Didn’t see that one coming.
Mean while Tsonga after taking a 2 set lead against nishikori is now in a fifth set shoot out.
[QUOTE=“tazdedub, post: 1152421, member: 312”]Stan beats Federer in 3 sets 6-3, 6-4, 7-6. Didn’t see that one coming.
Mean while Tsonga after taking a 2 set lead against nishikori is now in a fifth set shoot out.[/QUOTE]
Tsonga closed it out finally in the 5th.
Federer going out is not that much of a surprise. In the last 5/6 years he’s only been a contender in the Slams at the Championship. He has been pretty much a quarter final, maybe semi final player. His career trajectory tells the tale. When he had that run of 23 consecutive semi final appearances in Grand Slams (making 20 of those 23 finals and winning 14), from the 2004 Championship to 2010 Australia, he either won or lost to the eventual winner in all 23.
Since then in 21 Grand Slams, he’s departed at the quarter final stage or earlier on 10 occasions. He’s only won 1 of those 21, lost to the eventual champion on 5 further occasions and has been knocked out by a vast array of players - Soderling, Berdych (twice), Tsonga (twice), Stakhovsky, Robredo, Gulbis, Cilic, Fognini and Wawrinka. Bottom line is, Federer in his veteran years is only a 50/50 shout against a top 10 player.
Djokovic off to a flier in the big match, 3-0 up in the first set.
4-0 now to Djokovic
4-2 now. Djokovic starting to get the wobbles and only the first set
What’s the story with the court not getting a wetting down? Djokovic sliding all over