What would have been a dream final will–if it happens–be a nightmarish quarterfinal at the 2015 French Open.
The big story heading into Friday morning’s draw ceremony at Roland Garros was the possibility of Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal landing in the same quarter. That possibility became a reality, as the sixth-seeded Nadal landed in Djokovic’s top section of the bracket.
Full draw on the French Open website
Nadal’s road to the last eight will begin against French wild card Quentin Halys. It could continue with Alexandr Dolgopolov or Nicolas Almagro in the second round, potentially followed by Jurgen Melzer in round three and Grigor Dimitrov to open the second week. Djokovic will kick off his campaign with Jarkko Nieminen and is unlikely to run into any serious trouble prior to the possible showdown against Nadal.
A loaded top half also includes Andy Murray, who is undefeated on clay this season (10-0) with two titles. The third-ranked Scot could face a pair of Jack Sock doubles partners during the first week: Vasek Posipisil in the last 64 and Nick Kyrgios in the last 32. Former French Open runner-up David Ferrer and No. 16 seed John Isner are also in Murray’s quarter.
Meanwhile, Roger Federer is sitting pretty on the much weaker bottom side. He is on a collision course for the quarterfinals with fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka. The other quarter features Kei Nishikori and Tomas Berdych.
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Federer was seeded 7th for the US open 2013, despite the fact that he had won 5 Us open titles no other current player( at the start of 2013 us open) had more than 1. But Federer deserved the # 7 seeding because he was abysmal in 2013, his previous hard court results didnt help him.
Hahaha!
RT @jjvallejoa: “As for RF, he has the right sailor outfit for the inevitable yacht party he’ll throw to celebrate the draw.”
Fed’s half will play first on Sunday………
#Rig-onomics
Shocker.
If I recall, Federer, Murray and Nadal were all in the same half in 2013 and ’14 Wimbledon with Federer being in Nadal’s Quarter once. Stuff like this happens all the time. Scheduling- there are BOUND to be preferences. Professional tennis is a business. Not a charity run for individual fans. The player who brings the ratings gets the slot. Case closed. If that offends a “star” he can speak out. I mean if Nadal can stop an umpire from officiating during his matches for illegitimate reasons, he can do anything.
“..if Nadal can stop an umpire from officiating during his matches for illegitimate reasons, he can do anything.”
Rafael Nadal – prince of darkness! his malfeasance and omnipotence know no bounds!!
Since when do you get to say that Rafa stopped an umpire from officiating his matches for “illegitimate” reasons? If Rafa felt that there was a bias or unfairness from said official and then spoke up about it, what’s the big deal?
Why do I feel that if it was Fed who did it, then you would not have had any problem! Hmmm.
I could easily turn this around and say if Fed had done this you’d be accusing him of throwing his weight around, “influencing” results, etc. Nadal’s reasons for taking the guy out are borderline infantile and most importantly, the ATP and ITF are allowing it clearly demonstrating yet again, that Nadal is not some martyr having to win against odds all the time. Quite the contrary.
What you mean like Fed’s comfy draws and playing on Day 1 every year regardless of ranking.
Got it. Thanks.
What you mean like Fed’s cupcake draws and always playing on Day 1 every year regardless of ranking?
Got it.
Leave it to Fed to state the obvious, and some common sense:
“The rankings reflect what happened the last 12 months,” Federer said. “Of course if Rafa wouldn’t have been injured, from Wimbledon last year or French Open last year—I don’t remember when he played his last, but—you know, he would be very close to the Top 4. If not in the Top 4, maybe No. 1 or 2 in the world. Who knows? So from that standpoint I see the argument [about adjusting Nadal’s seeding], but at the same time I think it was going to be worse for somebody else other than Rafa. I don’t think it was going to be bad for Rafa because he’s looking at defending his title whoever he has to play through.
“It’s going to affect Novak more in my opinion in that regard than Rafa really.”
http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2015/05/federer-possible-nadal-djokovic-qf-its-going-affect-novak-more/54983/#.VV-SfU2JjIV
and I don’t mind too much not meeting either of them or some others like Andy before a possible final 🙂
Frankly speaking, I don’t really understand what Roger’s trying to achieve with these statements of his regarding Nole. 1st in Rome, Now in Paris.
Is he trying to egg on Nole?
I don’t think Fed likes Nole much, do you?
I also wonder what Roger’s subtext is with all the Nole belittling….that’s what it feels like anyway….he’s been doing this for ages…
What makes it so funny is how Fedfans have recently cozied-up to Nolefans, for obvious reasons. Fed clearly didn’t get the memo!
yeah, Fed doesn’t like Nole much. Seems like he still can’t forgive Nole for his comments in the past.
And regarding cozying up with Nolefans, never really had anything against Nole. Always been an admirer of him!
Not you, @abhirf. You sound like you genuinely like Novak. I was talking about those Fedfans who have become Nolefans out of convenience i.e. because he has slowed down Rafa’s relentless march towards #17…………
thanks for clarifying 🙂
RT @jimcaple: “Sharapova on media re: Nadal slump: ‘To put up so many question marks (for 9-time champ), I almost think it’s a little bit disrespectful,'”
Thank you, Masha……
Whatever will be will be.
Vamos Rafa
Rafa can beat all comers at RG barring a misfortune or lack of fitness it doesn’t in which order he beats them in. When he was seeded 4 in 2013, he beat Djoker in the SF then rolled over Ferrer in the final.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!
http://twitter.com/rolandgarros/status/601720072860737536
#Understatement
^^The organisers too, Fed, the organisers. I hope you reserve a nice bottle of Moët & Chandon for them, they work so hard for you…………
Rafa was out for six months. However, his ranking did not drop outside the top four. That is why I say that it was in his power to keep his ranking. If Rafa had dropped out of the top four when he was out for so long, then that would be different. But it’s a testament to him that he won enough to keep himself there.
So the issue for me is that it was still doable for Rafa to stay in the top four. He had chances. But the losses to Raonic in the quarterfinals at IW, to Verdasco before the quarterfinals in Miami and then crashing out in Barcelona losing to Fognini again, put him in this position. Then the loss in the final to Murray where he was not competitive.
Rafa had his chances. So this business of rigging and conspiracies and whatever, doesn’t work for me. Rafa has never needed to depend on a favorable draw in the past at RG. Because he was that good. But he’s never come into RG ranked this low and on such a downward slope.
It’s not about blaming Rafa. It’s not about being mad at him. It’s just looking at what happened and being realistic. I also am not going to rely on Novak imploding at RG for whatever reason. Players need to win and they need titles to have good feelings and confidence.
I don’t know what to think about Rafa’s chances this year. All I can do is sit back and watch. I can hope, but I am not going to build it up so I can fall apart again. I wish Rafa well. I will support him always.
My TV feed running a special on Rafa and Serena. So nice to hear so may of the current pros giving props to Rafa for what he has achieved at RG so far. Fed calls Rafa’s numbers at RG sick!
Regression analysis on Rafa’s game? Really? Tennis is a simple game, don’t make it any more complicated than it really is:
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/rafael-nadal-is-80-percent-of-what-he-used-to-be/
Why not calculate Rafa’s dominance ratio at RG alone and compare it to everybody else’s? That would be a more representative sample to draw inferences about Rafa’s level at RG, no?
This is on the RG website:
“16 men made it into the main draw, and not one of them speaks Spanish! ”
http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/news/articles/2015-05-22/mens_qualifying_not_a_spanishspeaker_to_be_found.html
What is the matter with THESE people??
Roland Garros web site is complete crap this year.
^^2nd that, a total un-user friendly mess.
https://twitter.com/tennisabstract/status/602462411526897665