The French Open draw ceremony was held on Friday and it was not a kind to Rafael Nadal as Roger Federer had been the day before, when he withdrew due to a back injury. Federer’s exit gave Nadal the No. 4 seed, but the Spaniard still landed in the same half as Novak Djokovic.
In fact, Nadal’s entire trek through the draw could be treacherous–at least starting in the third round. After presumably rolling over Sam Groth and either Facundo Bagnis or a qualifier, the nine-time Roland Garros champion may run into well-documented rival Fabio Fognini. Dominic Thiem, the guy pretty much no one wants to face on the red clay of Paris, potentially awaits in the fourth round.
On the bright side for Nadal, he avoided the toughest of the 5-8 seeds–Kei Nishikori. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga would be Nadal’s quarterfinal opponent if the seeds hold to form, but other contenders included David Goffin, Philipp Kohlschreiber, and Joao Sousa.
Nishikori is on a collision course for the last eight with No. 2 seed Andy Murray at the bottom of the bracket. But the Japanese star cannot be penciled in for that showdown just yet because his half of that section is absolutely loaded. Nishikori could meet Andrey Kuznetsov in the second round and the winner of an opening contest between Alexandr Dolgopolov and Fernando Verdasco in the last 32. Familiar foe Nick Kyrgios is a possible fourth-round adversary for Nishikori.
Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka, who faced each other in the 2015 final, may have been the big winners at the draw-revealing festivities. The world No. 1 will not go up against anyone tougher than either Federico Delbonis or Pablo Carreno Busta prior to the fourth round. Additionally, the 5-8 seed in Djokovic’s quarter is a slumping Tomas Berdych. As for Wawrinka, his section includes the likes of Milos Raonic, Marin Cilic, Gilles Simon, Jack Sock, and Viktor Troicki. At the moment, none of those seeds looks like a particularly scary proposition.
Full draw at the tournament website
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ouch
Ricky, Nadal is “the ‘NONE’ time Roland Garros Champion?”
something like that!
Lol Rafa could’ve got in Murray’s half and avoided Thiem completely as #5 seed now as four seed he gets Thiem as early as he could have and is in Nole’s half. Still I think with best of 5 format Rafa would beat Thiem if that match happened. What an interesting draw. Lots of opportunity for upsets and unseeded and lowly seeded guys to make runs. Man did that lucky loser spot propel Pouille because now he’s gonna gain even more points by probably making third round with a very navigable draw. I don’t think many of the qualifiers can make an impact except maybe Stepanek. Also if he gets on a roll Dustin Brown could do some serious damage like Wimbledon last year. He didn’t drop a set in qualies including beating Daniel Brands 6 and 3 in the final round so he’s already on a bit of a roll now.
Brown won’t on clay
Also Stan really scored as defending champion in my opinion. He’s got a very navigable draw to the fourth round and I could see him getting to semis no problem with cilic and Raonic as his toughest tasks probably. Cilic did get a nice win over ferrer in Geneva today but David is struggling of course. I think Monaco might take him down round two here or even Istomin if the Uzbek were to beat Monaco first round. And haha Sam Groth has been losing at challengers left and right the last month or two to guys outside top 400 and 500 and comes to RG and gets nadal first round. Triple bagel in store??
No!! Are you kidding me?? This has to be the most retarded slide down the ranks for a player. It won’t be a slide but he will fall a good bit I think. Monfils. Out. With a viral infection. He’s gonna go down the ranks as he’s defending fourth round points and the ranks are close around where he’s at. The reason I say it’s retarded slide down ranks is because he’s been playing so well this year but hasn’t moved up too much and will now be probably close to where he was at the beginning of the year. Dang it.
Dimitrov has a pretty nice draw for being unseeded. He could take down Troicki then Lajovic/Kudla then possible third round showdown with Simon. Also a section of opportunity is the section where Tomic is (obviously). I think Baker could beat him first round. Either way it’s a great draw for Tomic and Baker. Well first round. In the second round the winner of that would play Fritz or Coric. Fritz/Coric should be an exciting matchup. I would definitely watch that live if I was at the tournament. I think the winner of that battle of young guns will go to the third round. RBA would probably be waiting at that point.
Sad news about LeMonf. ****
RG draw is good for Rafa and Nole, I think.
Bottom looks trickier for Stan and Andy. imo
Murray draws Stepanek in the 1st round. How easy is that?
That’s probably the toughest qualifier he could have drawn. Stepanek got a set off Murray in Madrid.
That’s true. Andy can’t afford a lapse in concentration. Andy needs to get the early rounds done in straight sets.
Yeah okay. Steps is a nice first round. Andy’s quarter actually looks fine. I take it back. Kei and Gasquet/Kyrgios are usually no problem for him. Paire, at a GS, tends to give his best. I think Paire over Isner. Paire R4. Kei QF. Andy v Stan QF.
Stan’s been playing well this week in Geneva. Today it took him three sets to get around Rosol. Stan’s first FO round is Rosol again. Klizan maybe second, third, Chardy/Mayer, fourth ?, QF Cilic or Raonic. It’s more a question of which Stan turns up.
Oops. Andy v Stan SF. not QF.
Yeah I think that’s an incredible draw for Stan to be honest. He should take down the Geneva title tomorrow and be ready to get off to a good start at RG. He should have no trouble getting by Rosol, Klizan, Chardy/Mayer. Then he would be heavy favorite in a fourth rounder against Simon or Dimitrov. His QF is very winnable too. Either Raonic or Cilic would be his likely opponent. Then of course the semis would be projected match with Murray. Honestly I think Stanimal has a great draw to get back to SF or final and at that point he would be red hot and tough to be beat. It seems like we might be getting an all top four seeds semifinal round this year. I want to see some upsets of course but that would be some high quality stuff in the semis if it was Stan vs Andy on bottom and Rafa vs Novak on top.
If we are lucky! Woot. Stanimal
But either one, Andy or Stan, if they make it that far will be a fun Final — vs Nole/Rafa.
Rafa starts on Tuesday.
Day 3.
That’s brutal.
Just happy there are no night matches or I’m sure they’d have them play late.
Milosh gets tipsy in R1 (and no, I don’t mean drunk).
The full draw including qualifiers.
Full draw:
http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/scores/draws/ms/msdraw.pdf
Stan and Rosol will have a preview of their 1st round match today when they play in the SF in Geneva.
Stan took him down 6-2 4-6 6-3.
nadline10 (AT 4:47 PM),
Wawrinka defeated Rosol 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
I thought the match was tonight? 🙁 I was looking forward to watching it.
You can watch a replay on TennisTV.
Stan VS Rosol highlights: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4TjlDHz5Q7g
This year’s qualifiers are Brown (plays Sela), Samper-Montana (plays wildcard Bourgue), Carballes Baena (plays lucky loser Pavlasek), Djere (plays wildcard Thompson), Albot (plays Paire), Basilashvili (plays Edmund), Ungur (plays lucky loser Sijsling), Trungelliti (plays Cilic), Struff (plays Tsonga), Stepanek (plays Murray), De Schepper (plays Bagnis), Kamke (plays Cuevas), Gerald Melzer (plays Bedene), Berlocq (plays Lorenzi), and the last two qualifiers, Ilhan and Darcis, play each other for a likely matchup with Djokovic. Honestly most of the qualifiers have winnable matches. I think only Albot, Trungelliti, and Stepanek can be sort of ruled out and Kamke probably doesn’t have a great shot at Cuevas either. There’s some great opportunity for the wildcards and qualifiers playing each other right above Murray. Also Dustin Brown should be able to beat Sela and has a shot at Sock if he’s on his game.
Who are your picks for the first round FO ??
I’m confused right now because there are four lucky losers: Andrej Martin, Adam Pavlasek, Thomas Fabbiano, and Igor Sijsling. Yet none of those four guys are higher ranked than Nishioka who was the two seed in qualies and lost final round to Stepanek. I’m confused on why he isn’t automatically in as a lucky loser. Did he deny getting in that way cuz he didn’t want to play the tournament through someone else withdrawing?? Grigor did something like that at the 2014 world tour finals but that’s not really the same thing I guess plus it did he Ben matter because he wouldn’t have gotten into the event anyways. I don’t know why Nishioka would do that. That would be turning down valuable ranking points and prize money. There must have been a technicality that disallowed him into the draw or something? I hope he makes it in if someone else withdraws. That just doesn’t make sense to me that he isn’t one of the guys in there. Maybe he was injured after the Stepanek match. I think he would still take the lucky loser spot and play because of how much more money and points he could get and even if he felt injured or tired (tired might make sense because he had epic matches in the qualies before his loss to Stepanek) after his last match, he played those matches so he should be warmed up for the event.
Constant Lestienne was supposed to be a French wildcard in the draw but his wildcard got revoked because he was under suspicion of violating the tennis integrity unit so something along the lines of match fixing or something. I think the French got either another wildcard or a lucky loser. Probably a lucky loser. Hopefully they haven’t chosen it yet and will give it to Nishioka or maybe they already did because I heard about the Lestienne thing during the replay of th de Schepper match which happened hours ago.
I just watched the De Schepper VS Sijsling final round qualifying match from start to finish. That was some pretty good stuff. De Schepper really played well winning 3 and 2 and had impressive straight set wins over Volandri and Millot before that. He’s made second round of RG main draw before but he’s never actually played qualies and got through all three matches so that’s a nice moment for him. He was so happy he kissed the ground in celebration lol. His game is really fun to watch. I’m glad I saw that match cuz I don’t really see too much of de Schepper so that was nice to see. He’s got a game kind of like Feli Lopez. Humungous lefty serve, big forehand, great play at the net. Also he has a one hander. He actually drives through it a lot more than Lopez though and it’s actually a pretty good shot. He got Bagnis first round so I think he will get that one done then fall to Rafa in round two. Allez Kenny!!
Sweet! good information, too. thanks. De Schepper over Bagnis. Allez…
How exactly does he won on clay?
Well even though Bagnis is the better clay player I would think with home court advantage and De Schepper’s better momentum after three impressive straight set wins he can use his momentum and being used to conditions here already with a tough win. The crowd should play a big part and Kenny has obviously shown some good clay prowess with these wins in qualies. He’s got a lot of good touch at the net and if he serves like he did against Bagnis where he served at 81% and hit three straight aces to end the match, I think he has a nice shot at taking on Rafa in round two.
But if I took results from before the tournament and de Schepper hadn’t played so well to qualify and he had just got in by ranking or wildcard I would probably go with Bagnis. I mean if the French crowd in qualies helped him elevate his level from his recent poor results then the crowd at his main draw match should definitely motivate him to keep up his good form.
Think Stan may make a big splash again. Rather believe he will be in the final against Rafa/Nole. Guessing Rafa despite his difficult draw.
Tiggy gets it…
Semifinals: Nadal d. Djokovic; Murray d. Wawrinka
Final: Nadal d. Murray
Don’t you? Or do you.
http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2016/05/who-will-have-paris/58610/#.Vz9YJZErKUn
“The upside of Nadal’s draw is that if he does make it through this gauntlet, he will likely have built up a good head of steam for a potential semifinal against Djokovic. He’ll need it; Rafa has lost 15 straight sets to Djokovic. But he’s still 6-1 against him at Roland Garros, and he pushed him to the limit in Rome last week. If they face off in the semis, Nole will have much more to lose than Rafa. ”
Preach it Tiggy.
Hawkeye,
Thanks for posting Tiggy’s thoughts. I like his thinking and certainly hope it will play out that way.
I am just very cautious in the first week of s slam because anything can happen. I am going to take it one match at a time like Rafa!
Wow! Tiggy picked Rafa to beat Novak in the semis! I like it!
However, I do not agree that Stan will get to the semis!
I feel that Stan will get through to the final to meet Rafa. I think Stan if he gets past his quarter, will be battle hardened and he can hit through Murray or Kei in the SF. Stan showing some good form at Geneva, into the final meeting Cilic there.
I do hope Rafa can meet Stan in the final and beat Stan there.
The pressure will get to Djoker because he wants this so badly.
Nadline: My thinking exactly. He has missed out so many times when he been very, very close to winning. He wants it this year if anything even more (to complete his slam, be only the 2nd player in the open era to hold all four simultaneously etc.etc.) but he is some way off his usual form and has been for some months now. It doesn’t bode well for his chances to make the dream come true.
2 great weeks of RG on tv….can’t wait. Was going to pick Fed, but guess I’ll go w/Joker like the rest of the world!!!
Lolol
Fed? At RG even if he was playing
What are you on ? 🙂 haha
An ideal scenario will be a repeat of last years final, with Nole overcoming Stan in the final!
But both have to climb the long ropes to get there first.
So let’s just wait and see what unfolds over the next fortnight.
Ideal for whom?
Rafa’s going to win RG, I think. Nadal-Djokoviv will happen and it will be a war.
Tough draw for Rafa but he will handle.
Groth will lose to Rafa in 3 sets. Not the type of player I would worry about too much.
Novak does not have a tough drwa but you never know… he can still have tough matches. There are always surprises in slams….Novak’s not playing too well and he looks a little burned out.
But just saw the draws in detail. Novak’s quarter is a joke lol
1 thing that clearly stood out during the clay swing was Nole’s return games. Nole’s returns and return games were pretty awful by his standards.
But, if people are clutching on his form due to that, they all could be in for some real surprise.
He looks a little jaded and his temperament on the court has reflected that. I am not counting on him dropping his level though. I am counting on Nadal to play like the Nadal we know at RG.
vr,
I am with you! Novak got some rest and a chance to hit the reset button. I am not counting on him to not play well. He certainly has a great draw. He could not have asked for a better draw.
As far as the pressure, it could go either way. He could feel the pressure and let it get to him. Or he could rise to the occasion and be inspired to achieve the goal of winning RG.
Tignor has picked Rafa to win. That’s interesting. Nole will have a tremendous amount of pressure if he plays nadal in the semis. That cud also be a factor.
And Djoker’s fans are beside themselves with Tignor’s prediction. ?
How many of you want Nadal djoko to happen or how many of you prefer djoko gets taken out before
That question has to be a joke! Of course I would love to see Novak taken out before the semis! Their matches are incredibly physical and can go to four or five sets for hours. So I would definitely want Rafa to catch a break!
If Novak should get taken out, then Rafa will win. But I do not see Novak losing before the semis. Not with his draw.
Not a joke. Some people may say for rafa to win the title let him get through Novak so that victory can be cherished more
Yes, but it could also take so much out of Rafa that he doesn’t have enough left for the final. Remember 2013? That epic semifinal that went five sets? I remember Rafa pulling out of Halle the next day. He got lucky in the final playing Ferrer. He had an easy final.
Everyone has ti get there first. But I think Rafa would cherish the title just as much if he played someone other than Novak in the semis.
Nadal djoko if it happens may go to 4 or 5 too. Minimum 3.5 hours
All the more reason to not want Rafa to meet Novak in the semis! But I don’t think there is much chance of that.
I get nervous even talking about the semis when the tournament has barely begun!
Abhirf..I think what stands out in your posts is you somehow don’t want rafa to win this. 🙂
Yup. Nole and Stan being my favorites among the remaining guys in the draw, that is a no brainer for me 😉
Then your post above is ideal scenario for you 🙂
How do you guys rate Nadal djoko in 2013 coming into RG vs this year
How and where do they stand
Before Rome I would have rated Novak better than 2013. Now I am not as sure. There were some cracks showing in his temperament and game in Rome.
As for Rafa, he is not at his 2013 level. He is getting closer to his best. But I believe that c he was at his best then he would have converted at least one of those five set points in his match against Novak in Rome. That match was winnable but Rafa wasn’t able to come up with his best shots when he needed them. He has another gear that enabled him to play his best tennis in that fifth set at the 2013 RG. That is what he needs now.
The good news is that Rafa can play himself into his best form. He has a tougher draw than novak and that could help get him to where he will need to be in the semis against Novak.
If Nole wins the semifinal, the title is his and his non-calendar grand slam will be complete.
The official coronation will follow.
That’s interesting because Sean Randall at tennis-x has picked Murray and Novak to get to the final with Murray winning.
The tennis channel will show last year’s RG men’s final at 4:00 pm eastern time.
Novak will be trolled for life if Murray wins RG before him and yes, Murray can win this if he meets Novak. Rafa will defeat Murray for sure but Murray will have a decent shot against Novak esp if Novak has a tough one against Rafa.
Yes, that’s a good point about Novak never living it down should Murray win RG before him.
It’s a long way off from the semis. I am going to try my best to take it one match at a time.
I think both are slightly worse off.