Rafael Nadal and Jack Sock, who could collide in the fourth round, will contest their openers at Roland Garros on Monday. Nadal is going up against Benoit Paire, while Sock is facing familiar foe Jiri Vesely.
Benoit Paire vs. (4) Rafael Nadal
Nadal will begin another bid for his 10th French Open title when he takes the court against Paire on Monday. The fourth-ranked Spaniard was not quite perfect on clay prior to Roland Garros, but his preparation could hardly have gone any better. Nadal captured titles in Monte-Carlo, Barcelona, and Madrid before getting some extra rest in the form of a Rome quarterfinal loss to Dominic Thiem. The 14-time major champion is 72-2 lifetime on the red clay of Paris and he may already be 77-2 with 10 titles if not for a sudden withdrawal from last year’s event due to a wrist injury.
This marks the third meeting between Nadal and Paire, and the first since 2013 when the former world No. 1 got the job done 7-6(2), 6-2 in Barcelona and 6-3, 6-4 immediately thereafter in Madrid. Paire is the one with home-court advantage this time around, but other than that there is nothing to like about his chances. The 45th-ranked Frenchman has played just about every week this year and is 17-15 for his efforts, including a 6-5 record on clay with a semifinal showing in Marrakech. Paire has never done much at Roland Garros (7-7 lifetime) and there is no reason to think anything will change now that he has been dealt the absolute toughest of draws. Nadal has to be chomping at the bit for a chance to make amends for last season’s bad luck, so a dominant win should be in order.
Pick: Nadal in 3 losing 8-10 games
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(14) Jack Sock vs. Jiri Vesely
Sock and Vesely will be squaring off for the fifth time in their careers and for the third time this season when they meet again on Monday. The head-to-head series stands at 3-1 in favor of Sock, who has won all three of their previous ATP-level encounters–including 6-3, 7-6(0) a few months ago in Miami and 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(1) just a couple of weeks back in Rome. Vesely’s lone victory came via a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) decision on the clay courts of a Czech Republic-based Challenger in 2013.
Even though Sock lists clay right up there with a hard court or even above a hard court as his favorite surface, he has cooled off just a bit following a torrid start to the 2017 campaign. The 15th-ranked American fell to Steve Johnson in the Houston semis, to Nicolas Mahut right away in Madrid, and he had to face Nadal in the Rome third round (lost 6-3, 6-4). Vesely has exited in the second round from four consecutive ATP-level events since reaching the Marrakech semifinals in April. The 56th-ranked Czech is no slouch on any surface, but he would definitely prefer to contest this particular matchup on grass. Count on Sock improving to 3-0 against Vesely in 2017.
Pick: Sock in 4
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WWW?
Sock in four and Rafa in four losing over 14 games
I say sock in 5.. vessley is good enough to take 2 . Last match was competitive enough between these 2 that I think it goes the distance.
Rafa in 3 losing 8-10 is most propable
Nadal should win his easy …..
nadal will lose benoit paire OP af. i say paire 6-0, 6-0, 6-0
Nice to see Donald Trump posting here.
????
The French “LOVE” Rafael Nadal.
So much so that they scheduled the nine time champion’s first match on Lenglen tomorrow.
The French are ‘oohing and aahing’ over Fed (according to Tiggy’s imagination).
So much that they have scheduled his matches on Lenglen.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DA67WpBXUAE35cj.jpg
Augusta, the French always favor Fed over anyone else, including their very own French players.
Even so, Fed did play at SL court at times. Rafa, Djoko and Murray all have to play at SL court at times.
Rafa should not have too much trouble with Paire. He can be brilliant at times and just as often be awful. I don’t see him having the consistency to hang with Rafa.
I think Rafa losing 8-10 games is about right.
Luckystar (AT 2:45 PM),
I know that the top players have had to play at SL court, too.
🙂
Come to think of it, Rafa getting SL court is quite logical. Both the defending champions should get their first matches on PC court. The last slot at PC is given to A Zverev vs Verdasco, as it may be an exciting match and who knows who will win? If Zverev falls ( though unlikely) that may be his last match at PC.
I would rather Rafa quickly gets his match done and dusted before any weather changes and interruptions; don’t want to see him playing on three consecutive days.
If I’m not wrong, Rafa did get his first match at RG in 2010 at the SL court, playing against a very low ranked French player. Many of his fans were unhappy back then, but Rafa wasn’t the defending champion that year (Fed was; Rafa lost to Sod in R4 the previous year). I don’t know at that time,who was given the PC court, perhaps Djoko?
luckystar (AT 2:06 AM),
Rafa played 18 year-old Gianni Mina.
Here is the schedule:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DA-m-D6XgAAGYrN.jpg
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/8704646.stm
Lucky gets it.
AT 3:32 PM,
Luckily, Lucky knows that the top players have had to play also at SL court, and it was impossible to mislead her. 🙂
ALL top players play at least one round on SL. A tennis fan would know this.
The poster AT 3:20 PM conveniently ignores that Rafa has been relegated to Lenglen in the FIRST round, never done to Fed.
The poster AT 1:38 PM tried to mislead readers into believing that playing at SL court is an extraordinary thing for top players. LOL
More made up stories about other posters from the poster AT 3:56 PM who tells other posters what they cannot post on Rafa’s page yet posts opinions on other posters unrelated to Rafa on Rafa’s page.
#SadfanHypocrisy
If my memory serves me correctly, the owner of the site made the site rules after the poster AT 4:07 PM had been trolling Rafa’s page with pictures of his beloved players (Djoko & Fed) for months…
AT 4:48 PM,
Your memory serves you poorly. Just another one of your made up stories.
It was after you started making up rules for everyone else here in lieu of posting a single original opinion on Tennis.
The poster AT 9:03 PM has always posted ‘original opinions’ (aka made-up stories).
To add to my post AT 4:48 PM,
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DA_Ce4IW0AAEM5Z.jpg
More made up stories as to WHEN and WHY it was done (and still not one original thought on tennis from the poster AT 7:18 AM and AT 4:48 PM.
To add to my post AT 11:42 AM,
I REPEAT, it was after you started making up rules for everyone else here in instead of posting a single original opinion on Tennis but especially for reposts of countless anonymous Rafans on Instagram and Twitter….
C. This is not Twitter. This is not Instagram. This is a tennis website. If you want to post 10 photos per day, do it on social media. If you want to post a photo or two that has immediate relevance to what is happening in tennis, do it here.
(A rule that the poster AT 9:45 AM) continues to abuse.)
Crummy scheduling today 🙁
As of last night Nadal and Djokovic have been listed to play at the same time. The TV companies will be gnashing their teeth. No order of play posted on TennisTV yet. Also rain forecast for late afternoon/early evening.
ed251137 (AT 6:30 AM),
TennisTV doesn’t show Grand Slam tournaments.
Silly me. It had slipped my mind ITF control Slams and Davis Cup. Fortunately I have a subscription to Eurosport Player which covers matches on all the courts so am able to pick and choose who I want to watch.
Keep calm, stay focused, be confident and enjoy the game, Rafa!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DA-uhOJWAAASjKS.jpg
It had slipped my mind ITF control Slams and Davis Cup. Fortunately I have a subscription to Eurosport Player which covers matches on all the courts so am able to pick and choose who I want to watch.
Rafa has played his first match on SL as defending champion before so they haven’t always put the defending champion on PC for their first match. I also think that we will see a lot of the NextGen on the show courts to give them exposure in order to sell the tickets for the upcoming tournament in Milan. At the moment most of them are not household names so the tickets won’t sell unless they give them a lot of exposure.
I’m not bothered about which court Rafa is on as long as he wins the match. Let’s not forget that Djoker is also ranked 2 and Rafa is ranked 4 and Djoko is also the defending champion. Maybe Paire prefers to play Rafa on SL, who knows? So much haggling goes on behind the scenes and Rafa is the kind of guy who wouldn’t dig his heels in on something like this, he would just let the other player take which court he wants.
Right! Djoko is higher ranked and the defending champion so he should be given the PC court.
There may be rain in late afternoon so I hope Rafa wins his match quickly before the rain comes.
“Rafa has played his first match on SL as defending champion before so they haven’t always put the defending champion on PC for their first match.”
Only when Rafa was defending champion. This is my point.
Sock lost to Vesely in straight sets!
Simon lost to Basilashvili in four sets!
Hey Nny!!…Wake up!wake up!..Your darling is on fire atm!!Passing winners everywhere!!..Oho ho ho ho ho!…
This Rafa match looks like that Kyle Edmund match of MC! Come on Rafa, where’s your serve?
Ooppss!!..I spoke too soon!Hehe….Rafa suddenly out of fire in 2nd sets…C’mon!Right the ship back Rafa!!
NO worries. Knew fronm the start, Paire could be tricky for a 1st round and could take a set today!
Can’t watch the match at work but, has Paire upped his level or is Rafa having the heebie-jeebies again? I mean Rafa was so dominant in the 1st set, judging by the score.
Yes!That’s it!!…the ship is righted immediately…Thank God!!..not so fast Dory!!hehe..
Mira Andi, ok, no set so far. That’s good 🙂
@Dory!..hahaha…yeah,no set so far..that’s good indeed!..hey Dory..long time no ‘hear’ from u?I wish u could come here often!
Nadal will win and here’s another preview of Day 2 matches .. http://www.138mph.com/next-up-novak-rafa-mladenovic-and-muguruza-day-2-revealed/
Rafa wins the second set, even though his first serve has left much to be desired. Come on Rafa, serves properly to win in straight sets please!
Ah well, Rafa gave Paire another FR bagel in the third.