An enticing Nice first-rounder will be contested on Tuesday between Dominic Thiem and Steve Johnson. Martin Klizan and Bernard Tomic are also taking the court.
Steve Johnson vs. Dominic Thiem
Two men who have surged into the top 100 this season are going head-to-head for the first time on Tuesday at the Open de Nice Cote d’Azur. Thiem has been especially impressive in 2014, qualifying for tournaments left and right and winning nine matches at the ATP, main-draw level. The 20 year-old Austrian recently posted consecutive round of 16 results as a qualifier in both Barcelona and Madrid.
Thiem started the season at 139th in the world and is now No. 58; Johnson opened at 156th and currently registers at No. 67. The 24-year-old American has earned almost half of his career ATP-level match victories in 2014 (six of 13) and his last four Challenger events featured two titles and two runner-up finishes. Johnson will make this competitive with his big serve and forehand, but Thiem’s comfortableness on clay should see him through.
Pick: Thiem in 3
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Bernard Tomic vs. Martin Klizan
Due in part to a hip injury, Tomic has not won a single main-draw match since his first tournament of the season, in which he reached the Sydney final. The 21 year-old Australian, who has plunged to No. 81 in the world, returned too early in Miami and lost the shortest completed match in ATP history (28 minutes) to Jarkko Nieminen. So far on clay he has failed to qualify for both Madrid and Rome.
Klizan knows a thing or two about massive slumps, but his came last year and he is back in form at the moment. The 62nd-ranked Slovak is an incredible 13-3 at the ATP level and his most recent tournament saw him make a surprise run to the title as a qualifier in Munich, where he upset Fabio Fognini in the final. This is the second career meeting between the two competitors; the first one did not disappoint, as Tomic prevailed 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(7) last year on the indoor hard courts of Marseille. He will not enjoy this one as much on clay and in far more disappointing form.
Pick: Klizan in 2
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Vamos Thiem! Really like his game……………..
Me too. He’s learning fast and has already got some impressive scalps hanging from his belt. I particularly admire his cool nerves. Nothing fazes him. Funny to think he has the same coach as Gulbis.
I hope to see more of the talented Thiem this year. I think this guy’s got something.
After dropping the first set he fought back to take the match. He plays Gilles Simon in R2. If Gillou is anywhere near the form we saw against Rafa that will be an interesting match. Pity there’s no TV coverage until the QFs 🙁
Drat, I was looking forward to watching Gillou/Thiem. They have met before, at IW this year and Thiem duffed Gillou up in straights. It’s so frustrating with these players. They seem to only turn up when they are playing Rafa. If Gillou plays like he plays Rafa this will be a cracker.
rafaisthebest (at 6:42 am),
Rafa is the tennis icon, others are figurants. The figurants become noticeable only when they harm the icon.
@augusta08, you are right, beating Rafa makes players more marketable in fact, just look at Stan now. Look at how they all celebrate after beating Rafa, ka-ching baby!
It’s not just that he won a Slam, he beat Rafa! I think Carlos Costa (Rafa’s agent) is missing a trick here, he needs to now make sure Rafa gets a percentage in sponsorship earnings from every player who beats him……..
I dont think there is any TV coverage from Nice today. Dusseldorf is on Eurosport now and also Nice will be from tomorrow.
ed (at 7:47 am),
Look into LiveScoreHunter. Always.
The streams are all hogged by Bet 365 who do not allow access from France 🙁
Search me why this is so. I watched their site for years until 2012.
I can’t all up any of the other links listed either.
I have a 12month old MacBook Air which does not allow Internet Explorer. This is the only thing I can think of as occasionally I have seen messages saying this is the recommended search engine. I use either Safari or Firefox.
ed ( at 8:33 am),
I think, LiveScoreHunt is blocked by the government officials BECAUSE of Bet 365 – for having no license in France (& not paying taxes to the French government).
ed251137 (at 8:50 am)
—does not allow Internet Explorer. —
It’s interesting. I see your special emoticons (monkeys, thumbs and.. so on) when using Internet Explorer, and I don’t see them when using Google Chrome to open The Grandstand.
From what you say it sounds like it is being blocked by France. I have a chum in Gibraltar who works for a lot of the on-line betting companies based there. Will ask him when i get the chance. Not that it’ll help me get past the obstacle course which is free live streaming. Having the same problems with other no fee sites. When I occasionally I do manage to access them there are so many intrusive ads for porn sites et al it’s nigh on impossible to see the tennis. Hawkeye mentioned he has the same problem.
Re: my emoticons. I copied and pasted them from an emoticon site and keep them on my desktop. When I want one I just recopy and paste into my comment. Easier than trying to memorise all the keystrokes.
Once again thanks for your concern and help.
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ed251137 (at 10:36)
I just know that in SOME countries LSH is blocked by the tax officials. I don’t know what the situation is in France.
I also have to overcome many obstacles before I see a stream. My every click wherever opens an advertisement/announcement.
When I watch a streaming video in full-screen format, the ads don’t appear.
As for your emoticons, I wanted to emphasize that it depends on my BROWSER whether I see them or not.
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I know, but often I can’t even get it to open into full screen mode. Tried numerous times again today since we started this conversation.
It’s the same on the tennis channel here in the states. They are covering Dusseldorf now and will begin coverage of Nice in the quarterfinals.
Too true Gussie. Beating Rafa on clay resonates around the world and ranks far higher than beating Federer on any surface. e.g. Del Potro’s USO upset doesn’t rate much more than a footnote today; his defeats at Wimbledon at the hands of Berdych, Tsonga and Stakhovsky are brushed aside as a mere aberration.
Come to that beating Djokovic carries a fraction of the kudos accorded to a win over Rafa.
EVERY player, including Djokovic last Sunday, says beating Rafa on clay is the ultimate challenge. Beating him at RG is the holy grail for all players. Look at Soderling, let’s be honest, beating a lame Rafa at RG made him.
I have never heard any player say beating Fed at Wimbledon is the ultimate challenge, even during Fed’s pomp, ever.
I don’t like to use those live streams, because there are pop ups to porn sites and all sorts of trash that comes up. I have gotten viruses in my computer a few times when I used them. I won’t go to them anymore. I either hope that the tennis channel will broadcast the matches or espn3. But for these smaller 250 tournaments, it’s always difficult to get full coverage.
The ultimate challenge in the sport of tennis now is trying to beat Rafa at RG. Many have tried and failed. Only one man did it and that was against a Rafa whose movement was seriously compromised by knee tendinitis. I am sure that players will still go out and try to achieve this feat.
I wish them luck. They are going to need it! 😀
nativenewyorker7@May 21, 2014 at 11:51 pm
—I wish them luck…—
I wish Rafa the strength to withstand attacks from all sorts of attackers!!!