Wasn't surprised by Ferrer getting a set. When Murray isn't 100 percent motivated, he and Ferrer are equivalent players. When Murray is motivated, he has the huge edge. 

Serena losing a set to Sharapova was a surprise, but Serena played the exact same match against Jankovic in Charleston today. 

We'll see what happens.  I kind of hope that Djokovic and Nadal end up clashing in a QF sometime this clay season.

This from the AP story off the Monte Carlo semifinals: 

Nadal has not lost in Monte Carlo "since 2003 to former Roland Garros champion Guillermo Coria." 

That should be welcome news to Coria, who might still be playing if he had not choked like a dog against Gaudio in the lone French Open final he made. He never recovered mentally from that loss, which is a shame because he was awfully fun to watch when he was in form. He had a run of three consecutive clay court tournament wins after Wimbledon one year that had to set the all-time record for fewest games lost in back-to-back-to-back events. 

I absolutely have him pegged to win Roland Garros. Doesn't mean he'll do it, but if he plays to his potential, Rafa cannot beat him on clay. We saw that two years ago when Rafa was closer to him on hard courts and grass in his seven losses than on clay. To me, Federer's win in the semis over the Djoker in 2011 was a stunning upset, a combination of Federer serving out of his mind and Djokovic throwing away the second set after getting angry at the crowd for pulling against him. That was a strange match, with Djokovic slipping constantly. 

So maybe that's where I have it wrong. If there's something about Roland Garros that makes his footing worse than at other clay court events, he would struggle against Nadal. What I've always heard, though, is the Roland Garros clay is very similar to Monte Carlo. We saw what happpened Sunday. 

 

Last edited by funches (4/24/2013 11:15 pm)

I never heard the announcers questioning the courts this year, and I watched more of Monte Carlo than I have of any non-slam tournament since my (then) baby boy was born in 2010, a combination of being under-employed and having him in daycare. 

Of course, the comment about Monte Carlo and Roland Garros having similar courts dates back to my tennis-watching heyday of the 1990s and early 2000s on ESPN before ESPN dropped all European non-slam events. I'm sure a lot has changed since then, when I watched essentially every match that aired on TV.