re: 2016 French Open Thread

Nice to see some new blood in here and I know you are a down and dirty degenerate bettor. Bonne chance.

typical servebot isner, tiebreak after tiebreak...

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Kyrgios to win

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This is inconceivable to me.

I'm on Djoker to win it at -110. His draw is a joke until Rafa in the semi's.

Also took a flyer on Goffin 200-1 a few weeks ago. Based on his draw he's got a solid chance of making it to the quarters. Will look at trading options then.

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66-1.

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I'm a huge Kyrgios fan, but it's not even worth it to bet on him to win this tournament at 200/1 much less 66/1.

In my mind only three players have a legitimate shot at winning the tournament: Djokovic, Nadal, and Murray, in that order.

Stan would have to play inconceivably better to win this year.

Nishikori has a mental block against beating Djokovic, and I don't think beating him in the French is where he does it. He had a chance in Rome to beat him when Djoker wasn't 100% (tired from playing tough match against Nadal the previous day) but couldn't manage to do it after taking the first set off him. However, I think he has a real shot at beating Murray and Wawrinka to make it to the Finals. If Nadal could manage to beat Djokovic in the other Semi, then I do actually think he would have a shot. Slim chance to Nishikori winning this title.

Tsonga no chance. No bet would be good enough for me to ever take.

Kyrgios no chance. While he has all the tools to be great one day, his mental game is no where near the level of a top player, and I don't see him having an epiphany suddenly during this tourney.

Thiem: some people are giving him an outside chance. I don't see it, but then again I haven't seen him play too much, so it's tough to say.

Goffin: Zero chance. He's the new Ferrer.

Edit: Oh and I want to add a fun player for everyone to watch in the tourney. Alexander Zverev. Extremely young and raw but exceptionally talented. Could see him upsetting some people... Anderson for starters... Thiem maybe... and it would be a fun match to see him play against Nadal again. I think he took a set off Nadal on hard court earlier this year.

I think you are selling some of these guys short. Now, I can't see Kyrgios win Roland Garros because I don't think he can grind out five hour matches on clay. But, I could see him win a major anywhere else. For Nishikori, fitness is the biggest issue, but he can take down anyone. I think he has beaten most of the top guys at some point. See US Open semis in 2014, by the way. Goffin is a little fella and probably can't beat multiple big guns. But, he is a nasty player and I respect him for winning with his 12 year old physique.

Haven't really seen a ton of Zverev and Thiem. Zverev chunked that volley against Rafa in the spring and should have beat him. On results, Thiem looks like he is ready to break though any day now.

I turned on the TV this morning and watched Groth hold in the first game. I go take a shower, come out and see Rafa up 5-1, deuce. He must have won five or six games in like 20 minutes.

Pride, if you're in here, is Harrison hurt or did he not qualify?

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Pride, if you're in here, is Harrison hurt or did he not qualify?

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He lost second round in qualies. Americans went 0-9 in qualifying.....

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I think you are selling some of these guys short. Now, I can't see Kyrgios win Roland Garros because I don't think he can grind out five hour matches on clay. But, I could see him win a major anywhere else. For Nishikori, fitness is the biggest issue, but he can take down anyone. I think he has beaten most of the top guys at some point. See US Open semis in 2014, by the way. Goffin is a little fella and probably can't beat multiple big guns. But, he is a nasty player and I respect him for winning with his 12 year old physique. Haven't really seen a ton of Zverev and Thiem. Zverev chunked that volley against Rafa in the spring and should have beat him. On results, Thiem looks like he is ready to break though any day now.

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Kyrgios' limiting factor right now is his court strategy. All he does right now is hit his shots as hard as he can and mix in some drop shots. Makes for some spectacular and fun tennis which I really enjoy, but until he can learn to develop points better, I don't see him beating the more cerebral and top players in the game. So I don't see him winning a major this year, but I would love for him to surprise me.

Not sure if you've watched Nishikori lately, but his fitness has really improved. He has just mentally broken down against Djokovic in the three matches he has played against him this year. He's more than capable of beating Djokovic with his ability and swagger, but it's all a head game for him right now. Hopefully, he can overcome it in this tournament. He definitely has the tools to beat anyone. He's the real life Prince of Tennis. (Wonder if anyone has seen that show here.)

I like Goffin a lot, but he'll probably never win a major just like Ferrer. That's all I was saying.

I haven't seen too much of Thiem honestly, but I'm definitely ready for one of the younger players to step up.

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Anderson already went down against a wildcard in the 1st round

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Nice. Zverev is in a tough match right now with Herbert. Gave away the first set late. Then dominated the second. Then went into a tiebreak in the third, thought he had lost the set but then the chair overruled, which was enough for him to come back and win the breaker 8-6. Set 4 continues tomorrow bc of darkness today.

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He lost second round in qualies. Americans went 0-9 in qualifying.....

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And then:
- Fritz got dominated by Coric. On the one hand, Fritz probably needs to get a lot stronger before he can move effectively on dirt. On the other hand, you'd like to see him give Coric a competitive match.
- DY played a competitive first set in a winnable match against Gabashvili, and then just mailed it in the rest of the way. Oh, Donald.
- Steve Johnson lost to Verdasco in straights. No shame in that, but Steve's level has dropped this year compared to last year.
- Kudla got spanked by somebody. I forget who.
- Sam Q lost to Bjorn Fratangelo, who is at least American.

Not a great showing by the yanks.
Isner and Sock are still in the draw.