Yes, Ferrer is definitely a better clay courter than Tsonga who is an all court player. This year, more than any other yr, I give Jo Willy a chance. This is the healthiest he's been in a long time, he's lost weight and gotten fitter, he's got Roger Rasheed ( who used to be Lleyton Hewit's coach) in his corner. This is the best shot he's ever had to get to the finals. Hopefully, he can over power Ferrer.

Sharapova through and I have no doubt she's facing Serena, I'm really hoping this next match won't be a mauling but they're talking of how Errani will do well to get 5 games.

She got 1:laugh3:

 

Maria vs Serena on clay will be interesting. She hasn't won a single match against Serena since she upset her at the Wimbledon 2004 final.

 

What a brilliant move for Serena to hire Patrick Mouratoglou for the last leg of her career!

NOOOOOO NADAL WON :(

 

I only managed to watch the end but it was quite impressive! What a match!!

 

edit: and ohmygod what the hell Tsonga ?! Watching the beginning of the match, and everything he hits ends up out of line!

Fully deserved win by Rafa. I'm still recovering from all the emotions I went through during the 4hrs+.

I'm yet to watch the match properly b/c I just couldn't stand Rafa squandering all his chances. I'd look at the scoreboard and walk away to say a Hail Mary :lol:

I doubt the final will live up to this epic semi-final

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkWU5LQjZQY]Novak Djokovic vs Rafael Nadal Semi Final French Open Roland Garros 2013 - YouTube[/ame]

Ugh :sick:

 

Nadal-Ferrer, what a boring final. Where are we, in Spain ?! :angry:

It's boring because they're both Spanish? :huh:

 

It's great for Ferrer, hugely consistent player on the tour down the years and he gets his first final at age 31. And for Nadal the chance to be the only person (And let's face it, probably will be) to win 8 slams at one tournament.

And watching the womens final, Serena's just too good. As much as Maria has come along on clay she just isn't 100% natural like Serena is, she's still putting up a fight though, I doubt it'll go to 3 sets however. (Currently 1 set down and 3-1 down in 2nd set)

French Open 2013: Serena Williams claims title with straight-sets win over Maria Sharapova

Saturday’s victory at Roland Garros provided a perfectly formed conclusion to the latest chapter of Serena Williams’s story, which was already one of the most extraordinary tales in sport.

 

 

By Simon Briggs, in Paris7:50PM BST 08 Jun 201361 Comments

While her comeback from illness and injury officially started at Eastbourne in 2011, it was after last year’s French Open that Williams started to rediscover her mojo.

A shocking first-round defeat to Virginie Razzano sent her out to the suburbs west of Paris to visit the academy run by Patrick Mouratoglou.

A likeable, urbane Frenchman, Mouratoglou went on to become not only her coach but her partner. Over the last year, he has succeeded in rekindling her passion and self-belief. And on Saturday, when Williams outclassed Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-4 on Court Philippe Chatrier, her journey came full circle.

“Je suis incroyable,” she said, while attempting to conduct her post-match interview in French. She probably meant “I can’t believe it,” but the phrase came out as “I am incredible,” which is probably closer to the truth.

This was an almost flawless performance from Williams, who never gave her opponent room to breathe. Sharapova actually played a fine match, serving well and unleashing everything she had into her favourite crosscourt forehand. But it is so difficult to attack an in-form Williams because she can shut you down with the quality of her serve.

 

The second set was a case in point. Sharapova battled with everything she had before finally conceding a break in the fourth game.

And then it was an almost impossible challenge to get back on level terms with a woman who was regularly exceeding 120mph on her first serve. Appropriately enough, the match finished with an ace.

“I think growing up with Venus, she's serving so big, I was like, ‘I want to serve big, too,’” said Williams afterwards. “In that last game I was just so nervous. I thought, I'm not going to be able to hit groundstrokes [and] the one groundstroke I did hit went, like, 100 feet out. I thought to myself ‘Look, Serena, you've just got to hit aces. That's your only choice.’”

As Sharapova pointed out afterwards, Williams’s service stats compared favourably to those of David Ferrer in his semi-final on Friday night.

“We know she’s going to be able to hit a big serve,” said Sharapova. “I think if I was built like Serena I hope I'd be able to hit a big serve like that, too. I mean ...”

She trailed off, perhaps realising that she was moving towards dangerous territory there. Martina Hingis has never lived down her comments about Amelie Mauresmo’s shoulders, although those did have an extra element of homophobia that would not apply here.

Tennis can be an incestuous world, and it was Williams’s relationship with the highly rated male player Grigor Dimitrov - who is now dating Sharapova, oddly enough - that first brought her into contact with Mouratoglou.

“I met Serena because she was friends with Grigor and I was coaching him,” said Mouratoglou last night, “so I would see her at the tournaments. I thank him really every day.”

At the point when they started training together, Williams was already the most powerful player on the WTA tour and arguably the most complete.

The only shot she never hit was the drop shot. When you can reliably knock the racket out of your opponent’s hands with the venom of your groundstrokes, where is the need for touch?

But there were weaknesses too. Williams plays a “first strike” game - which means that she prefers not to rally but to finish the point the first time she gets a clean swing at the ball. It is a method that necessarily has small margins and can produce a high number of errors. When the rhythm was off, as it was against Razzano last year, she could not adapt.

Mouratoglou’s influence has brought a new sense of calmness, as well as a sensible trade-off on Williams’s shots: she has given up a little of her abundant speed through the air in order to hit with more spin and control. And he has also improved her French, Saturday’s erratic speech notwithstanding.

“I have always had a wonderful relationship with Paris,” said Williams. “Incidentally, the first tournament I ever won was here.”

But she also pointed out that the crowd has not always been on her side. During her quarter-final against Justine Henin in 2003 she was booed, a slight she has never forgotten.

Now, after this’s masterclass, Williams stands on 16 grand slam titles. That puts her six behind Steffi Graf, the leading player of the modern era, and eight behind Margaret Court.

Can she overtake them? History is against her, given that - at 31 years and 256 days - she has just became the oldest woman to win Roland Garros.

But then, as she put it: “I really believe age is a number at this point, because I have never felt so fit. I feel great. I look great.”

Asked whether she would retire at the top, like Greta Garbo, she laughed. “Wow, what an analogy. I definitely want to go out at my peak. That's my goal. But have I peaked yet?”

Heading into the grass-court season, Williams’s rivals must be fearing the worst. She is more motivated than perhaps she has ever been, and better prepared too.

This might have been only her second French Open title, and her first since 2002, but Wimbledon has been a happier hunting ground over the years. “Grass is the surface that is easiest for her,” said Mouratoglou, with a knowing smile.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/frenchopen/10107875/French-Open-2013-Serena-Williams-claims-title-with-straight-sets-win-over-Maria-Sharapova.html

It's boring because they're both Spanish? :huh:

 

It's great for Ferrer, hugely consistent player on the tour down the years and he gets his first final at age 31. And for Nadal the chance to be the only person (And let's face it, probably will be) to win 8 slams at one tournament.

It's boring because Nadal's obviously going to win without having to fight much. We may see a bit of fight and all but i don't expect the match to be that interesting.

Not boring, just relaxing for me. I aged during Friday's semi-final.

It's boring because Nadal's obviously going to win without having to fight much. We may see a bit of fight and all but i don't expect the match to be that interesting.

 

Nah you hate Spanish people. :(

 

I expected a better final, Nadal played better than he has been and Ferrer played a bit worse than he has been, I think mentality definitely affected both players in a positive and negative way. Which is why I'm just a little bit disappointed by Ferrer- he needed to come out attacking as much as possible and showed he could go toe-to-toe with Nadal at times but only pulled that out here and there.

 

Not that Ferrer gave up or anything, he had a serious chance to break Nadal in the 2nd set and just couldn't come through, but even from there it's a long road to beat Nadal in a set nevermind the match.

Rafael Nadal wins the French Open for a record eighth time

By Shane Bacon | Busted Racquet

 

 

Rafael Nadal is now in a class of his own in tennis history after winning his eighth French Open title on Sunday at Roland Garros, becoming the only man in tennis history to win the same Grand Slam eight times.

Nadal took out fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 in what can only be considered a victory lap of sorts for the now 12-time Grand Slam champion.

Face it, the French Open finals was an epic five-set match that pitted the top two tennis players in the world against each other in Nadal and Novak Djokovic, the one problem being that the winner still had one more ceremonial match to play before he could accept the trophy.

This was it, and it was everything that you'd expect from a man that has made his living beating professionals on clay. Nadal is now an astonishing 59-1 at the French Open, winning eight of the last nine championships in Paris and doing it in a style that says he isn't going anywhere soon.

Ferrer was a formidable opponent in the sense that games lasted longer than one might expect, but it was just too much power from Nadal on this surface for a man that was making his first appearance in a Grand Slam final. Nadal hit 35 winners to his 25 unforced errors, a stat almost mirrored by Ferrer who had 22 winners to his 35 unforced.

Nadal is now third all time in Grand Slam wins, tying Roy Emerson and sitting just two behind Pete Sampras and five behind the great Roger Federer. His play at this event has been incredible over the years, but his return to the tennis scene this season has been a surprise even to experts who have watched him play over the years.

Injuries kept him out of the 2012 U.S. Open and this year's Australian Open, and some where worried he'd never come back full strength. He did, and his eighth French title is a pretty good reward for a return for one of the greatest tennis players in the history of the game.

In tennis haven today! Opening a bottle of champagne for the occasion. Rafael Nadal has 12 Grand Slams, only 5 behind Federer. Who'd have thunk!

^I would have thought so, he's been incredible from such a young age and clearly isn't burning out like a lot of players do when they start winning slams so young. I think Federer has a slam or 2 left in him though.

 

But someone needs to tell Rafa he looks stupid when he bites the trophy like that, I don't know why he keeps doing it.

:lol: It wouldn't be the same if he didn't take a bite out of the trophy. :lol: He did it when he won his 1st French Open title in 2005 and kept it up ever since for good luck I guess.

Well, when Rafa came on the scene, Roger was in his prime and had a stranglehold on the ATP Tour, winning every important tournament out there. Rafa seemed to be an unlikely challenger, even after he defeated Roger in the Miami 2004 QF. Everyone thought it was a fluke. It's amazing how he actually stepped up to challenge Roger when no one else could. Without Rafa, Roger could have at least 25 Grand Slam titles to his name.

Fun side of tennis

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJLcErlkoNE]French Open 2013 Federer, Nadal, Sharapova, S. Williams tennis nocturne fluorescent kings - YouTube[/ame]

Murray just won the Queens club tournament, pretty good final. I kinda wanted Cilic to put right what went wrong in last years final but Murray's too powerful.

 

Afterwards they had 2 charity matches for cancer (More specifically the charity that provided support for former and soon-to-be British No. 2 Ross Hutchins), the first one was Ivan Lendl (Murray's coach, who is always hilarious) and Berdych vs Henman and Murray, and the Brit team wore microphones but both probably forgot they were on, well maybe, I did see Murray hold back a few swear words. But it was a real insight into how competitive these guys get even in a charity match, both Henman and Murray although they looked casual were not happy with eachother anytime they lost a point.

 

Even in the 2nd match, a celebrity theme with Henman leading one set of celebs and Murray the other, it did seem to still matter. A few of the celebs wore Federer-style shirts (The same that Federer wore when he beat Murray last year) and you could hear Murray, sounding genuinely not happy, asking why they'd do such a thing, when Jimmy Carr said "Because he's great (Federer)" Murray said pretty shrewdly "Not anymore he's not". Uh get over it Andy.

 

Sorry but Murray's still a bit of a douche.

 

There was a very funny moment when Michael McIntyre rolled dramatically to hit a shot and sortof his the line judges barrier (Who tried to cushion the blow), he then got up and gave it a little kick with his foot, not sure if he's aware of last years final but I'm sure the crowd were.

Wimbledon is almost upon us. Roger, Rafa, and Andy in the same half with Roger and Rafa set to meet in the Quarters should they both advance. Novak has a cake walk to the final in the other half.

^It's a bit silly really, it would be shocking if Novak didn't get to the final.

The real question will be: who will be against Novak in the final ?

I think it should be an interesting tournament this year!

Definitely interesting, Murray is apparently 100% fit again, Rafa will be so hard to beat as always, the thing is I wonder if Federer can bounce back off of what ended up being a disappointing end to the French, he's definitely still capable.

 

I think if Rafa and Roger have a long, tough game, it'll set up Murray perfectly, the only way I can see it not being a long and tough game is if Rafa walks over Roger because I can't see Roger doing that to Rafa these days.

Hopefully Tomas Berdych can make things interesting in the Novak half of the draw. After all, he's shown in the past that he's capable of playing on the grass. That Wimbledon couldn't use their internal system to seed Rafa 4th is mind-boggling.

 

All that said, I'm relieved that Rafa is in the opposite side of the draw. I like his chances against Roger and Andy.