![Sloane[1]](https://www.tennis-prose.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Sloane1.jpg)
No shortage of storylines this year for Roland Garros – It’s Djokovic Rafa Stan and Serena and the swarm of ambitious players more than eager to upset the balances of power – we will have to wait two weeks to see how this year’s drama will play out —
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Bryan · May 21, 2016 at 7:36 pm
John Isner’s draw and the fact he’s fresh from hardly playing the European clay season could help him make a run.
Gulbis has a soft draw but he’s been playing trash can. If he somehow finds his A game he has an easy path to week 2.
Zverev played 10 hours this week. Good to see him go deep but the grinding can take a lot out of him at RG.
Jerzy is still out injured. Any updates on his knee or when he’ll come back? No Jerzy No Party.
Dan Markowitz · May 22, 2016 at 6:35 am
Are you kidding, Bryan. Izzie going far on clay at the French? Not a chance. There just isn’t an American who’s going to go better than 3rd round and that might be hard to reach. Sock, Izzie, QBall, none of them are ready for prime time. What happened to Ryan Harrison? He didn’t even play the French qualis, did he?
And Gulbis, please, I like Ernests and this is his best chance at a slam as he plays like dirt at the USO, but somehow EG has never come back in the last couple of years. Even the return to Bresnik hasn’t produced good results.
Harold · May 22, 2016 at 7:24 am
Young is out already, Harry lost to Gerald Melzer in 2rd of qualies.
Scoop Malinowski · May 22, 2016 at 8:57 am
I like how Isner is going into this RG – some tough close losses and not many wins so he is fresh under the radar and hungry – a win or two can kickstart his year – Gulbis has been irrelevant all year – a few wins and tough close losses to good players – now or never for Gulbis – very curious about this Coric vs Fritz match – Fritz has been deflated since the crushing loss to Tiafoe in Indian Wells –
Todd · May 22, 2016 at 6:09 pm
Izzy’s career is fading, elbow hurts. And damn, he is GROSS to watch play. Ry Har lost in qualies…1st rnd I think. Too bad Tiafoe & Donaldson lost last rnd of qualies. Gulbis has no hunger…but loads of talent – too bad.
Jg · May 22, 2016 at 8:15 pm
Sock was cruising, but he lost momentum, 5th set will decide it after rain, I had him going far with a decent draw, he will need to regroup. US players seem to have a tough time closing out, same for Tiafoe he had the last round of qualies but could t close it out. US players could benefit from on court coaching, especially on clay.
Scoop Malinowski · May 22, 2016 at 8:28 pm
Gulbis has hunger – he got to the SF of R Garros – but he’s lost confidence losing to the young guns – Thiem Kokkinais etc – just could not reverse the downward spiral –
Scoop Malinowski · May 22, 2016 at 8:42 pm
Sock is a happy go lucky player – prone to hot and cold – when he’s hot he can blow away just about anyone – – couple of misses and he can lose his rhythm –
Jg · May 22, 2016 at 8:58 pm
DY looked awful out there, where does he go from here? I don’t think he has any more runs left, too many younger players coming up who are beating him. I think Gulbis is going to make a run.
Scoop Malinowski · May 22, 2016 at 9:18 pm
Young is down now – losing to Gabashvili who is also struggling – it’s funny – I played a usta tourney at the crandon park site about five years ago in feb and on the court right next to us were young and gabashvili practicing together – I was too busy with my match to be sure who had the upper hand that day –
Gaurang · May 23, 2016 at 3:10 am
The RG draw is perfect for Novak. Novak only has Agut and Berdych/Ferrer until SF — players he could defeat in his sleep.
He would play Nadal in SF. Nadal would take care of Theim, Goffin, Tsonga and Zverev for him.
Meanwhile dangerous players like Murray, Wawrinka, Nishikori, Kyrgios, Raonic, etc are all in the second half. They will all result in just one player — most likely Murray in the final.
I think Novak would have enough energy to play two tough matches – Nadal in SF and Murry in F. Meeting Nadal in SF is better for Novak than meeting him in F, since Nadal would have gained more confidence reaching the F and there would be more pressure. And in the F with Murray, Murray would be under more uncomfortable — RG F is uncharted territory for him.
Last year, Novak had Nadal in QF, Murray in SF, and Wawrinka in F — 3 tough matches, and also a rain delay causing no gap between SF and F. This year, its much easier.
I see Novak winning the RG this year. The only real competitor I see is Murray. Murray played really well in beating Novak at Rome. If he plays the same, he could be trouble.
Scoop Malinowski · May 23, 2016 at 9:21 am
Nice quality breakdown of Novak’s journey Gaurang – for some reason I am seeing Rafa getting knocked off before SF and Andy not making it to the F – we will see – but yes I do see Novak finally winning Roland Garros this year – could be a couple of unforeseen bumps and scares along the journey though – to make a historical achievement is never a smooth ride –
Thomas Tung · May 23, 2016 at 12:42 pm
Side rant: a real shame that RG this year is mostly on the Tennis Channel (which I don’t have). Looking at the TV times, NBC is only covering RG on the last weekend. I wish that NBC (or some other major network) would cover RG on the weekends; even have a few highlights on the weekdays. As it is, tennis on major network TV is in a tailspin.
Scoop Malinowski · May 23, 2016 at 12:50 pm
Dimitrov is also in a tailspin – he lost in five today to Troicki after being up two sets to one – shattered player – Stan won in five vs Rosol – NBC showed three hours yesterday TT but agree it’s a shame ESPN dropped their coverage –
Thomas Tung · May 23, 2016 at 2:34 pm
I have a fun Mohu Leaf antenna connected to my 4K TV which allows me usage of the major network channels (including their HD channels) for a nice $13 shipped (got a refurbished one). Didn’t really feel like adding to my Time Warner Cable internet bill with a ton of channels which I wouldn’t watch. And Tennis Channel is asking for too much for their online streaming ($90/year!)
Fun note: didn’t realize that there were so many different Spanish-language channels on antenna-based TV.
Scoop Malinowski · May 23, 2016 at 3:28 pm
I wonder how a cut back on television exposure of tennis will affect live ticket sales – Stepanek won the first two sets vs Andy – wow
Dan Markowitz · May 23, 2016 at 4:02 pm
And you still think Steppy would beat Vince?
Bryan · May 23, 2016 at 6:14 pm
“There just isn’t an American who’s going to go better than 3rd round and that might be hard to reach. Sock, Izzie, QBall, none of them are ready for prime time. What happened to Ryan Harrison? He didn’t even play the French qualis, did he?”
Dan, of the Americans IMO Isner has the best chance. By deep run I’m talking quarterfinals, which would be his best result at FO.
Sock gets hype every year and goes busto every time. Despite his beautiful forehand that should help him crush clay tournaments he just can’t do it.
Harrison busted in the FO qualies. Can’t remember who he lost to.
Bryan · May 23, 2016 at 6:19 pm
“RG this year is mostly on the Tennis Channel (which I don’t have). Looking at the TV times, NBC is only covering RG on the last weekend. I wish that NBC (or some other major network) would cover RG on the weekends”
Thomas, good point. I was thinking about how this will reduce overall exposure of RG in the USA. Personally I like Tennis Channel more than ESPN and it’s why I upgraded my cable. Still it’s absurd that Golf Channel is available for basic cable subscribers but Tennis Channel is not.
Dan Markowitz · May 23, 2016 at 7:38 pm
Golf is the bane of modern existence.
Scoop Malinowski · May 23, 2016 at 8:52 pm
I think Harrison Opelka and Kozlov would beat Vince easily – Vince has to play a futures or challenger or WTT to show us where his level is at –
Scoop Malinowski · May 23, 2016 at 10:04 pm
Querrey was having a good year too – Fratangelo is a rising player and this win certifies it – Querrey just won a doubles title with Johnson but this is a disappointing L for Q –
Doogie · May 24, 2016 at 7:04 am
As expected tough (european clay) weeks for Fritz – same for whole US Boys. They just cannot adopt their game to the dirt.
Isner was down 6:7 4:5 0:40 (on Millman`s serve!!) but could somehow win the 2nd set against an opponent who is plagued with injuries all year. Millman played a future event 2 weeks ago.
Scoop Malinowski · May 24, 2016 at 9:09 am
Fritz has struggled since losing to Tiafoe in IW – Fritz has not been the same player – perhaps the players have figured out his game – Fritz lost twice in a row in qualies of masters series on clay to Stepanek in three sets – tough losses add up – Nice to see Stepanek is playing top ten tennis at age 37 – Stepanek will be around till age 40 if he stays healthy – his goal is another two years –
catherine bell · May 24, 2016 at 9:59 am
Stepaneck’s career gives the lie to people who bang on about the game evolving so fast and standards rising at a phenomenal rate no players can hope to keep up with it now they’ll all be finished by 25 if not before 🙂
Step spans at least two tennis generations – he wants to play until 40 – and good luck to him.
Harold · May 24, 2016 at 11:36 am
I guess the Fritz bandwagon will have to lower their GS totals down a few.
250’s,challengers and Futures, dont compare to GS’s and Masters, except to the future of American tennis cheerleaders
Scoop Malinowski · May 24, 2016 at 1:36 pm
Still see big things ahead for Fritz – not going to be a straight line to the top Harold – even Fed and Djokovic struggled in their early years and Rafa had skip his first Roland Garros because of a foot injury – Fritz is on the way to big tennis success –
Moskova Moskova · May 24, 2016 at 3:04 pm
down goes fritz-mania !! haha
and steps aka the worm still uses all natural gut strings too – wowzers !!! the guy’s old school and still cookin’ 😉