French Open – Quarters to the Finals Preview

As a kid, my grandparents had a great lake house in Minocqua, Wisconsin which was about 5-6 hours North of Chicago in the “North Woods.”  Every summer, we would caravan with my cousins up there to spend a week of bliss in the mosquito filled woods and swim in the Muskie filled waters.  It was a slice of heaven.  One of the highlights of the trip was always to see the epic tennis battles between my grandfather, dad, uncles and aunts, as my grandfather had installed an awesome hard court tennis court.  They even had one of those automatic ball machines that made this canon like sound when it fired off – “Da Dung!”  I was pretty young and a baseball player, so when I grabbed the racquet I mostly hit home runs over the netting and into the woods.  Still tennis will always have a special place in my heart because of those times.  As I got older, I loved to watch the sport, especially Wimbeldon at the All England Club in London around 4th of July.  So, I thought I’d give some web space to the other Grand Slam out there (Golf has its own).

Grand Slam of Tennis

For those new to the sport, the Grand Slam of tennis is made up of 4 huge tournaments.  Each one is a single elimination tournament played by the best players in the world.  The 1st tournament is held in Australia – the Australian Open and the courts were grass courts until 1988 and now hard courts.  The Australian is held in January, so for me it gets lost in the shuffle of NFL football, plus the time difference.  However, it starts off the season.  The 2nd Slam is happening right now – the French Open at Roland Garros in Paris.  The French is really unique because it is held on clay tennis courts.  Unlike grass courts which are very fast and slick, which makes for very quick points and shorter rallies, the clay courts of the French are really for the best conditioned athletes who can play longer points as the clay is a slower surface.  Plus, the clay courts of the French really require a different skill than grass, as the players literally will slide on the surface while striking the ball.  I remember some classic French Opens in the 80s when the duration of matches could hit 5 hours easily.

The 2nd half of the Grand Slams moves to Wimbeldon in late June and early July in London.  Wimbeldon is the classic grass tournament with faster points and a lot of serve and volley players excelling on that surface.  Royalty often attend the Finals there, and for that it gives the tournament a magical feel.  Wimbeldon is still my favorite slam, and I like to wake up on Sunday morning to watch the Men’s Final which can often be right around our 4th of July holiday.  Finally, the last Slam is the US Open held in the NY area.  The US Open is held on the conventional hard courts, like most of us played or grew up on.  The US Open Finals and a lot of the tournament is televised at night, which to me makes it more exciting.  The stadium for the US Open is also huge, so the crowd can be deafening for players.

French Open 2018

This year, the French Open is well underway.  The tournament has progressed thus far through 4 rounds to the Quarterfinals.  For the novice, a Quarter Final is the final 8 players in the tournament.

Men’s Draw

On the Men’s side, there has never been as good of a clay player in the history of tennis than the Spaniard Rafael Nadal.  Nadal, the left hander, is a natural on the sliding surface and over the years shown how fit he is with the interminable rallies.  Nadal won his 10th French Open last year at the age of 31 and currently ranked Number 1.  He is back to defend his crown, but he will have to face some top players in his half of the draw.  His Quarter match against an Argentine, Diego Swartzman, a short and quick player currently ranked 12th in the world.  If Rafa advances, he will face either Marin Cilic who is formidable and ranked 4th in the world from Croatia or Juan Martin Del Petro, a very skilled clay player from Argentina, ranked 6th.  So, Nadal will have to earn his spot in the Finals again.  On the other half, the young German, Alexander Zverev is the 2nd seed and 3rd ranked player in the world, has already lost in straight sets to the Austrian, Dominic Thiem.  Thiem advances and he faces the winner of former #1 ranked player, now 22nd, Novac Djokovic, who has struggled with injury.  Djokovic faces the relatively surprising Marco Cecchinato from Italy ranked 72nd in the world (Djokovic is battling in the 4th set for his life as we speak).

To me, this is setting up for another Nadal championship.  However, he does seem to face a very difficult Semifinal match to advance.  Thiem looks primed to face Djokovic, and then we will see if Novac is really back or not, if he holds on right now.  I think Nadal takes his 11th championship here.

Schedule:

Quarters:  Tuesday, June 5th & Wednesday, June 6th

Semis:   Friday, June 8th

Finals:  Sunday, June 10th

Women’s Draw

For the Women, Serena Williams did return to action after her baby.  She looked good, however suffered a pectoral injury and had to forfeit her match to Maria Sharapova advancing the Russian the Quarters.  Half of the Quarters took place earlier today, as 23 year old American, Madison Keys (13th in the world) won in straight sets over Yulia Petintseva from Kazakstan.  Keys will face fellow American Sloane Stephens (10th in the world) in the semis who bested Dara Kasatkina from Russia (14th in the world) rather easily.  So, we will have 1 American in the Finals this year.  On the other half, there is a lot of star power.  1st ranked Simona Halep of Romania is on a roll and will face Angelique Kerber, the 12th player in the world.  If Halep advances as expected, then she will square off against either Garbine Muguruza from Spain the 3rd ranked player in the world or the aforementioned Maria Sharapova the 30th ranked player who just came off the suspension for a banned substance.

To me, the top ladies of Halep and Muguruza will duke it out for a chance to best the Americans.  I find it hard to see Keys or Stephens hanging with Halep or Muguruza.  Hopefully, I’m wrong.  I see Halep winning and staying at the top place in the world rankings.

Schedule:

Quarters:  Tuesday, June 5th (completed) & Wednesday, June 6th

Semis:  Thursday, June 7th

Finals:  Saturday, June 9th

So, go check out this great event.  I know my friend, Liz, has been watching since the opening rounds.

Wegs