Just under 24 hours after John Isner took Rafael Nadal to five sets in his singles opener, Isner and his fellow American Sam Querrey lost to Italians Daniele Bracciali and Potito Starace 2-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(6) in just over two hours. The No. 15 seeds paid the price for not being able to convert 11 break point opportunities.
There are still two days until the draw for the French Open 2011 comes out, and by then, we will be much wiser. Some prefer to wait and see how the draw falls out before naming the favourites, but the fact of the matter is that while a player can have a tough draw, he should prevail if he's a worthy favourite.
In this respect, we might even say that this French Open is not so open after all. It is Nole's to lose, and he's the overwhelming favourite for it. This is taking the tectonic shift too far though.
Federer takes a 3-0 record against No. 29 seed Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia in the third round. The pair has never met before on a clay court. Tipsarevic committed just 13 unforced errors in rolling past Spaniard Pere Riba 6-1, 6-3, 6-0.
By now, we are used to one, clear, overwhelming favourite in the men's draw at Roland Garros. The man goes by many names; the Spanish Bull, the Freak of Nature, the Warrior, Rafael Nadal or simply Rafa. For the past five years, he's been the overwhelming favourite.
The name of that shift is Novak Djokovic. For the second time since 2005, Rafa has suffered more than one loss during the clay court season, and for the first time in this period, those losses have come to the same man, Novak Djokovic.
Not only that, the losses came in straights and came after two final loses on hard court. And Rafa could not blame injury or fatigue in any of those matches.
This makes for the most open French Open since Rafa emerged as a force on the men's tour. As good as Federer was on clay and as relatively close he came at beating Nadal in the 2005-07 French Open's, Nadal always had the edge.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar