Roland Garros
Doubles – Final: (1) Bryan/Bryan def. Llodra/Mahut 6-4 4-6 7-6(7-4)
It will perhaps tell you a little about the history of Nicolas Mahut that the French team led 4-2 in the final tiebreak, then lost five straight points. The last one on, yes, a Mahut error. Too bad for Mahut; too bad also for Michael Llodra, who lost what was probably his last chance to win his home Slam.
But what a year for the Bryans! They’ve now won the last three Slams straight. They continue to pad their record for most Slams as a team. And they already have seven titles in 2013 — Sydney, Australian Open, Memphis, Indian Wells, Madrid, Rome, and Roland Garros. That’s 7750 points already this year — more points just from titles in 2013 than their nearest competitors have from all events in the last twelve months, as the rankings show:
1..(1) Bryan………….13130
1..(1) Bryan………….13130
3..(4) Lopez…………..5540
4..(5) Granollers………5540
5..(3) Lindstedt……….5260
6.(13) Soares………….4990
7..(6) Bhupathi………..4920
8..(7) Tecau…………..4890
9.(14) Peya……………4820
10.(11) Bopanna…………4715
It’s hard to imagine anything else to say. The Bryans seem sure to be the year-end #1 team. And they need win only Wimbledon to complete a non-calendar Grand Slam, and if they win that, they’ll be very close to a calendar Grand Slam, too. The way this year has been going, it almost seems like the way to bet.
****** TODAY’S FEATURE ******
Men’s Look Forward: Halle, Queen’s
Once upon a time, the events the week after Roland Garros were big. They had reason to be: The rankings after this week will determine who is seeded where at Wimbledon. And, with the Wimbledon formula in effect, points earned this week are likely to count double. So Halle and Queen’s matter.
Problem is, they’re merely 250 point events. So they don’t matter much. Players come here for grass practice, or for appearance fees, or because they like the events — but they can’t expect it to make much difference.
There is one real oddity about the Queen’s draw: Feliciano Lopez is in qualifying! He must have signed up too late, because he’s ranked 140 places ahead of the next-highest-ranked player in the qualifying draw…. The qualifying is so empty, in fact, that doubles specialists Marcelo Melo, Nenad Zimonjic, and Rohan Bopanna are all in it, and they still had to hand out six byes.
The main draw doesn’t have any such oddities. What it does have is all the top players who missed Roland Garros or crashed out early. Whatever that tells you. The #1 seed is Andy Murray, who of course will be the overwhelming crowd favorite. Tomas Berdych is #2. Juan Martin del Potro, who presumably is recovered from that bug that felled him, is #3. #4 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is the top player in the field to have done anything in Paris — but he will surely be even happier to be on a faster surface. Last year’s champion Marin Cilic is #5, with Sam Querrey #6. Alexandr Dolgopolov took a wildcard to earn the #7 seed, with Kevin Anderson #8 and having the last bye. Benoit Paire is #9, Grigor Dimitrov #10, Julien Benneteau #11, Lukas Rosol #12, Jarkko Nieminen #13, Denis Istomin #14, Pablo Andujar #15, and Grega Zemlja #16, meaning that the cutoff for seeding is just below #50. Still, there are some mild threats among the unseeded players. Andujar has to open against Michael Llodra — a pretty good draw for Llodra, were it not that he just finished losing the Roland Garros doubles final. Rosol’s second round could be against Bernard Tomic, assuming Tomic has himself together. Querrey is likely to open against Paul-Henri Mathieu. Dimitrov’s second round may well be against Lleyton Hewitt, who loves grass above all things. And Cilic has to open against countryman Ivan Dodig, who is having a pretty good year.
Halle lost one of its stars even before it started — Rafael Nadal concluded he was too tired to play. Still, Roger Federer is back to take the #1 seed on his favorite surface. Richard Gasquet is #2 in Nadal’s absence. Defending champion and #1 German Tommy Haas is #3 and is in Federer’s half (meaning that one or the other of them will lose some points). Kei Nishikori is #4 and has the last bye. Milos Raonic is #5 and in Haas’s quarter; Philipp Kohlschreiber is #6 and in Nishikori’s; Jerzy Janowicz is #7 and in Federer’s; the #8 seed goes to Florian Mayer, meaning that we have three seeded Germans.
The draw certainly wasn’t kind to Haas, who will have to open against either Ernests Gulbis or Marcos Baghdatis. Raonic opens against Gael Monfils, then likely Daniel Brands, who is having quite a year. The other big unseeded threat is Mikhail Youzhny, who is likely to be Nishikori’s first opponent.
The Rankings
We said the rankings this week wouldn’t change much. There might be a few exceptions. Starting with Tommy Haas, last year’s Halle winner. Those points might have gain him a seeding tier at Wimbledon — if his ranking doesn’t fall too much this week. The player he beat in the Halle final was Roger Federer. Semifinalists were Philipp Kohlschreiber and Mikhail Youzhny. The title at Queen’s went to Marin Cilic; the finalist was David Nalbandian (who still isn’t back), and Grigor Dimitrov and Sam Querrey made the semifinal.
That means the biggest movement is likely to be just below the Top Ten, since Haas and Cilic, our two defending champions, are #11 and #12. They could easily slip behind Nishikori, and perhaps others. At the top… don’t expect anything. We don’t yet know whether David Ferrer or Roger Federer will be #3 next week, but whichever one it is, he’ll keep it. There will, in fact, be no Top Ten movement at all.
Of course, the other factor is the Wimbledon seeding formula — and, no doubt, the intense desire of the Wimbledon committee to have Andy Murray at #2. Is there a way they can juggle him to put him ahead of Roger Federer? Maybe…. After all, while Federer won Wimbledon last year, Murray was the finalist, and Murray also won the Olympics. If he can win Queen’s, and Federer does poorly at Halle, Murray should be able to hang on to the #2 seed. Reverse that, and things could get interesting…. We’ll be watching that as the week progresses.
KEYWORDS: Preview Halle Queen’s
******** THIS WEEK IN TENNIS ********
THIS WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:
Roland Garros (Slam/Clay). Defending Champion: Rafael Nadal
NEXT WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:
Halle (250/Grass). Defending Champion: Tommy Haas
Queen’s (250/Grass). Defending Champion: Marin Cilic
******** STATS AND FACTS ********
RANKINGS
Estimated ATP World Tour Rankings
As of June 8, 2013
Rank &
Prior…Player………..Points
1..(1) Djokovic……….11830
2..(2) Murray………….8310
3..(3) Federer…………7640
4..(5) Ferrer………….7220
5..(4) Nadal…………..6095
6..(6) Berdych…………4515
7..(8) Tsonga………….4155
8..(7) Del Potro……….3960
9..(9) Gasquet…………3090
10.(10) Wawrinka………..2810
11.(14) Haas……………2585
12.(11) Cilic…………..2570
13.(15) Nishikori……….2495
14.(12) Tipsarevic………2390
15.(16) Raonic………….2225
16.(13) Almagro…………2195
17.(18) Simon…………..1985
18.(19) Kohlschreiber……1885
19.(20) Querrey…………1810
20.(17) Monaco………….1740
21.(21) Isner…………..1735
22.(23) Janowicz………..1598
23.(25) Anderson………..1510
24.(24) Dolgopolov………1500
25.(26) Paire…………..1450
26.(22) Seppi…………..1440
27.(34) Robredo…………1435
28.(27) Chardy………….1416
29.(28) Dimitrov………..1400
30.(31) Youzhny…………1355
**DRAWS
Roland Garros — Week of May 26
…………………3R……………..4R………….QF………SF……..F
1 Djokovic………..(1)Djokovic……..Djokovic…….Djokovic…Djokovic
26 Dimitrov……….(26)Dimitrov
22 Dolgopolov……..Hanescu
16 Kohlschreiber…..(16)Kohlschreiber..Kohlschreiber
12 Haas…………..(12)Haas………..Haas………..Haas
19 Isner………….(19)Isner
29 Youzhny………..(29)Youzhny……..Youzhny
8 Tipsarevic………(8)Tipsarevic
3 Nadal…………..(3)Nadal………..Nadal……….Nadal……Nadal…..Nadal
27 Fognini………..(27)Fognin
24 Paire………….(24)Paire
13 Nishikori………(13)Nishikori……Nishikori
9 Wawrinka………..(9)Wawrinka……..Wawrinka…….Wawrinka
21 Janowicz……….(21)Janowicz
28 F Mayer………..Davydenko
7 Gasquet…………(7)Gasquet………Gasquet
5 Berdych…………Monfils
32 Robredo………..(32)Robredo……..Robredo……..Robredo
20 Seppi………….(20)Seppi
11 Almagro………..(11)Almagro……..Almagro
14 Raonic…………(14)Raonic
23 Anderson……….(23)Anderson…….Anderson
31 Granollers……..Lopez
4 Ferrer………….(4)Ferrer……….Ferrer………Ferrer…..Ferrer…..Ferrer
6 Tsonga………….(6)Tsonga……….Tsonga………Tsonga…..Tsonga
25 Chardy…………(25)Chardy
17 Monaco…………Troicki…………Troicki
10 Cilic………….(10)Cilic
15 Simon………….(15)Simon……….Simon
18 Querrey………..(18)Querrey
30 Benneteau………(30)Benneteau
2 Federer…………(2)Federer………Federer…….Federer
STATUS OF SEEDS
1 Djokovic………….lost SF (Nadal)
2 Federer…………..lost QF (Tsonga)
3 Nadal
4 Ferrer
5 Berdych…………..lost 1R (Monfils)
6 Tsonga……………lost SF (Ferrer)
7 Gasquet…………..lost 4R (Wawrinka)
8 Tipsarevic………..lost 3R (Youzhny)
9 Wawrinka………….lost QF (Nadal)
10 Cilic……………lost 3R (Troicki)
11 Almagro………….lost 4R (Robredo)
12 Haas…………….lost QF (Djokovic)
13 Nishikori………..lost 4R (Nadal)
14 Raonic…………..lost 3R (Anderson)
15 Simon……………lost 4R (Federer)
16 Kohlschreiber…….lost 4R (Djokovic)
17 Monaco…………..lost 1R (Gimeno-Traver)
18 Querrey………….lost 3R (Simon)
19 Isner……………lost 3R (Haas)
20 Seppi……………lost 3R (Almagro)
21 Janowicz…………lost 3R (Wawrinka)
22 Dolgopolov……….lost 1R (Tursunov)
23 Anderson…………lost 4R (Ferrer)
24 Paire……………lost 3R (Nishikori)
25 Chardy…………..lost 3R (Tsonga)
26 Dimitrov…………lost 3R (Djokovic)
27 Fognini………….lost 3R (Nadal)
28 F Mayer………….lost 1R (Istomin)
29 Youzhny………….lost 4R (Haas)
30 Benneteau………..lost 3R (Federer)
31 Granollers……….lost 1R (Lopez)
32 Robredo………….lost QF (Ferrer)
Halle — Week of May 10
1 Federer
–bye
Stebe (WC)
Qualifier
Zverev (WC)
Goffin
Petzschner
7 Janowicz
3 Haas
–bye
Baghdatis
Gulbis
Qualifier
Brands
Monfils
5 Raonic
6 Kohlschreiber
Berlocq
Kamke
Kubot
Youzhny
Gimeno-Traver
–bye
4 Nishikori
8 F Mayer
Qualifier
Struff (WC)
L Mayer
Melzer
Qualifier
–bye
2 Gasquet
Queen’s — Week of May 10
1 Murray
–bye
Mabut
Williams
Qualifier
Matosevic
Llodra
15 Andujar
12 Rosol
Qualifier
Becker
Tomic
Giraldo
Levine
–bye
7 Dolgopolov (WC)
4 Tsonga
–bye
Rufin
Roger-Vasselin
Ito
Sijsling
And. Kuznetsov
14 Istomin
9 Paire
Qualifier
Delbonid
Kudla
de Schepper
R Ram
–bye
8 K Anderson
6 Querrey
–bye
Bedene
Mathieu
Hewitt
Russell
Sela
10 Dimitrov
13 Nieminen
Harrison
Pella
Evans (WC)
Garcia-Lopez
Malisse
–bye
3 del Potro
5 Cilic
–bye
Dodig
Ward (WC)
Qualifier
Berankis
Mannarino
11 Benneteau
16 Zemlja
Edmund (WC)
Corrie (WC)
Stakhovsky
de Bakker
Dutra Silva
–bye
2 Berdych
******** SCORES ********
SATURDAY
Roland Garros
Doubles – Final
(1) Bryan/Bryan def. Llodra/Mahut 6-4 4-6 7-6(7-4)
Boys’ Singles – Final
C Garin def. (4) A Zverev 6-4 6-1
Boys’ Doubles – Final
(3) Edmund/Ferreira Silva def. (5) Garin/Jarry 6-3 6-3
©Daily tennis news wire
Topics: Bob Bryan, French Open, Mahut, men tennis news, Michael Llodra, Mike Bryan, Roland Garros, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News