Amy
1. A couple of weeks ago, I questioned whether we should panic over Wozniacki’s struggles going into the French Open. After her performance today, it’s fair to worry. Getting beaten in straight sets by Bojana Jovanovski in the second round of the French Open is an awful loss, especially when paired with her other early losses in recent weeks. Her clay season was just about as bad as it possibly could’ve been. Maybe the upcoming change in surface will help.
2. Andy Murray is absolutely hilarious. I hope he keeps tweeting even when he’s playing again.
3. I used to get exasperated with some of Gael Monfils’ on-court antics just a few years ago. But there’s no denying that watching him pound his fist over his heart as he cemented each of his gutsy wins here at Roland Garros has been special to watch.
4. After dropping the first two sets, Tommy Robredo managed to beat Igor Sijsling in five. His being relevant again is weird but good. I can’t wait for the Robredo-Monfils third round match.
5. Ernests Gulbis thinks the Big Four are boring in their interviews. Eh. Anyone would be boring if they had to answer the same questions thousands of times like they do. I can’t even imagine the tedium of answering such questions as, “How were the court conditions today?” and, “What do you think of your next opponent?” every single day. It makes me crazy just sitting in the press room when such questions are asked at the tournaments I’ve covered.
Federer got it right in his response to Gulbis’ comments, while perhaps throwing a little bit of patented Fed shade in the process:
Federer: "I know what Gulbis means. But it's not always our fault. We have to do so many press conf., he does less" (via @GregBeaud20min)
— LetsTalkTennis (@letstalktennis1) May 29, 2013
Lindsay:
1. Ana Ivanovic can cuss. Who knew she had it in her? I always figured there was a bit more to her than purity and innocence. She’s also marching nicely through the draw, and is into the third round after beating Johansson in under an hour.
Feisty. RT @SkochkoMan: Ana said "Jedi govna", which means "eat shit" LMAOOOOOOOO
— fernando (@quaG27) May 29, 2013
2. Julien Benneteau is exhausting, but amazing.
3. Pablo Cuevas still plays tennis. Seriously you guys, I had no idea. He’s currently ranked No. 762 and hasn’t played a tour event in two years. The former top 50 player has been off the tour since 2011 when he beat Andy Roddick and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. He came into the French Open with a protected ranking and made it to the second round after taking out Mannarino in the first round in five sets, saving match points along the way. He took the first set off of Gilles Simon before the clock struck midnight.
4. Troicki loves the drama. The Serb had an insane five set match against Gimeno Traver which he eventually won in the fifth. I’ll just let the tweets tell the story:
@linzsports it's much better than that. Troicki was 4-2 in set 1, had a point for 5-0 in set 2 and was 5-3 in set 4. Epic stuff.
— Steve (@ShankTennis) May 29, 2013
@linzsports now DGT casually decides to lose 10 points in a row from 0-30 on Troicki's serve to getting broken to love on his own…
— Steve (@ShankTennis) May 29, 2013
5. Unfortunately, Rezai is back working with her abusive father. I just hope she’s safe.
Dammit, my “eat shit” tweet didnt make it! 😀 What is it with the Stocholm Syndrom people, both Rezai and Tomic? Indeed, lets hope they are at least safe….
In defense of Gulbis:
Does no one remember the epic pants pooping the tennis world performed when Djokovic dared (DARED!!!) to admit that his goal was to one day become the number one player in the world, back four or five years ago? You would have thought he was dropping f-bombs regarding the unborn Federer twins for all the crap he caught. Gulbis is right, there is a certain Prissiness and, more importantly, corporate white wash that typifies the upper echelon. The fact that they can lose millions for an intemperate statement kind of explains it all. Of course, this is a rather easy accusation for the son of a billionaire to make.
Gulbis has a point.
Nowadays, everyone is aiming for the same clean cut image.
And the guys do enjoy a nice reputation because the journalists will let them get away with so much.
The Top Four are boring because there’s little talent in tennis journalism. Many of the “old guard” will rely on lazy stereotypes and can’t get anything out of the players. The “young” ones like Ben and Courtney are much better. Twitter can pick up so many good questions during a match but it always end up with the “mainstream” ones.
The blame is not only on the journalists as like Gulbis said, many players only know how to play tennis and play PlayStation.
Still, as Sloane Stephens, when you step out of line, everyone will destroy you. Just a thought.
For all the insistence on how Gulbis’ comments are just him being “cool” and “having an actual personality,” almost no one seems to be considering how other players like Gael Monfils, Benoit Paire, etc. are able to display equally cool/wacky personalities without throwing shade on other players. I can choose to not like Gulbis without hating anything and everything cool/noncomformist/interesting/quirky about players, I believe.
(Can I also mention how I hate that many of Gulbis’s defenders are bashing other players like Federer or Djokovic for daring to not have the same personality/attitude as Gulbis and how they’re automatically labeling them as dullards for that crime alone? How I really, REALLY hate it?)
Also, count me in as someone else who’s growing worried about Wozniacki too. Clay might be her worst surface, but in the past you could count on her to at least win a couple of opening-round matches. Some people are saying that Wozniacki never had the power to win Slams even when she was No. 1 and never will, but that doesn’t explain why she’s now losing to opponents she would have beaten without breaking a sweat two years ago.
I think Caro’s too distracted. She needs to drop out for a bit, have a kid, and come back with some fiyah.
Although Gulbis IS kinda right, Federers comments shed more light on the issue – if you win as much as they do, not only do you have to do the same question&answer session every time, but you also become an ambassador of the sport. Gulbis has the luxury to be the rebel and outspoken – because he doesn’t win as much. The only tennis player who had success at majors and still stayed an outspoken, no-bullshit guy is Marat Safin and – to a lesser degree – Andy Roddick.
As far as playere personalities, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPkYXGYtk4A