French Open '12: Point by Point Coverage

[harry24]

For the last 28 Grand Slams there have been 4 total male winners. How many winners were there in the 28 Grand Slams before that?

I think Rafa is in the earlier 28 slams, isn't he? With his 2004 French win? And, yes, I believe Rafter won the USO in 1998. When did Korda win the Australian? (Or did he?)

[oopssorry]

Gaudio won 04, right? Kuerten took out Roger in the 3rd round on the day I was headed to Paris from the UK.... And I watched the weirdest final ever (v Coria) from home....

Oh, phoooo - Venus.

ETA: or 4th round. I can never tell with the French scheduling. It was the middle Saturday (May 22, heh).

[lt]

Heee--I only know the final count (since the radio told me) but I feel that I should get the actual names since you guys are figuring out who won what when.

I guess the rain ended play for today, huh? I hope Tsonga can pull it together tomorrow. Glad Mahut finished his win before the rain started.

[falafaclese]

28 slams is 7 years, right? So we're talking about everything back to 1998?

[acre]

Hrmm, 4 winne-s, 28 Slams. That must mean going back to the 05 F-ench, cause othe-wise you'd have to include Safin, 05 Oz and that makes 5. The 4 a-e easy-peasy. Fed, Nadal, Djok, DelPo.

What total a-e they looking at fo- the 28 b4, going to 98 F-ench, o- all of 98? Again, Fed, Nadal, add Safin ,Andy -oddick, Hewitt, Pat -afte-, And-e, Pete ... again, that's 8, the easy ones. Johansson? JCF? I'd have to look up when they won. Same with Guga and Gaudio, not su-e what y's they did. But that would be 12. Not that I would eve- have gotten Gaudio and Johansson w/o someone above naming them. Even still - Johanson?? Oh, Ivanisevic makes it too. So now that's 13, and I checked them all, they all qualify 98 and on.

And, I cheated - all the above a-e good, plus 4 mo-e, depending on if you count the 98 Oz and F-ench(shouldn't, if going exactly 28.) Beginning with 98 Wimbledon, I had 2 unaccounted fo-. So 15 total, not including the beginning of 98. Yeah, the-e used to be a LOT moe va-iety. But hey, so long as it's mostly Fed I am not one bit bo-ed.

[skyz]

Too bad about Venus. After Venus lost I turned off the tennis. So it got rained out? Now I'll just focus on the men's side and looking forward to Wimby.

Anyway I didn't put Roger and Rafa because I was excluding them in my mind as part of the 4 who've won the latest 28. Good question, lt, it really got me thinking. That's why it's fun to listen to RRG.

[breezybee]

Odd match for Murray this morning. He looked like he was going to retire after the first set and then whatever was wrong seemed to work itself out during the second set. I really wish they would put a microphone on Murray just to hear his running diatribe. After one missed shot you could quite clearly hear him say "It kills me inside".

[lt]

He looked like he was going to retire after the first set and then whatever was wrong seemed to work itself out during the second set.

Darren and Chris were saying his back is bad and he's been getting cortisone shots. The early start this morning with the big drop in temperature stiffened it up and until it could warm up, he was screwed.

And, yup, 15 is correct. Also, the question from two days ago was how many balls do they go through during Roland Garros. The answer is ridiculous: 52,000. That's nuts. I didn't hear this morning's question. Darn.

[mooncreek]

What is with Caroline's need to wear neon color tanks underneath her outfits? This yellow outfit would likely look okay with white.

Murray and his back is quite worrisome. It makes me suspect he's just trying to get to the second week. I'd be more than happy for Gasquet to be the beneficiary again but I don't trust him in that position so more realistically Ferrer.

[apocalipstick]

For the ladies, they just showed Marat Safin in the crowd on Chartrier. He hasn't lost anything, lookswise. JMac is appalled that Marat has been elected to the Russian Parliament. Why do I torture myself by turning on the sound? Ugh. It's not like Jesse Ventura was governor of Minnesota. And Arnold in California. It's not even slightly shocking that Marat would dabble in politics and win.

Anyone listening to RRG earlier when they were talking about who Hingis had dated and the one announcer jumped in saying something like, "We aren't saying she's loose. No no. We like her a lot." I snorted. They did not mention her being the Black Widow of tennis careers.

I know Fognini is a bit of a jackass, but I like him. I like the charming asshole. I just do. See Apocalipstick's Inappropriate Crushes, Nalbandian, David and Rios, Marcelo. Okay, Rios was rarely charming but he always made me laugh. I suppose it's that I like someone who thoroughly enjoys being an ass. Unlike say, Roddick, who isn't an enjoyable ass but rather a petty manipulative one.

Li is CRUISING.

Almagro is looking good as well.

Isner is so meh to me. I think I should like him more than I do. I really didn't like him after the Wimby marathon. I just kept wanting to scream "This match is going so long because it's REALLY BAD TENNIS." However, I saw a Queens match with Mahut once, I think playing Roddick or maybe Rafa where he was totally adorable with his dives. He grinned through the match and looked like he was having so much fun. That was long before he met up with Isner. I need Isner to become famous for something other than that match.


Jelena Jankovic totally fell off my radar.

ETA: Heard a bit of the Murray presser. He sounds worried. I mean, he's never particularly perky but he was more than usually morose.

Caroline dresses like a little girl out there. It's unfortunate because her features are so young anyway. She needs to work towards looking cute rather than looking cutesy.

[lt]

See Apocalipstick's Inappropriate Crushes

You got nothing on a friend of mine--her two favorite players were Kafelnikov and Hewitt. That's some suspect taste right there.

I like Isner because he understands that his serve isn't enough and has worked hard on his ground strokes, net game and movement. I also truly love that he always crosses his legs during the changeovers. He just looks so relaxed out there (of course he's now giving Mathieu a bunch of break chance opportunities right now so maybe not so relaxed).

[apocalipstick]

Hewitt? Really? I have him at Meh to Annoying on my tennis scale. I expect a full ripping for my Rios love. And yes, I do think Nalbandian is just a few scales away from looking like a golden snake. His features are reptilian. I don't care. He's adorable to me.

I just need Isner to do SOMETHING that makes me see his charm. I recognize that he's a hard worker. I see that he's got real potential to have a complete game. And I adore Courier. It's just that he hasn't pushed himself into the likable half of my continuum yet. I think he can do it. He just needs to put in some effort.

On my continuum, Jeremy Chardy's short shorts have pushed him from Forgettably Likable to Cutiepatootie.

[lt]

You're right--I can see some thigh on Chardy! How nice. If he can beat the asshole, I'll join you in Cutiepatootie-land. And the design on Tipsy's outfit makes him look like he's wearing Garanimals.

And Isner is not backing me up right now. He looks flat footed and cranky.

[breezybee]

And yes, I do think Nalbandian is just a few scales away from looking like a golden snake. His features are reptilian.

Really? I always thought his features were sort of pointy and with the right cap and bell-topped shoes he'd make a damn good drunk elf breaking all of the toys at Santa's workshop.

I like Isner because he understands that his serve isn't enough and has worked hard on his ground strokes, net game and movement.

I agree with you lt. I watched him live at Roger's Cup in 2009 play Youzhny (Youzhny won) and I remember thinking that he had probably the worst back-hand in men's tennis. He's come a long way in three years.

[apocalipstick]

May 31, 2012 15:50:10 GMT breezybee said:

Really? I always thought his features were sort of pointy and with the right cap and bell-topped shoes he'd make a damn good drunk elf breaking all of the toys at Santa's workshop.

I almost always see features in relation to animals. Which is odd because I do not like pets. Not even slightly. However, I cannot see Taylor Swift without thinking how much she looks like a ferret. I, in fact, refer to her as "That Ferrety Swift Girl."

Although I can see Nalbandian drunk and breaking things. That seems to be totally in his wheelhouse.

Gasquet. Total giraffe neck. His lack of chin definition has annoyed the crap out me for years. Weak-chinned under achieving future lech. Dimitrov has already hit Cutiepatootie Land for me, but beating Reeshard will push him into Age Inappropriate Crush of the Tournament.