Skip to main content

Bracket Joy in Roland’s Backyard


Bracket Joy in Roland’s Backyard

So I’m sailing along through my Roland Garros bracket selections over at tennisdrawchallenge.com and it’s just going so smoothly.  Obviously, Rafa is my pick for the top quarter.  I have to make a minorly dicey choice of Shapovalov over Sock to lose to (I mean, ‘meet’) Rafa in the fourth round.  Then it comes down to KAnderson or Schwartzman to be his victim in the quarters.

The second quarter isn’t super challenging either.  There’s the small matter of Cilic, Fognini, or Edmund to make the quarters (I picked Cilic cuz of the way he rocked Rome), but ultimately I figure they’re all going to lose to the big Delpo… who will play a couple exhausting five-setters, and then in turn get killed by Nadal in the semis.

Third quarter is looking good too.  Monfils and Kyrgios will probably flake out after two rounds.  Carreno-Busta has just gotten so good, but will he be able to fend off the clay-loving Goffin?  It’s a toss-up but I go with Goffin.  And then, even though Dimitrov thinks he can suddenly play on dirt, I can’t see him getting by a hot Djokovic.  So will Djokovic actually get hot and stay hot, or will he turn into the mentally-lame choker who’s been pretending to swing the real Novak’s racket for the last two years?  Foolishly I pick Djokovic.  He looked good in that loss to Nadal in Rome.

And then the gravy of easy pickin’s suddenly goes sour as the fourth quarter roars.  Thiem against the red-hot Tsitsipas in round two.  Nishikori against Paire or Carballes-Baena in round two…. QF-loving Pouille, former champ Wawrinka, plus the best clay-player of the year not named Nadal, aka Sasha Zverev… ALL in one quarter.

I mean seriously?

Nishikori, Pouille, and Wawrinka are all clay power-houses, but I figure the new-gen of Thiem and AZverev are in better form so pick them for an epic quarter-final showdown.  I know Sasha hasn’t made the quarters of a slam before and seems to have some weird mental block, but the dude is on fire and I pick him to barely overcome Thiem, and then spank Novak, before getting thrashed by Nadal.  So there you have it, Nadal to win the French.  Gee what a surprise.  Long live King Rafa!

Decimal odds from Bet365.com on 25 May 2018:
1
Nadal
1.4
2
AZverev
9
3
Thiem
11
4
Djokovic
13
5
Goffin
41
6
Cilic
41
7
Dimitrov
51
8
Nishikori
51
9
Bautista-Agut
51
10
Del Potro
51
11
Wawrinka
51
12
Tsitsipas
67
13
Kyrgios
81
14
Monfils
81
15
Pouille
81
16
Edmund
81
17
Shapovalov
81
18
Carreno-Busta
101
19
Schwartzman
101


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Case for Rod Laver as GOAT - 25 Dec 2010

The Case for Rod Laver Two grand slams.   When one considers the near impossibility of winning a calendar year grand slam in this day and age, the thought of one player winning two boggles the mind.   It’s difficult enough to win the career slam – only 7 men have ever done it and only 4 in the Open era.   Winning a non-calendar slam is even more difficult and many great players have won three in a row and fallen just short:   like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Pete Sampras. So Rod Laver should be an open and shut case for the greatest of all time.   But it’s not that simple.   His first grand slam is really negligible and doesn’t count.   It was an amateur slam won in an era when the best players were professionals.   Especially in the 1960’s the pros were gaining more and more credibility.   The sheer number of pros was increasing as more and more tournaments began to be established for pro players.   Laver was by no means considered...

French Open Preview 2017 - Men

French Open Preview 2017 – Men Rafa is back! He is the clear and dominant favourite for the next slam title at Roland Garros.  Can anyone stop him? Immediately after his Aus Open final appearance I began wondering aloud if Rafael Nadal would be ranked #1 by year’s end.  It appears that eventuality could happen as early as July, but it will depend on what Andy Murray does.  Murray has had a reasonably dreadful year – especially for a #1.  He’s won only about 2.3 matches for every 1 he’s lost – which is respectable – just not for a #1.  Meanwhile Rafa just came off a 17 match win streak – all on clay – and has won three of the four big run-up tournaments to the French – Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid, but fell in the Rome quarters to Thiem.  Rafa has won 3 of these tournaments and RG in the same year seven times in his career.  Will this be the eighth?  The most serious challenger to Nadal might be 23 year-old Dominic Thiem....

2016 Wimbledon Women's Preview

Wimbledon 2016 –Women’s Preview What does Garbine Muguruza’s victory at Roland Garros mean for tennis? Will she be able to play at a high level for Wimbledon?  Is she a legitimate contender for Serena Williams’ role as #1?  Is Serena done winning majors, or is she just ‘resting’? Muguruza’s victory at Roland Garros was surprising but not a complete shock.  Beforehand, she was deemed fourth-most likely by the bookies to take the tournament, pegged at 10:1 odds.  Anytime we welcome a new slam champion to the fold is a cause for celebration... especially a young one like Garbine, only 22.  She displaces Petra Kvitova as the last-born person to win a slam. Muguruza is one of 11 active players to have won a singles major:  Serena, Venus, Sharapova, Azarenka, Kvitova, Kuznetsova, Ivanovic, Kerber, Schiavone, and Stosur.   (There would be four more if it were not for the retirements in the last four years of Li, Bartoli, Clijsters, and P...