So this is my penulimate post on the men's French open of 2014 which will cover the men's semi finals matches which would feature three grand slam champions and one newcomer to the top of the game. So let's give the matches a look...
Right so for the first match we had Novak Djokovic, the 2012 finalist, taken on the rising star, Ernests Gulbis for a place in the final. The match on paper sounded like a bit of a classic and also a real test for Nole given Gulbis's form, however as we all know expectations can be difficult to live up to and the match itself wasn't a cracker even though the level of play at times was pretty good. Nole got off to the better start naturally as he moved and served great and left Gulbis quite often flat footed, who was feeling the pressue and Nole took a two set lead in just over an hour. However things changed in the 3rd set as Novak lost his concentration and let Gulbis in, who broke serve and went on to push the match further into a 4th set. In the 4th set Nole got an early break as Gulbis appeared to suffer with his back, but he left Gulby off the hook, who broke back again. In the end however Gulbis's comeback was shortlived as he dropped serve to let Nole go 5-3 up and the Serb didn't need anymore than that as he went on to seal the match and a place in his second final at the French open with a 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory.
Well this match in the end wasn't too bad but considering the billing it was a bit of a letdown and it had to be said that both players were struggling a little physically during the match, although it was surprising to see Novak was struggling a bit too in the 3rd and 4th sets. The temperatures on court were however pretty high as the temps were in the late 20s so obviously both players were literally feeling the heat. But despite all that its credit again to Novak who has so far played a pretty solid tournament and its second final at Roland Garros which is no mean feat and he will have another chance to complete his career slam and win the elusive title he wants most. As for Gulbis well he has had a great tournament and its sees his best career result so far in the slams by reaching his first semi final in Paris, and he will be sure to get inside the top 10 soon enough.
So this brings me onto the second semi final of the day which was between Rafael Nadal, the eight time champion at Roland Garros and the Wimbledon champion, Andy Murray. The prospect of this match was undeniably mouth watering especially given their previous match in Rome, which was the first they had played in nearly three years was one of the best matches of the year, so this one promised to be real special. But.... sadly it didn't turn out that way and despite a very positive first point of the match won by Andy on Rafa's serve, that was about as good as it got as after that Andy's game degenerated into a calamity of errors which Rafa capitalised on throughout. But things didn't look too grim in the first set as Rafa broke Andy only once and took the set, however after that things just went from bad to worse as Andy struggled horribly on his serve and it hit an all time low of 40% first serves in during the second set! And in the 3rd, Andy looked a beaten man and he did everything short of waving the white flag, which he pretty much did anyway. And at 5-1, Andy failed to even hold serve to force Rafa to serve it out, as the king of clay smashed away a final winning forehand to crush Andy's dreams of reaching his first French open final, which saw the Spaniard reaching his 9th final with a comprehensive 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 rout.
So to say this match didn't live up to expectations is a real understatement and I'm sure it was possibly one of the worst grand slam matches I have ever seen Andy Murray play, as well as one of the heaviest losses he has suffered in a major tournament. However it has been a pretty gruelling tournament physically for Andy having played two five set matches on his way to the semis and he seemed to complain about his legs again during play, which maybe suggests he was cramping again, although he didn't call for a trainer at any time so who knows? What was clear though was Andy just wasn't allowed to play his game as he was up against a near invincible opponent who was just unstoppable. And whoever Andy chooses as his next coach will really need to try and address his extremely problematic serve as I stated above at one point during his match, Andy's first serve percentage plummeted to 40% which is nowhere near good enough and he will never beat the big guys like Rafa with those types of figures. And given the slower surface of clay, Andy's flat serve doesn't travel so well on the surface, which probably results in his percentage going down further. Rafa on the other hand had the match in the palm of his hand after losing the first point, he never looked back and the conditions for play were perfect for him with a warm sunny day and a light wind, the ball travels fast through the air and the high bounce on clay let's Rafa get the perfect topspin he needs for his shots, which he executed to perfection today.
And the question remains, not just for Andy but for everyone else, just how do you beat a man who has won 65 matches at the same tournament and lost only once??? Its a near impossible task to pull off and the only man who managed it was Robin Soderling back in 2009 and since then Rafa has continued unbeaten on the clay, so when you think of that, it makes you realise the titanic challenge that lay ahead for Andy and unfortunately he just wasn't up to the task. Another troubling thing that has emerged from this match and Andy's previous match with Rafa is will the Spaniard continue to defeat Andy the way he used to in the past with the same regularity? Because if that is the case its going to be very difficult for Andy to make it into any slam finals again unless Rafa loses en route and he really has struggled with Rafa in the past in slams and it appears like he might continue to if he comes up against Rafa in that form. And if Andy faces Rafa in Wimbledon this year how will he respond to the man from Mallorca as another painful defeat could be awaiting him. Andy has already stated in the media that he would like to face Rafa again on grass with the intention of taking revenge over his emphatic defeat at the French open, can he???? Well you can but hope, last year if Rafa faced Andy I would almost certainly say that Andy would have beaten him at Wimbledon as he himself was unstoppable at that tournament. Andy is currently also the best grass court player in the world and he is currently on an 18 match winning streak on grass, but can he keep that form up this year??? Its really hard to say and the signs we have seen this year suggest its doubtful, but there is no doubt that when the British No.1 steps out on that centre court at Wimbledon he will be fired up and ready to go and if he is to go out to Rafa eventually then he will give his all before it happens.
So it was a very disappointing and heavy loss for Andy and I'm sure its one match he will want to forget, but on the bright side he reached the semi finals again at the French open, and having missed it last year, he will gain a valuable 720 ranking points, which sees his return to the top 5 in the world which is great to see. And it has to be said that Andy has played some of the most entertaining matches of the men's tournament this year, which overall has been it a bit of a letdown. And with the grass court season starting next week, it will see Andy back in his comfort zone again as grass is his favourite surface, having won five titles on grass already and being the defending Wimbledon champion and also at Queens club, which starts on Monday coming. However during the grass court season, Andy will have to play very well as he has alot of points to defend, with 250 at Queens and a whopping 2000 at Wimbledon, so if he goes out early at SW19, he will take a big hit on points there, which will affect his ranking again. But despite his tough French open loss, the signs are still looking pretty encouraging for Andy and we will see how he get's on next week at Queens. As for his next coach, well Andy said he would make an annoucement after the French open, which ends on Sunday, so does this mean he will announce whoever it is next week??? Perhaps not, as he still seems non-committal over the subject, but I guess we will have to wait and see.
So this sets up the French open final between the world No.1 and No.2, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in a rematch of their excellent 2012 final. So who will win this one?????? Well..... its a tough call but I would have to go with Rafa, who's form has been excellent throughout the tournament and he played a superb match against Andy, which showed every asepct of his game was on fire. Novak on the other hand has played very well throughout the tournament overall, but he also has suffered a few lapses on serve here and there, which he cannot afford to do in the final against Rafa. Nole has also said he felt a bit fatigued on the court during his match with Gulbis, which also leaves a bit of a question mark over his fitness and whether or not he can topple and dethrone the king of clay on Sunday. And Novak also had his golden chance least year to beat Rafa as he went a break up in the 5th set, but he squandered it by tripping into the net at a key point, which he later lost as a result. So this time Novak simply cannot have any slip-ups, literal or otherwise, or else he will come out second best. And here's hoping Djokovic doesn't have a repeat in his previous final two years ago where he double faulted on championship point for Rafa, which no doubt was a point that haunted him and left him a wounded man months after. However despite that Novak still has a decent chance of winning the title if he can find that extra gear and play a great match then he will left the trophy on Sunday. But for me personally I think Rafa will triumph again and win his record 9th title here, so I think Rafa will win it in either four or five sets, but whatever happens it promises to be quite a final.
But one thing I have noticed is that Novak has put up a photo of himself playing chess (on Sat 07.06) with Boris Becker, his head coach, and he is wearing a bandage on his arm! Now as Djokovic has had a prior wrist injury this doesn't look like a good sign and if his wrist has flared up again then his chances tomorrow are not good as he will need to be 100 percent to have any chance against Rafa. So it makes you wonder is there something wrong with Novak's wrist or is he is trying to use a bit of gamesmanship to lull Rafa into a false sense of security??? If its the latter then the French crowd will come down on him like a tonne of bricks and straight away Rafa has an advantage with the crowd supporting him instead. However Djokovic has aluded to not feeling his best on Friday and has suggested in his press conference that he had some undisclosed ailment, and if it is his wrist again or something else, then he could very well lose tomorrow, but we'll wait and see how it pans out. But it would be ironic if we were to have another injury laden slam final again like we did with Rafa back in the Australian open earlier this year and even Rafa's back has been playing up a little bit again at the French as well although he has downplayed it alot more and it certainly hasn't impeded his play. So again we will wait and see how tomorrow pans out but it promises to be interesting one way or another especially as the World No.1 ranking is on the line for both of them, as Nole could overtake Rafa in the rankings to the top spot if he wins and also complete his career slam, or if Nole loses Rafa will remain at the top of the rankings and claim a record 9th title at Roland Garros, so its going to be a very intruiging day.
Right so that's it for now and I will be back with the result of the ladies final and see who comes out on top in the final between Maria Sharapova and the very talented and in form Romanian player, Simona Halep, who has reached the first major final of her career in Paris.
And with that I shall leave yee there.
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