Preparing for the French Open: From Low-Key Federer To Flat-Out Verdasco

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: May 22, 2010

commentComment        

We watched the Madrid Masters avidly for the last clues to who will be hot in Paris.

We’ve pored over clay-court stats, Roland Garros records, and recent head-to-heads to make some sense of where the sensible money will be by the time the French Open kicks off tomorrow.

There have been injuries to check out, illnesses to monitor, last-minute headlines to absorb.

But if we thought there was no more ammunition in the Tour’s locker to influence those final predictions, we were wrong.

For during these final days, there have been exhibitions, tournaments, and Tweets from all and sundry. And these events reveal some final pointers not just to form but to mindset.

Who’s still going flat out to try and make a final impression, and who’s ploughing their own quiet furrow?

Who’s putting in hours of private practice, and who favors the intensity of competition?

Who is confident, and who is—well, who is not?

Start in Nice, for example, the only ATP event of the week, where the world No. 7 Robin Soderling and No. 9 Fernando Verdasco have been competing.

Soderling went out of Madrid in his first match and fell in Rome in his second. Is it therefore significant that he fell at the first hurdle, to Olivier Rochus, in Nice?

He is the first man on Philippe Chatrier as the French Open gets under way and will be relieved to be facing only the 179th ranked man. But he could quickly face Albert Montanes, then Ernests Gulbis. He’ll need to make a step-change in his game pretty quickly.

And Verdasco, who left Madrid with ankle problems, got all the way to the Nice finals, but it was a hard road. Sergiy Stakhovsky took him to three sets, Leonardo Mayer forced the score to 7-6, 7-5, and Verdasco eventually lost, on the day before Roland Garros gets under way, 3-6, 7-5, 6-7.

The Spaniard has the heart of a lion, and a physique to match, but he ha...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

Latest News


Comments

Comments are closed.

Sponsors

Bruins Tickets The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League.

Red Wings Tickets The Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League.

Penguins Tickets The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League.

New York Rangers Tickets play their home games at Madison Square Garden, they are one of the oldest teams in the NHL, having joined in 1926 as an expansion franchise, and are part of the group of teams referred to as the Original Six.

San Jose Sharks Tickets The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California, United States.

Toronto Maple Leafs Tickets The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League.

New Jersey Devils Tickets The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League.

Washington Capitals Tickets The Washington Capitals are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C.

Buffalo Sabres Tickets The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League. Get the Sabres and all of your NHL Tickets here.

NASCAR season is on of the most attended sports in the world. NASCAR Tickets to the best tracks is a must every year. Some of these tracks are: Talladega Tickets, Lowes Motor Speedway Tickets, Pocono Raceway Tickets, located in Ridgeway Virginia you have Martinsville Speedway Tickets and southern US you have two of the most popular Atlanta Motor Speedway Tickets and Texas Motor Speedway Tickets. Don't miss all the racing events this year!

Boston Red Sox Tickets The Boston Red Sox are a member of the Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Since 1912, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park. This is one of the hottest MLB Tickets sales of any team in the major league.

New York Yankees Tickets The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the borough of the Bronx, in New York City, New York and are a member of Major League Baseball's American League East Division. Get tickets to one of the hottest games of the season Yankees Red Sox Tickets.

Chicago Cubs Tickets The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League.

Phillies Tickets The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883.

Orioles Tickets The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland.

Do you love wrestling? Get your WWE Tickets and WWE Survivor Series Tickets today!