surprisingly montanes collapse after taking the second set. good win for delpo. The knee is a worry though as he called the trainer during the match.

May 27th, 2012 at 10:15 am

Hope to hear from the people who are seeing the first round matches today.
How are the conditions ?
Court speed, bounce with the changed balls ?

May 27th, 2012 at 10:17 am

@djokowins: IMHO, the court seems on the slow side- slower than Rome- the ball is also travellig through the air SLOWER than last year also. The bounce is LOW also. It was very sunny today however. Me thinks it should help the big hitters (berdych, delpotro etc) as it is a HEAVY BALL. As a nadal fan, IMHO, provided he gets the topspin ( which he should I believe) then conditions are ALMOST IDEAL for him. Similar to MONTE CARLO almost.

May 27th, 2012 at 10:28 am

Brando,
Thanks for the update. Please correct me if I am wrong.
My understanding is that MC and Rome are slow but with high bounce. The higher bounce is what causes all kinds of trouble to Nole and Federer (more in his case) against Rafa.

If the bounce is low, I would say advantage Federer and partially to Nole too. But in the SF this will certainly help Federer in his match up against Nole.

May 27th, 2012 at 10:35 am

@djokowins: IMHO rafa would PREFER this ball over last years for the following: 1- it shall give him more time to WIND UP his shots, 2- rafa hits with more topspin than ANYONE- so until we see him we may not know about the bounce he can get, 3- the ball and conditions seem SLOW so more longer rallies, 4- it’s a HEAVY ball- something which rafa likes. I personally do not think this favours federer since last year the points were QUICK an SHORT compared to previous years- this year the rallies shall be LONGER. In summary, it’s EARLY to tell bur SHOULD rafa get a nice height of his FH, then conditions should SUIT him more anyone else IMHO

May 27th, 2012 at 10:49 am

About the Babolat balls of RG, in spanish tv, commentators said that this balls are worse for spaniards than the balls of the clay Masters series (don’t know why).

– canadian Ryder Hesjedal winner of Giro de Italia –

May 27th, 2012 at 11:31 am

i dont think roddick can turn this around. he is down 2 sets already

May 27th, 2012 at 11:45 am

gonzalowski – i dont follow cycling, but good to hear canadian won Giro.

Roddick could be making a comeback, breaks mahut in the third.

May 27th, 2012 at 11:54 am

Roddick should retire…wonder what keeps him going,…In his 30s even the mighty fed is struggling with all his powers to win gslams..atleast he is winning all the left overs…why is roddick playing? Best is to go away..

May 27th, 2012 at 11:58 am

Easy draw for Federina, an injury guy on his draw!

May 27th, 2012 at 12:01 pm

maybe he is enjoying the game gannu. enjoys competing, that is enough for some players to continue playing.

I remember reading his wife hinting he will retire soon though. he has cut down on his schedule. Clay was never his best surface even during his peak years. I can see why he didn’t spent too much time to prepare for RG. Looks like he is waiting for wimbledon and the olympics.

May 27th, 2012 at 12:06 pm

kimmi then why play RG…i dont roddick ever believes that he could win french..if thats the attitude better quit..competing alone doesnt make any sense…one competes for winning and not for losing…and if you cnat belive then dont play…Roddick’s days are over…others may play because they have to make money and perehaps its more a quetsion of survival…that isnt the case with roddick

May 27th, 2012 at 12:15 pm

Sad to see roddick go. Poor guy would have done so much better if there was no federer. Has probably tge most lopsided record against fed.

May 27th, 2012 at 12:47 pm

Nice, we have Canucks doing well in cycling, and of course we have a horse/rider going for the triple crown. It’d be great if we could soon see some slam success in tennis. And maybe a winning hockey team. :/

May 27th, 2012 at 12:53 pm

How come the points on the draw aren’t updating?

May 27th, 2012 at 12:54 pm

jane! it’s exciting to have a Canadian win Giro d’Italia! I could only follow the race from cycling news; couldn’t stream my favorite mountain stages. But Ryder Hesjdal, wow! He rode the Stelvio and other climbs and remained close to the climber specialists – “Purito” friend of Contador’s took 2nd and a Belgian 3rd. But Ryder from American team winning Giro is huge! Armstrong never one it. It takes a super climber and a guy who can ride the individual time trial well to win a Grand Tour. Giro is really my favorite of the 3 GT’s in cycling. I’m excited for Hesjedal – he will also ride the Tour de France….incredible athlete to be able to get stronger over 3 weeks – only the best can do it :D

May 27th, 2012 at 1:18 pm

should be “won”, not “one” lol… too happy to even type!!

May 27th, 2012 at 1:20 pm

Kimberly – I left some messages for you on the bracket…look in yours, ‘conty’ and ‘Greekboy’

I really messed it up….embarrassing to have 3 ‘Greekboy’s’ in there but I panicked because of the terrible internet connection where we were. 2 Djokovic “Greekboy” brackets shouldn’t be in there…just the one with Nadal winning. “Conty” having 2 brackets was kind of a mistake but both have Djokovic winning. One was supposed to be in Main Pool, one in Tennis-x. Um, embarrasing…remember my “martian moonballs?” *facepalm*

May 27th, 2012 at 1:34 pm

Roddick, imo, kimmi, doesn’t really enjoy the game. Didn’t watch the match but could listen to Rolland Garos Radio. Roddick is more grumpy than ever. Maybe he’ll be better for Wimbledon and Olympics (if he’s playing Olympics), and US hc season.

Congrats to Mahut!

May 27th, 2012 at 1:41 pm

carlo, yeah, roddick doesn’t seem happy on the court. He did get that win over Fed in Miami, but his reaction was almost more like relief than happiness and he was beat soundly the next round.
BTW, what’s the name of that place where you find matches online? What .com?

May 27th, 2012 at 1:47 pm

carlo, my husband knew something about the Giro and he said that last stretch was murder too. :)

May 27th, 2012 at 1:48 pm

So happy Raw-dick is gone. Loser. I feel ashamed he’s American because of his attitude towards officials and umpires.

May 27th, 2012 at 2:09 pm

jane – the tennis channel brackets updates after all matches are finished for the day. Yeah, the ATP bracket is spoiling us. Too good that one.

May 27th, 2012 at 2:34 pm

Picked Mahut!

May 27th, 2012 at 3:04 pm

i don’t think anyone expected much out of andy roddick. he was ousted in the first round a couple of years ago as well. there used to be someone on this site who really liked him – he/she posted as ‘von’ and took a lot of grief. i always found him to be a nice person off court, very entertaining, but a bit of a jerk on court.

May 27th, 2012 at 3:06 pm

TV – I picked Mahut too! :)

Thanks for telling me Kimmi, re: the updates.

May 27th, 2012 at 4:29 pm

Light a candle for JMdp and his knee!

May 27th, 2012 at 4:32 pm

Ok I will play this game, I picked mahut, too!

May 27th, 2012 at 4:32 pm

Not a good day for anyone picking Melzer,who also went out.

May 27th, 2012 at 4:33 pm

Jane here is your guy

RT @DjokerNole Very excited to come back and play on #rolandgarros! 3rd match vs Starace tomorrow, r u ready? ;) http://t.co/L36VtpJr

May 27th, 2012 at 4:36 pm

@Gannu

Maybe you should put your mouth where your money is;

Apprently, Roddick has a sponsorship deal worth $US10 million annually..Totally everything(other endorsments), he earns a lot more annually..

Think again!

May 27th, 2012 at 4:42 pm

Ha, that’s cute dari, thanks. :) He’s soooo flexible.

May 27th, 2012 at 4:52 pm

great pic dari. is there any other tennis player who can do that?

May 27th, 2012 at 5:20 pm

picked Mahut!

jane, dari, love that pic! that’s why he is phenomenole!

jane, I couldn’t stream anything; just had FO Radio from the FO website this morning early and had to read the “as it happened” on cycling news for the last stage of Giro and will see Ryder’s winning time trial when I get home.

But the streaming sites are the usual ones at home: live scorehunter . com ; and lemon sport . com, which was from sport .com . when I post actual links lately, my post gets permanently moderated. :/

May 27th, 2012 at 5:24 pm

Ok, just got in form the beach. Going to do some housekeeping on tourneytopia in a little.

May 27th, 2012 at 5:26 pm

ok I will play this too. I picked roddick to meet federer..boooooo :(

May 27th, 2012 at 5:31 pm

“phenomenole”!! word of the day conty.

May 27th, 2012 at 5:32 pm

Picked roddick.

May 27th, 2012 at 5:35 pm

Kimmi yeah so did i (sigh).

May 27th, 2012 at 5:37 pm

Thanks carlo: it was the lemon one I couldn’t remember. I was trying to find a stream of Kubot, but score hunter didn’t have one. American TV coverage was just re-showing Oudin’s match, which I didn’t want to watch. I have to say, though, the Argentinian girl who played Venus was pretty awesome – great groundstrokes, and very quiet too.

May 27th, 2012 at 5:45 pm

seeing if my new, old abbreviated moniker goes through. please change from ‘carlo’ to ‘conty’ moderators? hopefully?

Kimberly, strangely my WTA FO bracket transferred to last years’ FO bracket challenge? margot is the only other one in that pool. Are you in a different pool? anyway…used your email on ATP tennis-x Bracket and emailed the link(s).

May 27th, 2012 at 7:55 pm

Kimmi, I did start using “phenomenole” for nole on the fromsport chat (chatango) last year during his streak. Others started using it right away :D I had never seen it before – just came to me when he won v rafa last spring on clay.

ummm, so I don’t actually know I coined the nick but that’s what I call him there.

tried to post as conty, Kimmi…a message to Kimberly but not sure moderators will accept the change. It’s really me – same email address, ect.

May 27th, 2012 at 8:09 pm

oh thank-you moderators! conty post went through. I am now ‘conty’

May 27th, 2012 at 8:10 pm

@Gannu

To be exact, all in all, Roddick makes $US16million annually in endosements alone……(he’ll continue to earn that much and even more after retirement)…..

He is the 5th highest tennis player(Both Men & Women Included)….

That is more then enough reason to keep playing….no?

May 27th, 2012 at 8:18 pm

Glad you’re Conty again, Carlo. ;-)

May 27th, 2012 at 8:50 pm

“conty” – great. now i don’t have to think too much when i address you. I made mistakes before.

Well you did it. And its great. If not federer then I would rout for phenomenole! history in the making. Lets go RG!!

Lisa – Roddick fifth highest tennis player? who is number 4, murray? I guess number 1, 2 and 3 will be roger, rafa, nole?

May 27th, 2012 at 8:51 pm

OK, I missed the women thing. I know sharapova makes quite a bit.

May 27th, 2012 at 8:52 pm

When I remember the hype about the Rafa slam two years ago, got the impression Nole is flying under the radar.

May 27th, 2012 at 9:05 pm

@kimmi…:) Just for intrest

Top 5 Earning Tennis Players (Endosements Alone);

#5 Andy Roddick – $16mil/ yr

#4 Serena Williams – $18mil/ yr

#3 Rafael Nadal – $20mil/ yr

#2 Maria Sharapova – $22.5mil/ yr

#1 Roger Federer – $36mil/ yr

May 27th, 2012 at 9:19 pm

thanks Lisa. that is interesting. I thought rafa is earning more than sharapova. I think he will probably pass her, he is too close.

May 27th, 2012 at 9:47 pm

@Kimmi

Im sure he would too…..his playing super fantasic on clay…:)

May 27th, 2012 at 10:29 pm

@Kimmi

Im sure he would too…..his playing super fantastic on clay…:)

May 27th, 2012 at 10:31 pm