 Roland Garros
done for the yr, but here are my thoughts;
MENS:
does mutant win? does teenage sensation Rafael Nadal (with FIVE ATP clay court titles under his belt, two of which are Tennis Masters Series Events) win IN HIS FISRT TRY? does Coria follow Juan Carlos Ferrero's footsteps and wins AFTER a loss in the final in the previous year? Is there an American who can make some noise here, maybe make the quarters? Gaudio repeats? Safin reborn?
in this current decade ALL 5 Roland Garros champions have been of Spanish descent and only 1 repeat winner in Brasil's G Kuerten.
TOP HALF OF THE DRAW-- MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH more danger lies here than in the bottom. Gaudio, Mutant, Nadal, Gasquet, Moya, Nalbandian, F Gonzalez--will the winner of the top half have anythinig left in the tank for the finals?? Awful draw for mutant. A potential mutant vs R Nadal semi finals looms; can you imagine if these two were to meet? my goodness.
top quartet; LOADED with talent; mutant, Moya, Nalbandian and F Gonzalez, throw in Chela, And Henman for fun. Mutant is in potential trouble here. After a cakewalk in the first round he WILL be tested every round the rest of the way. His HORRIFIC record at Roland Garros may play on him; 6 times entered has NEVER gotten to a semi finals, 0-6, doesn play well with him surviving this quartet. Three of those yrs he has lost IN THE FIRST ROUND. Mutant is 41-7 last 3 yrs on clay, 9-1 ytd; an impressive STEAMROLLING performance at Hamburg 2 weeks ago, having NOT lost a set including wins over Coria and Gasquet. He is 2-0 vs Coria h2h both wins ON CLAY. His tourney looks like this;
vs Sela first round-- easy win here
2 rd-- vs Almagro-- Nicolas is a clay courter, enuf said
3rd round- F Gonzalez. He has owned Fernando. Will not be easy, can go down right here
4th rd-- C Moya- ouch
qtrs--D Nalnandian--ouch
if these potential players meet him 'as planned', it's gogin to be incredible if he survives this quartet and certainly history is agasint him.
quartet favs-- mutant, Moya, Nalbandian
dangers-- F Gonzalez
first round match-ups to eye;
D Nalbandian vs M Baghdatis-- David is a poor man's Marat Safin; becoming increasingly imposible to predict. He has lost he's last two clay court matches (first round exists!!) to Santoro and Soderling (lol). He can be VERY dangerous in this tourney and can certainly reach the qtrs with this draw. Wait to see how he's playing, if on, jump on board.
P Starace vs T Henman-- the Brit can exist right here. Tim STUNNINGLY reached the semi's here a yr ago after failing to get bye the THIRD ROUND in 8 previous trips. He IS NOT getting to the semi's this yr, he's NOT gogin anywhere at Roland Garros in 2005; stay away from him but once he plays a real threat bet agsint him. He will not beat Nalbandian in the 4th rd if they were to meet, WILL NOT.
A Martin vs C Moya--gee, what a nice first round opponent for the 1998 RG Champion They met three times a yr ago, Carlos won them all. WILL BE A TOUGH TEST FOR HIM HERE, Alberto with current form could win here. Dont be fooled by his embarassing loss to Safin at Hamburg; he needed a break and the score reflected that. Stay away from betting ON Moya, unless he shows great from in the first two rounds (i dont think that will be the case)--danger parlay material, dont use him.
I have NO IDEA who will win this quartet and have their name in place for the semi's. NO BET TO WIN QUARTET; mutant will have a huge number here and simply not worth it
back with the bottom half of THE TOP DRAW |