Roland Garros 2015

[DBR]

Richard is at Roland Garros today with Seb! Allez!


Source: https://twitter.com/GuillaumeW86/status/599151217554624512/photo/1

[amurti]

I hope Richard does well at the FO - it will be so nice to see him go far. GOOD LUCK RICHARD

[DBR]

A short video of Richard's practice with Seb today. Allez!

https://twitter.com/ChicheCyril/status/599516179426840576

[DBR]

Not the kindest draw for Richard - Djokovic in the 4th round - but he will play qualifier, Germain Gigounon (world #208 from Belgium. who beat Falla 6-2, 6-2 today) in the 1st round.

Allez Richard!

[blazer]

Shocking first five games and a fairly poor performance from richard in the first two sets but he did enough. The third set was a lot better but he could be more aggressive. he'l have to play better in the next rounds and a lot better vs anderson to get to the 4th round. His serve needs to win him many more points, he needs to cut down the errors whilst also being more aggressive. He made too many errors today despite playing quite passively.

Allez Richard!!

[Puschkin]

I have not seen anything, but it seems to have been a tense start and got much easier towards the end. First rounds against qualifiers are often harder than they look on paper.

[blazer]

Against Berlocq in the first he was a bit too defensive, and didnt win barely any free points on serve. He played ok from the back but berlocq was better, the 2nd was easier but tight and the third was even easier as richard played better. The fourth was very entertaining but berlocq raised his game a
The atmosphere was shades of the wawrinka match 2 years ago.

When richard returned the next day for the final set he went 0-30 down on his first service game and i feared the worst but all of a sudden he hit a couple of good serves and more aggressive play to hold. He served better than yesterday and was more aggressive and took the set comfortably.

Anderson will be a lot tougher as we saw in Australia, I think the crowd and the fact its on clay will boost Richard's chances although it will help if Anderson doesnt serve as well as he did then. I thik Richard also needs to be more aggressive than he was in their previous meeting. If Richard serves well and is aggressive I am sure he can win!! Allez!!!

[Puschkin]

I was really worried for this fifth set today, but according to the stats it was his best set, 14 winners, only 2 unforced errors, too bad I could not see it. Good luck against Anderson.

[amurti]

[Puschkin]

Good win from Richard against Anderson 4-6 7-6 7-5 6-4. It took Richard a while to find an answer to Anderson's serve, the South African was serving great throughout the match. A turning moment was the 8th game in the third set, Richard saved four breakpoints and this seemed to be a huge confidence booster. He broke in the 11th game to win the set 7-5, the fourth set was largely dominated by Richard who exposed Anderson's poor movement more and more. The crowd was very supportive of Richard, they cheered him on all the time, good to see that he is finally reconciled with his compatriots. I am very happy for him.

[amurti]

Yes puschkin, the French crowds attending was just out of this world. The support to Richard and other French players is incredibly beautiful to watch. It was like a Davis cup match which was great. Maybe other countries can learn a lesson from Roland garros. I must point out that the French crowd were also routing for Richard when down and this encourages Richard to play better. A great result for Richard and I hope for a good match against djoker. I'm sure Richard was very happy with the support he received today. Love it and looking forward to the next match, go Richard go.

[blazer]

Great win vs anderson but how he is playing vs djokovic really bothers me. His serve is nowhere near good enough. He has been relying on his groundstrokes all week and his serve is used to gain a strategic advantage or even just start points. This is ok against players of a certain calibre because Richard can beat a lot of players off the ground but if he wants to play with the big boys he needs to increase his first serve speed dramatically.

Also why cant Richard just go out swinging???.. instead of this painful death he is experiencing on chatrier now against the machine. This is embrassing. His poor serve just means he is putty in Djokovic's hands.. i can hardly watch this is embarassing atm.

[amurti]

Me too, I hate to see Richard play like this when I know how well he can play. Sad to see when he should believe in himself more, because he is a great player. C'mon Richard, I so wanted you to play good today.

[blazer]

After that defeat i'd love to see Richard come out and say that his serve isnt good enough and he isnt giving himself a hope of challenging the best as he isnt winning enough points off of it. The lack of power just means the best players can pick him off even if he plays brilliantly off the ground its only a matter of time before he is broken. He has no means to hold serve against the best.

Im really dissapointed not at the defeat but at the manner of it. What were Bruguera and Grosjean telling Richard before this match? He just did his typical behind the baseline game and he got destroyed. It looked like there were 200 ranking places between them at least. Richard was playing the best player in the world by far and never stood a chance playing normally. So why did he do just that?

[Puschkin]