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ROLAND GARROS 2015 - DAY 10 IP: 46.255.183.159 Posted on June 3, 2015 at 00:10:00 AM by David Barnes
ROLAND GARROS 2015
TUESDAY 2 JUNE - DAY 10
Jack Sock was in action again today, playing his fourth round doubles match with Vasek Pospisil against the number 5 seeds, Rojer and Tecau. The American was asked yesterday after his loss to Nadal whether he thought it wise to be playing so much (he will have played for eight days in row), being in both singles and doubles. "No. I feel good physically. Some people like the off days to do a light practice or work on things and then get ready for the next match. I don't mind going out and playing a doubles match and working on a few things. Just being out on court, just all the experience you get on court can only help". The experience today was unhappy, if predictable - he and Pospisil lost 6-3, 6-3 in an hour and five minutes against the number 5 seeds.
Sock was frank about the difficulties of facing the force of nature that is Rafa for the first time; "Took some getting used to at the beginning. Nothing I have faced before. Definitely heavier than the average player". A nice understatement there, I thought. A new experience for the American then, as indeed this second week is proving for British junior Emily Arbuthnott, who lost in the first round of both Junior Grand Slams she entered last year (Australian Open and Wimbledon), but is already through to the third round here, having beaten her latest opponent, 15th seed Julieta Estable (who today proved anything but) 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 on a windswept Court 5, much to the delight of a significant British contingent of Union Jack-waving supporters.
French players have historically had little good fortune in the second week at Roland Garros; the last Frenchman to lift the trophy was Yannick Noah in 1983. Tsonga himself has only made a semi-final once before today - in 2013 when he lost to David Ferrer. Both Ferrer, playing Andy Murray in the other half of the draw tomorrow, and Kei Nishikori, the Frenchman's Japanese opponent today have crept along 'under the radar' thus far. Tsonga's weakness in Grand Slams has often been his mind, Nishikori's his body; in both cases here this year they have shown signs of dealing better with their respective demons.
Nishikori made a simply disastrous start in his quarterfinal against Jo-Wilfried, losing his first two service games, the recently improved backhand letting him down time and again, faced with a Gallic onslaught of whirlwind proportions from the other side of the net. With a plethora of unforced errors (twelve to the Frenchman's six), and an abysmal first serve percentage hovering around the 50% mark, the Japanese fifth seed lost the first set 6-1. Another serving debacle followed in the second, which he surrendered 6-4. The match was interrupted, extraordinarily, by a metal panel that fell from a TV screen/scoreboard, high up in a corner at one end of the court, injuring two spectators. Play resumed after nearly 45 minutes, and Nishikori saw an immediate improvement to his fortunes, taking the set 6-4 after exactly an hour and a half, and the fourth 6-3. However, early in the fifth he was broken, to trail 1-3; Tsonga, serving immaculately, controlled things from that point, falling to his knees as Nishikori sent a backhand long on the first match point. "I was very solid in my mind", the Frenchman told Cedric Pioline, who interviewed him on court immediately afterwards.
Federer went down an early break too, over on Suzanne Lenglen court, the capricious and gusting wind initially playing havoc with his usually reliable serve, and he lost the first set 6-4. He went a break down again at 3-3 in the second set; Wawrinka was overpowering him, playing to his backhand wherever possible, the great man's silky smoothness of little use. On set point he shanked a backhand wide; 6-4, 6-3 to the younger man after an hour and twenty minutes of play. The third set seemed a melancholic formality, given that we are witnessing the twilight of Federer's career, even though it went to a tie-break; Wawrinka wrapped up the match in straight sets, with a forehand volley on the last point, after just over two hours, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(3). "Everything worked perfectly"; he said afterwards. "I tried to go for the ball and give him no time. It has been my best match ever on clay". A winner of the Juniors here in 2003, he will play in his first Roland Garros semi-final (at the eleventh attempt) on Friday. Federer paid him tribute afterwards; "Stan made it tough. I thought he played really good tennis out there today. He was red hot. Obviously I was not going to leave the French Open without having tried everything out there, so it was a credit to him for playing so well today. I didn't have enough of an impact on his second serve. Very disappointing part of the game today. But that goes hand in hand with him somewhat dominating the baseline. So I just couldn't quite get it going there. But I know exactly how Stan serves, so there is no excuse there. I just wasn't good enough today".
Wawrinka, who in the old days could never beat Federer, of whom he was in awe, offered the following analysis; "I'm really satisfied with the way I played today. I was always really really nervous when I play Roger, especially in big moments like in quarterfinals of Grand Slams. I wasn't feeling good this morning and before the match, but I also know that's when I play my best game, because I'm so focused in that I have no choice but to play well. The conditions were really tough. But it's quite clear what I have to do when it's conditions like that [very windy] and when I play Roger. I need to play really heavy. That's why Roger was struggling today, It's because I was playing so well. I was so confident with the way I was playing".
After he had left the court, I came across Wawrinka posing for 'selfies' with a group of South American junior players, keen to have their moment of mindless fame with the new Swiss superstud; he will have to get used to more of this sort of attention, especially if he manages to ease past Tsonga in the semi-final on Friday. Federer, meanwhile, was saying that he was looking forward to ". . . what's coming ahead now. There is nothing really positive about losing today because I don't need the extra days, but I will use them with my family and have a great time with them and recover my body". Wawrinka will have other things on his mind.
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David Barnes/Topspin, 2015
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