Category Archives: Grand Slams
On Place, and the Holding Thereof
French Open, Day 15 (2) Nadal leads (1) Djokovic, 6/4 6/3 2/6 1/2 Those expecting any kind of recapitulation of the unfolding, stuttering, lurching, despair-inducing, adjective-laden Roland Garros men’s final between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are bound to feel … Continue reading
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Scarlet Billows
French Open, Day 13 (2) Nadal d. (6) Ferrer, 6/2 6/2 6/1 (1) Djokovic d. (3) Federer, 6/4 7/5 6/3 By the time a tennis tournament has been reduced to just four men – continuing with my nuclear chemistry theme … Continue reading
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By His Design
French Open, Day Eleven Tuesday’s French Open quarterfinals provided a pair of matches that were about as fascinating as discerning tennis fans could reasonably hope for, although those same fans might reasonably query the wisdom of scheduling both for precisely … Continue reading
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Les Particules élémentaires
French Open, Day Ten Much like other radioactive substances, the tournament draw at the 2012 French Open cleaves to a more or less fixed rate of exponential decay, weather permitting. After a slow start, the event discards precisely half its … Continue reading
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The Second Week
French Open, Day Nine The definition of when the second week of a major truly begins is contested, fraught and ultimately not very interesting, which is why I’m going to spend some time on it. Much like Douglas Adams’ recipriversexcluson – … Continue reading
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A Torrent of High Comedy
French Open, Day 8 (3) Federer d. (LL) Goffin, 5/7 7/5 6/2 6/4 Roger Federer today defeated David Goffin in four sets, and thereby moved through to his 32nd consecutive quarterfinal at Grand Slam level. This equates to eight years … Continue reading
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De Profundis
French Open, Third Round ‘Pain doesn’t kill me. I kill the pain.’ These are the inspirational words that the generally likeable Svetlana Kuznetsova has inscribed into the flesh of her inner right bicep, thereby proving the adage that if you … Continue reading
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Perfect Cadence
French Open, Day Five Fognini d. (28) Troicki, 6/2 3/6 4/6 6/3 8/6 Fabio Fognini saved two match points while defeating Viktor Troicki today – 8/6 in the fifth set – and it is reasonable to suppose he played the … Continue reading
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Spread Too Thin
French Open, Day Three This year, more than ever, the policy of sustaining the French Open’s opening round over three days seems to have had the deleterious effect of spreading the excitement too thinly, guaranteeing that the genuinely great moments … Continue reading
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Minor Records and Major Drama
French Open, Day Two Kukushkin d. Gulbis, 6/4 7/6 5/7 2/6 6/4 For the first two and half sets of his match against Mikhail Kukushkin in the Roland Garros first round, Ernests Gulbis played like a man killing time, and … Continue reading
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