by Karen
Day 1 of the French Open has not gone very well for the Spin team. Our matches to watch did not live up to expectations. Ace's Lepchenko v Cetkovska was late in the day and was a blow out by Lepchenko coupled with numerous unforced errors by Cetkovska and Karen's match to watch (Min v Muguruza) ended up being on a non-televised court.
The Spin team also suffered some red faces as our picks to win all suffered losses, and to add the icing to the cherry, Karen got kicked out of Suicide Pool. All in all a pretty crappy day for the team. However, we go onwards into battle for Day 2. The Spin's team picks are in brackets.
Court Phillipe Chartrier
Pervak v Sharapova (Sharapova)
Cornet v Barty (Barty)
Court Lenglen
Cibulkova v Razzano (Cibulkova)
Kvitova v Diyas (Kvitova but will be tight)
Court 1
Jankovic v Fischman (Jankovic)
Stephens v Peng (Stephens but will be a struggle)
Court 2
Puig v Stosur (Stosur, experience will tell here)
Shapatava v Kuznetsova (Kuznetsova)
Court 3
Petkovic v. Doi (Petkovic)
Court 4
Ormachea v. Oprandi (Oprandi)
Erakovic v Kichenok (Erakovic)
Court 5
Knapp v Barthel (A tough one but I am going with Barthel)
Peer v Bouchard (Bouchard)
Pereria v Kumkhum (Pereria - I liked what I saw from the Brazilian in Fed Cup)
Court 6
Ferro v Lisicki (It is not grass but it is the first round ... Lisicki)
Johansson v Pliskova (Pliskova)
Court 7
Parmentier v. Vinci (Vinci)
Tatishvilli v Nara (Nara)
Court 8
Paszek v Uytvanck (I swear Paszek had retired. Uytvanck)
Larcher de Brito v Georges (Georges)
Court 9
Bacsinzky v Zanevska (Bascinzky)
Court 10
Hercog v Cepelova (Hercog)
Court 14
Jovanovski v Giorgi (Giorgi)
Court 16
McHale v Vesnina (McHale)
Townsend v King (Townsend)
Court 17
Pennetta v. Mayr-Achleitner (Pennetta, if she is 100%)
Friedsam v Voegele (Voegele)
Wozniak v Cirstea (Wozniak)
Spin's Match to Watch
I am picking the Stephens v. Peng match and I am calling the upset here. Stephens usually puts her best foot forward at the Slams. However, of late, she has not even done that. Peng pushed Serena in her match in Madrid before falling in straight sets. She has improved her serve and she is playing much better on the clay. She also looks to be injury free. I think Peng will use her ability to move the ball around the court and create angles to take away Stephen's propensity to use defence. This one will perhaps be a 3 setter.
Odds and Ends
Day 1 of the French Open has not gone very well for the Spin team. Our matches to watch did not live up to expectations. Ace's Lepchenko v Cetkovska was late in the day and was a blow out by Lepchenko coupled with numerous unforced errors by Cetkovska and Karen's match to watch (Min v Muguruza) ended up being on a non-televised court.
The Spin team also suffered some red faces as our picks to win all suffered losses, and to add the icing to the cherry, Karen got kicked out of Suicide Pool. All in all a pretty crappy day for the team. However, we go onwards into battle for Day 2. The Spin's team picks are in brackets.
Court Phillipe Chartrier
Pervak v Sharapova (Sharapova)
Cornet v Barty (Barty)
Court Lenglen
Cibulkova v Razzano (Cibulkova)
Kvitova v Diyas (Kvitova but will be tight)
Court 1
Jankovic v Fischman (Jankovic)
Stephens v Peng (Stephens but will be a struggle)
Court 2
Puig v Stosur (Stosur, experience will tell here)
Shapatava v Kuznetsova (Kuznetsova)
Court 3
Petkovic v. Doi (Petkovic)
Court 4
Ormachea v. Oprandi (Oprandi)
Erakovic v Kichenok (Erakovic)
Court 5
Knapp v Barthel (A tough one but I am going with Barthel)
Peer v Bouchard (Bouchard)
Pereria v Kumkhum (Pereria - I liked what I saw from the Brazilian in Fed Cup)
Court 6
Ferro v Lisicki (It is not grass but it is the first round ... Lisicki)
Johansson v Pliskova (Pliskova)
Court 7
Parmentier v. Vinci (Vinci)
Tatishvilli v Nara (Nara)
Court 8
Paszek v Uytvanck (I swear Paszek had retired. Uytvanck)
Larcher de Brito v Georges (Georges)
Court 9
Bacsinzky v Zanevska (Bascinzky)
Court 10
Hercog v Cepelova (Hercog)
Court 14
Jovanovski v Giorgi (Giorgi)
Court 16
McHale v Vesnina (McHale)
Townsend v King (Townsend)
Court 17
Pennetta v. Mayr-Achleitner (Pennetta, if she is 100%)
Friedsam v Voegele (Voegele)
Wozniak v Cirstea (Wozniak)
Spin's Match to Watch
I am picking the Stephens v. Peng match and I am calling the upset here. Stephens usually puts her best foot forward at the Slams. However, of late, she has not even done that. Peng pushed Serena in her match in Madrid before falling in straight sets. She has improved her serve and she is playing much better on the clay. She also looks to be injury free. I think Peng will use her ability to move the ball around the court and create angles to take away Stephen's propensity to use defence. This one will perhaps be a 3 setter.
Odds and Ends
Tennis Channel has managed to annoy everyone with their coverage. I don't live in the US, but I get my tennis via Dish Network. I pay a lot of money for this to happen and I am appalled really at the Shylock type behaviour of Tennis Channel. From the complaints that I am seeing, even if you have Tennis Channel as part of your cable package (and I understand you have to pay extra for it), in order to watch live streaming of what Tennis Channel is carrying, you have to pay to watch these live streams. This is highway robbery and not the way for a monopoly to behave.
Frankly speaking Tennis Channel could offer better value for money if they ditched some of the talking heads that they have on set, as well as stop spending money on Destination Tennis and making all these Best of 5 nonsense that no tennis fan worth their salt is even interested in. Who cares who is the hottest coach around? I know as a tennis fan, I could care less.
I doubt if tennis fans need 4 people in a studio analysing a match that for all intents and purposes the result is already known.
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