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Indoor Season 2008 - The Come Back!

8K views 104 replies 18 participants last post by  soulage 
#1 · (Edited)
:singer: Yes, I declare that this indoor season is going to be LEGEN... wait for it... DARY!!!! :banana:

Schedule

1. OPEN DE MOSELLE
METZ, FRANCE
Dates: 29 SEPTEMBER–5 OCTOBER 2008
Website: www.opendemoselle.com

2. KREMLIN CUP
MOSCOW, RUSSIA
Dates: OCTOBER 6-12, 2008
Website: http://www.kremlincup.ru/index-eng.html

3. MUTUA MADRILENA MASTERS MADRID

Location: MADRID, SPAIN
Dates: SUNDAY 12–SUNDAY 19 OCTOBER, 2008
Website: http://www.mutuamad-mastersmadrid.com//eng/index.htm

*4. Grand Prix de Tennis De Lyon

Lyon, France
Website: www.gptennislyon.com

5. BNP Paribas Masters

Paris, France
Website: www.bnpparibasmasters.org

*Patrice, the coach, didn't mention Lyon in his recent interview. But Paulo appears to be on the entry list.

______________________
In the President, we trust!


:lol:
 
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#71 ·
Too early! :sobbing: I hate mornings.
Vamos Paulo, make my early start worthwhile.
 
#72 ·
OK... that means I have to leave school one hr early today --- oh well, Pathology lab... worths skipping! :rolls:

Vamos Paulo! Give us some sunshine tennis ;) (hate it that he has to play an ESP qualifier!)
 
#73 ·
So Mr.Mathieu lost to Granollers 6-4 6-4. Let's just say that his opponent is a qualifier and he had some matches played on this court. And the guy won an ATP title, too... he's not the worst player to lose to considering :p

Paulo looked really flat today. (Are you bored, P-H? :lol:) His shot... the pace is a lot different than what I saw in Metz.

Can't wait to get back to France where there's a lot more love :worship:
 
#76 ·
don't act so surprised :p

probably sick, no? If so, he should not have played. I never saw the benefit of playing through an illness. All this "tough-talk" is just crap.
just a mysterious illness :devil:

He always... and i mean, always choose to play despite an illness/injury. Probably just thought it's better to collect some 1st round money and spend a few days in a nice hotel :lol:
He should have skipped a lot of events this year, but unlike some talented young player who can :p, Mr.Mathieu is an almost-27-year-old guy... psychologically speaking, his time is running out. He must think he needs to play. He needs to take every chance he gets :shrug:

The "tough-talk" crap is only coming from me really. Don't think he's trying to act all tough. It's just the way he is and has always been :eek:
 
#79 ·
Just coming back to your argument of time running out. I think that when you get older as a player you have to be even more selective and careful in your choices when and where to play, consider more breaks etc.

Playing each and every posible event is the wrong strategy in my view. And whatever his successes here and there, clay is PHM's best surface.
 
#85 ·
Of course, that would have been a better option. And I'm sure he'll do that next year. However, this year is like a big follow-up to his first real success of 2007. It's been a long wait outside Top 30, I think he feels the need to push himself as far as he can. I mean, this was supposed to be his best chance to crack the Top 10 or reach his first GS QFs. In my opinion, that's the reason why he's been trying so hard this year and it takes all the fun out of everything.

I, myself, don't think this strategy is the best one since it obviously doesn't work out. But I fully support every decision he made this year (well, EXCEPT for the DC where he admitted later that it was a mistake and some choices of outfit! :lol: ) At least I won't look back to 2008 and think of how close he was to the Top 10 or what a chance he had at some big tourneys. I see a player who gives it all he got. Sometimes it doesn't work out, but he chooses to go on every fight. It's easy, very easy to just quit. Despite some disappointing loss, I wouldn't want it any other way.
 
#81 ·
This was a poor loss :sad: Rest up Paulo, and come back stronger.
 
#82 ·
In L'Equipe:
Paul-Henri MATHIEU a traîné son fantôme (33 fautes directes) face à la wild-card espagnole Marcel Granollers (58e à l’ATP). Battu 6-4, 6-4, l’Alsacien plaidait non coupable : « Je n’ai pas récupéré du coup de mou qui m’a obligé à abandonner la semaine dernière à Moscou. J’ai d’ailleurs hésité à venir. Mais, comme je sentais un mieux, j’ai voulu tenter ma chance. Je ne sais pas si j’irai à Lyon la semaine prochaine. »
He was just the shadow of himself (33 UE), but he's "pleading not guilty", means he hasn’t recovered from the problem which forced him to retire in Moscow and he wasn’t sure if he should play. He doesn’t know if he’s going to play in Lyon.
 
#83 ·
Thanks Fran :)

Yeah, I saw a bunch of errors, but he's not charged to begin with, not in this forum :angel:
Just being Paulo, trying his luck out again and giving people a chance to do a bashing fest. I don't remember how many times he said, "not sure if I'm going to play" this season and ended up playing anyway. I don't mind the fact that he chooses to play. It's somehow comforting to know where he is and what he's doing :lol: I understand why his decision in a way. But to do that, he has to be totally "OK" with the consequences and doesn't let the inevitable loss gets to him.

I like Lyon :awww:

Still wonder what he had!? Hope it wasn't something too serious... :scratch:
 
#92 ·
Thanks for the news, soulage! :)

It's been over a week now... viral infection? :awww: *doing differential diagnosis on Paulo*
It is obviously better to just rest at this point, I suppose :hug:
 
#94 ·
What a big surprise from Paulo :lol:

Well, I'm fully behind whatever he decided to do and I hope he'll get the Tuesday start as he wanted :)

Canas... interesting consider their "history" :bolt:
 
#96 ·
Didn't you ask somewhere what the "mysterious illness" was? He says on lequipe.fr it was just a little gastroenteritis he had in Moscow. He means he's feeling better now, just felt a bit tired at the end of the 1st set, but was able to bounce back.
And he says he likes coming back to Lyon because he played great tennis there, but on the other hand, it was 6 years ago already and that's tough to accept. He's really cute when he says that in his video interview:
http://www.dailymotion.com/gptennislyon/video/x75n1g_interview-paulhenri-mathieu-1er-tou_sport
He definitely smiles more lately!
 
#97 ·
oh boy, gastroenteritis... explained why he looks tired lately :hug: Irina is right... nothing good comes from Moscow! You only get a viral infection in your GI tract as a souvenir! :bolt:

Phewww... the haircut is fine! :lol:

Oh Fran, what would I do without you? :hatoff:
 
#99 · (Edited)
While there are many other interesting things about Paulo than the tennis itself (e.g. his hair cut, his taste in clothes, the fragrances he uses, his lovely interview in Lyon :spit: etc.) I guess we should mention the Bercy draw here for the thread's sake :lol:

TMS Paris: Andreev pour Mathieu

Dans la deuxième moitié du tableau du Masters Series de Paris-Bercy, Paul-Henri Mathieu devra passer l'obstacle russe Igor Andreev avant de prétendre affronter son compatriote Gilles Simon, tête de série n°10 et finaliste à Madrid. Marc Gicquel, de son côté, jouera contre Radek Stepanek avant de pouvoir retrouver Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (tête de série n°13) au tour suivant. Adrian Mannarino hérite du Russe Dmitry Tursunov. Richard Gasquet (n°14), accédant directement au deuxième tour, sera opposé au vainqueur de la rencontre entre Cilic et Seppi. Enfin, Josselin Ouanna, quart de finaliste à Lyon, luttera contre le Suédois Robin Soderling pour gagner le droit de rencontrer Roger Federer à la prochaine étape.
One of the players I really don't like, Andreev, will be his opponent in the first around. If he gets through, then it's Gilles... of course :lol:
 
#100 ·
One of the players I really don't like, Andreev, will be his opponent in the first around. If he gets through, then it's Gilles... of course :lol:
Wow, I didn't realize at first that it is ANDREEV Paulo's first round opponent :eek: What a terrible draw.

And as for the doubles draw, there Paulo has switched back to another Nico, Mahut :devil: Thanks for keeping Devilder safe from Nadal lol

(WC)Mahut/Mathieu vs Nadal/Monaco
 
#101 ·
The last thing Paulo needs right now is to play Nadal in any kind of competition! :lol: Mahut'd better be doing all the work! (And I mean it literally :p)
At least, Nico D is safe :hug: :lol:
 
#102 ·
A few words after the match:

"Je suis frustré de finir la saison comme ça. J'aurais aimé partir en vacances avec la tête reposée en ayant fini avec un bon résultat" déclarait le starsbourgeois après sa défaite. Paul Henri Mathieu finit ainsi sa saison dans les 30 premiers mondiaux (il fut 12ème au mois d'avril) avec comme meilleur résultat une finale à Metz (battu par Tursunov). "Mon but pour 2009, c'est d'arriver le plus haut possible, de faire une ou deux finales en grand chelem. Aujourd'hui, je ne joue pas au tennis pour être 30ème mondial. Je vais avoir 27 ans, le temps presse, si ce n'est pas l'année prochaine, ça va être difficile".
Darn, I hate it when he's talking about his age and that time passes him by :awww: :hug:
I knew he was thinking about it. Just isn't the same when he actually says it out loud :lol: Well, the last 5 years and 11 months of my life have been wonderful, thanks to you :hatoff: Next year will be rockin'! :rocker:
 
#103 · (Edited)
Not the right thread, but I don't know where to post that: he has a new coach! Courteau. He was supposed to work with Tati, but she is still injured. :eek:
Mathieu - Courteau, le nouveau tandem
Cette fois, c’est fait : Loïc Courteau devient l’entraîneur de Paul-Henri Mathieu sous la bannière du Team Lagardère. Depuis plusieurs semaines, Mathieu ne cachait pas qu’il désirait ardemment s’attacher les services de l’ex-coach d’Amélie Mauresmo tout en sachant que celui-ci donnait une priorité à Tatiana Golovin si l’état physique de cette dernière lui permettait de s’entraîner à nouveau et de prévoir un retour à la compétition dès le mois de janvier en Australie. Mais Golovin souffre toujours de la même inflammation du dos et, dans le doute, Courteau a dû prendre une décision. « J’avais dit à Paul-Henri qu’il me plairait de devenir son coach, mais je donnais la priorité à Tatiana avec laquelle nous avions souvent parlé d’une collaboration le jour où je cesserais d’être l’entraîneur d’Amélie Mauresmo », précisait Courteau. De retour hier de l’île Maurice, où il a pris un peu de vacances, Mathieu est donc prêt à reprendre le boulot d’ici à la fin de la semaine. « Il y a longtemps que je pensais à Loïc. Je l’ai pas mal côtoyé sur le circuit et j’ai toujours aimé sa manière de voir les choses. Je me rappelle même qu’il y a quelques années, à Wimbledon, je lui avais dit : “ Le jour où tu ne seras plus sur le tennis féminin, ce serait bien qu’on travaille ensemble. ” J’attends surtout de lui qu’il m’apporte quelque chose de par sa connaissance et son approche des grands matches. »
Paulo had made clear for a few weeks already that he would love to work with Courteau, but he knew that Courteau was giving Tati the priority if she was fit again and able to come back at the AO. Unfortunately, she still has the same back injury and since the situation was unsure, Courteau took a decision: "I had told Paul-Henri that I would love to become his coach, but that I was giving the priority to Tatiana since we had often talked about working together after I would part ways with Amélie Mauresmo".
Paulo came back from Mauritius yesterday and is ready to resume the training until the end of the week. "I had been thinking of Loic for a while. I've seen him quite a lot on the tour and I always liked the way he sees things. I even remember having told him a few years ago in Wimbledon: 'it would be nice to work together when you leave women's tennis'. I expect from him above all that he brings me something with his approach of big matches."
 
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