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2013 Fall Season, Regroup! Allez!

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#1 · (Edited)
Happy New Year to everyone!

Here we go again. 2013 Season begins...This year a new adventure for Gilles as he's going solo. Hopefully, he's healthy and ready. I'm preparing for another roller coaster ride as long as the ride isn't too bumpy for the stomach ;).

First stop, Brisbane.

(1) Andy Murray (GBR) vs Bye
Tatsuma Ito (JPN) vs Qualifier
Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs (WC) Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)
(8) Martin Klizan (SVK) vs Denis Istomin (UZB)

(4) Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR) vs Bye
Julien Benneteau (FRA) vs Jarkko Nieminen (FIN)
Tommy Robredo (ESP) vs Qualifier
(5) Kei Nishikori (JPN) vs Marinko Matosevic (AUS)

(6) Florian Mayer (GER) vs Santiago Giraldo (COL)
(WC) Benjamin Mitchell (AUS) vs Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)
Qualifier vs Alejandro Falla (COL)
(3) Gilles Simon (FRA) vs Bye

(7) Jurgen Melzer (AUT) vs Qualifier
(WC) Matthew Ebden (AUS) vs David Goffin (BEL)
Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) vs Brian Baker (USA)
(2) Milos Raonic (CAN) vs Bye

Allez Gilles!
 
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#1,109 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

Since Gilles is not employed or coached by John Tomic, nor had he been beaten up by Tomic Sr., it is entirely possible that Tomic Sr. has been funny and nice to Gilles before. Its not like he was defending John Tomic's behavior in that incident, so....
But it's sad that they only report what Gilles thought about John Tomic, nothing on what Gilles thought about his own performance in matches :rolleyes:. It would have been more interesting to me to know what his state of mind is before the match against Murray.

I also hope for decent score, Murray is for sure Gilles' Kryptonite, so there's no point of hoping he'll win. But I'm hopeful for him winning a set. Maybe De Witt can offer some new ideas for Gilles to play against Andy, since Gilles already ran out of his own ideas on this match-up.
 
#1,110 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

So here's the paper, some childhood friend talked about Gilles? I found it a bit hard to understand, maybe I'll get more when I'm not sleepy. I did notice "bowl cut" was mentioned ;) :lol:

On l’appelait Gilles Melon !

Les deux petits gars de Fontenay-sous-Bois n’imaginaient pas se retrouver à Madrid. Vingt-trois ans après leurs tests d’entrée à l’école de tennis, Gilles Simon et Kerei Abakar ont partagé une nouvelle aventure. Le dix-septième mondial abattu 6-4,7-6 (5) l’élève de son copain d’enfance, Jérémy Chardy. « Je lui avais dit : “Tu ne peux pas être contre moi”, racontait l’ancien cinquième mondial. Il venait à la maison, ma mère l’amenait en tournoi. Je le connais depuis toujours, ça ne pouvait pas mal se passer. Je l’adore et j’adore “Jerem” (Chardy). » En effet, ça s’est bien passé pour Gilles Simon, heureux d’avoir retrouvé son niveau de jeu malgré des difficultés pour conclure. Avec un regard bienveillant et amusé, son ami entraîneur (ancien– 4/6), adversaire d’un jour, est revenu sur le petit Gilou, devenu grand. « ON S’EST RENCONTRÉS pour la première fois aux tests d’entrée à l’école de tennis à cinq ou six ans. C’était sur le court no 2 de l’US Fontenay. Il avait son horrible coupe au bol et un tee-shirt rouge, ridicule aussi (rires). L’enseignant envoyait une balle et il fallait la rattraper à la main. Il ne ratait pas une balle. Je m’en souviendrai toute ma vie. C’était incroyable ! Il était déjà très véloce. C’était une crevette et il l’est resté. Mais il avait confiance en lui. Tout jeune, il était déjà très conscient de ses qualités. Il était limite arrogant (sourires). Je l’ai toujours trouvé très fort. Il n’était pas très grand, pas très puissant et on lui disait qu’il n’y arriverait jamais parce qu’il servait à deux à l’heure et qu’il ne faisait que des ronds. Mais il a toujours su optimiser ses forces. Chapeau ! Il joue avec ses qualités de vitesse, de contre et son oeil incroyable. Petit, il faisait déjà ça. Je n’ai pas le souvenir d’avoir beaucoup gagné contre lui car il me rendait fou ! En match par équipes, on l’appelait Gilles « Melon » parce qu’il avait quand même un sacré boulard (rires). C’était le plus petit de notre équipe, il jouait en numéro 1 et il mettait des branlées à tout le monde. Il s’en foutait de nos matches, il restait au clubhouse à jouer à la Game Boy. Évidemment si on perdait, on prenait une sanction en termes de vannes. Il a joué longtemps avec nous, c’était sympa parce qu’il avait un niveau qui lui permettait de gagner de l’argent ailleurs. Quand on a vu qu’il jouait contre Jérémy ici, on s’est forcément un peu chambrés. Aujourd’hui ( hier), pendant le match, il a fait du Gilles Simon. Il a été très solide et n’a pas donné beaucoup de points. Il aime bien amener son adversaire dans le combat et dans sa filière avec beaucoup de rallyes. Il bougeait très bien et défendait parfaitement. En plus, il a bien servi. Quand il sert bien, il peut être dangereux. J’étais un peu surpris qu’il trouve un entraîneur si rapidement parce qu’il se connaît très bien. Il avait peut-être besoin d’un regard extérieur. Comme il est très intelligent, c’est que ça va forcément lui apporter quelque chose. Plus tard, je lui poserai des questions sur ce match, il ne me dira pas tout, mais j’aime bien savoir ce qu’il pense et il a souvent un avis intéressant. Mais la discussion peut être longue ( rires). » – S. D.
 
#1,113 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

It was the 80s. Plus, he was 6 at that time, still under the mind control of the parental units. Can't hold it against him. :p
True. I'll cut him some slack. He can be excused even now for not really having much style for his hair cut. I read somewhere he turned down endorsement of Head & Shoulder, which is a pity cos they may be able to force him to at least manage hair style a little bit consistently. Also a pity because he has great thick hair, great for hair commercial ;).

Anyway, back to tennis, he and Mika lost their double 2-6, 6-2, 9-11 to Zeballos/Monaco. They were supposed to play Lipsky/Gonzalez but the Argi played instead. Anyway, pity, they were so close and I felt bad for Mika.
 
#1,119 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

Llodra justified his disgusting attitude by claiming that Paire was also trying to influence the umpire in the Simon/Paire match in IW, although Gilles never said anything about it (because it wasn't true). Playing double together might be seen as an implicit back up of Llodra's claim though.
 
#1,120 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

I see. Well, I hope Paire doesn't pay attention to any of Mika's antic anymore. But I thought it's a pairing for convenience though. Mika doesn't seem to have a usual partner now, Benny's been teeming with someone else and have success recently. It could be Mika just need a high ranking guy to get into the draw. But anyway, I think Gilles is closer to Paire than to Mika anyway. I'm sure Mika's "I'm the veteran" attitude has also been imposed on Gilles before. I don't think Mika gets along much with the younger guys than his generation, but that's just a feeling.
 
#1,128 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

It could be Mika just need a high ranking guy to get into the draw.
I didn't see Llodra was in the singles qualifying draw. So yep, it was probably just a last minute on-site teaming.

I think he just plays doubles to pick up a paycheck and get a little bit of practice in.
I wasn't speculating about Gilles' motivation but Llodra's -a double specialist- for wanting to play with him. But I agree, Gilles doesn't seem to care about who he plays with.
 
#1,121 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

I wouldn't go reading too much into Gilles and Llodra playing doubles together in regards to the whole Paire debacle. I mean Gilles and Llodra are both French and daddies after all. It would make sense for them to have a different kind of relatability compared to the other French players. Besides, Gilles doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who would hold a grudge or be the way Llodra is. Llodra probably just asked Gilles if he wanted to play doubles with him this week and Gilles said yeah sure why not. Llodra must have sensed how bad Benny was going to suck this week and thought even Gilles would be a better doubles partner this time around lol.
 
#1,122 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

Yeah, I just don't think Gilles cares who he plays with. I think he just plays doubles to pick up a paycheck and get a little bit of practice in. He played with Paire in February and has played with basically every French player at least once or twice so I don't think it means anything.
 
#1,123 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

Benny maybe sucking in single, but not double. He won MC with Zimonjic beating the Bryans, although they did lose first round here. Benny/Zimonjic were on the original entry list for Madrid. Mika and Gilles were on-site sign up. But anyway, it's fun to wonder why player team up with Gilles, but I think most of the time it's a matter of convenience. His high ranking in single helps for entering too.
 
#1,127 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

Some gems from Mouratoglou about Gilles' partnership with his new coach (I'm not sure if it works from abroad): http://video.eurosport.fr/tennis/pa...va-repartir-du-bon-pied_vid275857/video.shtml


In short: "Since his childhood, Gilles has been furnished with a free coach by the FFT, he never got the opportunity to ask himself some important questions about the necessity of having a coach. Now that he has a coach he has to pay for, he will fully realize what's the point of having a coach and re-evaluate the importance of a coach's work". ^_^

He also said a few words about that old chesnut, DC effect on Gilles' confidence, and about De Witt's objectives for Gilles in the long term. Overall, a fairly sympathetic interview from Serena's "coach". ^^
 
#1,129 · (Edited)
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

Some gems from Mouratoglou about Gilles' partnership with his new coach (I'm not sure if it works from abroad): http://video.eurosport.fr/tennis/pa...va-repartir-du-bon-pied_vid275857/video.shtml


In short: "Since his childhood, Gilles has been furnished with a free coach by the FFT, he never got the opportunity to ask himself some important questions about the necessity of having a coach. Now that he has a coach he has to pay for, he will fully realize what's the point of having a coach and re-evaluate the importance of a coach's work". ^_^

He also said a few words about that old chesnut, DC effect on Gilles' confidence, and about De Witt's objectives for Gilles in the long term. Overall, a fairly sympathetic interview from Serena's "coach". ^^
Thanks Nat, for the translate.
Umm, can't say I agree with him. He just discredited all the works Tutu has done for Gilles. He did help Gilles to win 10 titles and get him from the 58th rank to the highest at 6th. I suppose one can argue that was the natural progression of Gilles and he could of done it with any free FFT coach, sure :rolleyes:. I say Gilles had fully realized the point of having Tutu and to the point that he cannot possibly get anything out of him anymore. Granted, their relationship could have ended a little sooner than Fall last year. But I think it's more because of Gilles' loyalty to Tutu more than anything that made him delayed the separation. The FFT cutoff served as a trigger which is probably true. Okay, I'm a little offended for Tutu :eek:, but it's like saying Gilles had him as a coach only because he's free, ouch! and that he didn't value Tutu.
 
#1,131 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

Don't bother reading too much into Mouratoglou's comments. He's talking for a living. He's not even a good coach. Dimitrov, Chardy, Robson, etc have been stagnated when with his academy. He's taken credit for himself and sometimes gives backhand compliments to others.
 
#1,140 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

Good stuff from Gilles:clap2:. Depressing same old outcome yes, but not so matter of fact like usual. Gilles was closer than ever to that second win and realistically, could've won it in straight sets had he made a few different decisions on key points at 0-30 on Murray's serve for a second break in the second set.

Without a doubt he will be disappointed at losing, but there are far more positives for him to take away from this match than negatives. One thing that he absolutely needs to work on though with his new coach is coming up with a better second serve. Whether it be a kick serve out wide or just a deeper hit second serve, because his current second serve is just rolled in with little to know pace and Murray was having a field day with it and putting Gilles under a lot of pressure.

Anyway, I was pleased to see Gilles up more on or just behind the baseline rather than ten feet behind it looking to be more aggressive and significantly reducing his cheap errors, although he still made quite a few here and there, but it is a process so it won't all change overnight.

Hopefully this will be the start of better things to come.


And I hope Murray loses to Berdych tomorrow.:p
 
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