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2013 Fall Season, Regroup! Allez!

96K views 2K replies 44 participants last post by  Gillouthe best 
#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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#903 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

i should avoid twitter right now...im so mad it looks like its ALL his falt, but also Benny and Mika lost their tie!!! oh my god see him crying like that just broke my heart!!! sorry guys its the 1st time i actually write here but ive been 'spying' on you for a long time...and despite my username my favourite player has been, is and always will be Gilles...ok now i go back to cry
 
#905 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

i should avoid twitter right now...im so mad it looks like its ALL his falt, but also Benny and Mika lost their tie!!! oh my god see him crying like that just broke my heart!!! sorry guys its the 1st time i actually write here but ive been 'spying' on you for a long time...and despite my username my favourite player has been, is and always will be Gilles...ok now i go back to cry
Welcome to the board. Please keep posting, we always need more Gilles fans on here! Sorry it's under these circumstances but there will be good times too.
 
#909 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

I'm here as well now. I didn't see, it but I only went on fb so far after following the scoreboard. I really feel like I have to stand up for him as his fan, cause he gets enough crap from everyone else already.:mad: I saw photos of Benny crying as well, so I hope that means Gilles won't get any from him. Anyway, this is what I commented on someone's status who said wanting to kill a few sportsmen today. I know this person probably doesn't mean it like this, so it is my frustration about all this and I couldn't restrain myself. :eek:

"I agree with the fact that he's not good at DC, but I believe it is the team who lost. Maybe he asked to play, but we can't only blame him. It's Arnaud's call, if he had absolutely no faith in Gilles for this match, he had others who also wanted to play. He made the decision, so he's responsible as well. Gilles isn't the only one who lost an important 5th. Remember Mika in Serbia? Maybe he asked to play as well, but everyone blamed Forget for the decision. Gilles must feel awful after trying his best today. And yes, I am convinced he played to the best of his ability in this match, cause there's no player in the world who wouldn't in such a match. Maybe it was very poor (couldn't see it, so can't tell), but then that was his best today. It just doesn't always work out like you wish, that's the game. And if it isn't already bad for the player, all this blaming from fans and media isn't helping. In general it's what I hate in sports. "We" win, but "they" lose. This mentality seems to be everywhere, in tennis, in soccer, in the Netherlands, in France, etc. I just can't understand why Gilles always is the bad guy in a team sport. Every team has a weak link, but like I said, it's the team who loses, not just the weak link."

I'm just sad for my boys today. Benny, Gilles, Arnaud... It could have been so great. :sad:
 
#913 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

Gilles said this:

La réaction de Gilles Simon (battu par Carlos Berlocq): "C'est de loin la défaite la plus difficile à encaisser de ma carrière. C'était un match très important pour tout le monde. Il fallait le gagner, je ne l'ai pas gagné. La manière on s'en fout, c'est le résultat qui compte. Sur le terrain, j'avais l'impression que c'était beaucoup mieux que vendredi. J'ai fait le max de ce que je pouvais faire. Je peux juste me reprocher de ne pas avoir été meilleur. J'avais juste envie de gagner, pour moi, pour les autres, pour Jo qui ne mérite pas de perdre en gagnant deux matches. Ca se joue sur pas grand chose. Le public n'a pas aidé. On le savait. L'Argentine a la chance d'avoir un des meilleurs publics du monde. Je sentais parfois que Carlos était fatigué, il les faisait chanter pendant deux minutes. Les joueurs ont magnifiquement bien utilisé le public. Monaco et Berlocq ont des jeux qui se ressemblent: ils font peu de fautes directes, il n'y a pas de point facile contre eux. Je suis extrêmement déçu. J'avais très envie de gagner ce point-là, c'était à ma portée, mais je n'ai pas su le faire. C'est à moi de vivre avec ça".

http://www.sudouest.fr/2013/04/07/c...et-l-argentine-bat-la-france-1017498-4599.php
 
#915 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

Gilles said this:

La réaction de Gilles Simon (battu par Carlos Berlocq): "C'est de loin la défaite la plus difficile à encaisser de ma carrière. C'était un match très important pour tout le monde. Il fallait le gagner, je ne l'ai pas gagné. La manière on s'en fout, c'est le résultat qui compte. Sur le terrain, j'avais l'impression que c'était beaucoup mieux que vendredi. J'ai fait le max de ce que je pouvais faire. Je peux juste me reprocher de ne pas avoir été meilleur. J'avais juste envie de gagner, pour moi, pour les autres, pour Jo qui ne mérite pas de perdre en gagnant deux matches. Ca se joue sur pas grand chose. Le public n'a pas aidé. On le savait. L'Argentine a la chance d'avoir un des meilleurs publics du monde. Je sentais parfois que Carlos était fatigué, il les faisait chanter pendant deux minutes. Les joueurs ont magnifiquement bien utilisé le public. Monaco et Berlocq ont des jeux qui se ressemblent: ils font peu de fautes directes, il n'y a pas de point facile contre eux. Je suis extrêmement déçu. J'avais très envie de gagner ce point-là, c'était à ma portée, mais je n'ai pas su le faire. C'est à moi de vivre avec ça".

http://www.sudouest.fr/2013/04/07/c...et-l-argentine-bat-la-france-1017498-4599.php

:awww: I feel terrible for Gilles. It will be hard to bounce back from such a tough loss specially as he seems to be taking it quite hard but I hope the team is and continues to be supportive. For example, I hope Clement will still attend his matches.

And please, I hope he doesn't listen to Guy Forget. I think he planted the seed of insecurity in Gilles (and Richard) in Davis Cup. It is the captain's job to nurture and get the best out of all his players, not just the favored few. Forget never did that. So now Clement has to deal with the result.
 
#914 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

"C'est à moi de vivre avec ça" awwwwwww this is heartbreaking
Now he's suffering so much but i think that all in all he didnt play a bad match today (unlike the one vs Monaco) so i feel confident that he'll do well in MC. Certainly he did improve a lot since IW. I wanna stay positive :)
 
#916 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

It's not all about the responsability of Forget or Clement. He's bad on court on DC that's a fact. He's not able to play good tennis on DC why ? Because of the DC staff ? I mean I don't understand why he's not able to produce good tennis all the matches he lost was not so difficult. He asked to play he was motivated and he lost badly that's a huge deception for him.

« À moi de vivre avec ça »

GILLES SIMON refuse l’étiquette de maudit de la Coupe Davis.Et espère rebondir dès l’année prochaine.

Agacé par sa défaite et profondément abattu par ses conséquences, Gilles Simon s’en voulait de ne pas avoir su apporter le troisième point à l’équipe de France.

BUENOS AIRES –de notre envoyé spécial

« EST-CE LA DÉFAITE la plus difficile à encaisser de votre carrière ?

– De loin.

– Vous pouvez expliquer ?

– Ça va être difficile… Un mot résume tout : la déception. J’avais à jouer un match très important. Pour tout le monde. C’était un match à gagner, je l’ai perdu. Voilà. C’est à moi de vivre avec ça.

– On vous sent abattu…

– C’est très dur. Je ne vais pas me présenter devant les micros avec le sourire. Je pensais pouvoir le faire, mais c’est le genre de match qui fait très, très mal. Ç’a été dur. Un adversaire qui jouait bien. Un public qui ne te lâche pas pendant quatre heures. Après, la manière, j’avoue que je ne m’en occupe pas trop. Il n’y a que le résultat qui compte. Si j’avais joué le plus mauvais tennis de ma vie et que j’avais gagné, je n’en aurais rien eu à secouer de mon niveau de jeu.

– Y a-t-il des choses que vous vous reprochez ?

– Non. J’ai fait le maximum de ce que je pouvais à chaque moment. Je me reproche juste de ne pas avoir gagné ce match. Sur le terrain, j’avais l’impression que c’était quand même nettement mieux que vendredi. J’avais ma tactique et mes schémas en place. Mais ça n’a pas suffi. En termes d’intensité, j’ai essayé de tout mettre, tout le temps, et je n’ai rien calculé. J’ai essayé de gagner tous les points en me disant qu’on verrait le score à la fin.

– Aviez-vous l’impression de prendre le dessus physiquement ? Et que plus le match durerait, plus vous auriez de chances de le gagner ?

– Je pensais que Berlocq serait peut-être fatigué mais il n’a pas levé le pied. Sur la fin du troisième, il a même eu un coup de mieux, il frappait plus fort.

– Vous sauvez cinq balles de match sur la fin. Parce que vous avez davantage lâché votre bras à ce moment-là ?

– Pas spécialement. Je voyais la balle, j’avais envie de la frapper. Quand tu as la tête comme un tambour, c’est dur de calculer. Sur la sixième, je m’engage aussi très bien mais la balle m’échappe… En fait, j’avais juste envie de me battre jusqu’au bout.

– Avez-vous l’impression d’être maudit en Coupe Davis ?

– Je ne sais pas. Et je m’en fous, en fait. J’avais juste envie de gagner, pour moi et pour les autres. Pour Mika, qui mérite de gagner une Coupe Davis pour toute sa carrière. Pour Jo, qui ne mérite pas de perdre cette rencontre en apportant deux points, en outre avec la manière. Le reste, c’est franchement anecdotique.

– Le public vous a-t-il perturbé ?

– Il ne m’a pas aidé, c’est sûr. Mais on le savait avant. L’Argentine a la chance d’avoir l’un des meilleurs publics au monde et elle sait très bien s’en servir. Parfois, je sentais que Berlocq était essoufflé. Il faisait alors chanter le public pendant deux minutes…

– Comment évacuer une déception pareille ?

– En étant plus fort. Là, tout de suite, j’ai envie d’aller m’entraîner et de devenir meilleur. Je crois qu’on avait les armes pour gagner cette rencontre. Il faut repartir au boulot. C’est en devenant meilleur individuellement qu’on rendra l’équipe plus forte. Cet échec me motive plus qu’autre chose. »

VINCENT COGNET
 
#918 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

It's not all about the responsability of Forget or Clement. He's bad on court on DC that's a fact. He's not able to play good tennis on DC why ? Because of the DC staff ? I mean I don't understand why he's not able to produce good tennis all the matches he lost was not so difficult. He asked to play he was motivated and he lost badly that's a huge deception for him.
Perhaps there's just something about the DC match pressure that is so very different from any regular tour match pressure for him that he can't find a way to handle it (maybe if he had had more chances to play DC, he could've got used to it?). Some players seem to thrive on it and perform far above their usual level in DC. For Gilles, it seems to have the opposite effect. And like mike s. said earlier, some of it could also be that his smart play is somewhat neutralised by the other player having the captain/coach on court with him too.

Pico knows exactly how he feels. :awww:

 
#917 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

Heartbreaking for Gilles. I couldn't make myself watch either of his matches: Friday's because I like Pico too and I was kind of expecting it to be brutal for Pico, going by his form this year (I was wrong, though by all accounts he wasn't actually playing well); Sunday's, because I was fully expecting it to be brutal for Gilles, and that's exactly how it went. :sad:

I don't understand those people trashing a player for losing a match (unless it's a very clear case of tanking, but I don't think anyone can ever accuse Gilles of that!), there's always going to be one winner and one loser, and all you can do is give the best effort you're capable of at that moment. And for one of the players on the court in any given match, his or her best effort isn't going to be good enough.

:hug: to all of us, and please try to stay away from those places where people are making stupid nasty comments, just not worth it!
 
#919 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

– Comment évacuer une déception pareille ?

– En étant plus fort. Là, tout de suite, j’ai envie d’aller m’entraîner et de devenir meilleur. Je crois qu’on avait les armes pour gagner cette rencontre. Il faut repartir au boulot. C’est en devenant meilleur individuellement qu’on rendra l’équipe plus forte. Cet échec me motive plus qu’autre chose.
- How to remove such a disappointment?

- By being stronger. Here, right now, I want to go to train and get better. I think we had the weapons to win this game. It's back to work. It is becoming better individually we will make the team stronger. This failure motivates me more than anything.

Well that last part certainly makes me feel a little bit better and more hopeful for the rest of Gilles' season and the immediate clay court season. I was just so afraid that this loss would completely ruin him for a while and he would just tuck his tail between his legs, hang his head down low and just wallow for a while and lose, but that statement paints a different picture. Allez Gilles!:yeah:
 
#926 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

- How to remove such a disappointment?

- By being stronger. Here, right now, I want to go to train and get better. I think we had the weapons to win this game. It's back to work. It is becoming better individually we will make the team stronger. This failure motivates me more than anything.
Forgot to say this. Glad that Gilles responded that way. I only hope that he can actually do it. I mean it's easy to say, but we'll have to really see if this has any long lasting effect on him. But if he's going to suck for awhile because of this unfortunate event (which is actually more of a devastation for him), I can understand and I'll be sure to be supportive along the way to recovery. I can't say DC is not worth it for him, afterall, he willingly put himself out there knowing that there'll be consequence and the odds is against him (and yes, I understand that Berlocq is only ranked 71, that he should have beat him in normal circumstance. But as we know, DC is not normal for Gilles). I feel sorry for him that it happened, the worse case scenario just us fans had been imagined. But he made his choice, he'll just have to man up to face the consequences now. As for his future in DC, he could be hopeful, but he should know that unless he wins RG or sth, he'll unlikely ever be asked again. He should prepare himself for that disappointment.
 
#920 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

I knew before the match it would be difficult for Gilles to beat Berlocq in Argentina for the decisive match...
Berlocq is very good on slow clay with high bounce whereas it's probably Gilles's worst surface (considering he hits the ball too flat), especially if he lacks confidence to construct points properly all the time, absolutely necessary to beat a consistent topspin player like Berlocq.
He was capable to construct points/hit some good shots at times but not enough and he made some bad decisions on important points (sometimes he was too passive, letting Berlocq dictate points at the end of the second set for example, at other times he made UES at return and in rallies trying to hit though Berlocq), his serve was also a huge problem, few free points.
Also, i just checked Berlocq's results this year and he has beaten good players like Dolgo and Nishikori, took a set off Nadal, good performance.
It's obviously a disappointing result for France: it was a winnable encounter, Jo and Arnaud seemed very upset by the loss in press conference, i doubt Gilles will have many chances to play for France in the future as he can't handle the pressure well, it seems (and that Gas and Tson are top 10 players as well).
 
#921 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

I don't think anyone expects Gilles to play again and quite frankly I don't think any of his fans want him to. Either way, he tried his best and actually didn't play horribly except at key moments so he wasn't really deceiving anyone, he just lost to a better player that day. Is that a crime? I'll never understand the criticism players get in any event if they've given their maximum effort. What is happening to Gilles is very likely the reason Gasquet didnt play here because he knew he'd get ripped to shreds if he didn't win and it's not worth risking that if you can't give 110% because of fatigue or niggling injuries.
 
#924 ·
#929 · (Edited)
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

I can't stay away from reading those things, I am hopeless :eek:.

It felt like the French media's sentiment is more mild toward Gilles than toward Richard. And they aren't too nice to Mika either, like hinting we've seen the last of him too. I'm really feeling sorry for Richard and Mika too. But like I say, I don't think the media is that bad, I think the ppl who made comments are horrible. It's really baffling that some would suggest that the Argi won because they are more patriotic? Huh? So all ppl who fought and lost wars in the past were because they aren't patriotic enough? It's the same logic to say that ppl who survived cancer because they fought harder, as if if you die of cancer is because you don't want to live as much as the survivers do (it's adding insult to terminal disease). I don't understand how ppl can be so ignorant.

This is going to be a very long week for me. Sorry guys, I hope I can restrain myself from ranting my frustration on here. I'll try. I wish I know how to write in French, then I can go tell those ppl what I think instead of ranting it on here.
 
#930 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

I can't stay away from reading those things, I am hopeless :eek:.

It felt like the French media's sentiment is more mild toward Gilles than toward Richard. And they aren't too nice to Mika either, like hinting we've seen the last of him too. I'm really feeling sorry for Richard and Mika too. But like I say, I don't think the media is that bad, I think the ppl who made comments are horrible. It's really baffling that some would suggest that the Argi won because they are more patriotic? Huh? So all ppl who fought and lost wars in the past were because they aren't patriotic enough? It's the same logic to say that ppl who survived cancer because they fought harder, as if if you die of cancer is because you don't want to live as much as the survivers do (it's adding insult to terminal disease). I don't understand how ppl can be so ignorant.

This is going to be a very long week for me. Sorry guys, I hope I can restrain myself from ranting my frustration on here. I'll try. I wish I know how to write in French, then I can go tell those ppl what I think instead of ranting it on here.
No worries, you can rant as much as you want. People are horrible when it comes to sports as if they could do any better sitting on their couches. Either way, it's good to hear that the press isn't going too hard on him but I feel sorry for Richard and Mika as well. From everything I've seen, all of the players on the French team care very much about winning for their country compared to many other teams so people should be happy that everyone is giving their best.

On the other hand, I'm embarrassed to admit but it's hard for me to get too upset about this loss because Davis Cup means absolutely nothing to me. I'm just not really that nationalistic when it comes to tennis. I'm only upset because Gilles cared and I'm worried it might affect the rest of his clay season. I hope he uses this as motivation to prove the commenters and critics wrong and have his best French Open yet. A QF is unlikely but would be a great achievement.
 
#939 · (Edited)
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

lol Yannick Noah said Gilles is too sensitive to play Davis Cup
Whatever does that mean? Did he elaborate?

Gilles is playing double with Youzhny. I was laughing so hard seeing this pair-up. Youzhny is a very good double player. He's prob just using Gilles for his single ranking.
I thought he was going to play with ERV. Hope Misha doesn't get too angry when Gilles loses them points :p. Maybe the Colonel can whip Gilles into decent double form :D. They play the night match on Center Court tomorrow, too bad there won't be any stream.

It's never easy to repeat a SF performance in ATP1000, so I'm not expecting that. And seeing it's Rafa in QF, there's no hope. I suppose the early draw looks very winnable, but I normally don't like to see F. Mayer on his path, he hates playing Mayer, too funky for him. I hope he'll be fine to get to QF. Allez!
 
#941 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

Man I really hope Gilles can come good here and make something happen and at least get to the QF. We need something good to happen now again after how bad it's been this past long week. If he turns around and loses in the first round he'll lose a ton of points and it'll just be a continuation of the pile on of negativity that we've all already been enduring and I sure don't want that so c'mon Gilles. It's time to rebound and move forward.:cheerleader:
 
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