Mens Tennis Forums banner

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!
 
See less See more
#957 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

And the misery will continue on along with a hefty loss of points for Gilles.:sobbing: He'll drop down to 17 or 18 now at least and I fear it won't be stopping there. I'm not sure if he's ever going to recover. Let's be honest, this was happening way before DC. Sure DC didn't help, but it's not the cause. I really fear we're looking at a plateauing Gilles. It's just a question now of where he's going to level out at. I hope he can manage to stay inside the top 30 at least so he will still be featured on some TV courts now and then, but things are looking pretty grim for him, and therefore subsequently, us these days.:help::unsure:
 
#958 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

This is so much more painful than DC..he was defending a million points and playing in his home turf.
Im going to Monte Carlo next Thursday and i was hoping to see him, like every year...OMG im so heartbroken :tears:
Im just hoping he'll bounce back very soon!
Allez Gillou you can do it! We love you :smooch:
 
#966 ·
Finally :yeah: , I think it was enough of a experiment, now 4th loss in a row, and when he's without confidence clay is his worst surface, I hope he gets his coach before RG to avoid an awful clay season ala 2009.


Sent from Verticalsports.com Free App
 
#967 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

Best news I've heard all year. Why wait til RG? the sooner the better. Okay, I guess it's better to take some time to choose the right coach.

Might as well forget about this clay season, write it all up. He doesn't look like he can manage to turn things around. It's true, he's been awful the whole 2013, then DC came and dragged him into a deeper hole. I'm actually hoping that there's a baby coming or sth that will actually distract him a little bit so he won't fixate on these disastrous few weeks. Well, I don't know, I'm just hoping anything else may help him from focusing too much on his recent failures, put things into perspective.

The ranking's gonna suffer, 16th seed in RG is probably not likely. But it's not the end of the world. C'mon Gilles, just keep your head up, you'll do better in the coming weeks.
 
#969 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

Post-itw:

http://www.metrofrance.com/sport/el...-va-plus-pour-gilles-simon/mmdo!mYzDjGrPUtMg/

Eliminé à Monaco, rien ne va plus pour Gilles Simon

TENNIS - A Monte-Carlo, le Niçois aurait pu se laver la tête après sa faillite en Coupe Davis, une semaine plus tôt. Au lieu de ça, il s'est incliné face au 59e joueur mondial dès son entrée en lice, lundi, sur la terre battue monégasque. Gilles Simon va devoir faire des choix radicaux pour reprendre les vents ascendants. A commencer par prendre un entraîneur.

Quand ça ne veut pas sourire, ça ne sourit pas… Un petit tour à Monte-Carlo et puis s’en va : la tête basse, les traits tirés, Gilles Simon est sorti sans gloire hier du central, sous un soleil rageur. Après son week-end cauchemardesque en Coupe Davis en Argentine, le Français, demi-finaliste ici l’an passé, a raté une véritable occasion de se relancer en s’inclinant face au modeste Espagnol Bautista-Agut (6-3, 7-6).

Le 59e mondial n’avait jamais remporté le moindre match en Masters 1000. Il peut dire merci à Simon. "J’étais très fatigué, les échanges longs me faisaient mal et j’avais du mal à enchaîner, explique ce dernier. J’ai essayé de faire au mieux mais j’étais un peu juste. Je ne m’attendais pas à faire un grand match au vu de ma dernière semaine d’entraînement."

Le voyage en Argentine a fait mal

Dire que Buenos Aires a laissé des douleurs vives aux jambes et une vilaine cicatrice dans la tête semble un doux euphémisme. "C’est certain, mais c’est plus une question d’avoir joué là-bas que d’avoir gagné ou perdu", se défend le Niçois. Reste maintenant à trouver la bonne formule pour sortir la tête de l’eau et récupérer quelques gros points ATP perdus cette semaine.

Et, en la matière, il y a comme une valse-hésitation dans l’air. "Ces derniers temps, j’ai le c… entre deux chaises. Je m’interroge s’il faut couper un peu ou jouer. Je vais aller faire le tournoi de Bucarest qui me réussit habituellement. Après, ça dépendra du résultat… " Pour y voir plus clair, Simon, qui n’a plus de coach depuis septembre et sillonne le circuit en totale autogestion, va mettre fin à sept mois de solitude. "Je vais reprendre quelqu’un, a-t-il annoncé hier. J’ai des choses à améliorer et besoin de retravailler mon jeu." Le nom de l’heureux élu "sera annoncé avant Roland-Garros."

There's also the audio on L'Equipe, here's a pic to go with that itw:


He's pretty much saying physically and mentally tired (thanks to DC to go without saying). Didn't train well before coming to MC, been wondering if he should stop a little or just keep playing. He's still going to Bucharest next week because he has success there before, and afterwards, it'll depends on the outcome.
 
#970 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

Reading some write up on the Bucharest site to past the time:
http://brd-nastase-tiriac-trophy.ro/2013/en/stiri/simon-print-al-arenelor-bnr.html

Gilles Simon
ATP Ranking : 13
France
BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy attendance : 4
The best performance : 2007, 2008, 2012 winner

Gilles Simon is French, very talkative, does not sweat and he 3 times champion on the Bucharest clay. He is a kind of BNR Arenas prince, after he won in 2007, 2008 and 2012. A prince with a cristal trophy from Romania. Given all these, Gilles comes back to Bucharest again this year. A little calmer, as he says. He is also known for his monologues during the matches. “Now I think I am more relaxed, I used to talk way too much on the court. In the past months I managed to focus more on the game and to feel calm, even though sometimes I play a horrible tennis”, said the French player at the beginning of the year. By this time he was the star of the Australian Open where he played against his compatriot, Gael Monfils, almost 5 hours straight. In the end, he was exhausted and barely able to walk. Also, in 2013 he succeded to get to the semifinals in Marseille and Rotterdam, and in quarter finals in Miami. During this American adventure, his son Timothe came along :”I am trying not to be away from home more than 3 weeks, because my son needs to feel that he actually belongs somewhere”, confessed Simon last year.

After he won the Romanian tournament, Gilles had a constant period, no accidents, did not walk out of Top 20, did a final in Bangkok and reached the semifinals at Masters 1000 Tournament in Paris. Furthermore, he parted from his 6 years trainer in September, Thierry Tulasne. “Now I want to do everything by myself. It’s a big change, but I think I’ve reached a point in my career when I need to take my own decisions”, said the French player.

Gilles Simon was 17 when his profesional career begun in 2002. He did small steps, went up the ranking slowly, and the big step took place in 2008 when he was among the top 10 world players. He also won 5 tournaments and had 2 victories over Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in 2008. In 2009 he won Bangkok. The next year he won Metz, but 2010 is not a year that Simon enjoys talking about. The knee injuries lead to him being number 50 in ATP ranking. But in 2011 he made it to the top again, winning 2 important trophies in Hamburg and Sydney, reaching an impressive number of 9 titles. But his precious “pearl” is, of course, the Bucharest Trophy.

Master of defense, Simon is dreaming that one day he wins Roland Garros. Michael Chang was his career inspiration and cannot say precisely what he would have done if he hadn’t played tennis. “I am lazy”, admits the champion, who plays video games and eats McDonalds in his spare time. “I spend 2 to 3 hours on the court, so I can eat whatever I wish, because I deserve it”.



Funny style of writing, it's like translated from another language, which probably is the case.
“I spend 2 to 3 hours on the court, so I can eat whatever I wish, because I deserve it”.:eek: Hopefully his new coach will put an end to that, no more junk food. Wonder who will be his new coach, can't even begin to speculate, no clue who's available. Can't wait to find out though. As for next week, I only hope he'll win a couple of matches, or at least 1, just to stop the 4 losses streak. Allez Gilles.
 
#971 · (Edited)
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

Tipsy got a WC to Bucharest, Gilles' not #1 seed anymore, which shouldn't affect anything, it's only Tipsy ;). Of course they can only meet at the final, and if Gilles makes it out of the first 2 rounds...



Oh, and this is hilarious, someone linked it in one of the thread in GM, don't remember which thread though. Only put it here bcos Gilles was mentioned. http://tenngrand.com/2013/04/19/facebook-chat-tennis-players-react-to-ernests-gulbis-game-penalty/
 
#972 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

I don't like Gilles' draw in Bucharest :( ....he's got a bye, then Nieminen. I was in Montecarlo two days ago and i saw him defeat Delpo, he's very dangerous. After that he should play Fognini, same thing, in MC he did very well. Then Seppi/Troicki,Tipsy. Tough draw i would say, but it's also true that he lost to Bautista-Agut, so we have to wait and see which Gillou is going to play in Bucharest :rolleyes:
 
#973 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

Nieminen is always a tough lefty match-up for Gilles, probably even harder now based on forms of the 2. The first match will be very tough, and IMO the toughest bcos he has to overcome his depressed mental/losing streak too. The Fog may have a letdown after the SF appearance in MC, but I hope not, playing Monfils would be even worse for Gilles, definitely will suck the life out of him. I'll worry about the later rounds if he gets that far. He probably doesn't start until at least Wed. Well, good luck Gilles. Hope he'll be able to put things behind him and start well in one of his favorite tournaments, bcos losing the first match in a tournament that he hasn't lost for the past 3 times will be real bad for the moral. Allez Gilles!
 
#974 ·
I'm really scared of Jarkko, Gilles needs to be on top in both fitness and attacking tennis to beat Jarrko, and right now he isn't, but I hope he will step it up and break the losing streak.


Sent from Verticalsports.com Free App
 
#975 ·
http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/spor...-ont-aucun-mental-etude-d-une-idee-recue.html

A nice article about the myth of the french losing mentality. Basically saying the french players fail to invest in the physical and psychological aspects of the game and thinking more of the flare of playing shots rather than winning matches. Saying Simon can't overcome his injuries and that hampers his mentality. Also saying he's super smart but won't see a shrink which is a big mistake.
Funniest part about the blog on gasquest saying he's the epitome of the french losing mentality :)

Sent from Verticalsports.com Free App
 
#976 ·
Re: 2013 Spring European Clay Season, Allez!

http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/spor...-ont-aucun-mental-etude-d-une-idee-recue.html

A nice article about the myth of the french losing mentality. Basically saying the french players fail to invest in the physical and psychological aspects of the game and thinking more of the flare of playing shots rather than winning matches. Saying Simon can't overcome his injuries and that hampers his mentality. Also saying he's super smart but won't see a shrink which is a big mistake.
Funniest part about the blog on gasquest saying he's the epitome of the french losing mentality :)

Fun read, thanks.
I agree with the thinking more of the flare rather than winning matches. But the article is missing one aspect though, the problem is not only the mentality of their athletes, but of the public. How often have I read people leaving comments on the website telling how much they don’t like Gilles’ playing style even if he wins, how many times have I read Gilles, after winning a match, apologetically saying how laboriously he had to play to win, clearly admitting it's a flaw to have to play laboriously, that winning is not enough for the public, he needs to play pretty to satisfy them. So the public fault their athletes for not winning, and when they win, they fault them for not winning pretty. Seems to me the blame is not entirely on the athletes to wanting to think more of the flare than winning, it's how much that idea has been imposed on them by their people.

As for Gilles and his mental block in DC, it’s easy, FFT controls the DC team, if they think that’s a solution for Gilles, just impose on him to see a shrink if he ever wants to play DC again, problem solved.

Gilles’ injuries, well, that’s a tough nut to crack, it could entirely be out of his control at this point (since you can blame it on a poor foundation, which is too late to fix now). There’s still some he can do, and based on what he’s been saying, I want to believe that’s what he’s doing now. It all comes down to dedication, how much discipline he’s willing to impose on himself to give himself the best chance. I think the French is blaming too much on this so-called French mentality. It’s pretty much the mentality of everyone who’s not Top 5, regardless of culture. These men are Top 5 because they set themselves apart by a higher standard of dedication, which then allow them to maximize their potentials. It’s not that hard to understand, it’s just very hard to have such dedication. That’s why they are Top 5.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top