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
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 . 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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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". ^^
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 . 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 , but it's like saying Gilles had him as a coach only because he's free, ouch! and that he didn't value Tutu.
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.
probably he's going to lose this match, but im so proud of him!!! he's fighting on every ball, got broken in the 3rd and broke back! and he's playing well at last!!!
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.
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