2012 starts on the wrong side for Gilles. So this is take 2, let's start over again. Not to expect him to suddenly be good, but we'll do all we can (and pretty much all we can do is to open new thread for each tournament if that helps ) to hope that he'll get better soon.
Next stop is Indian Wells, starts on March 8th, but he has bye, so probably won't start for him til the 10th at the earliest. HC is of course more of his element, so here's hoping that he'll do better, beat a Top 50 and get that monkey off the back. Allez Gilles.
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I just noticed that I set the bar very low :lol:, baby steps baby steps, one tournament at a time.
Good solid workman-like win for Gilles. Didn't work too hard. Didn't have to really do anything special. Just played consistent and did just enough to get the win.
It was nice to see the crowd actually genuinely enthusiastic, excited, happy and thankful to see Simon there and being supportive of him. The French Tennis press should take note and follow their lead.
:bigclap: Well done Gilles! Made a potentially tough opponent get frustrated and sucked him into his rhythm and just systematically took him apart from there. Another efficient straight sets win. Now the real potential challenges start. Good luck Gilles! :cheerleader:
So far so good, must admit that this could turn out to be a good week of preparation. The past 2 matches weren't taxing, and the next 2 matches should up the level a notch which he needs to better prepared for RG. Now he only needs a Tuesday start in RG and a friendly draw , not too much to ask I hope .
Now if he can win tomorrow and move back to Top 10, that would be great, since he's only 1 win away and it will be a big bummer if he doesn't get it. No pressure Gilles, but don't lose now.
Almagro is gonna be really tough, good luck Gilles. Allez.
So far so good, must admit that this could turn out to be a good week of preparation. The past 2 matches weren't taxing, and the next 2 matches should up the level a notch which he needs to better prepared for RG. Now he only needs a Tuesday start in RG and a friendly draw , not too much to ask I hope .
Now if he can win tomorrow and move back to Top 10, that would be great, since he's only 1 win away and it will be a big bummer if he doesn't get it. No pressure Gilles, but don't lose now.
Almagro is gonna be really tough, good luck Gilles. Allez.
I hope he plays on Tuesday too but for selfish reasons because I'll be there on Tuesday. I don't have tickets to Chatrier though so I probably won't get to see him anyway.
Very nervous and very about today's semifinal for Gilles against Almagro. I know as the defending champion there will be a certain amount of pressure for him that may come into play and play to Gilles advantage. But likewise, Almagro has had, as usual, another great clay court season with a 22-6 record and he can really play aggressive so it's going to be tough for sure.
If Gilles can find away to pull it off and Davydenko wins his match against Baker, it will be a very interesting final, because both Gilles and Davydenko have excellent records in finals. It's just them getting there that is the problem, but once they do, they usually win, so seeing them go head to head would be interesting and fun. Nikolay has a losing record to Gilles, but I believe he won their last encounter and he has been playing more like his old self this week and since going back to his old Prince racket, which he never should've stopped using to begin with. I really do hope we get a Simon Davydenko final, but Simon definitely has to tougher task today in making that happen. Good luck Gilles!
Well looks like my gut feeling was spot on. What a disaster this has been. A complete thrashing mixed in with his own crappy playing today. Too bad because if he had won today, I think he would've definitely won between either of the two other guys tomorrow. :crying2:
Can't find a word to describe it, cos saying it's bad is an understatement. Just hope there's nothing wrong with him and let's quickly put it behind him and move on to RG.
His quarter in RG:
Novak Djokovic SRB (1) vs Potito Starace ITA
Blaz Kavcic SLO vs Lleyton Hewitt AUS
Qualy vs Qualy
Qualy vs Jurgen Melzer AUT (30)
Andreas Seppi ITA (22) vs Nikolay Davydenko RUS
Mikhail Kukushkin KAZ vs Ernests Gulbis LAT
Qualy vs Gilles Muller LUX
Steve Darcis BEL vs Fernando Verdasco ESP (14)
Gilles Simon FRA (11) vs Ryan Harrison USA
Xavier Malisse BEL vs Brian Baker USA
Pablo Andujar ESP vs Victor Hanescu ROU
Flavio Cipolla ITA vs Stanislas Wawrinka SUI (18)
Viktor Troicki SRB (28) vs Thomaz Bellucci BRA
Fabio Fognini ITA vs Adrian Mannarino FRA
Cedrik-Marcel Stebe GER vs Joao Souza BRA
Qualy vs Jo-Wilfried Tsonga FRA (5)
Wawrinka in R3 is gonna be real tough. But to not look ahead, focus on one match at a time. Allez Gilles, please do well in RG.
I'm hoping that was a tank because otherwise I'd be really worried about his form going into RG :lol:
Ok draw, not good not bad. On clay, Gilles should beat Harrison, Baker could be tough in R2 but he'll be tired from this week, and then obviously Wawrinka will be very difficult. Tsonga is a good fourth round though if Gilles can get there. One match at a time though, too many grand slam disappointments in his career to think ahead
On L'Equipe, he just said Almagro was too strong, hit very hard and pushed him off to far back. Well, the only good thing is that this match only last a little over an hour, he hardly get a chance to sweat . I'm trying to not worry about this one match cos I may go crazy just thinking about how bad it was .
I've been watching Brian Baker this week, like everyone else I jumped on to his wagon, cos he really is good. I won't underestimate him if Gilles meets him in the 2nd.
Oh, and upper half starts first, so no luck. Hopefully they at least gives him Monday start then.
I guess that's a good draw. tricky "minor" opponents but only Tsonga as the top seed. not too bad at all. who knows, maybe we get super lucky this year :]
I doubt baker would make it past the first round of RG, best of 5 after playing like zillion matches in a row now when he is not used to it. still, Gilou will have to win first :] and he hasn't been impressive since MC. let's hope he will shock the world for a change~~~
I don't think Gilles will have a problem with Baker's game (hopefully I'm not jinxing him here). Baker has a good return and backhand but he's not going to blow Gilles off the court and he's not going to outsteady him either, especially because he's going to be exhausted.
That being said, I'm so happy for Brian. I remember following him back in his junior days, as I usually do for all good American juniors and it's good to see him finally having some success on the pro tour. I hope he wins the title.
Well, it's been a pretty good day at the FO for the Americans, both men and women, believe it or not, but hopefully it won't be for all of them. (hint hint)
Gosh, he's pretty awful, tight as a kite. I think we've jinxed him, talked about his R2 opponent, taken R1 for granted. Damn, what a crash it will be to go out in R1.
just when eurosport started showing his game he plays great. can't understand how he was down a set and 2 set points... it's like Dr Gilles and Mister Simon i reckon...
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