[MacArthur]

Originally Posted by simplet

I'm not blaming him or anything, of course, I don't know if that was clear. What I want to say, basically, is that maybe the times where he is going to be completely healthy and in good form are going to be pretty rare. I'm starting to realize that. Not only does he very often have serious injuries that keep him from playing entirely, but even most of the rest of the time he's not in top conditions. I don't think we should expect him to ever have long periods where he can give his all.

I agree with this in the sense that I think he is never going to be the GOAT. He doesn't have the game or the fitness for it. He is a streaky player, with only one constant weapon, his serve of course. That doesn't mean that he can't realise his objectives : be number one and win a grand slam.
He can do it of course, but on a short period of time. He can have an agassi type of career, with ups and downs rythmed by his injuries (I hope not of course, but ).

( Euh

Or maybe not
In tennis, you never know.

-------> I leave it here just in case I shall be wrong in the future. )

More importantly, for the moment we should focus on his return in the top ten before RG. I think it's totaly possible. I am not really good in rankings, does anyone know if he can make points at Marseille ? If they count only two 250 tournaments on one year, he is already full with Bangkok and Johannesburg, even if it's always cool to win a tournament.

[SelvenluvJo]

have a good rest，don't care about the result.

[oranges]

Originally Posted by MacArthur

More importantly, for the moment we should focus on his return in the top ten before RG. I think it's totaly possible. I am not really good in rankings, does anyone know if he can make points at Marseille ? If they count only two 250 tournaments on one year, he is already full with Bangkok and Johannesburg, even if it's always cool to win a tournament.

I think they'll leave the points from more 250 tournaments in until enough 500 tournaments are played to warrant dropping them, meaning that the points from Marseille would be in for a while. He's 195 points behind Nalbandian at 10 now (Monfils could go up, though, this week), so good chance to get there before RG.

I'm sad at the loss because the impression was the match was on his racket. Before the very end 2nd set, I thought he was making too many errors to go way with a win, but he was clutch most of the time when needed and then played that amazing TB. By the time of that adorable legs-kicking-bum run to the bench at the changeover, I thought we're in the saddle again Someone should prompt the Rotterdam crowd to give the guy more of an adrenaline rush and perhaps there wouldn't be one UE too many
In any case, good run for him here after South Africa and good luck in Marseille.

[Tess Gray]

Someone should prompt the Rotterdam crowd to give the guy more of an adrenaline rush and perhaps there wouldn't be one UE too many

I tried my best and was shouting my lungs out But the Rafa fans were too loud

[MacArthur]

Thanks Oranges for your answer and Thanks for your direct support Tess Gray

Here is the draw for Marseille :


1st Quarter
1. DJOKOVIC, Novak (SRB) vs CHARDY, Jeremy (FRA)
HERNYCH, Jan (CZE) vs VLIEGEN, Kristof (BEL)
ZVEREV, Mischa (GER) vs QUALIFIER
CLEMENT, Arnaud (FRA) vs 7. (WC) SAFIN, Marat (RUS)

2nd Quarter
4. TSONGA, Jo-Wilfried (FRA) vs GOLUBEV, Andrey (KAZ)
BOLELLI, Simone (ITA) vs QUALIFIER
GABASHVILI, Teimuraz (RUS) vs TURSUNOV, Dmitry (RUS)
LJUBICIC, Ivan (CRO) vs 8. LOPEZ, Feliciano (ESP)

3rd Quarter
5. BERDYCH, Tomas (CZE) vs YOUZHNY, Mikhail (RUS)
QUALIFIER vs SEPPI, Andreas (ITA)
QUALIFIER vs LLODRA, Michael (FRA)
MATHIEU, Paul-Henri (FRA) vs 3. MONFILS, Gael (FRA)

4th Quarter
6. GASQUET, Richard (FRA) vs GICQUEL, Marc (FRA)
SANTORO, Fabrice (FRA) vs BENNETEAU, Julien (FRA)
QUALIFIER vs SCHUETTLER, Rainer (GER)
(WC) DIMITROV, Grigor (BUL) vs 2. SIMON, Gilles (FRA)


Good first match and overall a good draw to make some points. Another semis against Djoko would be sweet

[oranges]

Originally Posted by Tess Gray

I tried my best and was shouting my lungs out But the Rafa fans were too loud

Hope you had a great time

Good draw

Originally Posted by MacArthur

Good first match and overall a good draw to make some points. Another semis against Djoko would be sweet

I'd prefer Safin to do that job and meet him in semis if no one minds

[reggie1]

Best of luck for Marseille Jo, I think he will have a great run here as he loves playing in front of his home crowd and they surely love him. The thing I so admire about Jo as others have said, is that even when he does not feel 100% he sill fights and gives all that he can. Allez Jo.

[SelvenluvJo]

Gooood Luck Jo!!

[Turquoise]

Good luck in Marseille Jo! Belated congratulations on winning Johannesburg title - it's only fitting that he should be the inaugural title holder, being a great ambassador for the African region. But of course, he won purely on merit, he was simply the best player of the tournament. So proud of him.

Also had the pleasure of watching his QF match against Nadal in Rotterdam. It was an exciting match that could have gone either way, and Nadal was just too solid on the day. There’ll be more chances for Jo to beat the #1 player of the world.

[Keijan]

Jo will be playing second tomorrow in the afternoon session (two matchs in the morning, two in the afternoon and two in the evening.)
He's up against Golubev, anyone heard of him before?
They play after Djokovic/Chardy, so probably around 4pm.

[Dragon89]

Originally Posted by Keijan

Jo will be playing second tomorrow in the afternoon session (two matchs in the morning, two in the afternoon and two in the evening.)
He's up against Golubev, anyone heard of him before?
They play after Djokovic/Chardy, so probably around 4pm.

Golubev is a former Russian player, who now plays for Kazakhstan. His best result was in St. Petersburg-2008, where he reached final and lost to Andy Murray However, this year Andrey hasn't won a match, though he competed in 3 tournaments. Think he is not a problem for Jo

[Keijan]

Oh thank you. Yeah I think I heard of a Russian changing to Kazakh before. Well I can't wait to see this match ^^

[Dragon89]

Originally Posted by Keijan

Oh thank you. Yeah I think I heard of a Russian changing to Kazakh before. Well I can't wait to see this match ^^

Yeah, Kazakhstan Tennis Federation is now pretty rich, so they offer some good contracts for players... And if Russian girls who now play under their flag are, objectively, useless for Russian Fed Cup team, Golubev could be a Davis Cup team member after few years... And i've been shocked when Karatancheva took their citizenship too
Well, this is offtop, really I'm sorry
By the way, our satellite TV shows Marseille, but I'm afraid they won't show Jo's match, because on that time they plan to show WTA Dubai Hope their will be a livestream...

[reggie1]

Don't worry about being off topic, it's always good to learn little bits of tennis info.
Sky are showing loads of WTA this week but no Marseille so I am in the same boat.
Best of luck for today Jo and let's hope you are feeling like your old self again. (well, not old!)

[Keijan]

Yeah don't apologize, it's very interesting So isn't there any good Kazakh-born players if they have to pay for the Russian ones to play there ?

About the streams, you have a few possibilities. First there is the tournament official website stream :
http://www.open13.fr/web-tv.html
You just have to install something and then it works. But the sound is very very low.

The best quality vid are on the betting sites : betfair or bet365. You just need to register without putting money on your account, it should work if you're not in France.

There is also http://www.channelsurfing.net/ or http://www.atdhe.net/ if the above doesn't work for you.