French Open 2018

[vparam]

He didn't even care to properly prepare for this Grand Slam. Why should we bother to even care that he's getting blown out by a LL!

[RohitG]

As it was evident from his scheduling, he seems to have not given much importance to the clay season, apart from those couple of days at Siri Fort and now at Paris. Agreed, it does put a strain on his body and he's focusing more on Wimbledon and the hard courts later, but as discussed in his thread, he's gonna safely make it to the main draw of both, so why not try a bit harder to win here, especially when you have an easier draw. There's the added bonus of extra money and some more points. Who knows how's it gonna be in the next three months? Let's not forget that in the slams he's played, he drew Murray and Berdych. You'd take Bemelmans any day over someone in top-50 (forget about top-10)

[PKBasu]

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND, 92) l. LL-Ruben Bemelmans (BEL, 113) 46 46 16

I think some officials came to the court toward the end to see if Yuki was tanking the third set. He bucked up a bit at the end. This sort of unprofessional play is really unbecoming of an Indian sportsman.
Preparing at Siri Fort with Vijayant Malik just won't cut it! He wasted a whole month, got the easiest possible draw, but played absolute crap. He was up in each of the first two sets, but played pathetically in the 10th game of both. It wasn't as if the other guy was playing too well, it was just that Yuki had no belief in his ability to win (especially at the crucial stages of both the first two sets). The final set was a disgraceful capitulation.

[PKBasu]

So Yuki has now played 4 matches in the main draw of Slams, and is yet to win a set. This was the worst of the matches he's played though. Against Murray, one felt proud of him in the third set. But what the hell was this?

[sportsfan]

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND, 92) l. LL-Ruben Bemelmans (BEL, 113) 46 46 16

I think some officials came to the court toward the end to see if Yuki was tanking the third set. He bucked up a bit at the end. This sort of unprofessional play is really unbecoming of an Indian sportsman.
Preparing at Siri Fort with Vijayant Malik just won't cut it! He wasted a whole month, got the easiest possible draw, but played absolute crap. He was up in each of the first two sets, but played pathetically in the 10th game of both. It wasn't as if the other guy was playing too well, it was just that Yuki had no belief in his ability to win (especially at the crucial stages of both the first two sets). The final set was a disgraceful capitulation.

little more self belief would've been good... add hunger, opportunism to the list as well... but well, it wasn't supposed to be.

[nitin28]

What a miss by yuki, lucky loser J Zopp has beaten Jack sock

[knarayen]

What a miss by yuki, lucky loser J Zopp has beaten Jack sock

Wow so sock had a meltdown too!!

No excuse for Yuki to have thrown away this opportunity for extra points and money.

[arjun2761]

Agree that Yuki should have prepared for and made more of an effort at the FO as he has the game to beat at least some on the clay courts.

However, it appears he played the TW challenger and won it when he wasn't fully fit and possibly aggravated something. Consequently, he appears to be playing very little since and when playing appears to be playing somewhat impatiently (at least in his loss to Zhe Zhang in Busan). In each case, he had much to gain in points and money, so it isn't likely that he did so without some other reason...

[PKBasu]

Yes, Arjun, there may be something in what you write. He may be playing conservatively in order not to aggravate an injury/niggle. I hope he overcomes it before Surbiton.

Sock losing is irrelevant, really. Time to move onto the Surbiton Challenger. Lots of Lucky Losers have won in R1 (Zopp, Bemelmans, Trungiletti) and Bolleli too gave Nadal a rough time in the third set. Match practice helps!

[PKBasu]

The near (3/4th) all-Indian Doubles R1 is the Fifth and last match on Court16 tomorrow.

[jaydeep]

A dominating winning start for Rohan and Edouard against American youngsters.

[R1] (13) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) bt Taylor Fritz (USA)/ Frances Tiafoe (USA) 63 61

[PKBasu]

On further reflection, I don't think Yuki was playing all that conservatively in the first two sets. He was playing well, and was in the lead for a significant part of both sets. Clearly, his sliding on clay is almost non-existent, and he would occasionally stutter when trying to slide. Also his backhand was really off, and he made a lot of UFEs on that flank. His volleying was no more than average (and backhand overhead volleys in particular were bad). The tenth game of both sets (when his opponent had just broken back to take the lead on the opponent's serve) were both very poorly played by Yuki; somewhat lackadaisical and unfocused, when he really needed to be extra focused. And the final set was totally unprofessional -- a complete meltdown until 0-5. A bit of preparation (eg, one tournament, even a single match, on clay) would have helped greatly.

[PKBasu]

Our near-all-India doubles match should be starting within the hour. I hope some of you in India are planning to watch!

[PKBasu]

Tight match so far. 3-2 on serve (Yuki/Divij serving first). 19 points each (30-0 to Purav), then Yuki/Divij reel off the next four points to gain the first break. 4-2

[PKBasu]

Bhambri/Sharan save a BP, then hold. 5-2