Choose your upset pick for the Men's French Open Semi's! (Page 1 of 5)

almagro

I'd like to see Florian Mayer do well in this tournament. He's done very well this year on clay, reaching the final in Munich and the quarterfinals in Rome. Also Frederico Gil could be a surprise player to make a deep run in the tournament. He made the finals of Estoril last year, and was a surprise quarterfinalist at Monte Carlo.

Del Potro, Almagro, Soderling, & Ferrer are, to me, the most obvious choices.  But Gasquet and Mayer both look right to rock the boat.

Personally, though, I'm thinking will get The Big Four in the semis.

-Arvis

The only person I would think that could POSSIBLY beat Djokovic before the semis is del Potro. Monfils has had a good record at Roland Garros, but last years tournament seemed to be a nightmare that never ended for him, becoming frustrated with Fognini's game style and antics during the match. Almagro has had a stupendous year on the dirt this year, and I could possibly see him as a conteder for the semifinals. He's won 3 titles on clay so far this year, and I think he can secure another deep run in the tournament like last year.

The Djoker does have a tough draw but they only play every 2nd day so unless he has some tough 5 setters he should be ok, but to win at Roland Garros he will have to win 7 matches against :
De Bakker, Hanescu or Paire, Del Po or Gulbis, Bellucci or Gasquet, Berdych or Cilic, Ferrer or Federer, and finally Nadal or Soderling! Tough matches from Round 3 onwards for Novak huh!
Wow does Nole have the toughest draw this year or what??
For this reason I choose Rafa to continue his dominance at RG

Going back to what Tono said, its true, Djokovic has a pretty tough draw to go through. Also, a very possible blockbuster quarterfinal could turn out to be Nadal versus Soderling. Tfhat match will set the tone for the rest of the tournament, because who ever wins that match could very likely become the champion.

Have you seen Fed's play in 'Slams recently? The word erratic doesn't begin to describe his form. Up two sets to love against Simon at this year's Aussie Open before saving it in five, up two sets to one on Djokovic at the US Open last year (when Novak had his serve troubles) and blew it, eeked by Falla at Wimbledon last year.

This isn't Roger Federer from 2003-2007 anymore. His game has been deteriorating slowly but surely over the last three or so years.

BTW, I'm sure if I told you a journeyman named Robin Soderling would beat Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros two years ago, you would have said the exact same thing.

Er.... no.  My post had nothing to do with Federer and everything to do with Monfils.  Monfils is TERRIBLE!  How his ranking is where it is is one of the great mysteries of the world.  THE MAN DOESN'T PLAY TENNIS!  He is injured every other point he plays!

Crap on Federer all you want, but we're talking about a man who lost in the 2nd round here last year to Fognini.  WHO, exactly, has Monfils beaten this year that makes you think he'll even make it to the quarters?  For the record, Monfils just dropped the first set to Bjorn Phau.  BJORN.  PHAU.

I'm not saying Federer won't go out early, but I am guaranteeing that Monfils WILL.

-Arvis

True, if athletic ability = success, Monfils would wins Slams all over the place.  But obviously that is not the case.  The only two things I'll remember Monfils for is:
1) Virtua Tennis 3
2) Beating Andy Roddick in the French Open 4th round in 2009 and freaking out like it was actually some kind of accomplishment.

I am surprised that anyone is even talking about Monfils at all when you have David Ferrer in that quarter.  You know Ferrer, the guy who is actually good at tennis and worth talking about?  The guy who (if Monfils makes it that far) will beat Monfils easily?  You know who I'm talking about.

-Arvis

I agree completely with Arvis...Ferrer is white hot this year, and Monfils at BEST is erratic. I also like Almagro to make the semis...Murray is no clay court player. Also, I think Ferrer can easily take Federer, given his increasingly deteriorating form; I like Ferrer v. Djokovic & Rafa v. Almagro, with Nadal beating ther Djoker in the final. Also, though I would never even DREAM that they'd make the semis, I think Dolgopolov and Bellucci are to be watched. Gasquet is playing well and all, but Bellucci is a clay-court specialist and seems to have found his form & his calling at the same time. As for DelPo, I'd take him more seriously if he wasn't playing a man with a 40 match winning streak including 4 wins over Rafa in finals (2 of which were on clay >.<) and 3 over Federer...

Ok, well if 2008 Monfils gets in a time machine and takes over for 2011 Monfils, then he MIGHT take a set off 2011 Ferrer.

Sorry friend, but I've picked Ryan Sweeting to upset Dolgopolov in the second round.
Dolgopolov has been disappointing while Sweeting has won a clay tourney this year (somehow)!  Obviously I could be way off and Dolgopolov could decide to play well.  Who knows with that guy?
And poor Bellucci will run into The Superb Serb himself if he can make it to the 4th round.  Either way, you're spot on about the fact that both these players should be watched.  A ton of exciting potential surrounds the both of them.

-Arvis

I predict Dolgopolov to beat Sweeting. He has a lot more experience of handling the pressure of playing on a big stage. I watched Sweeting win his maiden title in Houston, and he was so close to choking away the second set. If he almost crumbles over THAT kind of pressure, we'll have to see how he handles playing at Grand Slam event.