I came in at the start of the third set and JWT was pumped and really playing good aggressive tennis. He was really going for his shots, and the crowd just adore him. He (and Monfils) get them going, I think more so than Gasquet (although I saw in the TV coverage that he did whip them up a bit after he had lost the third).
Stan earned himself a lot of boos after getting broken and dishing out the same to his racquet, smiling wryly at the reaction of the crowd, as he went get a new one.
The French guy sat next to me was curious as to why I was occasionally tapping away on the iPad so I explained (in my best Franglais) that I was writing about the matches, and making notes - mainly at the Change of Ends, but occasionally mid-game). He wanted me to write "Tsonga is the best" so I duly obliged. Having done my but for Anglo-French relations, I turned my attention back to the match!
At this stage, JWT was looking very much in charge and soaking up the atmosphere. The wave was going round the grounds and it looked like we'd get to see a little of Djokovic/Del Potro in short order, especially a Gasquet was taking a bit of a walk off the map in the third.
Tsonga was whipping out blistering passing shots, and it really wasn't that Stan was playing badly; JWT was just really going for it.
Until... with a break point against him and a thundering rally from the baselines, Stan got a break as Jo went sprawling awkwardly on the clay.
That seemed to turn the tide for Stan and Jo was having to work hard to stay on terms, and Stan was definitely looking the fresher of the two.
The crowd started getting excited at a Wawrinka double fault, and at one stage JWT motioned them to be quiet during play. The set went to a close tiebreak.
Between wasted chances for passing shots for a mini-break and failing to capitalise on a long rally with an unforced error, the scoreline was nip-and-tuck, although an unfortunate netcord for Wawrinka gave JWT two holds on his serve.
Stan was really getting into his stride with some incredible ripping passing shots, and by now was looking the more motivated of the two.
Grabbing a mini-break on JWT’s serve, Wawrinka took the initiative, and with it the third set!
Jo started with an early break and the crowd were willing him to get this finished, but Stan broke back.
Tsonga seemed to have lost his impetus completely, and Wawrinka was the one to capitalise on the drop in Jo’s level of play – enough to carry him through to take the fourth set.
I got a text from my mother at this point that Gasquet had won in the fourth on Lenglen (as is the roar from the crowd had not been clue enough); I needed to head over so we could go home, and she had been struggling with the steps and the intense cold of the conditions. She wanted/needed to get back to the hotel, but as I was on my way over, the announcement went out that the organizers were going to switch the Djokovic/Del Potro match to Lenglen. As we had an early train back to London, I reluctantly had to concur that heading back made more sense, so I handed my Lenglen ticket to my friend (who texted that it was indeed perishingly cold in the stands).
Maybe I could have seen the warmup and the first three games, but it is about an hour on the bus to get back so we decided to head home and got in to see the second set unfolding.
Not surprisingly, the consensus on twitter and the commentary was that if they split sets (which they did), they’d call it a night. Sure enough you saw them quickly chatting to each other before they declared a suspension due to bad light.
And so ended RG 2011 for us… some good tennis and at least relatively safe from the elements, although both of us ended up with colds after this trip!
I think my plan of action next year will be to maybe save for 3 days, and do a mix of Chatrier and Lenglen tickets. There weren’t seats together at Bercy for me and my friend to do the package as a combined force. I believe she went for the Bercy and Chatrier package and I decided not to bother with Bercy. As it is, I have bought her spare tickets for Queens this year so that (and possibly WTF) will be my ATP events for this year.
I have had no luck in either of the Wimbledon ballots so I will be trusting to Ticketmaster luck this year to see if I can get there – or just stroll down and queue for returns.
Next up will be some Technobabble and my Armchair Slammer round up of Week One of RG 2011…
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