Ladies Competition

  Fuzzy Yellow Balls and Ken Have reached the final and may place their selection in the comments on this post.Fed's Fan was eliminated with Azarenka.

Men's Competition

The Men's See Steve1959 and Del Boy reach the final selecting Nadal .Unfortunately that is where it must end inthe men's as no other selection which is Ferrer is available.Jenny was eliminated with Tsonga.

Winner Roland Garros!

Roland Garros 2013 The Dirt Files - Day 12

Have had to cut my posts short as I have a rushed trip back to Aussie tomorrow. I hope to get some more posts up but at this stage not sure. May the best Man or Lady Win!

Ladies Competition

Your selection for Semi's should go in the comment section of this post. Cagey selections will be needed.

Men's Competition

Your Semi Final Selections should be placed in the comments section. Me Thinks a couple will be caught short if their selection wins their semi.

Roland Garros 2013 The Dirt Files - Day 11

Recap: I thought Tsonga had a chance against Federer but no way did I think it would be all over in three straight sets.Give credit to Tsonga and especially his coach Aussie Roger Rasheed who started working with Jo earlier this year. Tsonga recruited the Adelaide-born Rasheed to drive previously unseen levels of fitness and grit. "There's no limit, really, to where Jo can go and what he can do in the sport," Rasheed said. "He's eight in the world and he can add so much more to what he's already got. That's pretty exciting but I've got to deliver it, he's got to embrace it and we see where the cards fall after that.

Rasheed said ""Fitness is a big part of it. It's a bit of a no-brainer in my mind; why wouldn't you tick that box? Once you've done that, it keeps your mind in a better frame and the decisions you make on the court are more sound for longer periods of time.

"You add the tennis package to that, the technical and the structural. Jo spent 18 months without a coach and obviously thought he needed to be pushed and challenged and motivated to a new level. He needed to have someone's eyeballs on him to drive him. He gave me a call and to be honest, it's been a natural fit."

Tsonga has improved but Federer was very average to what we expect of the G.O.A.T. Federer made 34 unforced errors 19 of those off the forehand side! I was dissapointed with Fed when he does go down a lot of times his shot selection is terrible. Below are some comments Rodger made in his press conference.

"I don't need anything special to digest this defeat. I'm not a baby. I'm ready to play another tournament"

"crushing loss" but "give some credit to old Jo-Willy Tsonga, please."

"In a way, I've moved past this loss already. I don't know what's next, I'll talk to my team to ready for Halle,

Honestly Rodger your team does have some work to do, your year has not been great so far and Wimbledon will be a big test.I will post a classic Rodger shot below made in one of the early rounds just to remind us that Rodger is a true legend.

Yes Fed fans you can watch this over and over and Fed will always be at his best ! I know a few of you will be in let down mode so this picture is for you !

Other Big winners were Errani ,Williams and Ferrer. Williams was shown she is human just getting past Kuznetsova in three Errani and Williams meet in the semi's and Serena unless she breaks a finger nail will win this one. Ferrer sent Tommy Robredo packing showing how its done and I believe Ferrer is ready to reach his first grand slam final! Tsonga will not like to play some one like David who is tenacious , does not make unforced errors and makes you play , yep a lot of us have lost to players such as this even though we go onto the court thinking it should be a win!.Ferrer keeps good depth on his shots with good height over the net and I think he will be there to meet Nadal or Djokovic in the final.

My top three matches today follows below.

Shazza, Nads, and Djoker to all get through.

Roland Garros 2013 The Dirt Files - Day 10

Recap: Another Classic served up by Wawrinka and Gasquet . Stan was the man winning 8-6 in the third. Its a shame for those watching Television that the coverage is not flexible, they concentrate on matches that are for gone  conclusions and we see way to little of matches such as these. Hate to say I told you so but Aussie Junior Nick Kyrgios was bundled out of the French Open Junior yesterday. I really think that this was bad management after winning a round in the Men's main draw..he admitted to nerves going back to the juniors.He has proven a point by reaching Number 1 junior in the world and had great success last year ..for me its a backward step and as I said he was on a hiding to none.He does have a chance of making it but what I saw in his match against Stepanek he does have some areas of his game that need plenty of work, his backhand needs to improve as well his mobility and point structure , he wins a lot by being just to strong physically but that levels out when he  plays someone he cant dominate by raw power.The fact, apart from First round wins by Nick and Ash Barty Australia have had nothing to cheer about and really some poor results coming from the juniors.Only one Aussie girl was in the main draw of the Juniors Sarah Tomic(Bernard's Sister) and let me say she's not as good when comparing at the same age as her Big Brother.She lost first round.Well its pleasing to see Mikhail Youzhny taking the advice of Gulbis on that players are boring , never is Mikhail boring he still provided entertainment as he was thrashed yesterday by Tommy Haas. Watch Below.

Tsonga vs Federer is by far the stand out match of the day below are my top three. I am really finding the women's event to be a bore so far!Perfect example Hampton vs Jankovic you could sear Hampton has never played in a tournament before , this was not great for the promotion of Women's tennis. Really apart from Serena its all to ordinary so far.And if you like Serena belting up her opponents then great but it makes for boring viewing,

And the Daily Dirt issue follows below.

Competition Mens

Congratulations to Steve 1959 -Tsonga Del Boy - Tsonga,
Jenny- Haas , Your Quarter final selection can be made in the comments section of this post.

Eliminated this Round - Ken- Gasquet, Feds Fan- Almagro, Fuzzy Yellow Balls -Almagro

Competition Ladies

Well done to Ken - Kirilenko , Fuzzy Yellow Balls - Kirilenko and Feds Fan- Sharapova 

Eliminated was Tony Osborne - Hampton

Post your Quarter Final Selections in the comments section of this post. Good Luck.

Roland Garros 2013 The Dirt Files - Day 9

Recap - The worst part at watching tennis at home is that you are pretty much stuck to watching one of the show court matches.A classic match between Almagro and Robredo was being played whilst many had to watch Serena pulverize another player.I really think that the television coverage is quite boring and very stereotyped more court switches and interviews should be mixed with the live coverage of a show court.Rodger went 5 with Simon, not convincing some great shots but not a high quality match over the distance.Serena Belted Vinci and unfortunately for Anna Ivanovic Radwanska could hit 4 balls back in a row.Have you ever wondered how much players earn per round at Roland Garros? Below is the earnings per round .Where I am going with this after the Grand Slam chart I will post what the majority of tennis players earn in the future tournaments. Its been applauded that their has been an increase at the major tournaments but nothing major for the hopefuls that sit 190 + in the world.

Not a bad payout , especially for wildcards that did not have to qualify.Young Australians Ash Barty and Nick Kyrgios won a round and earned a $45,465 pay check.Both received Wildcards to the main draw in a reciprocal arrangement with the French who get Wildcards for players to the Australian Open.I think both are deserving but of course they did not play there way into the event as other qualifiers did. Ok looks glamorous does it not.But take players trying to make  like Rubin Statham New Zealand's top player he and many more are really battling to make enough money to pay expenses whilst building their ranking points.These guys are doing it tough and have no funds for coaches and some eventually have to leave the tour because of finances.With little support from National body's what chance have these players who are busting their "guts" to get ahead. Below are the prize money on offer at the 10,000 and 15,000 ITF Future events.

So Rubin won the singles event a week ago at a 15,000 ITF event in Korea, after Deduction take home pay was around $1365.00 the following week Statham lost early.During the same week Statham won the doubles..take home was around $330.00 Take in account of Travel etc there is little left from the winnings! Common Federer , Nadal and Murray  and co you can make a difference in advocating more prize money at the bottom end.Its very much the same with the Ladies and Serena etc should spend less time on nails and get behind the players of the future. These events need prize money increases , players need support teams just like the top guys but the reality is they cant afford a doctors visit let alone have a coach with them! They are limited to where they can play and how many events they can get to. Well that is my opinion!

The Junior Roland Garros Champs- I have written many times that high ITF junior rankings can be misleading , you have to look where points have been accumulated and also have an understanding that many of the elite juniors do not front up to a lot of junior events.Overnight former New Zealander now Great Britain Cameron Norrie who was ranked top 10 went out first round 7/5 6/2 convincingly  beaten ( points wise it was around 74 to 50).The young guy that beat him was Christian Garin from Chile aged 17. Garin was unseeded whilst Norrie was 15th seed. Garin since January has been playing Future events and doing pretty darn good reaching a couple of finals!.Another young player that had to qualify as his Junior ranking is in the 1,000s Albert Alcaraz Ivorra too out the 9 th seed yesterday.He has been playing futures also and made some finals this year.The same is happening you bet in the Girl's event yesterday five girls seeds went including the No 3 and No 4 seeds.A qualifier who I think is one of the favourites Sara Sorribes Tormo is also unseeded and won her first round .

Nick Kyrgios the World Junior Number 1 and who did well in the Main draw Men's, is top Seed for the Boys.I do not think he can win this event on clay , there are a number of reasons, the main is that he is back playing amongst his peers and the pressure is all on him, most of the other guys will be keen to play him and will lift their game as they have nothing to lose.I still think Nick has a way to go physically and moving on this surface so it will be interesting as the draw unfolds, I hope as an Aussie I am wrong.

I will try to keep you up to date with the juniors.

My Top 3 matches today are below.

It will be interesting to see how Nadal starts today, Wawrinka and Gasquet could be another classic and I am hoping Hampton wipes that fake smile of Jankovic.

Roland Garros 2013 The Dirt Files - Day 8

Recap: Feast of tennis yesterday and I was lucky to get to watch a few matches yesterday.New Zealand Marina Erakovic defeated in three sets    by Sloane Stephens.This was a terrible match Erakovic committed a total of 44 unforced errors , obviously her tactic was to go for it, It was SLAM BAM AND THANK YOU MA'AM TENNIS ,to add she also served 6 double faults.When she was able to bring Stephens forward with a drop shot it did work and the American was caught out...unfortunately Marina did not explore this enough and made way too many poor shot selections.Marina even got docked a point for receiving coaching from her support team..I do not think she did get an advantage because she obviously did not hear the  tactic..."keep the ball in the court Marina" Stephens made hard work of this match and I don't see her getting past her next opponent. Haas and Isner provided the match of the day and both fought to their best ability.I think Haas can get to the quarters not bad for an old guy!Well lots of clashes yesterday with the umpires and I can really feel for the players when they get the wrong mark checked..usually these chair umpires have never played the game and simply with no hawk eye get the mark wrong to many times.Sam Stosur again fell when expectations was high..she won the first set playing controlled aggressive tennis against Jankovic but then for no reason started her usual misses off balls she should of made.New Coach Sam ! Maria Sharapova Had words during her match and Benoit Pair'e lost it after being docked a point for receiving coaching also.Bob Brian used his smart phone to take a line call mark and he no doubt will be $2000.00 bucks lighter.He did get an official warning.Mr Gulbis is this what you want ...I think it adds to the drama to the event and we need a few moments like these. Keep up the Good work! No one will get close to the best in the business Jonny Mac so here is a video just to remind you if you have forgot!



Well not many matches for me stand out today but below are my top 3 picks.

And so with confrontation the theme below is the Daily Dirt

Competition Ladies

Round 4 selections now due , Congratulations to Tony Osborne-Errani , Ken - A.Radwanska , Feds Fan - A.Radwanska Fuzzy Yellow Balls - A. Kerber

Eliminated Bec- Stosur. Please use this post to submit your entry.

Competition's Mens

Time to Submit your round 4 selections. Congratulations to
Steve1959- Ferrer , Ken-Almagro- , Feds Fan - Ferrer Fuzzy Yellow Balls - Nishikori ,Del Boy - Wawrinka. Jenny -Ferrer 

Eliminated Bec -Monfils. Its getting tricky Good luck with round 4 and use this post for selections via the comments section.Mitch got confused with the rounds and unfortunately has been eliminated. 

Roland Garros 2013 The Dirt Files - Day 7

Recap : Some huge matches yesterday , if you have been checking a few of my top 3 matches you would of seen some of the best tennis so far at Roland Garros. This is a condensed report today so I can recharge battery's for today's feast of tennis. Rafa was upset over the scheduling and told his press conference it was a joke. He said Ladies only play best of three sets and to back up the next day is nothing ! Calm down Rafa you have looked nervous I can tell that this years title means a lot to you , you have not been at your best so my tip "is to calm the farm" I will be looking how you handle Fabio Fognini today!

Ok straight into my Top 3 matches of the day , I think I could have picked another 3 just as good.

Jankovic seems to beat up Stosur a little and this will see where Slamming one Slam Sammy is , brain vs brawn here, Paire is an up and comer he is French and may have the hometown edge on the fighting Samurai from Japan. The big match is Dimitrov vs Djokovic a week or so ago Dimitrov had a win against the Djoker ...I need to say he did not go on an win that tournament and the lack of consistency to beat a player such as Djoker in a slam I feel is not there yet.He did get a phone call from his new Girl friend Maria Sharapova hence the Daily Dirt Issue having some fun.The call was how to beat Djokovic.

If you want to leave in the comment section what you think she told him please do.
Ok where ever you are in the world today enjoy today's action. Before I go All of New Zealand will be hoping Marina Erakovic will win tonight ..whether they could be bothered to switch channels from the Rugby remains to be seen.