Dashing duo dashed
Photo by JACQUES DEMARTHON/ AFP/ Getty Images
Rafa started off his Paris tournament today by teaming up with Argentina’s Juan Monaco to take on the German team of Kas and Kohlschreiber in a R32 doubles match. Kas/Kohlschreiber broke in the 4th game to go up 3-1, but Rafa/Pico broke right back to put the set back on serve. They broke a second time in the 9th game and went on to serve it out: 6-4.
In the second set, K/K broke in the 4th game again. Since it worked so well for them last set, Rafa/Pico broke right back. But the carbon-copy of set one ended there when K/K broke again to go up 4-2. Rafa and Pico weren’t giving up that easily – they broke K/K when the Germans were serving for the match at 5-3. Serve was held until K/K broke to take the set 7-5.
The tiebreak appears to have been a tight-affair with a few mini-breaks and many match points saved. K/K eventually take the set (15-13) and the match.
Don’t forget about the “as it happened” commentary on the Paris site.
(Not that I could see any of this because TennisTV.com – that I pay for – didn’t carry the match and all of the free streams are blocked by filters at work. Turns out The Tennis Channel, which I pay extra for from my cable provider, showed a match from last year rather than show the doubles. Why the hell do all broadcasters hate doubles so much? Doubles matches are often highly entertaining. I swear!)
Stats:
| Monaco/Nadal | Kas/Kohlschreiber | |
|---|---|---|
| Statistics on Serve | ||
| Aces | 1 | 4 |
| Double Faults | 2 | 0 |
| 1st Serve % | 74% | 81% |
| 1st Serve Points Won | 39/58 (67%) | 38/62 (61%) |
| 2nd Serve Points Won | 9/20 (45%) | 10/15 (67%) |
| Break Points Saved | 2/6 (33%) | 8/12 (67%) |
| Service Games Played | 11 | 11 |
| Statistics on Return | ||
| 1st Return Points Won | 24/62 (39%) | 18/58 (31%) |
| Second Return Points Won | 5/15 (39%) | 11/20 (55%) |
| Break Points Won | 4/12 (33%) | 4/6 (67%) |
| Return Games Played | 11 | 11 |
| Statistics on Points | ||
| Total Service Points Won | 48/78 (62%) | 48/77 (62%) |
| Total Return Points Won | 29/77 (38%) | 30/78 (38%) |
| Total Points Won | 77/155 (50%) | 78/155 (50%) |
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I agree totally I had to sit through Tsonga/Nalby match – useless – they only put doubs on tv if it is the top 2 teams or it is a GS – I don’t pay for it thankfully.
i couldn’t find any live stream that carried the doubles match…even the adthe, which let me choose whether to watch center court or court one, was showing the feli lopez match on both channels…maybe as bigger names start playing doubles they’ll show more…i’m betting that at this time it’s a contractual thing, and tennis channel just didn’t get the rights to the early doubles rounds…
i’m also having no luck with the live scores either through the bercy site or the atp site — the only thing i could find gave live scores only game by game (not point by point) and didn’t update the third set until it was all over…
frustrating, no ???
guess i’ll wait for youtube !!!
just enlarged the photo — he looks adorable, but — knees taped ???
can’t wait ’til tomorrow…safin/delpo will be fun to watch as a nice warm-up to “the big match” !!!
“Doubles matches are often highly entertaining. I swear!”
It’s like THE most entertaining thing to watch in sports, if it’s a close match! (Remember Olympics doubles last year, GREAT!) Even if Rafa and Pico lost, it would have been fantastic to watch. So frustrating.
Anyways, I’m sure Rafa’s happy with this close match. It’ll get his adrenaline pumping for tomorrow and I guess he got a good feel for the court.
Yes so frustrating. – I was rushing back from work to c it or at least on the pc and no go. Even though I though it was on centre court they would see it on Sky.
It must have been fun and exciting. CC know what you mean with Rafa getting him pumped up. Is the picture above from the match today? Can anyone tell me
Whoops – just shows me how observant I am. Rafa has got tape round his knees so I guess last year
Its is defo from this year….check out the kit..2009 gear for both Rafa and Pico.
Plus I saw Rafa and Pico play doubles in Paris last year and they were both in white. Oh what a joyful occasion that was (*sigh*).
I updated it once I got a current picture.
Ok, that is why I am confused :-(
Updated with a pic from this year – weren’t any posted yet when I published the story.
Possibly the funniest picture of Rafa I have ever seen LOL.
I’m with all of you: frustrated that I couldn’t get a live stream and they only showed the singles. I never cared that much about doubles matches before, but since I started playing them myself I learned to appreciate them more.
And hey, any match with Rafa in it is worth watching!
Considering how exciting/stressful this match was to “watch” on the live scores, I bet it was really fun to watch for real. Broadcasters SUCK!
Hah, I fully watched the live scores too and had to ask myself a couple of times “have I really got nothing better to do?!”.
And again, the positive with having no picture was that you could imagine Rafa and Pico playing doubles in the nude. :)
but, but…. where do the keep the ball for the second serve???
“have I really got nothing better to do?!”
Yeah, cheering a computer screen and waiting for the numbers to be updated sounds kinda sad, but that is what I was reduced to as well. And only bec it’s Rafa. I’m losing sleep bec some producer/atp official thought Rafa/Pico-KK match were not worthy of being televised.
If the wind changes and Rafa’s face stays like that I will be forced to move on to Feli full-time…..OH DEAR!!!! (yikes!!)
Still will love him, and even with his face like this, will always do! He must have bin verry eager, No?
And agree with all off you, broadcasting on the doubles sucks!
If i’m aloud to shout on this occasion….:
“WE WANT MORE DOUBLES BROADCASTED!”
At least that won’t be very time-consuming.
At this level of tournie, the ATP (Tennis TV) controls what Tennis Channel shows in live format – except for Slams. I was hopeful they would show the doubles with Rafa – they were on center court, had the time, and no other “live” contests other than doubles. Why not! Doubles are fun, fast, and highly entertaining.
I thought the atp or itf were trying to promote doubles matches, and one of the strategies was to get more top players to play doubles. Nadal is the no.2 player and someone didn’t think it should have been televised. The tournament people seem to feel it was an important or interesting match bec they put it on center court, so why did the broadcaster or atp officials not make sure it was televised. Did they not see the crowds that went to see Rafa/Roig match in Montreal?
I’m still pissed off from last night.
Maybe Rafa/Pico didn’t have the same doubles magic like Rafa/Roig at Montreal. But they sure looked great together.