Roland Garros 2012

[C4iLL]

Wow amazing match ^^
I already noticed Rounders serve really well, he's hard to break !

[C4iLL]

Me (Llodra) against Slicer (Del Potro) report : 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.

I hosted the match. There was almost 0 zero desync on his serve, but 1 desync at every points of my serve when we played more than 2-3 shots in a row.

It was really annoying because we had fun on his service, and that broke all the rythm of the match...

[VMoe86]

tonigno and I played our R16 match tonight, with the All-In-One ITST Patch -- no problems whatsoever. I forgot to put a "1" at Auto Record in the ITST.ini, so no .dmo file.

I agreed to him using Federer as well, so it was Federer vs. Federer at the French Open. Final result: 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 in my favour.

My first ever 5-setter online and I was nervous to start with, but I started serving very well and it was him who had to deliver after each of my (quick) holds in the first set. At 4-3 he blinked: Two double faults, break for me, served it out easily.

In the second set I was playing really well, returning was good and so it was a comfortable set for me.

In the third set he upped his level, while I was a bit more impatient (I made half of my unforced errors in this set alone). He was serving first in the third set and he started with two or three love holds (he was serving unbelievably well in that passage)-- at 4-3 for him I blinked for the first time, first break point. I make an unforced error and he is serving for the set at 5-3. I put in a clinical return game, break to love, but since he raised his level in general (he was hitting the ball nicely from here on, I had to up my level because of him) he could rebreak and take the third set.

Fourth set he started serving again, but breaking him for the first time in this set also broke him mentally a bit, but I decided to be very focused on each return game, too, just to not give him a chance to come back. Good match!

Phew, through to the QF, won't be easier there. I hope the deadline gets extended until Saturday, will be quite busy the next few days.

[eliomelma]

Very curious to play my quarter final against Otlichno, will be a great battle !

[VMoe86]

I think all four quarter finals are interesting and difficult to predict:

kyuuji is using the quite slow Tsonga, so I guess it will not be easy against Llodra in the hands of C4iLL.

Then Ugadalou against RussianBoy. Never played against either of them, but Ugadalou seems to be at a very good level and RussianBoy is maybe a bit worse, but using Federer.

I am really looking forward to my match against Elias: Will definitely have to play my very best to have a chance.

eliomelma against Otlichno, both using Djokovic, should be a very close match.

[C4iLL]

Good analyzis

Hope I can win a set at least !! Elias should be really cautious against you I think he will have a lot of trouble

[VMoe86]

Elias should be really cautious against you I think he will have a lot of trouble

That match has taken place tonight (and a long conversation about the game afterwards). Federer (me) wins 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 against Davydenko (Elias), booking his place in the SF against Djokovic (Otlichno or eliomelma).

Since the game has changed a bit more towards favouring characters who are able to play first strike tennis (even on clay) I knew I had to take care of my serve, dominate from the very first shot in the rally and hit with good depth. I did all these things and I was clutch when I had to be (except for serving out the match ).

Elias started serving and he did not start well. I immediately broke him and then only took care of my serve. There were two or three games in which I faced break points, but I saved them all and clenched my fist after serving out the first set.

Second set Elias starts serving again and just like in the first set, I break him immediately. In the same fashion I managed to go to 5-3, when he was serving to stay in the set. He made some more mistakes than usual, I broke for the set, but one more set was to go.

This time I was serving first in the third set and I was down 0-30 quickly, but again found good serves and shots to win that game. Until 3-2 both of us held, although we both faced break points. Then he blinked first, making some more unforced errors and I force him to serve to stay in the match at 5-2. It looked as if I could take the match here, since he made some mistakes and I even had a match point. I got the return in, but he won the rally. Maybe I could have won here if I were a bit more patient.

Then I was serving for the match. He started with two good returns, on both I accelerated and made the mistakes. I was then down 15-40, facing two break points. First one I save, second one I run arond my backhand, go inside out with a short acceleration and I miss. We both held comfortably the next two games, I was not rattled by that break. At 6-5 he again made more mistakes, going for more and the third match point I took, phew.

Even though Elias did not have much fun (too few long rallies due to the changed gameplay without having adjusted the roster to it, yet) I am happy.

Here are the stats:

[C4iLL]

Nice victory, I thought a 5 set was possible, but with Federer you're really hard to play ^^

[eliomelma]

I hope that you have put autorecord on 1!!!

[Elias]

Well yes to be honest it wasn't that much fun imo, i was pretty much bored by the second set because it was way too much a guess game instead of some competitive game mechanics, due to the combination of the current shot power our chars have and the movement inertia recently added in TE wich is quite too heavy in my opinion.

It was playing on clay like if it was 90's grass, and i couldn't even feel really happy when hitting a winner because most of the time i just guessed the right side to be able to hit it, or my opponent just guessed wrong the next shot after my serve, not much about building points like we could do it before, wich was really more interesting gameplay wise.

Soo much 3-4 shots rallies and not much suspense, i felt disapointed how the game played so i was already more into thinking how to balance this instead of focusing on the match and so did too much errors. I felt like "anyway you can throw the match cause there is not much you can do about it and it's not much fun, such a waste" , i was probably wrong though cause davydenko still has very good shots as well, though federer FH is above most, probably. But i didn't really had the faith or desire to play like this longer.

This of course doesn't removes any credit to Vmoe86 wich anticipated better than me most of the time, though i was more the defender than the attacker during the match, i felt glued on the ground and overpowered by my opponent.

If the movement inertia change stays like it is right now, we'll have to considerably decrease the shots power (moreover the ball speed) in our roster because right now it's a bit of a joke. i can't imagine how it would play on fast surfaces

i can't imagine either if Vmoe used b1+b2 serves. Here he didnt aced me that much because he only used b1 serves, go figure what would happen if he was using b1+b2

here's the .dmo :

http://www.mediafire.com/?biramkilzbz10gk
http://depositfiles.com/files/vam0bswad

[VMoe86]

Yes, it was like 90s grass. It is also obvious that there have to be some changes (either in the game or our roster). If you like 90s grass (I do ) then it is good, but I also prefer some more point construction, especially on clay.

This ITST Patch and Roster is all work-in-progress at the moment, so it will probably take some time until we find a good balance. Until then all matches are just test matches (for me) and each tournament I will try someone else.

b1+b2 I rarely use and I'm happy just using b1 serves on 1st serves (b2 on 2nd serves). I can aim them quite well and they put me in control of the point most of the time. It is funny seeing Davydenko with a higher average 1st serve speed than Federer. So my returning was quite good considering this aspect.

[Otlichno]

I still think as a whole, the movement change is a positive one. It opens up so many more options, wrong footers are now possible, you don't feel the need to constantly accelerate, the slice now should be more employed. It just opens up so much more opportunities, but yes I do think the power should be reduced slightly.

[Elias]

I still think as a whole, the movement change is a positive one. It opens up so many more options, wrong footers are now possible, you don't feel the need to constantly accelerate, the slice now should be more employed. It just opens up so much more opportunities, but yes I do think the power should be reduced slightly.

Yes this is definitely going in the right direction adding some inertia. Right now it's in my opinion too heavy, but it's just a matter of balancing it with power, so we may find a reasonable balance anyway. I'm just wondering if Manu will let this left/right conversion untouched or will lower it, because i wouldn't like having to balance the roster power too often as this is a pretty time consuming testing task to achieve

[C4iLL]

it was way too much a guess game instead of some competitive game mechanics, due to the combination of the current shot power our chars have and the movement inertia recently added in TE wich is quite too heavy in my opinion.

It was playing on clay like if it was 90's grass, and i couldn't even feel really happy when hitting a winner because most of the time i just guessed the right side to be able to hit it, or my opponent just guessed wrong the next shot after my serve, not much about building points like we could do it before, wich was really more interesting gameplay wise.

It's exactly what I felt playing against Vmoe before, but I wasn't able to describe like that. It was as you said like grass ^^
But that's maybe because he plays really well too, with a good service, good reading etc.

Anyway I think the inertia idea is a good addition to the gameplay, the roster just needs some tunes and I'm confident you and others gonna find the good configuration that satisfy everybody

[eliomelma]

Congrats Vmoe86, before this match i don'think that Elias can lose on 3-5 sets because he played with his favourite char! Not because you aren't good but because Elias is really an incredible player!So your victory is greater!