*TENNIS THREAD CLAY IS ON THE WAY !*

[MrsVamos]

Hello Lovelies.

Marking place.

I also was hoping Halep would win, but my goodness Ostapenko can hit a ball. Well done her, great match. I'll be interested to see how she gets on playing on grass now.

No, Muguruza has had a terrible year, really. Mentally, she really hasn't coped. RG 2016 seems to have cursed it's winners...

And forget Murray- Alfie Hewett has won the wheelchair singles, and he's only 19, so brilliant job.

If the dates of the tournament had been the same this year, as last (they are a week later), Ostapenko would have still been 19, since her birthday was Thursday. I'm not sure when teenager won the a GS for the women last- Rafa was the last man, in 2005, just after his 19th birthday. Maybe Shrieky winning Wimbledon? I think she was 17. I'm pretty sure there hasn't been anyone since her that young.

It's today!

Very excited. Vamos Rafa! La Decima beckons!

But...I do like Stan, and if he was playing anybody else, I'd be delighted if he won. And if Rafa does lose, I won't mind so much if it's to him.

But after coming so close again in Australia this year, Rafa will really want this one. And he will want revenge for the Aussie Open 2014, which was the beginning of his slump, mentally. Stan struggled for a while after it too.
But, Stan has been in 3 Grand slam finals- and won 3. Clearly the big stage suits him.
I have a pile of ironing, and have given the dog a long walk.

Think it's a 2pm (British time) start?

Oh FFS.

Just wrote a long post, then the site froze and I lost it all.

The gist: I have ironing too; I want Rafa to win desperately; it's very stressful.

Afternoon all :), just got back from holiday in time to see this, and the brothers are keeping the monsters amused in the garden.....for now.
Vamos Rafa
Though like you Raahh I absolutely love Stan as well and against anyone else I would be wanting him to win this.
But.....Vamos Rafa!

Here we go!

I've been on eurosport watching the preamble.

Will probably watch on ITV.

It depends who has the most annoying commentary

The crowd will probably be quite even, I think. Maybe Rafa will have a slight edge, but they are both very popular with the spectators.

The crowd seem pro-Rafa at the moment. There was high anxiety when it looked as if Wawrinka might break.

Rafa's choking a touch on some key points here - hope he settles.

Not sure why Eurosport are showing the players shoes over and over.....
Rafa definitely had a wobbly moment there, should have broken, he's going to need to settle his nerves quickly, I think he won't get ok many more chances like that, on the plus side the crowd seems more pro Rafa at the moment.

Rafa always starts slowly- it gives me the jitters

He has been better so far this tournament, but it's not surprising he will be more nervous today. And I wonder how it would affect him, if he was to lose today.

I meant to add, that he was clearly gutted to lose in Australia, though Roger was very lovely about it all. Losing here,today, would have more of affect on him, I think.

He seems to be warming up now.

And the set. Vamos Rafa.

Vamos

Rafa is looking very good indeed.

Can't watch - I'm so used to Rafa going out over the last year or so that I'm not trusting that he can sustain this...😵

Feeling a bit sorry for Wawrinka ....
Can Rafa keep up this level?

That racquet took a beating....

Very naughty of Stan doing that on set point. He'll be the first to moan if he thinks Rafa is taking too long.

I get that he's frustrated. But... other finals have gone to 5 sets from 2 sets down.

Awww, poor Stan. Must be so hard to deal with the kind of form Rafa's showing. Some of those shots were just ridiculous.

Rafa is a grafter, and can grind out matches. I don't know if they have said, and not sure of the stats, but how often has Rafa lost from 2 sets up ?

On Eurosport, they had Becker talking about Rafa. He mentioned about Rafa being written off, and coming back.

It's definitely one in the eye for the nay-sayers, just as Roger winning at the Australian at the grand old age of 35 was. The wrote him off too.

Actually forgot that Stan is the higher seed.

Ok, so just looked- Rafa lost at the US open to Fognini in 2015, after having a 2 set lead.

Oooh, Stan's brought more to this game. Good stuff.

The ground want to see a classic final, would be good for Stan to go up a gear.

But Rafa is looking pretty formidable.