TENNIS THREAD - Wimbledon starts tomorrow!!

[magimedi]

Am most excited & thought the grass needs a new thread.

I'll stick my neck out & say Fed to win the mens' & Carolina Plisshkova (sp?) for the womens'.

DH has t-shirts like that, Raahh. They look very fetching on him.

Won't be a long do I think Grouchy -

I came over all unnecessary when I first saw the video - even just seeing the stills then made me a feel bit hot under the collar!

Maybe they are sharing the Tesco bag - wanting to save on the 5p

poor Lajovic ...

Thinking about Tomic and his sponsor (I am quite bored of this Federer match, tbh) - interesting that Head stood by Sharapova when she failed her drugs test but ditched Tomic for saying that tennis was boring

I like it when the players walk off together - they always used to do it in the olden days, not so much now

The Mattek-Sands incident was truly gruesome. Her poor opponent looked totally stricken too. Hope it isn't as bad as it looks.

Northern it really didn't sound good. I wish her well- she was goin for a 3rd slam of the year in doubles with Safarova here, it's the only one they haven't won.

Only it is funny about the Sharapova thing.

I suppose, when it comes to endorsing their products, looks had nothing to do with why they stuck by her , and the rather less good looking Tomic .

and I do hope they are all sharing a tesco bag. That would be funny

Every little helps, even when you are multi millionaire sportsperson.

If Roger plays a first set like that against any one better he is going to be O U T.

And I was sick of hearing how well Djok was playing - yes, he was, against a v lowly ranked opponent.

My garden is filled with flying ants - little feckers. Had to bring the washing in (it was 98%dry) as they were all over it.

Looking forward to Jo & Andy tomorrow.

Oooh Raahh you have come over all Inverdale

Had to Google... not as raunchy as I hoped and the bit with the gold dress is just odd, but Rafa seems very sweet. And looks very hot

Jane

Morning everyone! i'm hoping I don't miss the Rafa match today, as I have another very in and out day, am meant to be going 'out' out tonight (which is an extremely rare thing )

magi I didn't watch the Djok match, but I bet they didn't mention Sam Querrey every 30 seconds, which you can guarantee they would have if Rafa was playing.

The Murray match will be interesting. They are equally matched ,head to head wise, but haven't met on grass. Foggy beat Murray in Rome this year , but of course that was clay. I'm hoping the 'right' Foggy turns up. He can be a bit of a loose cannon, temperament wise.

Khachanov played well at RG, gave Murray a bit of a scare, and he also got to the Halle SF (think he lost to Roger?) so he's pretty good. Rafa has been playing well this week, though. I'm quite sure the commentators will be itching for an upset. Then they can add Karen to their 'l beat Rafa at Wimbledon' list.

Jo Konta is playing- Claire Balding was saying she is a favourite for the tournament now, but I still thing it is very wide open in the women's game.

I hope Bethanie is o.k.

I am still finding ants. It is a lot duller here today, so I'm hoping they bugger off.

And I think , instead of a weather forecast, I want a comprehensive hip report. On all the players. Like when you buy a puppy . Then they can announce the 'hip score' at he start of he match, so we will know what to expect, fake injury/time out/ possible withdrawals wise .

Sorry , I have a sticky 't'

The lady seeds were dropping off last night, i dont know many of this new lot, but they all seem very glam and blond. i hope our girl does well and is able to carry on to next week.
Dont rule out Venus though, she has had come backs before and is still around i think? lost track a bit with it and when dh and sons come home they dont want to watch.
its so hot on those courts, how do they play in such high temps?

I am in all day to day, so bustling round getting the cleaning and laundry done in time to settle down to the tennis (I can do the paperwork I have to do in front of the tennis, right?).

Nadal up second on Centre then Murray third, so working towards those two matches. Any others I manage to fit in will be a bonus.

I am of course looking forward to the reminder of who has beaten Rafa at Wimbledon. I'm not sure they've mentioned it this tournament yet, and I'm racking my brains wondering who has knocked him out and at what stage of the tournament

I am a bit worried - Young made Rafa work harder for it than any of the other three had to to get through their second round match, and this Khachanov sounds a tricky prospect. I would love to think that Gublis is going to trouble Novak, but the latter is looking pretty imperious at the moment. I would cope with any of the other three winning although my heart says Rafa, but I will be gutted if smug Novak gets it.

its so hot on those courts, how do they play in such high temps?

I didn't realise that there is a heat rule - but only for the women!

If the temperature gets above a certain level, the women are allowed to have a ten minute break between sets two and three. This was a rule put in place by the WTA but there is no similar rule in existence for the men. Some of the top male players don't want it or feel they need it anyway - I think they are used to playing in higher temperatures than you'd ever get in Britain - but I hate the inequality. It suggests, similar to the three sets for women, five for men, that women are special snowflakes who can't quite cope. I'm sure the women players hate that as much as we do.

yy- Venus has been quietly doing well( in the glare of publicity surrounding the car crash thing), it would be great for her to win the absence of Serena. Kerber must fancy her chances though.

I like Halep, and Muguruza- who aren't the typical 'identikit plaited blondes' and they have very distinct styles, but both have suffered over the last year a big moments. Wozniacki also looking a lot more confident than I've seen her do for years.

I don't tend to get chance to watch much of the women in the first week, because the schedule is so dense, but some of the matches that have been on early (not sure if they have an 11 or 11.30am start) have been good

Sakkari, who is playing Jo today, looked good the other playing Krystyna Pliskova. She is coached by Mark Petchey- probably his best chance at success on the court , but poor girl having to talk to him (he is on my list of annoying British commentators ).

i didnt know about the ten minute thing - the best rule that came out ( apart from hawkeye) is the tie breaks for the sets apart from last set. the matches could go on for much longer back in the day. i think its a lot better all round this way.
they do have those ice towels too - they look so pristine, all the towels look so clean, they must have a great laundry room there!

Hi all. I'm settling in for a lovely afternoon of tennis. Hope Heather can put up a good fight, though I won't be too upset if Azarenka gets through (despite her irritating noise).

Cannot bear the screeching. As Watson proves, totally unnecessary.

The noise is annoying mainly because it's not like when the men play- there is a lot of noise there too- it's rarely because of exertion. It's constant, even when very little effort is being made. That's what makes it annoying. And Shriekypova was often seen during practice sessions, not making a noise at all- which proved a) she didn't need to, and b) he possibly does it deliberately.

Nice to see Dan Carter watching the match. (I think with his wife Honor, who was a hockey player.)