TENNIS THREAD - The clay season is in full swing, and it's onwards to Roland Garros!

[Raahh]

Shiny new thread.

Hopefully we will see some players return from injury in the next few weeks.

Munich/Istanbul in play this week amongst other tournaments.

Madrid week beginning the 7th (hopefully with Delpo playing)

I agree Novak just looks so tired, there were all those rumours about his private life last year and it seems like he just hasn't had the same enthusiasm for anything since.
He always talks about missing his boy, maybe the time is right for him to retire, or at least take a proper break. It's gotta be hard for him all these losses, especially as he says he's not 100% fit anyway.....

Yes, at the time he spoke about Stefan, he hadn't seen him for a few weeks. That must be hard. There were some lovely pictures of him playing tennis with him prior to Monte Carlo- there was an event on before it.

Yes, the ATP site is saying 48- one off Mac's record. Mac will not be pleased. Rafa has already gone ahead of him in number of weeks at number 1, and if he wins this , he will have 78 tournament wins to Mac's 77. These things matter to Mac. I always get the impression he's a Roger fan ...

Me too....vamos!
Eurosport are saying Novak might make a decision soon, to either stop or take a break, as surely he won't want another year of losses plus as his ranking is slipping he will be facing tougher and tougher opponents. Not sure if that's just guessing or if they know something we don't.

He will face tougher opponents- but he will also become the dangerous floater in the draw in the big tournaments. But he will have to sort out what ever is plaguing him.

I almost wish he could sort himself out- I don't want Roger to have it all his own way at Wimbledon. With the best will in the world, I don't expect Rafa to win it, not least because by then he will have theoretically played 6 tournaments before it (including Queen's) and hopefully won at least 5 of them . There are good grass players out there - hopefully they will come good. Del po has done well in the past- and he's proving to be a thorn in Fed's side.

Very pleased for Kyle. I was watching the second set and thought Djok would end up winning the match, but was pleasantly surprised when I saw the result just now.

Haven't a clue what's going on with Djok. I do feel a bit sorry for him though, it must be hard to have such a come down from where he was a year or two ago.

True, but he's only dangerous if he starts playing better.
Am looking forward to the grass this year too, federer will go in a clear favourite I think but as you say there are lots of very good grass court players and if they all play well the tournaments could be pretty open. Depending on the draw at Wimbledon it could be a big chance for some of the lower ranked players to go far.
I would dearly love to see Delpo win another slam.

Some good matches today- Kyle playing now against Goffin, all Canadian affair with Raonic/ Shapovalov and Rafa playing Schwartman. I like Diego, a shame he's playing Rafa.
Delpo up later against Lajovic. On paper, that should be straightforward.

Edmund is a set up....fingers crossed he doesn't have another second set dip.

Ooh, it's looking good for Kyle...

Well done Kyle!

Yay! He will be Top 20 now.

And Denis wins the Canadian battle. Which is a shame for Milos, but I hope he can build on the week.

Kyle beat Goffin? Oh well done! Goffin is a very good clay court player, that's a great result for Kyle.

Pleased for Denis too, I was watching a bit of that at lunchtime and he was clearly pumped up. I'm not a Raonic fan at all, can't warm to him.

I quite like Milos, drama but can see why he sometimes divided opinion.

Juan took his first set and could be in troublein the second.

Thiem is struggling against Coric. He doesn't appear as strong this year as last.

oh Juan

Thiem came back in the second set then. Took Coric a while to get to grips with the tie break!

I'm trying to check the scores on my phone which keeps going off.

Thiem has taken the second but Coric is now a break up in the third.......
Poor delpo, not his day.

Dom got there in the end then.

Clay, as I said, isn't Del po' s favourite surface but I expected him to go a little further. He's meant to be playing Rome, may be that will be better.

Well done again Kyle, poor Delpo and well done to Thiem for coming through - I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for him but he’s very young

Didn’t see the Kyle/djok match yesterday but not sure what’s next for Djokovic. Not sure what the issue is with him but can’t see him coming back from whatever’s troubling him. When he won the French open he seemed invincible.

Would also be sad if Murray didn’t manage to come back as well.

Looking forward to seeing Rafa at 7pm - he’s still my favourite

Vamos Rafa!!

Ok so the tennis seems to have disappeared from all sky channels - not impressed!

I'm glad Rafa is through .

I am watching the Eurovision semi final

50 sets now and Macs record Thiem up next though....

Lady I forgot about Mac's record.! He won't be happy