TENNIS THREAD- we're nearly done with the red dirt, and looking forward to the green grass!

[Raahh]

yesterday's excitement I didn't realise how near the end of the thread we were!

So happy for Delpo.

Lopsided semis eh:
Delpo v Rafa
Thiem v Chickenato!!!

Am very surprised at the scoreline in the Halep/Muguruza match. This would have been my ideal final match up- but the Halep is currently running away with it . Not sure what has happened to Garbine.

I am getting ads for dinosaur books at the bottom of this page!!

That is spooky, private

Garbine has suddenly started playing really well...

She has- but she still seems a bit rattled. Usually it's Simona that looks nervy, and throws big points away.

Tamer, King of the Dinosaurs anyone?!
Or The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs. Available now on audible!!

And now Halep is starting to get mad at herself. Which is never good. That's when she falls apart.

Private

Some of the women players sound like dinosaurs

They do tend to roar, Jane

I like Halep, but she is, dare I say it, probably even noisier than Shriekypova at time

Jane

I've realised that Juan's win today means that, after all this time, he will be back at his career high ranking of number 4. Which given where he was a couple of years ago, coming back from injury, is pretty amazing.

I'mhaving real problems with this thread on my laptop- the add message function isn't working. it's working fine on all other threads, and on my phone.

I turned it on and off, I cleared my history and it still wouldn't work. Bit annoying really.

Meanwhile , I'm finding the Keys/Stephens match a bit dull.

How annoying about the technical issues Raahh!

I'm not watching Keys/Stephens either as I'm watching Chicken Run with my DS I don't mind though as I love it.

I think it's great about Delpo - I'm trying to keep my Delpo-love semi under control on here as I know not everyone feels the same! But I think it's pretty amazing what he's done and when you see how emotional he was today - as you said Raahh, he's back to a career-high ranking, and he must have thought that would never happen again. Man, I love tennis - so many emotions!!

Oh I A D O R E Delpo - he is mine, all mine. So want him to lift the cup on Sunday!

Oh don't worry what everyone else thinks Private. We all like different players. I'm a bit indifferent about DelPotro and feel like everyone else loves him.

At least Keyes/Stephens weren't too shouty.

I think it's good that we don't all like the same players, really. I love Delpo, I think he's the 'lost' top player of his generation really, and if he hadn't been struck with injuries, he would have been a real threat to the big 4. He's a definite thorn in Roger's side- he seems to find playing him very difficult.

It's still Rafa to win the tournament for me, though.

(I went over to site stuff, and it's not just me having the add message problem- so I don't feel so bad now!).

magi perhaps we could agree to share him - I'm sure he's kind like that?!

Jane thanks, and you're right - that's what keeps things interesting I suppose!

Rafa's stubble is yum today. I loved the hug he gave Diego and their lovely smiles.

Agree Raahh - I can't see anyone beating Rafa as I've probably said already!

Does anyone remember when they played in the US Open SF last year - Delpo won the first set jur blasting massive forehands everywhere and Rafa was at a bit of a loss? Then Rafa just completely changed his tactics and went on to win the next 3 sets pretty easily (ish). I remember thinking then I'd never really appreciated how good Rafa was in a way, just thought he was kind of always grinding matches out, so relentless that his opponent would just give up etc. But I realised then how good he actually is at working out what's happening in the match and winning it that way. I've probably not explained that v well but it gave me a new-found appreciation of Rafa!

DelPotro's interview was lovely. He's so grateful to the crowd.

Yes Rafa is good at changing it up when he needs to.

Jane plus his kit looks really good on him!

Aww, so lovely - they've just shown some of the men's doubles semi final. Mahut got hit in the head by his partner's ball - lengthy time out , but they went on to win. Herbert very apologetic. But at the end, Mahut's little 6 year old, who was really worried about his dad, comes on court to give him a hug. And Herbert. Everyone was crying. It was lovely.

And yy- re- Rafa- he is very clever, really, when it comes to sussing out his opponents and changing tactics, mid match. Not many players can do the same.