TENNIS THREAD- Grass season is in full swing, stock up on strawberries and Pimms!

[Raahh]

at magi's request here is the first grass thread ( we will probably need more than one!).

Can't believe it time for Queen's again. Hope the weather holds out- bit gloomy in the north west.

( can't link to other thread as on my phone).

See you all later- the only thing I'm not looking forward to is the likelihood it will be Mr Castle in the commentary box.

Private which tennis podcast do you listen to please? Is it radio 5? Thanks

Don't know if I saw somewhere that Murray and Wawrinka will be on the BBC website? Probably wrong but maybe worth a try. I think they've got Roehampton on there at the moment.

I'd love to see Stan/Andy

I can't stand Clare Balding.

That physio looks so young I thought it was one of the ball girls first

Lost signal. It's like the 80's.

Jane we need the test card. Or Ceefax. Watching the page slowly scroll through.

I used to get all my tennis news via Ceefax .

You can tell that this continuity person doesn't think people are used to this though, because she keeps popping up every 30 seconds to apologise .

Saw the end of Dan Evans winning on red button bloody AC commentating here aswell then switched to BBC2 and got even more uptight! I'd forgotten about bloody Clare Balding. Never used to mind her but can't stand her these days, she's everywhere! Does this mean she will continue to make a complete pig's ear of Today at Wimbledon (or whatever it's called these days)? Inverdale can be a prat but I preferred the programme when he hosted it. Oh for the days of the Des and Gerry show showing my age, I know!

I agree kazza. I preferred John Inverdale doing it as well. I'd listen to Andrew Castle all day long before Clare Balding.

Yes Raahh the announcer was a bit panicky

kazza I loved it when Des and Gerry used to do it. I named a gold fish after Des Lynam.

Gerry died a couple of years ago, and I thought it was sad that they didn't really mention it during that year's Wimbledon, especially as he had been such a fixture.

'Today at Wimbledon' makes no sense now they show it at about 8 o'clock, usually while there are still matches playing. The 9.30pm slot was much better- it was a proper highlights programme.

Sadly missed out on Wimbledon ballot again. Had pretty good run for first three years but has been lean times recently in terms of tickets.

Serena should be seeded, not for her own benefit, but because it's not really fair on one of the other seeds to come up against her in the first round - the best match could be the first match if she came up against Halep or Muguruza for example.

Agree about Today at Wimbledon. The last few years have been little better than a chat show with so little tennis it's not worth bothering with.

Couldn't agree more Raahh. I never understood why they moved it to an earlier slot. Either they stopped showing a perfectly decent match just so CB could burble on or, if it's a big match, they stay with it and either you get 15 mins of highlights or none at all. Doesn't make sense
I loved anything the silver fox that is Des Lynam did. He was so good. I saw on YouTube recently the April Fool they did on Grandstand one year, when Des was doing a piece to camera pretending not to be aware of a full blown "fight" between colleagues behind him I bet you wouldn't be allowed to do it these days!

Have just caught up reading your posts. Agree with towelling down between points, Krygios being an utter teenage-arse bellend, Wimbledon highlights show being a bit of a shambles now (not to mention the awful "Commissioner" segment with Mac on Game, Schett & Mats at the French Open). Was very annoyed that I'd missed Feliciano play and I'd forgotten to record that day.

I'm glad I decided not to get tickets for Eastbourne. Just can't cope with heat anymore, sun allergy and all, so I'm the miserable cow in the shade or inside all day. Still, gives me a lot of opportunities to watch it on tv.

But I'm glad I got to go to Wimbledon a couple of times, once for the Olympics and once on Middle Sunday. So wonderful to see them close up, speed of the balls etc

Agree with all of you about Today at Wimbledon. I used to watch it religiously (even when I was a student and I'd already watched an entire day's tennis) but now I don't bother. Bring back Des and Gerry - loved them both. Idk what the Beeb think they are playing at tbh.

PS am watching Andy v Stan on Amazon. It's only just started. Nice hearing the seagulls overhead.

Saw the end of David Ferrer's match - he won in straight sets. Have a soft spot for him!

Agree re Today at Wimbledon.

Agree that Serena should be seeded to avoid an early clash with a Halep or Kivitova.

Bagel You are right to be glad not to be at Eastbourne - it is scorchio here today. I don't think I could sit at the tennis in full sun for 6+ hours.

fizzy the podcast is just called The Tennis Podcast - with David Law (BBC commentator) and Catherine Whittaker (Eurosport). It's good - mostly just chat about tennis but they do interviews with players as well. Cilic was on today. It's on every day during the slams and Queens and then about once a week. V enjoyable!

Murray is taking Stan to pieces here - well, Stan is making loads of errors.

PS Bagel I'm so glad you mentioned the shade issue - every time I look at that crowd, I just think I couldn't do that - some of them are still fully in the sun, after a whole day of it! Ugh!

Andy took the first set 6-1. They both look like they are sweating buckets.

I have a soft spot for David too. And the other David!

Also currently watching Andy/Stan. Took a while to get my laptop hooked up to the telly but I'm there now and all set for tennis on Amazon!

C'mon Stan!

Ferrier it's weird seeing them in front of a small crowd like this isn't it? I bet ticket holders couldn't believe it when they realised this was going to be on.

Thanks Private I’ll look into that podcast.

I’d forgotten about Des and Gerry!

It's fantastic. How wonderful for the organisers to have them playing but a shame it's in the first round.