Tennis Thread:- The players are all on holiday, 2018 is coming to an end, but 2019 is around the corner and there will be lots to look forward to!

[Raahh]

Although I can't think about January yet...

I'm still in denial it's nearly December- which means ds will be 16 , and I will be 47 and another year will be over.

Match point Nando

This is fantastic

Ooh into a fifth!

Verdasco double faulted on match point, after he'd served so well; he was just sitting in the chair at the change of ends looking shell shocked. Be interesting to see what happens now...

This is great, so much tension!

Some great matches coming up. I didn't get to watch today.

Saw most of the Halep/Kenin match last night. Really good with some excellent rallies and shots. The Konta match was good too, although I like Muguruza as well.

Catching up with Berdych now (I know he won!) It's impossible to watch all of the matches, just takes too long, but I'm trying to watch from 4th set onwards if it gets that far.

Pity Wozniacki lost, much prefer her to Shrieky.

I had a very lovely lunch, and caught up with some scores .
I cannot believe the Verdasco match- Fernando must be really annoyed with himself. I wonder how it will affect Cilic in his next match, being so close to defeat. RBA certainly had nothing to lose by throwing his all at it

I missed Simona's match yesterday - and she plays Venus tomorrow but it's not a night match for some reason. Nor is Djok v Shaggy, which must be the pick of the matches on the men's side. So they will both be on overnight. Annoying. The Aussie players are on the show courts. Which I can understand, but I think the others are likely to be better contests

Cilic was looking v confident Raahh, even when he was two sets down he was playing well. But RBA has had some amazing results this year, so who knows what could happen? It'll be a close one I think.

I felt sorry for Verdasco though. Once he hit that DF you just knew there was probably no coming back from it, and so it proved...

Shaggy and Scooby

I've just watched Rafa's post match interview with John. He's so funny.

Jane - still haven’t seen any tennis apart from the end of Murray’s match on Monday . Saw a bit of the highlights of Rafas match the other day.

If Rafa is playing on Sunday please let it be a night match so that I can watch him - slightly worried about him playing a resurgent Berdych though.

The Cilic/verdasco match sounded good - hoping to see some highlights but so far just showing women’s matches.

I enjoyed the first mac/Rafa interview - will try and search out today’s. Thank you to the more technically adept posters for uploading YouTube videos

here you go *Fizzy * I think Tomas will be more nervous playing Rafa than anybody else. Should be a good match though. Hope Rafa can keep up his winning streak. Sorry Tomas.

Ah thank you Jane - I love Rafa 💕 - Mac always seems as if he’s having a bit of a dig at Rafa but he deals with it all pretty well.

Enjoying the tennis podcast- thank you to whoever recommended it.

I love The Tennis Podcast, let's play it!
www.podbean.com/media/share/dir-w55hx-571640a

love the Shaggy and Scooby pic!

I think Rafa will be ok v Berdych really. I just fear Berdych is playing that nothing to lose style, he's had 6 months off and isn't knackered, etc. Mind you Rafa has had a bit of time off as well, so who knows.

I loved the interview with Rafa today, he is funny

I still think there are a few dark horses in the draw, men's and women's. There haven't been many upsets so far have there? Hope Stefanos can do it v Fed!

It's great isn't it Bagel? I really enjoy it.

I love the tennis podcast too! I think I need to retire to fit in all my tennis watching and podcast listening!

The presenters of the podcast are really knowledgeable and entertaining and proper tennis fans - I think they’d fit in well on this thread.

Fizzy they would! I saw David Law on the train a few weeks ago (I think he lives not far from me) - and I was dying to go up and say how much I love the podcast but I chickened out!!

You should have told him Private I’m sure he would have been pleased.

I’ve just found the Rafa highlights, I’ve got home made pizza and wine and I’m home alone - life is good

I've just seen the schedule, ordinarily I'm not that keen to watch Djok, but I really wanted to see Shaggy give him a run for his money.
I think the tournament are making the most of having so many Aussies get this far into the draw- hence the 'prime' night matches.

Although, after the batty Konta match, which wasn't even on a time that average Aussies would be watching - I'm wondering who the schedule benefits!

I would have liked to have seen shaggy against Djokovic too Raahh - the scheduling does seem a bit mad.

Just watching the Rafa highlights - de Minaur looks so young. Not entirely convinced about the frilly edging on Rafa’s top.

i dont think it is frilly, fizzy, I thought it was at first, but it's black and white, which gives the illusion of a frill.

Either way, it is a bit odd.
But not as odd as the denim look skirts/shorts and grubby looking tops some of them have been wearing.

I wondered if it was supposed to look sort of Spanish Raahh? I’ve not really seen many other outfits - apart from Thiem’s beachwear - makes me appreciate Wimbledon and their dress code.

Those Nike stonewash things are terrible! Sharapova's outfit looked like the women's version of something Agassi would have worn back in the early 90s!!

I'm annoyed about the Shaggy/Djok scheduling too. I don't think he will beat Djok but I think he could give him a scare, which would be worth seeing in itself.

Lol at Rafa's frilly top when I first saw it, it looked like lace to me but it's grown on me a bit now. The arm holes are cut weirdly low but maybe they need to be?!

The other outfits I hate are the Fila ones - they have the blokes in baby blue and white, and the women in baby pink and white . They're bloody awful.

The Adidas ones are ok but they're a bit 80s looking too.

My favourite outfit so far has been Raonic's!

Fizzy your evening sounds perfect! Enjoy.