Tennis Thread: Countdown to the Return of Delpo at a Very Specific Time

[JaneJeffer]

New thread for February. Happy St. Brigid's Day everyone

Ah happy birthday David!! Love him!

Fizzy you made me laugh with your "combination of Federer, Isner and Amazon prime" driving you away from tennis. It's a lethal combo all right

Actually I don't mind Roger, but I couldn't get excited for Fed v Isner!!

I wasn't enthused by the final line up.
I think Djok playing Kyrgios, via Radio 5 live commentary only, would be a similar 'give it a swerve' event .

Especially if AC was doing the commentary! I like R5 commentary though as they are forced to talk about the actual tennis.

The tennis world seems v quiet at the mo doesn't it? Two weeks (almost) until Monte Carlo starts - there are a couple of tournaments before that but nothing interesting. I've given up on seeing Delpo any time soon. Hopefully Rafa will be fit and ready for clay though so there's that. But it's a long time to wait!!

Maybe Stan could send out a few bears to pass the time?

Oh yes, AC and John Lloyd, harping on about box offices....I do like 5 live when I'm in the car, during Wimbledon, usually on the school run. They often have Goran on. He is very funny on the radio.

I have seen a few pictures of Rafa practicing on FB, I really hope he is going to be fully fit for Monte Carlo.

It is sad that there is is no news on Delpo.

He's still in the top 10 though, for now!

Yes true! He has a lot of points to defend though.

I saw a couple of clips of Rafa as well - looking good!!

Morning - it's freezing here today! Brrrr! What happened to spring?!

I've just been reading that Delpo is going to start training again soon apparently - so I guess this means he has decided against surgery? Hope so. It's surely still going to be a while before he actually comes back though... but still, sounds quite positive.

On the tennis podcast this week they were talking about how Bob Bryan has basically returned to normal since his hip surgery, diving around the court, winning titles, etc. So maybe there really is hope for Andy as well? But he will have been out for a really long time. Has anyone come back after that long out?

Private - I'm not sure really. I know Hewitt had a lot of problems and kept plugging away. Doubles is obviously a bit different- you have a partner to take a bit of the strain, I suppose. There's no where to hide in singles.

Andy is doing the right thing (again) in that he isn't putting any pressure on himself. But the press are still hearing might will play at Wimbledon , regardless...

And yes, it's freezing. | defrosted my car yesterday, and put the heating on.

Bonkers.

Mind you, it's not that unusual. I went to a christening once, in April- Easter Sunday, April 12th one year and it snowed. It was Wales , though .

Snow at Easter is ridiculous!! there was a bit of sleet/hail stuff here yesterday, that was bad enough!!

Oh yes good point about Hewitt. As you said though Raahh, the problem for Andy is he won't be left in peace to get on with whatever he decides to do. I can't see him being back for Wimbledon surely? It's not that far off in terms of rehab for such major surgery... I mean, who knows. But it seems v unlikely though.

Morning! We had sleet and hail stones on Wednesday and yesterday it didn't stop raining all day and was cold - I put the wood burner on in the afternoon! I remember my mum saying that there was heavy snow in April 1966 - she was worried about me because I was a few weeks old, small premature baby and they didn't have central heating and double glazing in those days

DS got Wimbledon tickets through the ballot yesterday but, after the initial excitement, we logged in and saw they were Centre Court but for the second Tuesday - women's quarter finals . The date doesn't quite work for us and DS will still be at school and I don't know if I can be arsed to jiggle things around and fork out £260 when there won't be a male player in sight! I know there are some great women tennis players, playing great matches, but there is also a lot of one sided 6-1 6-2 matches, even at a GS quarters stage. Knowing me, I'd probably be found wandering around the outside courts looking for the veterans matches, which I'm not sure is worth £260, however entertaining they are. I'm in a bit of a dilemma but we've been lucky enough to get tickets for the last five years or so, so perhaps I should have a break this year?

kazza my one trip to Wimbledon was the second Tuesday quarter final. 1994. .
A friend's dad worked there, and we shared the tickets through the day between 6 of us. I saw Lynsey Davenport play Conchita Martinez.

There are some good women's matches, but there are , as you say, far more one sided matches in the women's side than in the men's.

Ah kazza your story of the 66 April snow was v cute

Tough call on the women's QFs. Agree about the potential for one sided matches even late in the tournament, eg last year's women's semis! The other thing is you can get a close competitive match that could still only be a two setter, so even a good match on the women's side can be short can't it. Also agree the appeal of the veterans' tournament!!

We have got CC tickets for the second Wednesday but obviously it took me a nanosecond to say yes I would take them!! We got women's final tickets a few years ago and didn't take them basically for the reasons you said - it was when Venus played Muguruza and Venus fell apart in the second set 6-0. So I was glad I'd not shelled out all that cash for that. Really tricky to decide.

Mind you Martinez v Davenport is a match I would have wanted to see! It's just so impossible to predict what you'd get.

private we got lucky, it was a good match. And of course, Conchita went on to win that year.
It could just as easily have been a quick 2 set win though.

But long matches aren't always a good thing, are they?

Especially if they involve Isner.

Apparently John is injured. That's a pity.

Raahh I was going to say the other extreme is just as annoying but I forgot!! Yes I heard about Isner being out for a while. Will this cover Wimbledon do you know?!

Private it would be really awful if he missed Wimbledon.

No, really. It would.

(Especially now they've changed all the flipping rules because of him. Kind of.)

Yeah that would just be rude

Raahh Isner, injury
Conchita and Martinez would have been worth it!
Private sooooo jealous flounces off in a huff
Can't believe it took you as long as a nanosecond to decide! Have a fab time! slopes off to sob quietly in the corner I may need and to get me through this.....

Sorry kazza I was going to put "is now a good time to mention this?" But I thought I'd better not! We've had a crap run of no tickets for years but this year/last year we got lucky!! (Unless Isner makes a QF appearance!!)

favourite ATP hairstyles

got to be Andre

Zverev looks like he "just stepped out of a salon"

Private I can't open the link, it just spools. Are we talking Agassi naturally bald or with his lustrous wig?

PMSL at Murray trimming his hair on court!
Of course, Dustin' s hair is a joy , and in years to come, Stefanos will be remembered for his Greek god locks.

The wig era kazza Image is everything!!

Shame you couldn't open the link, I had a look for a different one but couldn't find anything

Raahh yes special mention for Stefanos - he does have good hair. Not sure why Fed's ponytail was included though!

I'm glad you mentioned the ponytail Private.
That was not a good look.

Fed's ponytail ugh.

Jo-Willy has good hair.