TENNIS thread - We wave goodbye to SW19, and look forward to the hardcourt season.

[Raahh]

Before we run out .

By be Wimbledon

Stan has just posted a photo on IG of him and Ben on court, looking as if they are playing rock, paper, scissors

Zverev has just managed to squeeze through against basilashvilli - I didn’t see all of the match but did see Sascha give his racquet a good smashing. A good win for him - hope he’s managed to find someone to do his chores

Yay go Sascha!

I saw the racquet smash as well! That's good he won though.

The QFs look good.

Thiem is not doing as well today against Medvedev.

I am quite sure I will not be awake to see Rafa- well it's quite unlikely. .

I hope he comes out confidently against Foggy.

Medvedev is playing very well, though.

I suppose, given Dom's previous record in Canada, he can't grumble at losing at this stage .

Medvedev has been playing well - but not a bad run for Thiem either.

I'm starting to quite like Medvedev - he's like a grumpy old man
There's something quite appealing about it or is it just me??!

Also I see doubles is about to become second best again as Andy Murray is playing singles in Cincinnati.

I wonder how the Aus Open organisers feel now about that mawkish farewell ceremony?!

So, I was right (first time for everything!).
Stan and Benoit were apparently playing rock, paper, scissors to see who would receive serve. Gotta love 'em

Does anyone know what has happened with their doubles match though? The results page says they've retired

They must be feeling quite embarrassed by that whole 'obituary' thing, now Private.

And yy, not only is doubles going to go back to being second best, but every other player (apart from Fed) will be bit part players to the Murray come back , no doubt. .

The Tennis Podcast is already advertising that the next episode will be discussing Murray's return. (Even though he hasn't actually played any singles matches as yet.) Sigh.

I like Andy and I'm pleased he's trying to come back... but yes as you say Raahh - there are a lot of other players, and a lot of other good stories going on, which will probably now be sidelined.

kazza I saw some tweets saying Stan was injured but I don't think Stan himself has said that Hope he's not!

It's probably only in this country that more focus will be on Andy, because he's still our best player (Kyle who?)

Good luck to him. Hopefully it means that, when he does retire, it will be on his own terms. He deserves it.

More like Stan's got the hangover from hell private

Totally agree kazza, he 100% deserves that and I really hope he can achieve it.

But pretty much all the coverage here comes through a "GB" filter (Amazon coverage, tennis podcast, GB journalists on twitter etc) so his comeback is bound to dominate. And I understand why, it's just nice to have a cross-section of stories, not just a focus on one player.

But I hope he can make a success of his comeback, anyone retiring through injury is awful.

I hope Stan isn't injured.

I was enjoying the Stanoit partnership.

hangover from hell

It's strange that there's no word on why they retired.

Just back from watching ToyStory 4 with DS1 (age 20 ) so not seen any tennis.

Just heard about Andy coming back in Cincinnati - hope the press don’t put too much pressure on him (but they will!)

A bit surprised about Thiem and Zverev’s results. Sad about Stanoit.

Don’t think I’ll be able to stay awake for Rafa - hope Foggy doesn’t cause him too many problems.

I'm not going to make it either Fizzy. I'm absolutely shattered today, feel like the past few weeks of house stuff are catching up with us - DH is already snoring!

How was Toy Story 4? I really want to see it but DS claims it's too babyish

Enjoy Rafa anyone who can stay awake!

Private we really enjoyed ToyStory - my 8 year old Nephew didn’t want to see it as he thought it would be babyish but 20 year old DS loved it! (I may have had s little tear in my eye but not as bad as Toy Story 3)

I’m also knackered - would love to watch Rafa and Foggy but don’t think I’ll make it

Phew Rafa came through against Foggy in three sets - when I went to bed Rafa was losing 5-1 in the first set so I feared the worse when I checked the scores this morning.

fizzy I watched the first 2 sets and fell asleep. The first set was very worrying so the next one made me feel much better!

Well done Rafa. I was score watching instead of sleeping because after I saw he lost the first set I had to know if he got through before I could sleep!

Have you seen the draw for Cincinnati??
Stan has drawn Grigor AGAIN.

it's starting to look like a conspiracy.

Oh no way!! It's getting ridiculous! I saw someone tweeted that they'd drawn each other, but I honestly thought they were joking. How many times is that now - it must be 5... or more?...

Good win for Rafa last night - looked like a funny old match from the scoreline. I don't think Monfils-Busta played yet did they - and Rafa plays the winner of that iirc. The other semi should be close.

Andy Murray has drawn Richard Gasquet in Cinema. He's had a good record against him hasn't he but Gasquet looked like he was playing well in Montreal. Should be interesting to see how that one goes.

Glad you enjoyed TS4 Fizzy - might try and persuade DS to go today - it's definitely cinema weather round here

AFAIK Andy Murray isn't going to the cinema with Richard Gasquet - I'm sure I typed Cincinnati! Argh!!