Tennis thread: Australian Open finals and beyond!

[PrivateSpidey]

All tennis chat welcome here

I'm the same, Magi. He might find it hard to come back- even on grass- and he will fall down the top 10 in the meantime (and even Wimbledon can only move him about 4 places above his ranking when they seed him). But he will be well rested, I suppose, and Rafa/Djok will have played basically from now, all the way through the clay season - and he is usually lucky with the draw in Halle.

Who knows? But he can't go on forever.

Crikey magi ! You were in a good mood
I don't give a hoot for Fed's backhand but Stan's is up there with the delectable Stefan

I quite liked GP's Emma, apart from a fairly dire Ewen McGregor and his bad wig . Alan Cumming was superb, as always.

Yes, I saw the news about Roger. Missing the French Open won't matter at all but I wonder how the tournaments before then will impact his ranking. There are a couple of big ones but I can't remember how he did in them last year and, therefore, how many points he won't be able to defend.

kazza he reached the semis at the French, won in Dubai, and Miami and reached the final of IW. He stands to lose about 3000 plus points by my reckoning , with other points he picked up over the clay season.

Thanks Raahh
I forgot he did well at the French. He should have stayed away, like the previous years

Kazza bet he wishes he had, now .

It could all be part of him winding down. He might do Halle/Wimbledon if he's recovered properly by then. Go to the Olympics? He will be 39 whilst that is on (doesn't he seem to have been 38 for ages? ). He might skip the rest of the hard court season and just go to the US Open/Laver Cup. I am sure there must be a limit to how much he will want to play.

At least they won't be hiking the prices up at certain clay events this year then .

That was so outrageous - was it in Rome? I can't remember now but I remember being so annoyed on behalf of the punters!!

Just catching up on everything tennis-wise while making tea (aka shoving something in the oven and then perusing MN).

So Fed has had his surgery already then? Thanks for the update on rankings/points Raahh. I can't see that troubling him too much once he gets onto the grass tbh. I still think he can beat anyone on grass except Djok, and unless he's unlucky enough to be ranked low enough to meet him in the 4th round or something, I still think he'll do well there.

Although... I mean he is still 38 as you say Raahh, at some stage something has got to give, but I just find it hard to imagine...

I think it was Rome- and then he lost in the QF anyway. Was that where he moaned about the shadows?

Yy, I think he will probably do ok on the grass.

Yes - biased shadows, probably

I think he'll be all right on grass too. I'm sure he'll be in Tokyo. Presumably he wouldn't get the surgery unless he was looking to play for a good bit longer? (Unless it's affecting him day to day of course, hopefully not.)

Delpo's doing something for Argentinian tourism

it looks like him!

I like its eyebrows stuck on the outside of the headband

I love that!good to see him smiling.

That is a good likeness

You know, I can't call anything really at the moment. Simon has just beaten Medvedev 64 60. I mean, it can't just be because it was in France . I like Gilles- but Daniil has been doing so well (though not as well as the latter end of last year).

The 'Next Gen' baffle me.

I was just about to post about that! It's so odd isn't it. I don't think that run Medvedev had on hard courts last season was a fluke, but that is a funny old result v Simon. None of the youngsters seem to have much consistency I think, but I suppose that's in comparison with the big 3, which is a bit unfair.

I see Kevin Anderson has just had another op - it doesn't seem long since he came back from the last one.

I agree- I don't think Medvedev's run last year was a fluke, I think he is the real deal. But he has gone off the boil a bit. I'm sure 'the big three' also did, in their early days, so maybe it isn't fair to make comparisons. I don't know.

And yes- re Kev as well, I'm sure he came back from something recently.

Yes you're probably right Raahh about Rafa, Fed and djok in their early days. I'm sure they must have been the same, it just seems hard to imagine them being inconsistent now doesn't it?!

Although I suppose Fed did beat Sampras at Wimbledon, then lose to Henman in the next round.

So maybe it's a bit like that

Official RG poster for 2020

I love this. It reminds me of one of those vintage travel posters, fab colours.

Someone in the comments has said they love the hidden message - I can't see one (or are they having us on?!).

Anyway, 24 May, something to look forward to!!

It's very well hidden

I do like it- RG will be here before we know it, won't it? .

It will, no doubt!

I gave up trying to decipher the so-called hidden message!

I see Djok plays Kohlschreiber next in Dubai. Almost a year since Phil knocked him out of Indian Wells in straight sets iirc - after tidying up the plants by the court of course .

Not sure he'll get the win this time but I hope so. I don't think Djok has lost yet this year (although it is only Feb)!

Pfft. It would so good if Djok could have a bit of a blip.

Of course over the course his poor form at IW /Miami was when he blamed his issues on all the 'off court' stuff going on with Chris Kermode and the ATP, wasn't it? (And Rafa and Roger having coffee meetings without him).

I can't believe how quickly this year has gone!

That made no sense But you get the gist .

Made perfect sense to me!

Yes Rafa and Roger's coffee morning - loved that story!