Tennis - So long New York, Ciao Roma

[JaneJeffer]

Fizzy I was confused, because it did say on google that Rafa was playing today. But it appears not.

ooh- Struff is getting Struffed.

Sam Smith is turning into AC. Discussion about Rome's pine trees during the Gauff/Jabeur match. .

She's already given a history lesson about Roland Garros. .

I'm really looking forward to AC telling us all about the seats at RG again.

Jane the seat discussion was great.

ooh, sounds like thunder in Rome.

Hi everyone.

magi really sorry to hear about your DH. Hope he's on the mend soon. Take care of yourself too

Sam Smith is turning into AC
I noticed this the other day I can't remember what she was talking about now, but I remember thinking "that's just the kind of thing AC would mention"

Haven't seen much tennis today - caught a bit of the Evans-Dimitrov doubles.

It's very rainy now in Rome. Muguruza was doing well, and is struggling to serve out the set.

I think they will stop soon.

I'm amazed they are still playing- I know they play in the rain on clay, but it is very heavy now.

Oh- now they are going in.

Sam is definitely turning into AC - she’s just mentioned that the roses need pruning

I had my own AC moment last week when I saw a plant that was covered in Red Admiral butterflies - I nearly took a picture of it to post on here!

Think rain might stop play soon

I finally get to sit down and there's rain in Rome!

Still haven't watched any tennis!

It's been a busy day today, so had to suffice with score watching.

DS had his first driving lesson this evening.
He came back in one piece

That’s good kazza - children become useful when they can drive!

Looks as if Stan lost the first set 6-0!

I see Stan lost.

Yes fizzy. DH and I thought about this the other day. DS has no interest in trying alcohol, which means he can drive and we can drink on family meals out

Yes I saw that Stan lost - wonder if it’s down to lack of match practise?

DS1 is not really interested in drinking so comes in useful as a taxi service (I try not to abuse it too much )

Poor Stan

He had a good run in the Prague challenger the other week - think he won? - but I'm not sure what that was played on.

Rafa today! It's bound to coincide with school runs or something.

I’d forgotten about Stan winning in Prague Raahh - that seems like a long time ago!

I can’t seem to find today’s order of play for Rome so still don’t know what time Rafa’s playing.

I'd almost forgotten about Prague too- I think he withdrew from the Prague Open though. It does feel like ages ago.

This year is just confusing me..

I mean, we have Rome and RG in September/October.
It's quite sad, because usually after RG, I would be gearing up to watching Queen's/Wimbledon.

On the ATP site, it has the Rafa match 'not before 7pm', which would be around 6? here. I'm not sure if that is a good time for Rafa, he likes it hot, if the weather ends up like yesterday, it might make a tricky match, harder.

Although he has a 5-0 hth against PCB.

In other matches- Tsitsipas is playing Sinner, who could be a problem. Stef has a habit of being a bit inconsistent with his results.

I think Prague was on clay wasn't it - he seems to have been practising on clay for a while anyway.

Looking forward to seeing Rafa later. It's bound to clash with something Raahh after all this time!

Private oh, it will. No doubt. Months we have waited for him to play again- and I bet there is a massive thunderstorm in Rome .

And Bautista Agut and his wife have had a baby boy, yesterday. Lovely picture on twitter.

Oh- and he's also called Roberto .

Ah that’s lovely news about Baby Roberto

I thought that Rafa would be on later - 7pm will clash with the Tour de France here but I’m going to try to claim viewing rights - I haven’t seen Rafa for months!

I’m also a little bit worried about the conditions not suiting Rafa - yesterday the balls were really heavy (when it was raining) and the courts are a bit churned up and uneven because they’ve not been played on very much. It might be the same for the French Open

The Tennis world being out of sync is also confusing me (Doesn’t take much!) Rome is usually played in my birthday week in May