TENNIS THREAD- The Clay season continues- onwards to Paris, via Madrid and Rome...

[Raahh]

and a few smaller tournaments in between....

The big question at the moment is- will Medvedev ever win a match on clay??

Mama he does.

He is looking very good.

He's come on a long way Casper- since I first noticed him 2 years ago, in that match against Kyrgios- the one where Nick threw the chair. Nick didn't like that Ruud celebrated the 'win' (Nick was disqualified).

Casper at the time was interviewed saying that it wasn't his fault if Nick was an idiot on court. I knew then, I liked him.

Nick did respond with something about Casper's game being like watching paint dry...

But hey, looks like Casper is actually managing to forge a successful career- Where are you now, Nick? .

I remember that match

Where is nick actually? He's been very quiet

I've just read a really lovely story- a 95 year old woman, who has signs of Alzheimers was at Rafa's match today- she's a massive tennis fan, wanted to see him play, before she 'forgot' what tennis and he, meant to her.

And even though he lost the match, Rafa met up with her afterwards.
Isn't that lovely?

Aww that's brought tears to my eyes Raahh

@Mama1980

Where is nick actually? He's been very quiet

Shhh. I like it this way!

Mama I think he's probably still at home (since he doesn't like clay ) but he is supposed to be playing the Mallorca tournament. Uncle Toni (tournament director) is very excited he will be there, apparently!

Jane isn't it lovely? I hope Manuela gets many more chances to see him play.

I do too jane
Hopefully he'll stay down under.

That is so lovely

Garin is doing very well.

I missed the next set, and it looks like Matteo is in charge now.

Marin has another baby on the way.

Ahh that’s lovely about Rafa - he really is a good human person - hope he will come and visit me when I’m really old (I’m not too far off from senility!)

That’s nice news about Marin

Yes nick has been very quiet recently - it was quite worrying when he became the voice of reason!

I can’t imagine uncle Toni putting up with Nick’s drama

Wowza!

Wow! Naomi looks amazing.

No sun here- just yet more rain. Feels a bit warmer though - so I suppose that is something.

I hope I get to watch today. The Sascha/Dom match should be a good one. Even though he's been playing a lot, I still think I pick Sascha to go through that. But Dom had got better by the time he played Isner.

I think the Ruud/Berrettini match could go either way. They were discussing in the studio, that Matteo has gone under the radar a bit this year, and is playing as well as he was when he got to number 8 in the rankings. It might be a match too far for Casper- but he has been playing really well.

It's a shame Rafa had a disaster - but hopefully he will be happier in Rome (and it's not Autumn this this time, so the conditions should be better for him).

Yes I’m looking forward to watching some tennis later - it’s raining and freezing here . I’m predicting a Sascha/Berretini final but I could be wrong - it is good to see some different players getting to the semis and the finals (although would have liked Rafa to still be there!)

Poor Rafa - I read some of his post match interview - I don’t know if some of it was lost in translation or Rafaese but it was both comic and tragic - he was very hard on himself!

Yes hopefully he will do better in Rome - did Rome even happen last year? I can’t remember

He was hard on himself- he credited Sascha with playing well (which he did) but there was a real turning point in the match- after which Rafa didn't recover. I'm a bit worried this is becoming a bit of 'thing' with him lately - it has happened in a few matches- just one incident/point completely changes the match (for the worse).
He was always the player that the pundits said didn't dwell on bad points and just moved on- but he does seem more frustrated than normal.

Fizzy Rome did happen - bloody Djok won it .

But Rafa lost to Diego- in the quater finals? - it was a night match, no crowds, only his third match in months- he didn't start well, and although the second set was better, it was too late by then.

I remember one match that Djok wan, where Henman (I think) was taking the piss out of the victory celebration- to all 4 corners of an empty court .

Raahh your memory is much better than mine! Although I think my memory is quite selective (forgetting any Djok victories)

It does seem a bit worrying that Rafa’s recent losses do seem to have hinged on one bad point that he then can’t seem to recover from - hopefully he will have sorted himself out by RG.

Everyone seems to think it’s inevitable that he will win the French Open again but he has been looking a bit fragile recently

The thing with Rafa is he seems to work his way up to RG- so even if his preparation isn't so great - by the time he gets to Rome/RG things start clicking into place.

And he won RG last year without dropping a set, even though- it was freezing cold in October, they'd changed the balls, and ruined the court with a roof. Everything seemed to be against him.

I don't know whether he will win again- he's always going to be the favourite- but I'm not sure who else will. Dom is meant to be the natural successor- but I think someone else might get there first.

So long as it's not Djok. .

Yes it does usually all come together for him at RG - even last year with everything else going on!

I’m also in the anyone but Djok camp (not that much of a surprise really )

Something just seems to click for Rafa at RG and it's his tournament all the way. Hopefully that will remain the case this year.

Sascha seems to have gone the opposite way and instead of letting the bad call ruin his match he just forgot about it and carried on which was great to see. Looking forward to seeing him and Domi later.

We had rain but it's nice and sunny now. I didn't sleep well last night and feel knackered.