TENNIS THREAD - Arrivederci Roma! Onwards to Roland Garros.

[Raahh]

VAMOS Rafa!

I nearly missed the end of that!

Poor Stan

I saw that Dom lost in his first match in Lyon, to Norrie- so his RG prep hasn't really gone as well as he might have expected. In previous years, Dom has always been a favourite there.

I am very sick of this weather.

I saw a bit of that yesterday - Norrie played really well. I wonder how he (Thiem) will get on at RG.

Just watching Gasquet (again) v Khachanov. The crowd are already cheering Richard and it's only the warm up

Oh that's sad about Stan not going to RG will miss him there.

This weather is awful isn't it! I have got some sad looking plants waiting to be planted out but I don't fancy getting out there in this wind/rain!

That’s sad about Stan

Thiem doesn’t seem to have been doing very well recently - I’m not sure if he’s carrying an injury or if he’s struggling a bit with the no crowds thing?

The weathers awful isn’t it - I’m freezing and it seems to have been raining for weeks

I’ve also got some sad looking plants Spidey - I put my tomato plants outside the other day to get them used to being outside but I had to bring them in - I think I’ve traumatised them!

Casper won in Geneva today- beat Shapovalov, so that's a really good result for him.

Tsitspas won his match in Lyon- but it started over very close against Musetti.

RG is going to be good I think- so many of the young players seem to be pretty solid on clay.

Ooh, hadn't seen that Raahh Hurrah for everyone's favourite Norwegian

Also see that Norrie is through to the final in Lyon. Stuffed my namesake 6-1 6-1 in the semis!

Sad news about Simona withdrawing from Roland Garros aswell.

Well, I see from another thread that Raahh and Jane are otherwise engaged
Enjoy Eurovision

I have to say I didn't know Eurovision was on

Norrie's having a good season isn't he? Will try and watch the final tomorrowo.

kazza yes it's such a shame about Simona being out of RG isn't it I also saw that Andy Murray was out but that might be old(ish?) news that's passed me by.

I'm looking forward to RG though. Agree about the youngsters, some are playing really well at the mo. The women's as well, I am v interested to see Swiatek again - and Barty. Not long to go now!

Hope you’ve all recovered from Eurovision - the uk was robbed! My little niece liked Germany’s entry but they didn’t do very well either!

Just watching a bit of Norrie/Tsitsipas - Stef won the first set but Norrie seems to be playing well

I think I must have jinxed Norrie - Stef’s just won!

I am sad about Simona, but after her injury in Rome, it seemed inevitable.

I love Iga Swiatek- she played really well in Rome (ignoring the final- she did nothing wrong in that), and I would be more than happy to see her defend her title in RG.

Norrie is having a good year. He's pretty good on clay, but it hasn't always translated into match results. Seems to be working better this year.

I have recovered from Eurovision . I fell asleep almost as soon a the result came in. I feel sorry for the UK entry- he didn't deserve no points at all. Iceland should have won (and would have, last year, I think).

Well done Stef!

Next week is Belgrade, and it looks like Djok is in the draw for that. I am surprised he is still playing there, tgh, so close to RG.

maybe he will get injured

Denis has withdrawn from RG too.

It made me laugh that myself and Raahh were the only ones who gave the UK song any merit, and then after slagging it off everyone said no one voted for it because they all hate the UK For me Azerbaijan was the worst and if those women hadn't been in their underwear they would not have got through!

I haven't watched Eurovision for years. I'm sure the UK will never win again. We could wheel out Coldplay, Adele, Take That, anyone....it wouldn't make a difference
It needs something a bit left field. Madness, at their p*taking, don't give a damn, best maybe

First day of jury service today. Sat there for three hours, got called and sworn in, then immediately released because the case isn't quite ready. So back again tomorrow.

Jane I know! The thing that gets me is, it's always the UK (in the big 5) that gets slated for auto qualifying-and then losing badly. Spain and France are generally equally bad, and end up in the bottom. It's also much longer than the UK since either won, too .
There were a lot of near naked contestants .

Back to the tennis - sad about Denis- he did so well against Rafa the other week.

kazza I am on your behalf- bad enough you have to be doing it anyway, but that's just wasting everyone's time.

I hope you've got a good book kazza!

Yes Jane
'Why Mummy Drinks'
A Christmas present from DS.
Along with 'Why Mummy Swears'
I'd already read 'Why Mummy Doesn't Give A F*#k!'

I love the sound of the books kazza

I don't know where my son got his inspiration from. They don't sound like me at all......

Strangely I posted a photo of one of the pages of that book on the tennis thread last year! It was something about stocking up on loo roll which seemed to have foretold what was going to happen during lockdown. It was one of the library books I had borrowed before everything shut down

Aahh bless. Just read the Rafa/Uncle Toni article on the BBC website.

So Rafa hides under cushions during thunderstorms

kazza the pictures are so cute 'little' Rafa looked so skinny- considering how he turned out .

And this is my favourite bit- about why he was the best coach for Rafa.

"Firstly, I'm his uncle and it is harder to fire a relative than anyone else. The second is that I was the cheapest coach out there," he says with deadpan delivery.

So funny .

Ah poor Rafa still being scared of thunder - uncle Toni sounds like a bit of a meany!

That was funny Raahh
I'm not sure I'd like to get on the wrong side of Uncle Toni

I’m sure that on Mumsnet Rafa would have been advised to go no contact with uncle Toni but it seems to have worked for him

Hope the jury service is going ok kazza - those books sound interesting!