TENNIS: Who will be victorious in Paris?

[JaneJeffer]

Surely he won't be able to play on - I was anticipating another 2 hours play at least, surely even if he can move he can't for that long.
Such a shame.

As much as I wanted Rafa to win - not like that.

Chessie I know.

Rafa wouldn't want to win this way either.

Fair play to him coming out to shake hands

Rafa knows more than most what injuries on court are like- and the implications going forward. I hope it's not too serious, and nothing long term.

Poor Sascha. He could very easily have won that match. It far from Rafa's day. He played brilliantly, for large parts of it.

Poor Sascha - tennis keeps making me cry

Please don’t let them bring out the cake for Rafa!

Rafa still takes his time!

Jane very classy move. I'm glad he did.

Mats looks grim.

I hope it’s not going to be a long term injury - it might keep him out of Wimbledon too.

Fizzy I wondered about the cake. I don't think that can happen on court now!

No one, especially not Rafa would have wanted to win like that.
Poor Sasha - great respect for him coming out to shake hands and end the match properly. Im so glad the crowd really respected that.

Rafa is having a tough birthday

Chessie Wimbledon is not far off, though. I hope it's just something that needs rest.
He looked in a lot of pain.

Cilic and Ruud will need to get ready in a hurry now - I’m sure they expected to have another couple of hours at least.

Jane he really is, isn't he?

I wish they would stop showing replays of it!

Chessie difficult for them, isnt it? They were probably thinking they had ages- and then, bam.

Very hard for the players scheduled second.

Will they open the roof for the second match?

Chessie it's not necessary, is it?

I think we're all a bit shell shocked

Shell shocked , yup, Jane- I was ready to still be sitting her at 9 o'clock, crying into my vodka, whilst they reached the a tie break in the 5th.

I decided I needed a bit of a break - so I some ironing

Very early days for Cilic and Ruud. The roof is open, and it looks like a totally different court. It's amazing how dark and claustrophobic the roof makes it. I'm not a fan of the PC roof. Makes it looks so boxy. I loved how big and open the court used to be. with the old green seats
There are no where near as many spectators for this. Not much of a surprise, but it's still a slam semi final!

I've just read that Rafa won't be playing at Wimbledon - which I was expecting. It's the right thing to do (though it's basically Djok's for the taking, not that Rafa was a massive threat there). I hope Rafa can win on Sunday- it still keeps him ahead in the slam stakes- this matters to Djok.

Time is running out on whether we will see Rafa play Wimbledon again, I suppose- hopefully he will be in London for the Laver Cup.

I expect the media, as I've said before, will make it about ranking points and Russians- rather than the fact he's struggling with a pre-existing injury, and is obviously coming off a long season, has had in injury in the middle of it, and will be knackered.

I'm back on my perch. Made dinner even though half the household has disappeared but no doubt will be starving later.

I'm undecided which of these two is easiest for Rafa to beat.

It's such a shame Daniil can't play Wimbledon but hopefully some young upstart can beat Djok there.