Tennis: Here we go again, all the slams ahead of us.

[magimedi]

Uninspired title but looking forward to the new year.............. as long as a certain cock does not win 'em all!

[Raahh]

Karen has taken the second set. I felt a bit like Daniil gave up a bit though. it's nice to see

I had a lovelylunch at my favourite Turkish restaurant, but I wasn't feeling great. The food was great though- and fortunately dh wasn't expecting witty conversation

[Raahh]

Daniil has woken up in the 3rd set though.

[ChessieFL]

Happy birthday/anniversary (delete as applicable!)

I wanted to watch the Kvitova match but I don’t think I can stay awake much longer. Been a long week!

[Fizzywinegum]

Happy birthday Ice!

Just saw the end of Daniil’s match - he’s the first man to be in 5 consecutive ATP finals since Ivan Lendl about a million years ago

The sleepiness must be catching - I’ve taken to my bed - rock and roll Friday night - didn’t even manage to watch Gardeners World

[JaneJeffer]

Not going quite so easily for Carlos tonight

[JaneJeffer]

OMG this is unreal! Robbie is about to spontaneously combust

[JaneJeffer]

What a set of tennis! Vamos Carlos! Jannick will be gutted.

[JaneJeffer]

His last match was over by now. I didn't see the build up but I wonder if they expected this.

[JaneJeffer]

Well here we go again

[JaneJeffer]

Yannick gets the second set

[JaneJeffer]

Carlos seems to have a leg injury

[JaneJeffer]

Maybe just cramp

[JaneJeffer]

I don't know how the heck Carlos is getting these points when he can't move properly

[JaneJeffer]

Well done Jannick. Pity Carlos got injured. I am knackered 💤

[ChessieFL]

I managed to see the first set of Petra’s match then had to sleep. Glad to see she won.

[Raahh]

Chessie that was about as much as I managed! I always like to see Petra win- what happened to her was awful, and completely derailed her career. A win this week would be amazing (though Rybakina is looking very good).

Jane well done on staying up for the match- valiant effort. my days of staying up to the early hours for matches seem to have gone (at the moment anyway). From the scores it looks like it started off very close- I hope Carlos is not too badly injured. Monte Carlos is not far off, and defending Madrid.
It also means Djok returns, and will be number 1. Both have a few points to defend over the next couple of months (and plenty to gain) so the number 1 could change hands again.

But I'm hoping Rafa comes back and sweeps the board

[Fizzywinegum]

Well done on putting in the night shift Jane! Well done Jannik and hope that Alcaraz recovers quickly - boo to Djok being no 1 again - I really don’t miss him at all when he’s not playing!

I really hope that Rafa will have a good clay court season Raahh - after his amazing start to last year things do seem to have gone a bit downhill for him

I need to check out the dates for the upcoming clay season (and daytime tennis - yay!)

It is good that Russian and Belarusian players will be allowed to play at Wimbledon although I don’t think Wimbledon had much of a choice really. I understood their original stance but I suppose it wasn’t really fair on individual players and none of the other major tournaments took the same line so they were out on a limb. Financial penalties and losing ranking points didn’t help

Tim will be hoping not to have as many questions about it all this time around!

[ChessieFL]

Anyone else watching Petra and Elena? Very close first set!

[ChessieFL]

Second set much less close - Petra has the upper hand.

[IceandIndigo]

Yes I’m watching. Looking good for Petra. Elena seems to be running out of ideas. That tie break was crazy!

[ChessieFL]

It seemed never ending.

[JaneJeffer]

Just turned it on. Looks like the end for Elena

[IceandIndigo]

Yay Petra! Really happy for her.

[IceandIndigo]

And yet they’re still banging on about her age. “Oldest champion ever”

[JaneJeffer]

Well done old woman