Tennis: Adios Madrid, Ciao Roma

[JaneJeffer]

I wonder if Francisco's fan girl i.e. middle aged woman is there today

They're trying their best to make Holger be feuding with everyone

Oh I had forgotten the Ruud/Rune stuff at RG. That was funny.

I can't really imagine Ruud upsetting anyone

Casper looked a bit bewildered by Holger

Jane they are determined aren't they?

I will almost be glad to see the return of Kyrgios so they have a proper villain to talk about.

(Ok, maybe not).

But he's box office Raahh unlike Holger

It would be fun if Rune and Ruud did doubles together. Just to hear the confusion with the umpires and commentators.

True. Very true.

Holger is just a pesky kid.

(Holger will wipe the court with him the first time they play, I hope).

I saw a lovely clip of Holger and Carlos playing doubles as even younger youngsters. Of course they won.

It's not a bad period in tennis at the moment, so many young players who are doing well.

Aghhh. A press conference coming up and they think Rafa is going to withdraw from RG

Oh no

In a way, I would rather he didn't play, than play and lose badly early on (or injure himself futher).

But it means he will drop out of the top 100, and the press will have a field day with that.

Although, I'm not sure if he will soon have been out injured long enough to qualify for protected ranking status (though if he does play again, I doubt anyone would refuse Nadal a wild card).

I'm sure in a way Novak is missing Rafa at these tournaments. It must be strange for him not having Rafa around and dealing with these little upstarts instead!

RG just won't be the same without Rafa

It's a bit like Mac once said about Borg- he lost some motivation when Bjorn retired, because he didn't have him to beat any more.

I've just read it's the first time since 2004 that the Rome final won't feature Rafa or Djok.

That is some record!

I haven’t seen any tennis as if I’ve been out all day for mine and DM’s birthday - just seen the scores and best birthday present ever - well done Rune!

Off to read all your comments now - just wish I’d been able to watch Djok losing!

It would be nice if they could replace Rafa's horrible statue at RG- that is not a flattering statue (and I really don't want to think about it coming to life).

Happy Birthday Fizzy hope you and your mum had a good day

Happy Birthday!

<- Feli sized cake.

Oh no just seen that about Rafa - it probably is best if he doesn’t play (not sure if he’d be able to keep up with all these upstarts!)

Thank you - I’m not precious about the size of my cake

Fizzy no, and the problem is, given his ranking, he would risk losing to someone no-one has ever heard of- never mind Rune or Alcaraz. I don't think it's worth the risk. It wouldn't matter that he had previously only ever lost 3 matches there- it would be the biggest upset ever etc etc

He's better off staying home with his beautiful wife and baby Rafa. I'm sure he'll be gutted though. I think after how worried his family looked during his last match they've been having words with him!