TENNIS- The tour of Europe continues- next stop- Paris, as we head for the Finals in Turin

[Raahh]

Just noticed thread was running out. So - thought I might be organised for once.

And well done to Joe Salisbury And Rajeev Ram (who have had a rubbish year)but have just won in Vienna.

Roman is coming into this on a pretty good run of form, and Carlos hasn't had the best few months really.

We just need someone to beat Djok, dammit!

Just checking the scores and it's not looking good for Carlos.

Well done Roman. Ice cold.

Well done to Roman- but really not the result Carlos will have wanted, I wonder if he is fully fit?

I saw earlier that Jannik and Stan withdrew from their doubles match against Djok ( not surprisingly, really). Bit disappointing- and worse, Djok won.

Talking of Deja Vu , it's Daniil and Grigor again this morning- was a 3 set match last week and might be again. Grigor has the upper hand in the first set, but I think Daniil might just need time to get going. I always like watching Grigor though.

And Prime has a technical issue! Oi! That's not on. Come back!

Gosh some of the top seeds have difficult R32 matches, I’m sure Carlitos won’t be the only upset.

Ice no, when I saw the initial draw, I thought it looked quite tricky for a few. Some of the lower ranked players are able to take their chances.

Fingers crossed Etcheverry is having a good day against Djok .

As expected, Daniil has turned this around.
And now Greg is going on about Deja Vu

Nice shot Greg

'I don't want to play'

What's going on?

The crowd are enjoying winding Daniil up, I think.

Sounds like fun

Suddenly Grigor's serve has gone a bit awol.

Oof- tie break.

I don't want Daniil to lose this match- but I don't want Grigor to lose either.

Which is a problem, really.

it's so good to Grigor playing this well

I know, it is really nice. It feels like he's from a completely different 'generation' to them all- and he's only 32- and younger than Djok.

From Marva:

Djokovic, currently present in Paris to play the Masters 1000 Bercy, spoke of Nadal in an interview for the program 'C a Vous' of France 5.
"Nadal is a special player in my career," he reflected.
"We are not friends, but we have a lot of respect for each other.
"I hope that after our careers we can have a drink on the beach and talk about life."
Dream on Djok

*Marca

I feel nervous any time I think about Rafa's return!

Pfft. Why would Rafa want to have a drink with Djok anyway? Never mind be his friend. Does Djok even drink? He's a big fun sponge.

I know what you mean about Rafa's return. Part of me almost doesn't want him to. Or does- but only if he's guaranteed a win He doesn't have to win a tournament, just not lose first round.

I'm not 100% convinced he will be back at AO- I think Craig Tiley jumped the gun a bit on that- I don't even think Rafa knows himself yet.

Daniil is having a nice chat with the umpire

Mais oui