Buckle up possums, it’s the Australian Open!

[IceandIndigo]

New thread.

John Newcombe still looks good. I saw him at Wimbledon back in the late 70's.

I've just read that the woman was shouting 'we believe Brenda and Olya' so I think it was a reference to the DV allegations against Zverev

Oh really, I thought it was Middle East protesters.

It was on the Tennis Podcast chat Ice - they are not Zverev fans but don't think they would make it up - Zverev didn't look very impressed which made me wonder if it was about him

The people doing the ceremony and in the studio seem to be pretending it didn't happen

It should all be about Sinner anyway - he is very low key though - bring on the carrots!

'They have to learn to speak English'

Roland Garros next!

I'm already planning next week- I think Sky will be showing Montpellier(which means the coverage will be rubbish) and Rotterdam is the week after.

Why is Mac so shouty?

Well done Jannik. Disappointed for Sascha.

I couldn’t help feeling sad for Sascha even though I am ambivalent about him due to the DV stuff. Jannik was just too good today.

After wondering where Beardy Benoit had disappeared, today he lost in qualifying in Montpellier.

Emma lost her match in Singapore. Disappointing as it was a winnable match - she was just a game away at one point in the second set. Perhaps she has been unsettled by having to find a new coach again.

Oh great, looks like Eurosport and TNT sports are merging, so the cost of the monthly pass covering tennis will go up from £6.99 to £30.99. Honestly it’s like they don’t want people to watch tennis.

I’ve just seen that Ice. Haven’t quite worked out what it means for me yet as Eurosport and Discovery are/were included in my Sky package, but I’m not going to pay £30.99 pm just to watch AO and FO.

I just wish all the tennis was in one place, so you just need one subscription for all of it.

I can't work out what it means either. I have Virgin (with Eurosport) and some Sky channels, with Discovery added. I have the tennis channel - but not sure how. .

I get confused enough keeping track of what we are already paying for.

From what I’ve read, Eurosport channels will disappear completely and you’ll need to subscribe to TNT sports if you want the content that was previously on Eurosport.

metro.co.uk/2025/01/28/eurosport-axed-sports-fans-face-huge-subscription-price-hike-22446968/amp/

According to DH, we have TNT (he watches football on it) so that's ok- but I will wait and see what happens as to how things will be affected.

I'd only just got used to RG being on Eurosport and not ITV!

(I'm not totally convinced it we won't have to add Eurosport somehow, but Dh seems to think we will be ok. )

I know we have TNT channels, but I've never used them myself. (Dh watches on his PC).

Pfft, football. I have no interest in it but every time it’s bundled in with a sport I want to watch it increases the cost massively. If only Tennis TV could get the rights to the slams.
I wonder if TNT will still allow on demand viewing and coverage of multiple courts the way Discovery+ did.

That seems to be the thing doesn't it? Football is the thing that drives the cost.

I really wish Prime had kept the contract. it might have been an extra cost (that I'm still paying anyway, I watch a lot on Prime) , but the coverage ended up being quite good in the end.

I wish they would stop messing about with the tennis coverage

It would be better if it was all on one (not too expensive) channel

Prime coverage was good (after a few teething problems) but it is definitely all down to money and not necessarily good for tennis fans!

I'm not sure how 'Dr' Rafa feels about getting this award

Interesting head gear

(is it meant to look like half a tennis ball, do you think?)

I'm not sure Raahh - green Father Christmas hat?

Poor Rafa is probably thinking 'bloody hell, my hair when I take this off!'

Maybe he just kept it on!