TENNIS thread- Nearly time to say 'Adios' to Madrid, but there are plenty of matches still to get our teeth into...

[Raahh]

Open Wide!

Looks like Lorenzo should win this round of the Sexy Dentist contest.

I think the big send off in Madrid was part of the reason he refused another one in Rome Fizzy, his family were in pieces.

He spoke very well, but I don't think he wanted to keep doing it.

It seems a bit strange to be having a thing at RG 12 months on, but in way it's probably as it should be for someone who didso much there. Enoughtime has gone by for it to be a proper celebration, and not really emotional or rushed ( or at a stupid time of the night after his last match ).

Yes I think Rafa (and his family) thought he couldn’t go through that at every tournament

I agree that enough time has now passed and he seems to have come to terms with his retirement so hopefully the RG thing will be a celebration of him and his achievements there (hopefully it won’t be as long as the Jo Willy Tsonga This is Your life thing )

I always wondered how it came about. Did they just pick up a racquet with their left hand one day and think “ooh this feels right”?

The Jo Willy thing was hilarious- the endless stream of people

'Here's the coach from when you were 5, that you don't remember....'

Was it Casper who beat him and had to sit politely through the whole thing?

I like the idea of having a tribute for Rafa,
just as long as we don’t have to endure something similar for you-know-who when he finally bores off into the sunset.

Casper is a very polite young man

Djok would definitely want the whole shebang - I won’t be watching whenever it happens

Do we think if Djok fails at Wimbledon it will be his last? 🤞

It will be interesting as to where Djok's 'big send off' will be, if there is one. Even Federer didn't get a bells and whistles last hurrah at Wimbledon.
The Laver Cup hit the right note , really.

I suppose AO, being the one he's been most successful, is the obvious choice- but also controversial after his covid shenanigans. ( he will want a bigger, better statue than Rafa's ).

And he won't want some little ceremony in a 250 tournament in Belgrade...

Probably best they just don't bother at all .

We can but hope rara!!

Annabel is in white today - maybe she has warmed up.

Looking forward to today. Fran has the edge in the hth (5-3) but who knows how the match could go. Casper has had a good decent season so far. But needs to keep it going (and stay healthy).

Not a great start from Casper- come on, don't go down a break already.

I didn’t realise it had started. I had to double check to make sure it wasn’t a replay

I gave up watching men's tennis as I didn't have the concentration for 5 sets.
Even now I can't really be bothered with it especially since Rafa has retired.

What’s going on? I went to hang out some washing

Someone shouting when Casper is serving?

I don’t think we’ll ever be able to replace Rafa

Well done Casper. One dentist through to the final

I started to watching, but knew I wouldn't get to see the end - had an appointment, very glad that Casper is through. I'd love him to win the whole thing. (although I am big fan of Fran's).

So, yes, 1 sexy Dentist through, 1 to go .

There's a bit of gap til the next match.

Casper seems to have an injury of some sort. I couldn’t hear what he was saying because DH was listening to some nonsense on his phone during the interview.

Noooo.

That is not what I want to hear.

Hopefully it's nothing serious. But at the same time, I would rather he didn't jeopardise RG too. He's got big points coming up to defend (and of course the grass season is not his friend ).

From reading, it's a rib injury of some sort. That doesn't sound great- and can really affect the serve most of all. Also, not very much you do other than rest , I would have thought (my experiences of rib injures extend to both dh and my bil breaking several at a time, and there never seems to be a lot of treatment beyond heavy duty pain relief, and checking they can still breath/lungs aren't affected).

Just caught up with the match, yay Casper!! He really fought hard, that 15 minute game in the second set where he had to save multiple break points was pretty intense, but I knew he had it after he was able to come back from 0-40 at 5-5. He said that he could feel pain in the rib every time he was serving, which doesn’t sound too good.

This win means Casper is back in the top 10, although unfortunately that means Daniil is out.

Casper's time there might be short lived if he can't back it up over the weekend/skips Rome or doesn't do well in Paris.
He's defending Geneva inbetween too, which accounts for a chunk of points- but I think he might choose to skip that (what do I know? ).

Here we go.

Sorry Jack, I'm supporting Sexy Dentist No 2