TENNIS thread-Au-revoir Paris- it's all about the Race for Turin. Who will be the last man and woman standing in 2025?

[Raahh]

So much going on at once!

That is a good article- and I'm glad it mentioned the domestic violence.

Yes, of all the players they could choose, they choose the one most guaranteed to gloat and belittle and actually believe he's better.
And I am more and more baffled by Aryna's decision to take part. I'm actually wishing a bout of Christmas food poisoning on her (only mild, obviously). But it will save her from herself.
Not like she needs the money- but it really isn't going to do anything positive for her career that I can see.

Hopefully it will be Kyrgios who withdraws - I don’t think he’s played a match for ages? But he will use his injury as an excuse if he does lose - it’s not going to prove anything

Rennae Stubbs is right on lots of levels - nobody will come out if this well whatever the outcome - and Kyrgios is an irrelevance

Let’s go back to being silly - I still haven’t looked for the Rafa thing on You Tube (waiting for kazza to provide the link )

Dick probably does need the money, having not played for ages, and spent most of his winnings on fines.

The Rafa thing is very sweet. I'd seen clips previously of baby Rafa high fiving Andy/Roger and Djok. He seemed like a very confident little chap.

I'll go to my grave holding a grudge against TNT for ballsing up the whole broadcast through. The fact we missed the unveiling of the plaque live, was just really a poor show.

I will be taking a lot of grudges to my grave. Might be time to let a few go .

That article was very wordy magi

Fortunately for us it’s not illegal

You could (definitely) be waiting a long time fizzy

I forgot the Ultimate Tennis Showdown was on over the weekend. Apparently AdM (the Demon, obvs) won, and Casper (the Ice Man) was runner up.

I never under stand the format .

The UTS passed me by as well Raahh - I try to avoid any tennis that doesn’t follow the proper scoring format (doubles scoring still confuses me!)

I’m feeling a bit less festively frazzled today as we finally got the tree up and decorated - I’ve got a nice new tennis racquet bauble (the tree is a reflection of my interests - no one else gets a look in - not that they’re bothered!)

I’m trying not to be too Grinchy (although some members of my family seem to be behaving like a MN Christmas thread )

Ho ho ho

Poor Rafa’s had surgery on his hand - hope that he’s ok - he’s probably just getting round to fixing all the broken bits of his body

He was joking that he wouldn’t be able to play the AO this year - unlike his mate Roger who appears to be playing in an pre AO tournament

Anyone doing the survey in site stuff about long running threads? Eh?

I saw Rafa's post Fizzy- maybe he's taking up stand-up in his retirement.

Not seen that Jane. Will investigate...

Carlos and Juanki have parted ways. I am very surprised!

I am shook Jane! Did not see that coming at all.

I've been out all say and just seen this. I'm really shocked. Bit risky to do it now- or maybe he thinks fresh blood will help at AO?
Hasn't Juanki just won ATP coach of the year?

I think everyone is shocked! Wonder what the inside story is? Hope all is ok with them both.

It's shocking partly because they gave off father-son vibes. But maybe Carlos feels like he needs a different dynamic now. Or Juanki wants to spend more time with his other actual kids. The timing feels sudden but maybe they just waited until the end of the year to announce it.

It could be that he wants to spend more time with his family, his oldest child is about 11- and he has 2 other younger ones. He must have missed out on a fair bit traveling with Carlos for the last 7 years.

It would have mixed things up a bit, had Darren Cahill stuck to his word, and stepped back from coaching Jannik (he was adamant he was going to)- but of course, he's sticking around til next season.

I’ve just seen this as well - although it is a bit of a surprise I haven’t been able to look at Juan Carlos in the same way after watching the Alcaraz documentary - he wanted Alcaraz to keep playing through the pain when he was injured (maybe that’s what all tennis players do to a certain extent but it didn’t seem right) - he also wasn’t too happy about him going to Ibiza just before Wimbledon

The Tennis Podcast are doing an emergency pod at 5pm to discuss the news!

Hmm it sounds as if it wasn’t Ferrero’s decision - he wanted to continue working with Alcaraz

I'm not sure whether to take that to mean it wasn't his decision to split, or that family commitments/ something behind the scenes have taken the decision out of his hands.

Or maybe Carlos thinks he needs a change, and ripped off the plaster now, rather than sticking with it, and possibly letting things get stale. It's a brave decision if that's the case.

If Juanki wants to continue coaching- Stef is probably on the lookout for a new coach .

I'm sure he's not that brave or stupid Raahh Stef would be a challenge!!

I didn't like some of the behaviour/attitudes of Alcaraz's team in that documentary either but maybe that's what top teams are like generally? It takes a certain mindset and a lot of sacrifices to get to, and stay at, the top of any professional sport, tennis in particular, I think.

No, I don't think he would want to take on Stef - well, his family moreso.

I felt the same way when I watched the documentary Fizzy, but I also think they probably played up the extent of the conflict to make a good story for TV.

Imagine going from working with the Alcaraz family, who seem all good, healthy vibes, to the dysfunction of the Tstitsippi!

BBC article suggests it wasn’t Ferrero’s choice and he didn’t give up the role for personal reasons. So sounds like it’s Carlos who wanted to move on.

Wow he must be gutted. I’m sure Jaime Alcaraz could do with such an experienced coach?

Good idea, keep it in the family!