TENNIS: all to clay for

[JaneJeffer]

sorry

It really is how he looks, isn't it? Or like he's left a hanger in there. Just needs a helmet to complete the look.

He seems like such a nice lad , when he's interviewed.

Is NuRafa's dad also his coach? He seems promisingly calm.

oof - tie break.

It's been a good competitive match.

Yes, he is (also called Rafa ).

I hate matches lost on a one sided tie break, after a tight set. It never seems right.

It's such an anticlimax.

Skupsi has just lost on a match tiebreak, from a very winning position!

It really is.

But he played so well up to that.

Oh dear. A very quick tiebreak!

Well done Jannik just too good

Well done Jannik.

And Rafa, great showing from him, and no doubt a great learning experience.

I was score watching that. The petty side of me was pleased .

Nice camera message

Jannik played the pressure points well and then bulldozed NuRafa in the tiebreak. I'm sure his time will come.

Well done Jannik- and well done to Jodar. He's having a great season.

It was. Jannik is a good human person.

Gigi and Marion doing the matchy matchy

I hope someone tells Jodar about the message.

Mirra won her match- don't know if she got an on-court cake- there was hardly anyone watching.

Carlos sitting at home watching

I'm sure Carlos is the type of person that will be watching (and probably having massive FOMO). I'm sure he wasn't expecting to be replaced by a newer Spanish teenage sensation so quickly!

I found it fascinating that in one of his interviews Arthur Fils said he hadn't watched any tennis while he was off injured.

I think Carlos was half expecting the next Spanish teenage sensation to be his own little brother , Jaime. . (Which could yet happen, he's only 14).

Rafa seems quite grounded. Hopefully he has a good team around him, with a sensiible 'father /coach' relationship. rather than a toxic one, so he isn't encouraged to run before he can walk. These past few weeks have been really great- but he can still come down to earth with a bump (and we know the media like to knock 'em down, as well as build them up).

I feel sorry for young players these days, the level of social media attention/judgement must be pretty intense to deal with. And it seems to gravitate to extremes, people either want to anoint them as instant competitors to Jannik and Carlos, or insist they're overrated charlatans. I already see this happening to Joao, who's the same age as Rafa. I don't know anything about Carlos' brother, but the expectations are going to be sky high. And the odds are that he won't be as good as Carlos, even if he's a decent player.

Social media does have a lot to answer for Ice- yes,everything has to be instant. It's much easier to find the next big thing than it was when keeping tabs on my favourite player meant spending money on magazines, or scrolling through pages on Ceefax.

Players like Stef- who is only 27, younger than Stan was when he won his first slam- are already being spoken about as if they are past their best. It might be true, but it seems premature to write him off.

I think Carlos will really want to protect his brother from the expectations people will put on him.

Just settling to watch the Casper/Blockx match. On paper, it's Casper's to lose .

I don't think he is going to win the tournament- but I would like to see him at least make the semis.

Flavio Cobolli has recently beaten Sascha in Munch- whether he can repeat that in Madrid, we will see. (If Casper get's through his match, that will be his preferred match up).