TENNIS THREAD- We bid farewell to SW19 for another year (along with AC the butterfly fancier), and prepare for the hard courts, after a detour on the European clay.

[Raahh]

Who will be the champion? Will Andre and Tim muzzle AC?

Will Eva Asderaki Moore muzzle the spectator in the crowd?

It's all coming to an end<sob>.

Yes I saw the news about the coaching splits.

I do get it for Felix and Jiri as they're part of that chasing cohort and both seem to have plateaued. I remember when Felix first broke out and he was being talked about as a potential multiple slam winner.... he hasn't really added anything to his game since those days. And they're both young enough that you feel their best could still be in front of them, with the right coaching.

Daniil is a bit different because he's older and has had a lot of success already. He hadn't been working with his current coach for very long, and it seemed like things were going in the right direction, albeit his form still a bit up and down — winning several titles after a long drought, beating Carlos at Indian Wells etc. So I was very surprised by this split. He did play badly against Struff at Wimbledon, but I'm not sure that's a coaching problem...

Sigh

I missed Stan, which was disappointing, as I had to go out. I'm hoping I get to see his singles match tomorrow.

I don't see how Felix can really blame his coach for his loss- it was an incredibly tight match.

I've just seen that 'Only Connect' starts a new series today! So that's something I can look forward to.

(I really need to get out more).

I think it's more about the pattern of losses for Felix — he was very disappointed in his loss to Flavio at RG as well. The match against Djok was tight, but in the match tiebreak he made a bunch of critical errors that cost him the match. Perhaps he feels that a different coach can help him manage those situations more effectively.

I love Only Connect! Not that I can answer many questions though. I’ve been watching the old repeats of the first few series - very odd having Greek letters instead of Egyptian hieroglyphs. Nothing else has changed though - even Victoria doesn’t seem to have aged at all.

I watched the early series too! I'm not sure why they changed from letters to hieroglyphs (if they said why, I missed it).

I am fairly useless at guessing the answers though- but am always pleased when I get a music question right

I remember the change as well, and can’t remember why they did it. Does anyone make their own ‘only connect’ list of four items?

Stefan, Andre, Pete, Bjorn etc
Barker, Croft, Wade, Radacanu

I don’t know why they changed it.

The only questions I get are things like the names of the Wombles or something. Nothing intellectual! But just watching it makes me feel more intelligent.

The ones I get are usually the Wombles types

The really embarrassing thing, is even watching repeats (usually Christmas specials) I never remember the answers .

I like the Christmas specials. I remember the one where Victoria dressed up as a cello!

Oh Only Connect - yay! Either the questions are getting harder or I’m getting more stupid in my old age (probably ) - sometimes I don’t understand the questions even when I’m told the answers!

I think that Felix and ADM were both disappointed with their RG and Wimbledon results - I know it’s harsh but maybe that’s as good as they’re going to get but maybe a new coach for Felix might help a bit - he came close to winning against Djok

I think I read somewhere that Felix and his coach had decided to split before Wimbledon and it would be the last tournament together.

I got the music clue on the second clue.

I've peaked.

I got it on the first
(only kidding I’m not even watching)
well done Raahh

I also got a connection being 'K pop demon hunters'. And that is more my level.

I know nothing about K pop

I remember the first episode in the last series of Only Connect being almost like a final. It was so hard- for both teams.

I've got 4 questions right so far. I might stop watching .

Neither do I- I just know I hate the song 'Golden',

I thought Thomas had really settled Daniil down. It's a shame.

I got the K Pop Demon Hunters question too. And that was the only one I got!

Me too! Although he did always look a bit strained.
I hope Daniil finds what he is looking for- he is one of my favourites.

It was so nice at the AO when we watched Daniil 's practice session. Seemed very warm and relaxed and the whole team finished with a kind of game of petanque on the court. Thomas had a nice vibe around him.