^ Agree. Thought Cibulkova showed a lot of mental toughness under difficult circumstances.
Dmitrov can’t seem to get out of his own way.
She is one tough cookie but I find her annoying to watch. But she comes in handy by being able to dispatch players I don’t like often.
Aga’s worst nightmare for a R1 match on clay,
Just heard Roger’s withdrawn do to bad back. 
Ugh! There goes the potential quarterfinal!
It seems we might never see that matchup again. Shame as Madrid is only clay court Rog can beat Rafa on,
meanwhile on the women’s side top 3 seeds are gone and they took a whole bunch of other seeds with them. Mess of a draw now. And Vika looked injured. If she’s smart she should withdraw.
Only Petra can save this tourney now from some scrub winning it but she’ll likely flop, too.
Nice win by Pouille over wee Belgium.
Another wacky day in WTAWorld. The men’s upsets were less surprising and I think in the end you’ll still end up with Djoker/Rafa final but who knows on the women’s side!
Blah
^ Yup.
Onto Foro Italico.
Nice cushy draw for Andy in Rome, what a surprise
Yep. Top half is draw from hell.
That’s the problem with going with seeds. Tournaments should decide draws based on circumstances. Right now, in a clay tournament, putting Djokovic, Federer and Nadal in the same half is ridiculous.
Emily, any dreams lately! 
The top men keep marching on while WTA draw is once again a mess. Pretty soon Bye will be winning their tournaments.
No dreams.
Even though Wimby takes into consideration other factors to determine the seeds there is still always one side of the draw which is the tougher half.
And draws often fall apart and what seemed like the tougher half turns into the easier draw…
I did prefer it when there were only 16 seeded players at the slams as there aren’t nearly as many upsets or exciting matches with top players. All the excitement is between lowly journeymen the first week.
Roger looked good to me today but apparently he fully expected to lose, said he isn’t close to 100% yet. Tomorrow should be interesting.
Yeah, I heard that. I wouldn’t be surprised if he gives Theim a walkover.
Both Rafa and Kei gave Nole great matches. Rafa had a lot of chances that he couldn’t capitalize on. Nole’s self belief is incredible. If he ever doubts for a moment that he will win, it doesn’t show. I have a league match this afternoon so will pass on the inevitable beat-down of Andy.
On to Paris…
Why no speculation about younger players? Where are the young upstarts?
^ They were all beaten by the top 6 or older and craftier players in the past 3 tournaments.
Yes, I know they were beaten. I meant that as a comment about the state of tennis. Yes I know that the bigger older guys/gals currently have the edge but the younger guys/gals, especially from the US, are not shaping up to be headed in the same direction as those older guys/gals were. Where is Ryan Harrison? Where is the new cohort? Will we know who Rubin is a decade from now? I love the longevity if it is true for players from here on out but not if it is followed by a weak herd.
@lostaccount Taylor Fritz not good enough for you? 73 in the world at 18, made Memphis finals beating multiple top 50 players like stevie johnson and lost to nishikori in the finals 4-6 4-6.
He went 5 sets and lost to sock at the australian open.
He has risen about 800 spots in the last 10 months, with a 4 tournament win streak including the junior us open and multiple challengers.
Edit, made it to the second round at miami after winning 2 matches to qualify, lost to ferrer 6-7 1-6
Made it to the quarterfinals of acapulco(500 atp tournament) and lost to querry
Is playing direct acceptance at the french open.
@lostaccount my point was, tennis is no longer a sport where top players are washed up at 27. This is a good thing IMO. McEnroe retired at what, 25? These days a player like that would have at least a couple of slam wins ahead still.
If Zverev can stay healthy I would see him as a future number 1. Same for Krygios, although he has a host of other problems to deal with that easily could prevent him reaching his potential. As yet though, being young and faster and with a harder serve than the olds is no longer enough. All good.
P.S. Anyone else think it was out of order yesterday for the chair umpire to tell Nole (calling out to him several times in fact) that he was about to serve with a broken string?