General Sports Thread

Great from him and Seb

 

Well "el decimo" could well be on its way to Mallorca in few weeks time, Fran. Just a question for you, do you think it was a clever move by Federer not to get involved in the French Open? He could be a good bet to win Wimbledon again as Nadal will be a bit tired and never really performs that well these days on grass, Djokovic is mentally absent, Murray has these niggling injuries. Just perhaps we are looking at a player in his early or mid-20s to have a great tournement. For example if Thiem goes out of the French early, he could prove to be a strong contender this year at Wimbledon.

 

Relatively open this year...all the top players have some problems. Federer may have some valid reason for avoiding the French Open, but could be a tactical move to be at his best for Wimbledon. May be time for an up and coming player to do well at Wimbledon....there is no one sweeping the board at the moment.

 

Playing on the surface at Roland Garros can be very wearing on the joints, I believe, so I think it was a wise move by Federer to give the French a miss. Sampras was often mentally absent from the arena when he played there but was a very different player weeks later.

 

Thiem to win it

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/39932614

No wildcard in the French open for Sharapova.
"There can be a wildcard for the return from injuries - there cannot be a wildcard for the return from doping," French Tennis Federation chief Bernard Giudicelli Ferrandini said.

Very well said.

 

Shame that she's done enough to get into Wimbledon qualifying.

 

Get well soon Nicky Hayden . Though I fear the worst.

 

Yep ex-MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden.

Hayden has been put into a coma by doctors. To me, that can only mean one thing, he's suffered a very bad head injury. But people have come out of induced comas ok. I've always liked Nicky Hayden. He had the temerity to win a MotoGP World Championship as the published No.1 Honda rider in 2006 when his No.2 Dani Pedrosa was really the rider Honda backed. Hayden won that championship in the last race at Valencia after Valentino fell after just a few corners. It was Nicky's only MotoGP World Championship title because the next season Honda put him on a very experimental bike with a very experimental frame which he just could not get along with. While Dani Pedrosa ran the tried and trusted known fast stuff. Pedrosa still didn't do any better particularly, and to this day [he's still in MotoGP] has never won a World title in the big capacity. Practically every rider he's been paired with since has though on a Honda. That doesn't mean I dislike Pedrosa. I just think Honda backed the wrong guy, and continue to, although they make room for others now. Hayden was a gutsy fast racer. Not the quickest rider, but just brave as hell, so put him in a race and he'd give as good as he got. Here's hoping he comes out of this, and when he wakes up I expect him to be as gutsy in his recovery as he was a rider.

 

That's him. Bloody predictive text.

 

Never mind, I edited mine too.

 

Watching the Indy500 qualifying. Alonso has had to have his engine changed, which is never great, but about to go out for his final run.

Come on Fernando! Stick it to them!

 

Alonso starts fifth of thirty five. Pretty amazing effort!

 

Billy Vunipola withdraws from the Lions squad. Great shame - can't believe what rugby players do to their bodies these days

 

That's a real shame. Love watching him, but he does get injured a lot.

 

England 133-3 v SA; Stokes 5, Morgan 19.
RR 5.32

 

I'd love Jenson to perform in Monaco!

 

He won't in that car (though if it goes well anywhere, it'll be Monaco. The actual car is good, but the engine is a donkey).

 

Agreed. Nice to see him back though!

 

Give Jenson a Brawn!