faraway saint

Causeyside Street, no idea when, the place I nicked it from never told me. It's brilliant how it's still easily recognisable.

Draper getting a lesson, being out hit, 2-1 down in sets and 1-3 down in the 4th. Needs to vary his game, blasting the ball on almost every shot won't work against the better players. A lesson learned. I'm bailing out, roll on tomorrow, Norrie back on court.

1-1 in sets, the Australian won the 2nd set tie break 7-0, don't see that very often. There's not much of De Minaur but he can hit the ball. Not a lot of finesse from either player TBH.

Draper, GB, just won the 1st set against the 19th seed De Minaur. Draper's got quite an all round game to go far, not so much this year but one to watch.

Aye, best we keep politically led posts out of this thread.

Aye, that's not so good for the minority. Thankfully the vast majority are doing OK, and have done for their working lives. It's not all bad, despite the attempts to make it look all gloom and doom.

Lots of aspects of this article ring a bell with my younger days. I stayed in tenements all of my childhood, "closes" were the normal, we had wash houses in the back, not really used for washing, more as "dens" or storage. Every neighbour took their turn to brush/mop the close and stairs, a pride in how clean it was. An outside toilet, scary at times, shared between 3 houses. My parents bed was in a "recess", the great storm had the three of us huddling in their bed, a feeling of safety as the chimneys came crashing down outside. A coal fire, making paper "sticks" to use as kindling, using the newspaper to create a draught to help it roar into life. Ginger bottles were a great source of added income. Aye, not a bad place to live, plenty of friends and neighbours to look out for you if you needed it.

BBC1 showing a programme on this remarkable lady tonight at 8:30.

100% this.

Isner, a real gentleman, very gracious.

Well, Isner never dropped form in his serve throughout, usually does. His shots at the net, especially early on, were Federer like. Not exactly a classic, but it's all part of the game. Well done big John, not a bad performance from Murray, just couldn't find a way, as he has on the previous 8 meetings.

Oh dear, you are rattled. Right Murray, c'mon, break this chunts serve.

So are you, all them lost bets getting on top of you?

Djokovic, I'd imagine, would be another who might have made something of it. You'll never see that ball boy again.

EVERY tie break is 7-6 you dimwit.

Isners ground strokes from the baseline have been poor, his serve, obviously, and shots around the net have been outstanding.

What about the ball boy CATCHING the ball? Can you imagine, replay the point, it all goes wrong and he's out.

Murray takes the third on the tie break. (7-3) It seems Isner doesn't win ALL his tie breaks. GAME ON. Let's see if Isner can keep it up now.

That'll be amazing as Isner, if he wins, will be playing Sinner.

Isner, surprisingly, has maintained a very high level, he usually drops and players then start to take him apart. Nothing much on offer for Murray on the Isner serve at the minute. Got to hang in. PS Just been mentioned Isner has only had 2 double faults. When you're serving at this pace that's some stat.

TBH anything is better than you tripe.

He's been outstanding tonight, hardly missed a shot and almost all winners. It's not his first language, "drivel" is his first language.

Isner wins the tie break, uphill for Murray now. Isner's pick up shots from Murray's returns have been sublime.

Not quite, he lost the first set 7-6 (8-6) on Monday, won the 2nd 7-6 (7-3) Anyhow, Isner serving, 5-6 down.

I get the feeling tie breaks are going to be crucial here. Murray leading 5-4 in the 2nd, Isner to serve.