Draper has announced he isn't playing again this year.  Don't think this is much of a surprise as better to miss 2/3 months now than around the Australian Open.

Think Raducanu has done right to miss the BJK this time, even if I'd like to see her.  She needs to consolidate into a solid position in the top 32 by the year end.  Still think she should try and win a 250, but we are getting late for that this year ( is possible?). Way less likely to bump into Swiatek, Rybakina or Sabalenka, and there aren't many others to fear the form she is in?

On Hannah Klugman, before her semi I noticed Vandromme had won 4 ITFs this year.  I know people knock the bottom rung, but think she just looked more battle hardened. She has the tools to push on.  Hopefully does so when she is allowed to play more games at age 17/18. 

Skupski and Salisbury very much looked to have the final won a couple of times.  Was a sad end.

And how good was Alcaraz.  Always cheering him over Sinner.

Nice to see Anisimova beat Swiatek, maybe put those Wimbledon final demons to rest.

Agreed on this, and I struggle to warm to Swiatek. Pleased to see Osaka through too, think she has been through a lot whatever people think of her.

British fellas in the semi too.

Both British girls seem to be making hard work of the girls tournament, but both grinding pretty hard. Think Klugman just doesn't seem to hit winners much and still misses the ones she hits straight back.  Just feel she could be so much better if she irons out these two issues.

Much better today.  Saw much of Klugman's match, but kept switching to Stojsavljevic.  Both seemed better today.  Oliver Bonding is on next on Louis Armstrong, but have to do Dad stuff for a bit.

Would be great to see both Brit girls in the final.  Really is a big deal we have so much young talent.  Might go out and paint a roundabout in celebration, though not convinced these two are English enough for the likes of tiny Tommy, or that painting roundabouts is a celebration. 

Nice to see Anisimova beat Swiatek, maybe put those Wimbledon final demons to rest.

Agreed on this, and I struggle to warm to Swiatek. Pleased to see Osaka through too, think she has been through a lot whatever people think of her.

British fellas in the semi too.

Both British girls seem to be making hard work of the girls tournament, but both grinding pretty hard. Think Klugman just doesn't seem to hit winners much and still misses the ones she hits straight back.  Just feel she could be so much better if she irons out these two issues.

Red button on sky for the doubles untill the later stages which makes recording it for mum impossible but they did show the 3rd set ok the Boulter/Kartal  on skymix
Mum loves the wheelchairs so hoping they arent on over night.

I know how to get it in UK. I am just saying what I can see in the US/Canada.  Think doubles players overestimate their marketability.  I don't know what the answer is, but think there was a clear market for the mixed doubles tournament at the US Open.  The crowd looked fuller than the singles I have seen and there was some local hype.  Prize money was X4 too.  Can't see either thing happening with the normal mixed doubles entrants.

Obvious problems that it messes up the singles tournaments in the week before the US Open and the normal doubles players lose a big payday (though mixed normally has even worse prize funds than same sex doubles).  Other majors copying seems more likely than the US Open reverting to the old format from where I sit. 

Of course we still have Klugman and Stojsavljevic in the girls singles (plus 3 others, one got through qualifying). Klugman should be 2nd seed, I think Xu is too old now.  Bonding also has a chance in the boys Singles.

Women's doubles entries seem thin on the ground. Boulter and Kartal are playing together and won the first match.  Hopefully they can get some wins and it helps both their games and future BJK games.

Cash and Glasspool are out already, which was a bit of a shock.  Am on the right side of the Atlantic for the tennis, but it is harder to watch here (split screens and jumping between games).  Saw some of the mixed doubles last week, but no games this week so far.  I think that shows where we are with doubles.  The mixed doubles got publicity and television time, traditional doubles just isn't getting it here (have been in Alaska and now in Vancouver Island, big recommend).

All the singles gone in the US Open.

Think both were pretty much expected.  I think Rybakina is effectively the 3rd best player in the World after Sabalenka and Swiatek, so drawing her then Sabalenka is as bad a draw as Raducanu could getm. I don't think she played very well, but Rybakina was on fire and it is hard for anyone to stop here.

Norrie wasn't really expected to beat Djokovic, but both him and Raducanu should be back in the top 32 by Australia, as both have very few points to defend (something like 180/110 respectively by the end of the year).  I don't think either is really struggling with injury either. 

Not convinced Draper gets back quickly.  He was struggling in the mixed doubles too and only really played because it was the US Open.  Wouldn't be surprised if we didn't see him for another month.

Kyle retires today. Such a shame with the injuries when he was at his peak.
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Shame to see him go. Probably for the best, he hasn't really looked like being competitive at any stage since coming back, and we have plenty coming through so isn't going to get the wildcards.

just noticed Jones ranked 86th left it too late and needs to go through qualies

Quite surprised about that.  I had assumed she got in with plenty of time.  I know the seeds are chosen after this weekend, so assumed that the main draw entries were decided quite late too.  Suppose have to know the qualifying/main draw split earlier than the seeds.  She seems to run bad quite frequently.

Fery got a walkover in Colombia, which is a weird way to get your first challenger title, and a significant number of points for him.

Arthur Fery plays Bernard Tomic later today in the Challenger Final in Colombia.

Fery was promising a couple of years ago, but then dropped down the rankings through injury.  He had a winning streak through Wimbledon Qualifying and beat a seed.  Today he is trying to win his first challenger final. If he wins that he goes ahead of Peniston and Loffhagen, which would mean we have another who is in the 100-250 range where they can get into Slam qualifiers and push for main draw entries.  We should do a 2026 Wimbledon wild card prediction comp now? 

More interesting is Tomic, who had a lot of talent, but seemed very self destructive for several years and seemed to just turn up and not try at slams/ATP events in that period.   He hasn't won at this level in years.  He is now in his 30s, but hope he has turned it around and can have an Indian Summer in tennis.  Hope he loss today obv.

Mens doubles we have an embaressment of riches currently

Glasspool and Cash have clinch number 1 spot after their win and Skupski/Salisbury knocking out the former top pairing

could be another all Brit final on Sunday

Think Patten gets the 3 seed with Salisbury/Skupski either 5th or 6th depending on the next couple of days

Lots of good British men right now.  Women have turned into team Raducanu.  Boulter needs to get some confidence and Kartal not had the best leadup to the US Open.  Mad it was so close between the 3 a month or two ago.  Are you going to watch any of the mixed doubles next week. Doubt I will see much as am going away, so might struggle to find the matches I want, if any. 

Raducanu is likely just going to miss out on the seeds by one spot.  Badosa and Zheng are very likely to duck out, but the others will play.  Don't think it is a big issue as those 25/32 will likely play one of the top 8 in round 4.  Think she is right to look at the Australian Open now and aim for top 24.

We are due to get at least 8 men in the US Open qualifying. Ryan Peniston likely misses out as 5th alt (last I heard).  This is historically very high.  Given their current form, there is a good chance 1 or 2 get through. Dan Evans is obvious, but don't think any of them are in bad form.

Think we might only have Heather Watson and Jodie Burrage in the women's (don't think Burrage's protected ranking is enough for main, and Dart is likely too low, though might sneak in).  Can't see any of the women getting through, even if all 3 are in, as all 3 are out of form. 

Let me try and explain.

We can all see the likeliest Top 4. We can go on to various sites, like Oddschecker, and see that. For free.

The BBC has used our money to pay 35 experts to provide an opinion. To provide insight via their professional knowledge and contacts. To provide supposedly informed opinion. Not to read Oddschecker and charge me for the privilege.

You provide informed comment about Tennis. You give opinions. You don't just decide who is going to win based on the odds. Similarly, if 35 Tennis experts were asked to provide their 4 tips for likeliest Winners at Wimbledon, I expect you would be pretty p1ssed off if all 35 just picked the Number 1-4 seeds.

The bookmakers odds seem clear to me. Roughly speaking-

Liverpool have a 33/35 chance of being Top 4.
Arsenal have a 29/35 chance.
Man City have a 28/35 chance.
Chelsea have a 21/35 chance.

Which means the other teams, between them, have a 29/35 chance. Which is a lot more than 0.

When Leicester won the Prem, number of experts predicting Top 4? 0
2 years ago, Aston Villa? 2.

Not sure why you are explaining your point, I understood it and disagreed with it.

Also your understanding of probability seems slightly wrong.  Bookmaker odds are one sided.  So if they have a team at 30/35 the probability of it happening is usually less than 30/35.  So the expected occurrence of a non top 4 side is going to be even greater than 29/35.

But if someone asked me who were going to be the top 4 this year, I'd still say these 4, as that is the most likely correct answer.

I think the question is terrible, not the experts.  I would probably let the person who asked the question why it wasn't a great question.

The question you want is who is best value, then that will give the experts the chance to shine.  Make them pick a long shot.  But even then, they'll likely fail, because as with most horse racing pundits, they don't really have a feel for value, and hence just pick a selection that was likely to win.

Used to rant about this every year next door. But this year the BBC Sport "experts" have excelled themselves.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cx27rrrz2nko

That's 35 "experts". Total number of those experts who have had the remotest success as Managers? 0.

Here is their considered opinion as to who will be Top 4 in the Prem this year:-

Liverpool-35
Arsenal-35
Man City-35
Chelsea-35.

The other 16 teams?-0. That is 0 for Aston Villa, Man Utd, Newcastle, Spurs et al.

Imagine if every horse racing tipster in the Press only ever tipped the favourite. People would-quite rightly-regard them as a waste of flesh.

Not even sure what the argument is, if someone asked me the likeliest top 4, that is the correct answer. 

Don't people mostly regard horse racing tipsters as a waste of flesh? Chompy is very good by the way, but most seem to have little interest in making a profit from backing horses.

6/1 to beat PSG tonight.

Smidgeon of value there?

I didn't see that, would have backed it.  Genuinely weird how your brain works with the Spursy thing.  Only 6 minutes to go, and was so sure PSG would equalise.  Also was similarly sure Spurs would still lose when they PSG missed the penalty.

Am fairly sure I wouldn't have cashed out/traded though. Got such a strong anti cash out mentality, and bet the price looked terrible... especially as everyone else knows the Spursy thing.  Genuinely wonder if there is a Spursy thing with in-play betting I should bet into? Like just bet Spurs on Betfair when they are leading?  Must start a big syndicate, who is in?... 

More frustration in trying to get bets on.

I have an old Spreadex account.  I used to bet on spreads, but that was 20 odd years ago.  I have had 9 fixed odds bets lifetime with them.  The last one was in 2024, the one before that in 2022.  My last bet lost, so not even sure if it was based on that. I have bet £400 odd quid total and am down more than £100. 

I am a Bradford City fan, so thought I'd put a fun bet on them this season.  I am a realist, and think they should stay up, but challenging is a stretch.  They were lucky to win at home to Wycombe on the first day, and most of their recruitment was decent league 2 players.  I noticed Spreadex were top priced at 50/1 and quarter first 3.  Thought that was about right, but tried to put on £25 e/w.  They limited me to about 36p e/w (can't remember it exactly as didn't put the bet on but think it was between 10p and 50p). 

During the week I have got £25 on Betfair at 75/1 and 80/1.  The place betting is miserable, but don't think 12/1 is far out (maybe 10/1 might be fair??).

This really is sad.  If it wasn't Bradford City, I'd lay that bet FFS.  Do none of the companies have any gamble in them anymore?  I'd understand if they limited it to a £500 loss, but £20 or so on a mug football market?  Embarrassing.

..and now have £15 on the promotion market at 11.5/1 and 11/1.   So could get better value and 12/1 wasn't far out.  We are at home to Luton at the weekend, and not only are we 2nd favourites at home, they can afford Nikki Nahki Wells. 

80/1 is just where we are, despite Ewood Park heroics.  Now if we could just do this every week I am going to be rich.  https://x.com/officialbantams/status/1955509631083585738?t=7EIw_rPWaO9T4mk0mhcCjA&s=19