Michael

Djokovic breaks Thiem in the 5th set to take a 2-1 lead. Djokovic has transformed, his service has been flawless in the past few games and he is playing aggressive and clinical tennis.

Thiem is still very much in this, so I wouldn't worry too much.

Djokovic wins his service game without dropping a single point and wins the set 6-3 in the process. It looks like Novak is back to his best, but Thiem has played some superb tennis himself today. Thiem will start serving in the 5th set, will he win his first ever Grand Slam against the mighty Djokovic?

Djokovic breaks Thiem in the 4th set. He is 5-3 up and serving to try and win this 4th set. It looks like this match is heading for a 5th set.

Djokovic has served much better in this set, he's now 4-3 up in games here in the 4th set.

Thiem is 2-1 up in sets and it is 3-3 in the 4th set. It's very tight here, Djokovic trying desperately to stay in this match.

Yeah, the temperamental side of Novak's character doesn't help his cause, but as a player he is superb. But his meltdown's can cost him against the very best opposition.

Yeah, I was impressed by Thiem when he first came on the scene, he and Zverev were very impressive. Medvedev I have only followed over the last 2 years or so. But Thiem has improved his game further. He's much more cool and measured, which is key in the big matches. Djokovic has a big task to win this one now, being 2-1 down in sets. It's do or die for him in this 4th set.

You haven't got a bet on this have you Rando?

Anyone else watching the Australian Open final? It's been a cracker of a match so far.

Yes Nudge, I just read that myself. It is frightening how this deadly disease in spreading so rapidly. I really hope that it can be contained as quickly as possible. Being in Vietnam, you are on the border with China, I hope things aren't that bad where you are. I am currently in the Middle East for work and this virus has arrived in this region as well. The number of coronavirus cases around the world has overtaken the Sars epidemic which was spread in 2003. This is quite worrying, especially for those living in China and the Far East.

Schalke have taken young Barcelona defender Jean-Clair Todibo on loan for 1.5 million Euros until the end of the season. But they have an option to buy him permanently at the end of the season for a possible total fee of 30 million Euros. This could turn out to be a great deal for Schalke, as the recently turned 20 young defender, is one of the most highly rated youngsters in France. https://www.fcbarcelona.com/en/news/1572725/agreement-with-schalke-04-for-todibo-on-loan

Well the Head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation is now looking a fool, having said that they could say for certain that a missile didn't hit the plane. At least the Iranian government are now telling us what we all thought was the case, that this flight was shot down by an Iranian missile, albeit by accident. One has to really feel sorry for the family of the victims after this tragedy. Here is a short sad report of the Ukrainian pilot's wife grieving and her feelings about the incident:

I thought it was too much of a coincidence for this plane tragedy to have happened right at the time when US and Iranian tensions were at an all time high. It seems that unfortunately, it is the case that the plane was shot down by the Iranians. It is indeed very sad that this has happened and as you said, the lives of families were ended in a matter of moments because of this act. Actually, most of the passengers were of Iranian origin, be they British, Canadian or Swedish citizens. It is such a needless loss of life. It will be interesting to see what the Iranain response will be towards the accusations made that the plane was shot down by them. No doubt that they will deny it, but they are likely to be frozen out even more now, after this tragedy. The Ukrainian government for one, will be furious with this revelation. I completely concur with your initial thoughts, on viewing this incident. I thought the same, when I saw the plane was in flames as it descended. But I thought the fact the pilot didn't even declare an emergency, to be even more bizarre. In any case, there will now inevitably be more heat placed on the Iranian government after this calamitous incident.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-51029994 Well it seems to be all happening in Iran right now. Nobody's mentioned the tragic Ukrainian International Airlines crash that sadly happened in Tehran, Iran this morning, where 176 people on board were killed. The official line so far is that it was a plane malfunction. But former Federal Aviation Administration accident investigation chief Jeff Guzzetti has said that the crash carried all the earmarks of an intentional act. Apparently the plane came apart before it hit the ground. Guzzetti claims the plane was deliberately brought down. It is also worth noting that Ukraine's Embassy in Tehran initially issued a statement ruling out terrorism and they suggested likely engine failure. However, they later took down that statement without any explanation, which raises the question whether other possible scenarios are being explored. Moreover, it is strange that the pilot of the plane made no mayday call. The Iranians have found the black box, but they have said that they will not hand over flight recorders from the plane to the aircrafts manufacturer or to the US aviation authorities. The investigation goes on. The Ukrainian International Airline plane was supposed to fly from Tehran to Kyiv, but it tragically crashed shortly after takeoff. This plane accident has dominated the news all day here in Ukraine. This accident happened a few hours after Iran launched an attack against US forces stationed in Iraq. Watch this space....

Second day of the funeral procession and there is still a huge turnout. There have been plenty of burnings of the US and Israeli flags as well.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-51001167 As was kind of expected, Iran is no longer going to follow the restrictions imposed by the 2015 Nuclear deal which they had. So Iran will now resume it's nuclear programme.

There was a lot of condemnation about the destruction of historical sites in Iraq and Syria, it's just the world knew that we were dealing ISIS maniacs who were beyond reason. So there wasn't a hell of a lot that we could do about it, except to get rid of ISIS. The mainstream media did cover a lot of sites that were damaged or destroyed and many were appalled by what happened. However, we expect much better from a leader of the United States of America. So expect much more media scrutiny and questions about accountability, if the US were ever to destroy such historical sites.

Yes, definitely, but even attacks on the other cultural sites in Iran, would be condemned by the international community. As you said, there should be a strategical gain and a logical objective to any type of potential strike on Iran.

Yeah, no doubt there is a hell of a lot of propoganda that goes on in Iran. But Trump's statement was ambiguous, probably deliberately so. If it is the media centres that he meant, then that clearly wouldn't be as bad as targeting literal cultural sites. But generally speaking, if we do see that many US strikes on Iran, then this could perhaps be the start of the end for this Iranian regime. Because the Iranians will not stop retaliating and neither will Trump and there's only realistically going to be one so called winner in all of this and it isn't Iran.

Yes, the general message that Trump is sending, is that he is prepared to do pretty much anything in order to put Iran in place. There would be uproar around the world if cultural sites were targeted across Iran, as that would obviously be totally out of order.

Yes, I've just read that myself. So it seems like Trump will actually strike places in Iran now, if Iran retaliates in any sort of way for the killing of Soleimani. The US are really sending a strong message here and it will be interesting to see how Iran responds to this. What I really don't get is the following quote from Trump, in regards to the type of targets that he is intending to potentially hit: "at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture". So he is intending to hit places that are important to Iranian culture, does that mean places of cultural importance? Why would he do that? Surely if he were to attack certain sites in Iran, the military bases or the military factories would be the best places to hit. There doesn't seem to be any justification in attacking places of cultural importance, as it will only infuriate many of the local Iranian populace, more so than the Iranian government.

Yes, the Sunni Iraqis hated Qassem Soleimani and they will for the most part, be pleased that he is now out of the picture. It's obviously true that the Iraqi Shias have always looked to Iran favourably, mainly due to religious reasons. They were happy with the Iranian influence at the start of a new era after the sunni backed Saddam was overthrown. However, in recent times, even many of the Shia Iraqis have become fed up with how Iran has interferred in Iraq and they are even more angry with their predominantly Shia lead government, which is corrupt as hell. I think the West and the US in particular are well aware of the Shia Sunni divide in that region and the US in particular plays on that religious divide as well as the differences that certain ethnic groups have. They will side with one group when it's convenient for them and then side with the other side when the time is right. There are plenty examples of this through history, Iraq being just one of them. That's US foreign policy for you.

Yes, you were alluding to the fact that Soleimani's power and what type of man he is, right? As for Trump, he is going on the offensive and in most people's opinions he has probably gome too far. Not for any sympathy towards Soleimani, but because of him upping the anti against Iran. The attack on the US Embassy didn't really warrant murdering a major public figure of the Iranian regime, as chaotic as it was. There won't be a WW3, but Iran will use its influence in the region to form attacks on Americans in the Middle East or on others such as the Saudis and the Israelis. The Iranians are likely to intensify such efforts and cause more strife in the region.

No surprise that the Iranian PM(I mean the IRAQI PM, lol) has condemned the assasination of Soleimani.