[Aileen]

I wonder how granny Erskine feels about that!   There’s often a lovely aroma of shortbread in Aberlour where Walkers is made. 

I don't think granny E will be bothered because I'm sure Andy still eats plenty of her shortbread when he visits.

[Aileen]

https://www.thetimes.com/article/cd60b62e-9222-4c32-be9e-d8cb2caf0c7f?shareToken=24e5e812d60c5c0acb6c6bbe33188f1f

I'm off to see him at the Edinburgh playhouse tonight.  Looking forward to it!!!

Sounds like an amazing experience.  Would have gone myself had it been possible.

Meanwhile Andy was spotted earlier this afternoon outside the St James Quarter - https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/edinburgh-locals-praise-lovely-andy-31893410?

[Aileen]

Many thanks for the report Pedantic,

Washington 2018 Andy played three 3-seaters in four days, beating Magnus Copil 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (4) in a match that ended at 3 am, having started at midnight (Andy had plenty to say about that!), then pulled out of the QF against Alex de Minaur citing fatigue and saying that he needed to look after his body.  While Andy was visibly exhausted by the end, that prolonged period of crying was down to more than just fatigue.  In fact his whole demeanour for much of the match spoke of resignation.  I think we said at the time that he'd probably realised that he wouldn't be able to get to the top again because his body wouldn't let him.

2018 US Open, he lost to Fernando Verdasco in four in R2, having similarly defeated James Duckworth in R1.

Yes, the butterfly incident happened in the QF of the US Open in 2016 in the first game of the fifth set against Nishikori.  Andy got annoyed with the insect which was fluttering nearby while he was about to serve, took a vicious swipe at it, missed, then took another swipe with his backhand, which saw the butterfly land on the court struggling to raise itself and fly to safety.  It was then removed by a ballboy and allegedly released outside the stadium.  Whatever the cause, it was certainly uncharacteristic behaviour.

The spidercam annoyance was at the 2017 French Open in his R2 match against Martin Klizan because it kept getting in his line of vision during the ball toss.  He even threatened to stop playing until it was switched off.  The whole match was a bad-tempered affair with Andy complaining about other things as well, something not helped when play had to be interrupted when a baby started crying half way through the fourth set, while the commentators as usual kept apologising for his bad language.

I suppose we'll never know exactly when the hip became painful, because he'd had the problem for years.  We heard about his knee and his back but never about his hip.  Just thinking back to the Davis Cup match against France at Queens in 2015, Andy came off the court after defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, then to everyone's astonishment sat down and cried  for no obvious reason.  Maybe it was tears of relief, but who knows?

[althusser]

Saw the interview with Andy with Clare Balding earlier - seems in a good place.

[Tonedial]

roger will be seething with jealousy