  We summarize how the approach to the black--disk regime (BDR) of strong
interactions at TeV energies influences rapidity gap survival in exclusive hard
diffraction pp--> p + H + p (H =dijet, \bar Q Q, Higgs). Employing a recently
developed partonic description of such processes, we discuss (a) the
suppression of diffraction at small impact parameters by soft spectator
interactions in the BDR; (b) further suppression by inelastic interactions of
hard spectator partons in the BDR; (c) effects of correlations between hard and
soft interactions, as suggested by various models of proton structure (color
fluctuations, spatial correlations of partons). Hard spectator interactions in
the BDR substantially reduce the rapidity gap survival probability at LHC
energies compared to previously reported estimates.
