Tennis Thread

[ursula]

8 hours ago, PepSinger said:

That's unfortunate because the article is a great read all the way through.

Considering that WTA CEO, as well as many professional tennis players and tennis journalists are speaking up in criticism of Ramos (and throwing in my own "working knowledge" of the game and its history), I'd still recommend it as a great read. 

(IMO this insinuation that tennis is a PhD science that people need to give a valuable opinion on this issue sounds suspiciously like dog whistling. )

5 hours ago, shok said:

There's a big difference in the reporting of this incident between the American media and the European. Not surprisingly, Serena isn't getting near the sympathy in Europe as she's getting here.

The implication of this is that the European media is more objective but factually, it just means that the European media is less sympathetic to Serena Williams. And that's not news. 

(BBC and SKY, so far, seem to be giving objective coverage on this and haven't spliced together any of these damnable clips.)

23 minutes ago, Bitsy said:

Andy Murray received a violation for saying "stupid umpire".  Others did not, but their tirades were also much briefer and less personal.  Serena went after this guy multiple times for an extended period, called him names (liar, thief), attacked his integrity and threatened his career (told him he would never officiate on *her* court ever again).  It was absolutely worthy of a violation.

"Briefer and less personal" involved Djokovic also threatening Ramos's career and Kyrgios cursing him out. Djokovic gets multiple warnings, when a point loss should have followed. 

Edited September 10, 2018 by ursula

[Bitsy]

Djokovic did not threaten his career.  Distorting the facts does not bolster your argument.

Everyone in the tennis community seems to agree that Ramos deserves blame for letting things get to the point of a game violation.  He should have given her a soft warning on the coaching violation and he should have done more to calm Serena when she was on the verge of violation #3.  He did not owe her an apology or an announcement that she "didn't cheat" which was a ridiculous and entitled demand for Serena to make.  But he could have spoken to her more and definitely should have given her a soft warning that if she kept going, she would get a third violation. 

The second half of a deciding set in a championship match at a grand slam final is not the time for the umpire to be a hard-line stickler for the rules - even though that is this umpire's MO with both male and female players.

But it's not like Serena didn't earn all three violations.  She was not the innocent victim of some out-of-left-field sexism.

Edited September 10, 2018 by Bitsy

[PepSinger]

42 minutes ago, ursula said:

(IMO this insinuation that tennis is a PhD science that people need to give a valuable opinion on this issue sounds suspiciously like dog whistling. )

Bingo! Bingo! I couldn’t quite put it into words, but yep, that’s exactly what it sounds like. Thank you.

[wovenloaf]

44 minutes ago, ursula said:

(IMO this insinuation that tennis is a PhD science that people need to give a valuable opinion on this issue sounds suspiciously like dog whistling. )

 

1 minute ago, PepSinger said:

Bingo! Bingo! I couldn’t quite put it into words, but yep, that’s exactly what it sounds like. Thank you.

If people don't agree about the value of a particular tennis article, it means they are "dog whistling" racists?  Ok then. 

[Bitsy]

Based on much of what I'm reading around the internet, many people aren't holding back with their opinions despite flat-out not knowing what they are talking about.  Serena's a big celebrity so people want to weigh in on the headlines a) without having watched the match at all, b) understanding the violations Serena received, and c) having watched enough tennis to have an informed opinion about whether or not the violations were out of the ordinary.  

It's not demanding a PhD level of knowledge to dismiss opinions that are largely uninformed.  (And by the way, I find that throwing the term "dog whistling" into conversations is itself a form of dog whistling.)

[theatremouse]

7 hours ago, shok said:

There's a big difference in the reporting of this incident between the American media and the European. Not surprisingly, Serena isn't getting near the sympathy in Europe as she's getting here. They've put together some clips of split screen Moritaglou and Serena at the exact same time and Serena is nodding to the coach and then followed his instructions to move up the court. Plus, I can almost guarantee that Ramos gave Serena a soft warning about getting coaching before he gave her the official warning. That's just what umpires invariably do and the onus is on her if she chose to ignore it.
 

 

This is interesting to me because A) I thought the American media had at some point done a side-by-side timestamped comparison that showed her with his back to him at the moment in question? (which made her tirade make ever so slightly more sense...) B) I do not believe he gave her a soft warning on any of it. That adds an interesting wrinkle.

She absolutely earned all three code violations. That is not in doubt. But it is absolutely common for umpires to do the sort of soft warning you mentioned (for everything except racket abuse which is instant and not up for interpretation). But 90% of the time in matches, whether it be for coaching, or for ranting, anything that's at their discretion,the umpires do have this established history of saying "stop or I'll have to give you a code violation for this" before they actually issue it. I didn't see any interaction between them that suggested that happened. I realize it could've happened when the feed was in commercial, but if I think about it based on what both players have said since: it was EXTREMELY loud in there and both didn't really have a good idea of what was going on as it was going on. So given the very long history of the "warn before the warn", I can see how, from a human perspective, Serena might've thought the initial warning was one of those "prewarnings" and not a real warning, and that's why when she got the point penalty she flew off the handle, because maybe she'd made the choice to break the racket having done the math in her head that it wouldn't cost her a point. Then when it did, she couldn't let it go. And then again, she got the third violation, which based on the rules alone should not have been a surprise. But based on what most umpires do most of the time, maybe was, because again there was no "don't make me give you a third code violation" type remark. Was the umpire required to do such a thing? Nope. But since they so so so often do, I can see how she would feel picked on when it happened. There's that difference between "these are what the rules are" and "this is what tends to happen" and that's a major problem. I think she was certainly in the wrong, but she's also a human, who was way amped up about that match to begin with, and I can see how it spiraled out of control. The umpire did not technically do anything wrong; however there were some moments where he could've done some things to try to de-escalate the situation (far short of pulling a Lahyani) and he chose not to. Again, it's within his purview. But the rules in question, specifically the coaching and sportsmanlike conduct rules, are there as a deterrent. When it's clearly not deterring the outburst, then I can see how those types of soft warnings to think about the bigger picture are a better deterrent.

For me I think the bigger of issue is the inconsistent application of the rules. If coaching is not allowed in majors, but umpires let coaching slide in nearly every match, then maybe instead of having a no coaching rule that gets applied haphazardly, maybe make it so coaches can't actually sit in the players box. Make coaches sit somewhere the players can't see them. There, done, no coaching because it's not possible. If they don't want to do that, then they need to be much more consistent with the rule. Berating an umpire? Likewise, either tell everyone "no more soft warnings, code violation right away" because they want to send the message they mean business and will not tolerate this behavior at all, ok then, make it immediate all the time. Time violations? Loved the clock. Need to use it between first and second serve too. Hawkeye removed A LOT of arguments because it's a machine, everyone sees it, it's done. I'm not saying I'd go for entirely robotic umpiring, but the less interpretation there is, the better. If it's consistent every time, it becomes a lot less likely someone will say "you're singling me out, you're treating me differently" hopefully, because it's actually true. I'm not excusing the temper tantrums of Serena (or Kyrgios, or Murray, or Djokavic or probably 68 other less famous players) but they complain in these situations because they feel like a human should've done something differently, so the more you remove the judgement calls the less they have to complain about and then less likely these things happen in the first place and then they just stick to the damn game. The rules mean less and less when they're applied inconsistently, and it invites on court arguments. It does not matter whether Ramos historically is more consistent than the rest of the umpires, if his way is the "right way" but not the norm, it doesn't help the situation. 

[ursula]

45 minutes ago, Bitsy said:

Serena's a big celebrity so people want to weigh in on the headlines a) without having watched the match at all, b) understanding the violations Serena received, and c) having watched enough tennis to have an informed opinion about whether or not the violations were out of the ordinary. 

 

A factor that I've observed goes both ways with people who are equally ignorant of the larger context of Williams's professional career also weighing in on this matter. As usually happens with things like this, people start with a preferred narrative, then cherry-pick the facts/opinions that confirm said narrative, and not the other way around. 

(And it's worth repeating that the people who do have a "PhD level of knowledge" are not saying anything different from the "uneducated" article.)

 

 

 

38 minutes ago, Bitsy said:

(I find that throwing the term "dog whistling" into conversations is itself a form of dog whistling.)

That makes as much sense as the "you're racist for observing/pointing out racism" argument. 

[Bitsy]

23 minutes ago, theatremouse said:

I didn't see any interaction between them that suggested that happened.

I don't think she got warnings.  She seemed very surprised and the violations seemed to be administered with swiftness.

I agree with everything you said, particularly the part about making the violations as standard as the racket-breaking violation.  We really shouldn't be having to debate whether one tirade deserved a violation and not another.  I would be happy if all yelling and angry outbursts directed at umpires got an automatic violation.  I don't like watching anybody scream at people. If players choose to do it anyway because they feel they absolutely have to express themselves, then they know they will get a violation, just as they do with the rackets, and will budget their violations accordingly.

 

12 minutes ago, ursula said:

A factor that I've observed goes both ways with people who are equally ignorant of the larger context of Williams's professional career also weighing in on this matter. As usually happens with things like this, people start with a preferred narrative, then cherry-pick the facts/opinions that confirm said narrative, and not the other way around. 

(And it's worth repeating that the people who do have a "PhD level of knowledge" are not saying anything different from the "uneducated" article.)

There is an abundance of cherry-picking going on by people who are determined to glorify all of Serena's behavior and chalk it up to noble crusading.

Accusations of ignorance and racism should be set forth directly and backed up, the same as any other argument.  To chalk opinions you don't like up to "dog whistling" is an indirect accusation of racism designed to shut down opinions you don't like rather than addressing them head-on with persuasive evidence.

[PepSinger]

25 minutes ago, Bitsy said:

There is an abundance of cherry-picking going on by people who are determined to glorify all of Serena's behavior and chalk it up to noble crusading.

Accusations of ignorance and racism should be set forth directly and backed up, the same as any other argument.  To chalk opinions you don't like up to "dog whistling" is an indirect accusation of racism designed to shut down opinions you don't like rather than addressing them head-on with persuasive evidence.

But you're also making the assumption that there aren't any valid articles out there that defend Serena. They're all "cherry-picking" to you. That's also shutting down the conversation

 

50 minutes ago, ursula said:

(And it's worth repeating that the people who do have a "PhD level of knowledge" are not saying anything different from the "uneducated" article.)

Louder for the people in the back.

Edited September 10, 2018 by PepSinger

[BitterApple]

I felt like Serena's tirade was 95% her being embarrassed that she was getting her ass handed to her by a younger player. She's dominated for so long and now the wins aren't coming as easily. I don't think there's some mass conspiracy to prevent her from beating Court's record, like some people on social media are alleging.

[halopub]

New York Times: In U.S. Open Victory, Naomi Osaka Pushes Japan to Redefine Japanese

So on the champion for a minute....we are also seeing a bit of the outrage machine trying to percolate over Naomi, on the issue of identity. In English there are a lot of cranky posts about why she's called a Japanese champion and not a Haitian-Japanese one, or even a Haitian-Japanese-American winner. In Japanese social media, even with her win, there's some lingering ugliness about her not being "really Japanese."  

I haven't seen the sports or regular media ignoring her complex identity at all. Maybe her father isn't photographed as much because he won't sit in the players box, but on ESPN there were explanatory cutaways to Haitian flags in the crowd and her parents' story - and when Naomi's called a Japanese champion, it's because she chooses to represent that nation. Haitians, Japanese, New Yorkers, Floridians and other Americans can all celebrate her win, but Japan gets the stat. 

While she's charming audiences by just being herself, in the run up to the Tokyo Olympics Naomi will have to work on the specific kind of Japanese needed in sports media training. I know she's not confident in her language skills but Naomi gets a lot of the same questions and could further practice how she wants to answer them. (Her parents and the Japanese Tennis Association folks could all help with that. Her father's Japanese, for example, is not rusty at all.)

I was glad to see that Japan's nationalistic, WWII revisionist prime minister offered his congratulations and I'm hopeful Naomi's prominence will mean true movement for racial progress in a country that still doesn't really understand something as basic as the offensiveness of blackface. 

[catrox14]

IMO, this is all on Ramos because IMO he handled it badly.  He didn't use the proper discretion during the final Grand Slam woman's match of the season.  It was a huge moment that he decided to go with the "Letter of the Law" vs the "spirit of the law".

I feel pretty confident in saying that if the exact same circumstances had occurred during the Nole-DelPo final he would have issued soft warnings and made sure BOTH players understood what was going on. IMO, he should have interrupted Serena when she was seated and lambasting him that if she persisted it would be a third code violation.  He could have chosen MANY other options to keep from penalizing her a game. That was IMO a bad job of umpiring in a major situation.  JMHO

[BitterApple]

This is getting a little ridiculous. So are we now supposed to acknowledge the ethnic soup makeup of every player on tour? 

Federer's mother is South African. Nobody calls him an "African Swiss" player. Ditto for Kyrgious who plays for Australia but has Greek and Asian parents. Zverev is German with Russian parents. The list goes on and on...

In my experience players have always been referred to by the country they play for, it has nothing to do with denying heritage. This is unfortunately the result when people who have no clue about tennis stick their noses into the game. Hopefully the social justice warriors find a new horse to beat to death soon and leave the sport to the true fans. 

halopub, not directing my comments at you, but at the people in the media making an issue out of something that isn't an issue.

Edited September 10, 2018 by BitterApple

[SrOfficial]

30 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

I felt like Serena's tirade was 95% her being embarrassed that she was getting her ass handed to her by a younger player. She's dominated for so long and now the wins aren't coming as easily. I don't think there's some mass conspiracy to prevent her from beating Court's record, like some people on social media are alleging.

When you become older and fatter, you can’t expect to compete against a younger, in better shape player.

[halopub]

@BitterApple No worries, I didn't think that at all.

Yeah, it's unfortunate. And in this case my annoyance is with random posters and not the professional media. I think people who are just hearing about Naomi and only casually follow the US Open assume the American media is ignoring her Haitian father. It's not and neither is the Japanese press. 

[VCRTracking]

Fuck you Mark Knight.

Edited September 10, 2018 by VCRTracking

[PepSinger]

13 minutes ago, VCRTracking said:

Fuck you Mark Knight.

 

Holy racism, Batman!

35 minutes ago, SrOfficial said:

When you become older and fatter, you can’t expect to compete against a younger, in better shape player.

If America could be as "fat" as Serena is, we'd have no obesity issues and would put most PCPs out of work.

Edited September 10, 2018 by PepSinger

[Athena]

If you cannot be civil to your fellow posters or watch your tone, do not engage. Ignore it and move along. If someone is rude, report them. This is not a place to bring in personal politics.

We are locking this thread for 24 hours. 

[SrOfficial]

I'd like to hear the last of this tempest in a teapot.

[Jillibean]

Quote

Hawkeye removed A LOT of arguments because it's a machine, everyone sees it, it's done. 

Unless you're John Isner, and then you suggest that it is the computer that is wrong.

[NUguy514]

On 9/10/2018 at 12:44 AM, shok said:

Oh for fuck sake. Uncle Toni has been retired and hasn't coached Rafa for TWO years. I am so sick of Rafa being maligned and his name dragged into this mess. The guy has never broken a racquet in anger and he's received exactly one code violation in his whole career when he yelled 'son of a bitch' in Spanish during a match. Yes he often takes too long to serve but he has received many many many penalties for that, far more than any other player, and he hasn't lost his mind out on the court. So let's just leave him out of this argument, ok?

Yeah, I'm aware Toni isn't coaching Nadal anymore; I hit the "s" instead of the "d" by mistake, so thanks for catching that.  Both Nadal and Uncle Toni have copped to coaching/being coached during matches, and that has nothing to do with Toni not being Nadal's coach now.  As for the time violations, well, if you want to go there: if he actually received penalties every time he takes too long between points, he'd default pretty much every match.  Nadal is not to blame for anything, though, as I'm continually learning, and I'll keep that in mind.

[theatremouse]

4 hours ago, Jillibean said:

Unless you're John Isner, and then you suggest that it is the computer that is wrong.

One of many reasons I do not enjoy John Isner.

[Darknight]

On 9/10/2018 at 12:38 PM, halopub said:

New York Times: In U.S. Open Victory, Naomi Osaka Pushes Japan to Redefine Japanese

So on the champion for a minute....we are also seeing a bit of the outrage machine trying to percolate over Naomi, on the issue of identity. In English there are a lot of cranky posts about why she's called a Japanese champion and not a Haitian-Japanese one, or even a Haitian-Japanese-American winner. In Japanese social media, even with her win, there's some lingering ugliness about her not being "really Japanese."  

I haven't seen the sports or regular media ignoring her complex identity at all. Maybe her father isn't photographed as much because he won't sit in the players box, but on ESPN there were explanatory cutaways to Haitian flags in the crowd and her parents' story - and when Naomi's called a Japanese champion, it's because she chooses to represent that nation. Haitians, Japanese, New Yorkers, Floridians and other Americans can all celebrate her win, but Japan gets the stat. 

While she's charming audiences by just being herself, in the run up to the Tokyo Olympics Naomi will have to work on the specific kind of Japanese needed in sports media training. I know she's not confident in her language skills but Naomi gets a lot of the same questions and could further practice how she wants to answer them. (Her parents and the Japanese Tennis Association folks could all help with that. Her father's Japanese, for example, is not rusty at all.)

I was glad to see that Japan's nationalistic, WWII revisionist prime minister offered his congratulations and I'm hopeful Naomi's prominence will mean true movement for racial progress in a country that still doesn't really understand something as basic as the offensiveness of blackface. 

Her dad knows Japanese? I think Naomi is shy and does need media training. I do find her very sweet and soft spoken but she is so shy. Also, Japan makes you choose at 22 if you want to be with them if you have dual citizenship 

[halopub]

Apparently he lived there a number of years, teaching English after graduating from NYU. It's hard to hear in that interview which has English dubbing, but it's a pretty thoughtful soundbite.

I'm not familiar with the numbers at all, but I've heard that unless its hand is forced by the media, Japan quietly doesn't usually enforce the 1985 nationality law that regulates dual citizenship. It would be a lot of bureaucratic effort to track down/force folks to choose and with its aging population the government needs to keep the country attractive to corporate and scientific talent. In the case of elite athletes it makes sense for them to not risk losing people who want to represent the country in the Olympics, etc. About ten years back, though, I think baseball player Yu Darvish did give up his Iranian citizenship to compete at the Beijing Olympics.

Edited September 11, 2018 by halopub
formatting

[meep.meep]

On 9/10/2018 at 9:59 AM, SrOfficial said:

When you become older and fatter, you can’t expect to compete against a younger, in better shape player.

The only player Serena Williams met in this tournament who wasn't younger than she is was her own sister.  She beat lots of players who must be younger and "in better shape" in this tournament.  She won those matches, not Pliskova, Sevastova, Kanepi, or Witthoeft.  You make the final, you deserve to be there.

[mojoween]

Wait I heard Nike was all in on Osaka but she signed with Adidas?

[truthaboutluv]

1 hour ago, mojoween said:

Wait I heard Nike was all in on Osaka but she signed with Adidas?

Adidas might have swooped in, in the last minute and offered her a better deal.

[mojoween]

Could you say that Adidas “swooshed” in?

I’ll show myself out.

[roseha]

There was a headline that Naomi had already resigned with Adidas for $10 mil a year but she and her people are still entertaining offers!

She may be shy but she is such a hilarious personality in addition to being a champion.  I think she’s great for the game.

[Harry24]

Anyone know why Mahut is playing Davis Cup dubs today with Benneteau and not his regular partner Herbert?  Is it sentimental because Benneteau is retiring or is Herbert hurt?

[TVbitch]

I am finding Davis Cup hard to watch because of the way it is filmed. It makes the court look pinched. And plus also, I have no idea how it works! 

Glad to see the forum is back to being a Ghost Town after the Serena dust up!

Finally watched Strokes of Genius (which much fast-forwarding). Was interesting to see baby Nadal and Fed. I had forgotten about Federer's period of racquet smashing and poor attitude on the court. He really matured. Also forgot him bursting out crying when he spoke as runner up at the AO after losing to Nadal in a grueling match for a second championship in a row.  .."This is really killing me!" And then Nadal reached over to hug him. Ahhh. Quality humans. 

[mojoween]

I like Fed, but I will never forget him crying at the AO.  He took a fair amount of flack for that, IIRC.

[TVbitch]

Ah, why would he take flack. I found it touching. Maybe it's because he is SO composed now, but for him to not be able to contain his emotion and actually show how much it means to him was moving. He was not taking anything away from Nadal. 

So I was watching a random episode of Chopped the other night and Serena's personal chef was on. When she got chopped in the second round, she had a bit of an outburst where she not only argued with the judges about how their reasons for chopping her were wrong, but also that another contestant made bigger mistakes and should have been chopped instead of her. In all the seasons of Chopped I've seen, I have never seen anything like that. I had to chuckle. I bet they get along famously! 

[TVbitch]

Tennis Channel pisses me off so much. They cut away from the 3rd set of a great match between Thiem and Mevedev in the St. Petesburg quarter finals (after we have been watching it for 2+ freaking hours) to show people sitting around a desk and talking about the upcoming Laver Cup. Oh, but you can buy Tennis Channel Plus if you want to see the end of your match. No thanks, assclowns. You would think a channel called Tennis Channel might put tennis first. 

[TVbitch]

Questions: What significance does the Laver Cup have? Why is it just men? What is this "match tie break"? 

It seems mostly an opportunity for the players to mug for the camera. 

[theatremouse]

It's a series of glorified exhibition matches that have whatever meaning the people who chose to participate ascribe to it.

[TVbitch]

LOL. I really can't with the umpire calling the score... "3-2 Team World." Ridiculous. And why does Team World have 3 US players on it? Who picks these players, cuz Team Europe is pretty fucking stacked.  And why is Europe taking on the world anyway? And, oh nevermind. 

[Jaded]

7 hours ago, TVbitch said:

LOL. I really can't with the umpire calling the score... "3-2 Team World." Ridiculous. And why does Team World have 3 US players on it? Who picks these players, cuz Team Europe is pretty fucking stacked.  And why is Europe taking on the world anyway? And, oh nevermind. 

It reminds me of an ice skating "competition" CBS aired for quite a few years that was called Ice Wars which used the same kind of team format.

[sacrebleu]

Well, I'll say that whatever it looked like on TV-- it was a ton of fun in Chicago. So glad I went. I have a newfound respect for Jack Sock-- he kept Team World in it. That final match between Anderson & Zverev was intense. (although I'm not a fan of the 10 point tiebreak).  I've also become an Anderson fan-- he was soooo generous with his time, signing stuff for everyone (moreso than anyone else). He even stuck around to take in a Cubs game after the tournament. 

 

I'll say Team World was hurt by the loss of del Potro-- that's when they added Tiafoe when I would have gone with Raonic or even Shapavalov. Europe was hamstrung because of Davis cup (no french or Spanish players were going- but they still put together a great team)

oooh! and gossip. My friend and I  took Uber-pool to the event on Sunday, and the guy we road with was a college professor who was friends with Anna McEnroe (John & Patrick's sister) she came to Chicago for the tournament, met up with her old college friend on Saturday and brought him backstage. She left and he was on his own for Sunday-- but shared a little backstage gossip... He said Bjorn Borg was the most well-preserved 62 year old he's ever seen and that Roger is even better looking in person.

Apparently, everyone on team Europe hated Dmitrov, and John was annoyed that Djokavic thought the event was more like an exhibition-- he was complaining about how hard everyone was working (and expected him to work). 

Edited September 26, 2018 by sacrebleu

[cesstar]

Following Verdasco's unseemly tantrum at a ball boy the other day here is an article on the life of a ball boy.

[Jillibean]

On 9/26/2018 at 12:17 PM, sacrebleu said:

Well, I'll say that whatever it looked like on TV-- it was a ton of fun in Chicago. So glad I went. I have a newfound respect for Jack Sock-- he kept Team World in it. That final match between Anderson & Zverev was intense. (although I'm not a fan of the 10 point tiebreak).  I've also become an Anderson fan-- he was soooo generous with his time, signing stuff for everyone (moreso than anyone else). He even stuck around to take in a Cubs game after the tournament.  

I observed the same about Anderson at the US Open. Very generous with fans and also extremely good sportsmanship. I saw the match between Anderson and Shapovolov and both men were so amazingly gracious and classy. I’ll be a fan of both for a long time to come. Also, Kevin’s wife had their dog in a little carrier bag at the match, and that made me really happy. I believe he went to the University of Illinois, so I’m not surprised that he’s a Cubs fan.

[selkie]

Wimbledon gave in and just announced their 'Isner rule'- final sets now go to a tierbreaker once that set reaches 12-12

[truthaboutluv]

39 minutes ago, selkie said:

Wimbledon gave in and just announced their 'Isner rule'- final sets now go to a tierbreaker once that set reaches 12-12

I love that you call it the Isner rule (or wait, did they call it that) because yeah that dude just stay messing up the Wimbledon schedule. 

[Ohwell]

So I guess they really will be calling it the 'Isner rule.'  About damn time.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/19/sports/tennis/wimbledon-fifth-set-tiebreaker.html

[BitterApple]

Finally!

[theatremouse]

Ugh I'm so torn on this. On one hand, I kind of liked that Wimbledon had no tiebreaker, but I get that these extra long ones were problematic...but I sort of think if you're going to tiebreak....just do it normally? It's sort of weird to me that it's now basically ok-fine-double it.

[shok]

Well well well. Rafa finally wrenched the Sportsmanship award away from Roger (again). Hopefully that'll make him feel better as he's recuperating from his surgery and other injury woes.

[TVbitch]

Forgot to post that I enjoyed seeing Khachanov win his first big tournament in Paris over Dj. The Fed/Dj semi was probably the match of the tournament though, they were both on fire for that one.  

[truthaboutluv]

Congrats to Zverev on winning the ATP Finals title. Djokovic seemed a bit flat but Sascha still did well to contain any nerves and just remain steady throughout the match. I would like to think it's a sign of things to come from him next year but the thing is we've seen him win those big Masters titles before (admittedly this one is the biggest) and still just not deliver at the Grand Slams. But he has Lendl in his camp now and if Lendl, who pretty much transformed Murray's career, can't get him to that next level, I'm not sure who could. 

Edited November 18, 2018 by truthaboutluv

[roseha]

Sascha's performance at the ATP Finals (I still don't like that everyone calls it the WTF!) was amazing, and I am so happy that he was able to perform so well, beating both Roger and Novak in straight sets.  Everyone said what a huge favorite Novak would be, and I was hoping it would at least be close, but Sascha not only served amazingly, and was willing to take chances with moving to the net, but also kept competing really well after Novak broke back in the second set.  It really bodes well for his future, and to win this event as he did at only 21 is a great achievement.  I think this win, along with Lendl on his team,  should help him with the concentration issues he seems to have in best of five set matches.  I have a lot of hope for him to win slams, whether in next year or the one after.  And that amazing last shot on match point, which I thought was going out, but which landed in down the line, was really thrilling.

And his acceptance speeches are hilarious, in his third language yet!