Tennis Thread

[emmawoodhouse]

1 hour ago, Spunkygal said:

Anyone else getting up super early to see Novaxx lose in the morning? #ABN

It's an all-nighter on the west coast. I'll watch the replay in the morning if Novaxx loses. 

[Spunkygal]

9 minutes ago, emmawoodhouse said:

It's an all-nighter on the west coast. I'll watch the replay in the morning if Novaxx loses. 

Oops...you forgot to add #ABN! Don’t jinx it! Keep the karma flowing!

Edited February 21, 2021 by Spunkygal

[emmawoodhouse]

21 minutes ago, Spunkygal said:

Oops...you forgot to add #ABN! Don’t jinx it! Keep the karma flowing!

With me, #ABN is always implied. 😁

[mojoween]

Sigh.  WHAT is it going to take?!?

[Harry24]

2 hours ago, mojoween said:

Sigh.  WHAT is it going to take?!?

Blech.  

[khyber]

That was a big disappointment. Not just Novaxx winning , but it wasn't much of a battle. 

[TVbitch]

Disappointing finals. Med needs to realize he can't out grind Novak. I was kind of hoping Med would go full-on US Open Evil Med and unleash some supervillain fire power, but no. Then he was gracious to Novak during his speech. Bleh! 

Watching replays on ESPN sucks! When you start the video it tells you how long the match is, which pretty much ruins it, like, the final was a 2 1/2 hour long video, and Novak wins the first set, ergo he's winning the match in 3 sets. I wish they would get a clue!!! 

[truthaboutluv]

3 minutes ago, TVbitch said:

Then he was gracious to Novak during his speech. Bleh! 

I have no issues with that because the last thing I want, is any reason for Novak to further play the victim by his fans declaring people are mean to him. I am always okay with players being gracious in defeat.

I only watched the first two sets before going back to bed, as I saw where this was going. And from what I watched, it just seemed to me that two things happened - one, Medvedev's entire game seemed to depend on his serve. And once the serve fell apart towards the latter part of the first set, nothing else seemed to work. And two, his style seemed more erratic, almost nervous energy, in a way I don't really recall seeing from Medvedev before.

It was in my opinion, a big reason why so many of his usually easy shots kept flying long. He was just pushing too hard and going for way too much. And the more frustrated he got as the match was slipping from him, the worse it got. Definitely an unfortunately disappointing final that had the potential to be good. 

[khyber]

17 minutes ago, TVbitch said:

Watching replays on ESPN sucks! When you start the video it tells you how long the match is, which pretty much ruins it, like, the final was a 2 1/2 hour long video, and Novak wins the first set, ergo he's winning the match in 3 sets. I wish they would get a clue!!! 

Its tough for a sport like tennis where you can figure it out by the amount of time. This is particularly true of a 5 set match tournament. One of my recordings didn't work so I watched the rerun on ESPN & told Mr. Khyber before hand that it would probably spoil me once the first set or two were over. Oh well.

[emmawoodhouse]

Geez Med. You had one job to do...

Bleech, indeed. I won't bother watching the replay. 

 

[theatremouse]

I was hoping that'd be more competitive...meh.

[khyber]

Looks like I can get back to rooting against Coco V this week.

[khyber]

Just found out that Fox Sports West is also showing matches from Miami.

[Jillibean]

There have been a couple of stops and starts, but Gael and Elina just announced their engagement on instagram. Congratulations to them!

[Crashcourse]

7 minutes ago, Jillibean said:

There have been a couple of stops and starts, but Gael and Elina just announced their engagement on instagram. Congratulations to them!

Wow, I thought they had just recently announced a breakup.  I'm not on social media, I only care about what happens on the tennis court, but congratulations to them.   

Edited April 3, 2021 by Crashcourse

[Spunkygal]

The ring is amazing! 
 

https://twitter.com/Gael_Monfils?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author

[BitterApple]

On 4/3/2021 at 11:34 AM, Spunkygal said:

The ring is amazing! 
 

https://twitter.com/Gael_Monfils?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author

Wow, that ring is gorgeous! 😍

Gael has always been one of my favorites, both on and off the court. Elina is a lucky girl. 

[Crashcourse]

My panties are in a bunch because he really shoulda married meeeee!!!!  🥰

[SuburbanHangSuite]

I really thought there was no way that I could hate a player more than Coco V. or Danielle Collins.  I guess that's why they say, "Never say never."

Fucking Kenin went through every bag of cheating tricks she had today, trying to best Lauren Davis and IT DIDN'T WORK!

That bitch leaves the court like clockwork whenever she drops a set and none of the commentators ever call her on that shit.  After that didn't work, she calls for a medical timeout and leaves the court AGAIN.

I nearly lost it when she reeled off 3 straight games to tie up the 3rd because I really thought she had Davis rattled.  And instead of calling it out to be the cheating, unsportsmanlike behavior that it is, Austin just praised her for "calming down" and "getting her head back."

I mean, those women players are better than me.  I'd call her out in front of the Umpire and the audience if she pulled that shit on me.  And I'd gladly pay whatever fine they hit me with for speaking the truth.

[truthaboutluv]

Toni Nadal is joining Felix Auger-Aliassime's coaching team. It's kind of hilariously interesting they're officially starting the partnership during the clay season, i.e. Rafa's season.

This doesn't surprise me too much because I did think it'd be interesting if Toni came onboard to help Felix when he visited Rafa's Academy to train for a week. Will be interesting to see how long it lasts or how it works since Toni maintains that his primary focus is still being the Director of the Academy. 

Edited April 10, 2021 by truthaboutluv

[caracas1914]

I have to confess I'm not a big fan of  Father/Daughter coaching in the WTA. 

Caveat: there maybe some glorious exceptions I'm overlooking..

From Stefano Capriati down to today's  Paterfamilias  Kenin, and Gauff there's to me this pattern of seeming controlling /unhealthy balance of family dynamics, plus the implied message  ad nauseum  that *only* Father Coach knows their daughters well enough to make them successful in tennis  and in some cases an almost pathological desire to infer they  are the only legit coach the player has.  (Monica Seles, etc.)    

The worst cases are well documented, such as Aravane Rezai , Jim Pierce, Damir Dokic, Mirjana Lucic's dad, etc,    but even lesser cases such as Marion Bartoli's dad  quitting his medical profession to guide her career fulltime struck me as creepy, especially when Marion told him to leave the stadium on several occasions.

My one somewhat qualified exception was Richard Williams who, for all his quirks, stated  early that the goal was to make his daughters self sufficient and successful enough that they wouldn't need him around anymore , which eventually happened and he exited stage left.  (Add his health issues and divorce from Oracene)   Plus the Williams sisters eschewed the oh so  common practice of looking incessantly at the coaches/parents box for validation/affirmation.

 

 

Edited April 10, 2021 by caracas1914

[truthaboutluv]

I'm sure this one will make some very happy, lol. Djoker's out in R16 of the Monte Carlo Masters, in straight sets no less.

I saw the match. He wasn't peak Novak but he didn't play that badly either. Evans just played some of the big points a lot better. He also remained steady and never got in his head, even when Djokovic had a few break chances. 

Edited April 15, 2021 by truthaboutluv

[TVbitch]

I am watching Dancing With The Stars Australia and Lleyton is in the audience every night with his kids, cuz his wife Bec is dancing. Wow, he is looking GOOD and they are so cute! His wife is a great dancer. 

[truthaboutluv]

31 minutes ago, TVbitch said:

I am watching Dancing With The Stars Australia and Lleyton is in the audience every night with his kids, cuz his wife Bec is dancing. Wow, he is looking GOOD and they are so cute! His wife is a great dancer. 

Is that some type of All-Star season? Because she already did the show years ago, before her and Lleyton even started dating, and won.

Edited April 15, 2021 by truthaboutluv

[TVbitch]

It is an all stars season, lots of amazing dancers competing again from 5, 10, 15 years ago! She's great! 

[truthaboutluv]

4 hours ago, TVbitch said:

It is an all stars season, lots of amazing dancers competing again from 5, 10, 15 years ago! She's great! 

Ah figured. And I'm sure she is great considering she won her original season.

[truthaboutluv]

Did anyone see the Women's Italian Open final? Please tell me Plishkova was at least somewhat injured. Because if not, um that score was wow... 

Meanwhile, Rafa once again getting his form together right before the French Open. 

[khyber]

Swiatek was playing fantastically and Pliskova wasn't serving well. It was an old style Serena beat down.  I've decided that at least half of any Rafa/Djoker match is taken up by the amount of time taken to bounce the ball before the serve.

[TVbitch]

Yes, my 30 second skip feature comes in handy between serves!

[CouchTater]

I've been meaning to ask about the 2 newish hosts on the tennis channel:  Prakesh Armitrage (sp?) and Dani something or other.  I know that Prakesh had a brief pro career and is Allie Risk's cousin-in-law.  But really. who are they and why are they on my tv so often?  Especially the Dani person; not sure what purpose she serves.  At least Prakesh occasionally has an interesting post-match interview (I usually find him kind of annoying).

I'm sure they're lovely people, I just don't understand the need for their roles when there are already plenty of on-air personalities on the network.

Edited May 17, 2021 by CouchTater

[khyber]

Vijay Amritraj is Prakash's father. I'm sure it was that tennis connection that got him the job. Don't know who the woman is. 

[Harry24]

On 5/17/2021 at 12:55 PM, khyber said:

Vijay Amritraj is Prakash's father. I'm sure it was that tennis connection that got him the job. Don't know who the woman is. 

Vijay A was a beautiful player and (I’m sure still is) a lovely guy.  I was a big fan.

Is anyone else starting to get excited about Seb Korda?  It seems a number of big time observers (including one Rafa N) think he’s going to win majors.  He has a beautiful game. *Plus he won his first tournament earlier today.

As superb as the current young guns are (Tsitsipas, Zverev, Medvedev, Shapavalov et al) and as clearly superior as they are to the previous generation of young guns (Dimitrov, Raonic, Nishikori et al), they are STILL struggling to assert themselves against the Big Three, particularly in best of five.  (Thiem is the outlier.  He’s a bit older, and is clearly on par with RN and ND, as well as superior to RF.  Plus he’s won one.  So disappointing that he’s plummeting at the moment.)

But this goes to show, I think, that those incredible Big Three are the exceptions to almost every rule, the once-in-a-generation examples of all-time great tennis talent, athleticism, durability, competitive drive and plain old luck (hello JMDP).  Except that they’re, well, thrice in a generation.

Edited May 30, 2021 by Harry24

[BlackberryJam]

The French draws are brutal.

[cambridgeguy]

So this is going to become a bigger issue, isn't it?

Most post match press conferences are a complete waste of time but I can't see the Slams just letting this go with a slap on the wrist fine - otherwise all of the top seeds who hate the press will just follow suit.  They're worth tens or hundreds of millions of dollars - tossing the equivalent of spare change at the tournament to avoid the annoyance of idiotic questions might be worth it to them.

[shoregirl]

If they are going to force her hand she should just pull a Marshawn Lynch or just give one word answers.

Edited May 30, 2021 by shoregirl

[Crashcourse]

I was thinking of Marshawn as well.

Frankly, I think Osaka made a mistake making such a big deal out of not wanting to do pressers.  She could have pulled a Marshawn.  I don't know about her mental health, but if she's that fragile mentally, maybe she should take a break from tennis.  

[xaxat]

 

[TVbitch]

I have been taking note of Korda, @Harry24, and am rooting for him in tomorrow's match!

Is there something going on with Thiem? 

 

[theatremouse]

23 hours ago, Crashcourse said:

I don't know about her mental health, but if she's that fragile mentally, maybe she should take a break from tennis.  

Sounds like she agrees. She just withdrew from RG.

[xaxat]

 

[AimingforYoko]

I'm with her, I really am, but I don't see how she wins this.

[Crashcourse]

It too bad she didn't put out a statement like the one above, instead of her initial statement.   

It's good she's taking a break, we'll see how long it lasts.  

[emmawoodhouse]

Serena... all she is missing is a fanny pack. 😂

[BitterApple]

3 hours ago, AimingforYoko said:

I'm with her, I really am, but I don't see how she wins this.

I agree. Public speaking can be an introvert's worst nightmare, but dealing with the media is part of the job. There's really no way the tour can make concessions because players will take advantage and claim mental health when they don't feel like doing press. 

[Crashcourse]

I never watched many of Osaka's interviews because she has this habit of beginning each answer to a question with "Um," and that was annoying to hear.  I thought it was nerves and I don't know if it has anything to do with her mental health, but it's probably best she takes a tennis break. 

[theatremouse]

Yeah, if you're spent or burnt out on press, show up and answer everything with "yes", "no," "I don't know" or "no comment" (or pull a Bryce Harper and if the question itself is what's bugging you, tell the reporter it's "a clown question" and move on to someone else). But if the stress of having to speak to the press at all is that bad (and not getting easier over time) you need a sports psychologist. I can see being super perturbed if something extreme happened in the match and you don't want to talk about that, but you can't go into the tournament saying "sorry I just can't deal with talking to people for two weeks". You did, in fact, sign up for this.

That said, given she'll no longer be there, and specifically said she hopes not to be a distraction, I reallllllly hope reporters don't waste time during other players' post-match interviews asking them about her. Or if they are asked, I hope the other players have the wherewithal to basically not really answer? Like, somebody says "well I'm not her so I have nothing to say" I'm totally down with that.

[truthaboutluv]

I've avoided commenting on the Osaka saga, wanting to really collect my thoughts before doing so. I'll copy and paste most of what I posted in the Miscellaneous Celebrity thread. 

Let me be clear that I like Naomi Osaka. I also completely understand about struggles with anxiety, having suffered from panic disorder and social anxiety myself. That said, I think part of the problem with Naomi and this is where maybe hiring a proper PR company will help, is that her messaging isn't always clear or the best. And that allows for something like the shit show that has since ensued. 

The fact of the matter, in my opinion, is that Naomi did not handle this situation very well. Honestly, I agree with another poster above that for the most part, I personally do find most of these post-match conferences annoying. They're usually asking the same repetitive and inane questions. And yeah it especially sucks when a player has just lost and likely wants to just have a moment to deal with that and they have to go face a pack of media all asking them some variation of why did they lose. 

So I get that. However, there was a better way for Naomi to have handled the situation. She could have reached out to the tournament organizers and officials weeks before, expressing her concerns, her challenges and offered a compromise or suggestion. She did none of that. She waited days before the start of the tournament and unprofessionally made a statement on Instagram for crying out loud. Then per tournament officials, refused to respond and engage with them when they reached out after her statement, wanting to discuss the issue. That's unprofessional. 

And what especially bothered many is that the way this has all been handled by her and her muddled messaging, makes many believe that it's less media/post match press conferences entirely she just can't handle but rather she doesn't want to deal with any of the tough, some would say critical questions, when she's not at her best. 

It's no secret that clay is not Naomi Osaka's best surface. In fact, so far she's only been most dominant on hard court and struggled both on clay and grass. Unsurprisingly, she didn't have the best clay season heading into the French Open.

And so many are saying that what she really wanted to avoid were the tough questions in the press room about her form, her lack of tournament wins so far on the clay, etc. And basically anything that seemed even the slightest critical. And I'm sorry but that's just not realistic or mature. 

Criticism is a part of life and isn't always the worse thing in the world. Yes, some of the media can be assholes and it's not fun dealing with them and so she could, for those crossing the lines make clear she won't answer their questions.  But to just make a blanket media blackout declaration with no heads up to the tournament organizers and directors that she was even feeling this way was just not the way to go about this situation. 

And the thing she claimed to not want the most, i.e. all the press attention and focus and criticism, is exactly what resulted from this. And it will follow her for awhile. Because trust, she won't be able to just come to Wimbledon and expect that if she faces the press then, they'll just pretend the French Open saga didn't happen. They will bring it up and ask about it.

As I said, I empathize and understand with the struggle with anxiety and wanting what's best for one's mental health. But I just don't think Naomi went about this situation in the best way and I think it's time she get herself a publicist/PR that knows their shit, so this kind of messiness can be avoided in the future. 

[truthaboutluv]

On 5/29/2021 at 9:21 PM, Harry24 said:

they are STILL struggling to assert themselves against the Big Three, particularly in best of five.

Well this is why, much as some may not have liked it because it was coming from Djokovic, I can't say he was entirely wrong in his runner up speech for the Italian Open, when he noted that people keep going on about Next Gen, Next Gen but frankly he, Rafa and Federer at this point are practically the Next Gen. 

 

On 5/29/2021 at 9:21 PM, Harry24 said:

Thiem is the outlier.  He’s a bit older, and is clearly on par with RN and ND, as well as superior to RF.  Plus he’s won one.

I like Thiem but I wouldn't say he's on par with Rafa and Novak. Yes, to his credit, he's been able to have some big wins at Grand Slams, in a best of 5 against them. but it's not consistent enough in my opinion to consider him on par with them, YET.

And it is worth noting that his one Slam came at a tournament where Rafa and Federer did not play and Djokovic got his dumb ass disqualified.

He had two chances to defeat Rafa in the French Open final and couldn't do it (obviously he's not alone in that but just making the point as to why I wouldn't consider him on par) and same with defeating Djokovic at the Australian Open. 

Edited May 31, 2021 by truthaboutluv

[AshleyN]

The Osaka thing is kind of weird in that I like her a lot and I empathize with what she's going through (especially since she's always come across as quite sensitive compared to many other top athletes) but I also think that she and her team handled this really poorly? Mostly I just think it sucks that it's come to this and I hope she's able to take care of herself and come back strong.

Also, I know a lot of people have been ripping on the Slams for their response, and yeah, they might have come on too strongly too soon, and there are certainly other things worth criticizing them about, but if it's true that Naomi and her team were refusing to even talk to them, then I'm not really sure what they're supposed to do? Regardless of how many people will actually sit down and watch a press conference, tournaments rely on media coverage to attract fans, sponsors, and ultimately money. And it's not like players don't reap the rewards of this, not only in terms of higher prize money, but more exposure, which gives them a greater platform to build their own personal brands (something Naomi has done very successfully). Like, it would be one thing if Naomi wanted to work with them to find a solution or compromise for players who might not be up to the rigorous media demands that are currently in place and they refused to budge, but from the sounds of it she not only gave them no warning before posting that (pretty accusatory sounding) initial Instagram post, but then ignored any attempts to contact her to potentially work something out. If that's the case then I'm not sure I can blame them for not wanting to set a precedent where players (if they're rich and famous enough) can just blatantly flout the rules without consequence.

[Black Knight]

17 minutes ago, AshleyN said:

Regardless of how many people will actually sit down and watch a press conference, tournaments rely on media coverage to attract fans, sponsors, and ultimately money. And it's not like players don't reap the rewards of this, not only in terms of higher prize money, but more exposure, which gives them a greater platform to build their own personal brands (something Naomi has done very successfully).

Tournaments do rely on media coverage, but realistically the media coverage they benefit from is of the actual play on the field, court, whatever. That's why advertisers want their commercials airing within the games, when people are actually watching.

And the players' exposure is based on how well they do in actual play plus whatever they do on their own social media where they're in control, not interviews.

Interviews don't really do anything to spotlight tournaments or players; they just make the media asking questions feel important. But they aren't important.

When the greatest woman tennis star of her generation is no longer competing in a major tournament because she doesn't feel mentally able to deal with the press conferences - an entirely off-court thing - then we're too far over in the direction of catering to the media. Let them all eschew the media interviews if they want. The press conferences are stupid and add no value. The French Open is vastly poorer this year for not having Naomi Osaka competing. Simple thought experiment: Which is preferable, a tennis tournament in which the players are all B- and C-level but do interviews, or a tennis tournament filled with A-level players who do not do interviews? Exactly. The value is in the on-court play. It gets said that "it's part of the job," but why is it? We can question and re-assess these things. Let's get back to focusing on on-court/field play and not on irrelevant interviews hardly anybody watches or reads because they are filled with banalities. The reporters are not the important ones here.