Tennis: General Chat

[bannedfromHandV]

Is there anyone out there with a bigger chip on their shoulder than Nick Kyrgios?

The guy is an absolute spoiled little brat, one of those human beings you genuinely resent having a specialist skill.

[Rodders]

He's unwatchable, which was a shame as Paul Jubb was having a cracking game when I did flick over, held his own really well. I don't understand the desire to watch bellends like Kyrios. It's not "rare character" or somesuch euphemism, it's being an arsehole.

[villa89]

35 minutes ago, Rodders said:

 It's not "rare character" or somesuch euphemism, it's being an arsehole.

Yeah but the commentary in tennis is everyone is brilliant, every game is brilliant, the crowd are brilliant, this is best match ever. It's like a cult. There's no proper analysis or critique of anything. Also if you're not some child prodigy, British (+ pseudo British) or big name player you basically don't exist. 

[BOF]

11 hours ago, bickster said:

Not usually my thing but I watched it with the missus from the final set. Great game to watch but that commentary was awful

What a great victory for Tan, many would have crumbled but she kept coming back. Williams didn’t play badly I don’t think so Tan is entitled to feel she really did deserve that victory

Good to see she got her moment in the sun. Her time to shine as it were.

[bickster]

8 minutes ago, BOF said:

Good to see she got her moment in the sun. Her time to shine as it were.

I also thought she was very in tune with her game

[Tomaszk]

44 minutes ago, villa89 said:

Yeah but the commentary in tennis is everyone is brilliant, every game is brilliant, the crowd are brilliant, this is best match ever. It's like a cult. There's no proper analysis or critique of anything. Also if you're not some child prodigy, British (+ pseudo British) or big name player you basically don't exist. 

Wimbledon and specifically the BBC's coverage is really really poor. Much worse than many tour events. The new anchor in the morning doesn't know any players and the links going to matches are agony.

Commentary last night when Serena lost "...if she won that, she probably would have gone on to win the tournament." What?! She was moving like a unicycle missing a wheel.

It's all a bit happy clappy instead of analytical yep.

[Tomaszk]

1 hour ago, bannedfromHandV said:

Is there anyone out there with a bigger chip on their shoulder than Nick Kyrgios?

The guy is an absolute spoiled little brat, one of those human beings you genuinely resent having a specialist skill.

He is an absolute bell.

No doubt in my mind he could be a multiple slam champ if he had even an moderately decent work ethic. He's not interested.

Tennis does need some new stars to break through, or negative silliness like his game will keep hogging the headlines.

Alcaraz is probably the one. Best youngster since Rafa, and I know plenty of knowledgeable people who think he's better at the same age.

[Mic09]

6 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

Wimbledon and specifically the BBC's coverage is really really poor. Much worse than many tour events. The new anchor in the morning doesn't know any players and the links going to matches are agony.

Commentary last night when Serena lost "...if she won that, she probably would have gone on to win the tournament." What?! She was moving like a unicycle missing a wheel.

It's all a bit happy clappy instead of analytical yep.

I watch tennis on occasion (usually grand slams) but it seems to me that it has that element of 'elitism' that puts me off it. It's all very lacoste - ralph lauren - rolex esque.

Lot's of bum licking, not much critique, a big adoration circle.

At best, it's a fun sport to watch. At worst, it's just equestrian horses or polo. 
 

[Tomaszk]

2 minutes ago, Mic09 said:

I watch tennis on occasion (usually grand slams) but it seems to me that it has that element of 'elitism' that puts me off it. It's all very lacoste - ralph lauren - rolex esque.

Lot's of bum licking, not much critique, a big adoration circle.

At best, it's a fun sport to watch. At worst, it's just equestrian horses or polo. 
 

Yeah and it'll never change in this country, it's much more accessible abroad.

Tennis clubs here don't want young people playing the game, they want somewhere nice to sit in the sun and pay off their MPs.

[Mic09]

6 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

Yeah and it'll never change in this country, it's much more accessible abroad.

Tennis clubs here don't want young people playing the game, they want somewhere nice to sit in the sun and pay off their MPs.

What I hate most though about tennis, is the ball boys/girls and the way they are told to behave. 

Poor young tennis fans who are told to walk straight, run in straight lines, hold towels and umbrellas for those multi millionaire players. There is no reason for a 14 year old kid to be holding an umbrella for Nadal or Djokovic. Why not get a stand for an umbrella to just stand there? Do we really have to get a kid to do it? If you really want for someone to hold an umbrella for a multimillionaire sports star, maybe get their coach to do it if it's REALLY necessary. 

If you want a towel, put it in the corner somewhere and get it yourself. 

It's a ceremony that is reminiscent of serving a big bollocks master. At least let those poor kids take a seat somewhere rather than kneel the whole game. 

I really dislike it. Rant over. 

[bickster]

1 hour ago, Mic09 said:

If you want a towel, put it in the corner somewhere and get it yourself. 

COVID killed the towel thing, they aren't doin that any more

[rjw63]

Raducanu out, typical British failure

[WhatAboutTheFinish]

6 hours ago, Mic09 said:

Poor young tennis fans who are told to walk straight, run in straight lines, hold towels and umbrellas for those multi millionaire players. There is no reason for a 14 year old kid to be holding an umbrella for Nadal or Djokovic. Why not get a stand for an umbrella to just stand there? Do we really have to get a kid to do it? If you really want for someone to hold an umbrella for a multimillionaire sports star, maybe get their coach to do it if it's REALLY necessary. 

Think you may be overthinking this a little, I'm fairly sure most kids who get to "ball boy" would be thrilled to be stood next to a megastar. Hell, when I was a 15 year old boy I'd have volunteered to lick the sweat off Steffi Graf's armpits myself, never mind hand her a towel! 

[sheepyvillian]

Love watching Norrie, always gives his all.

[foreveryoung]

Radacanu, I know she's young, but she shouldn't be going out this early yet again. I'm not sure what the answer is, but she don't seem to be enjoying her game like the others.

[bickster]

1 minute ago, foreveryoung said:

Radacanu, I know she's young, but she shouldn't be going out this early yet again. I'm not sure what the answer is, but she don't seem to be enjoying her game like the others.

She's been injured and not played before the tournament. This time last week she didn't know if she'd be fit enough to play

[mjmooney]

1 hour ago, WhatAboutTheFinish said:

Hell, when I was a 15 year old boy I'd have volunteered to lick the sweat off Steffi Graf's armpits myself, never mind hand her a towel! 

Quote

Bring me the sweat of Gabriela Sabatini
For I know it tastes as pure as Malvern water,
Though laced with bright bubbles like the aqua minerale
That melted the kidney stones of Michelangelo
As sunlight the snow in spring.

Bring me the sweat of Gabriela Sabatini
In a green Lycergus cup with a sprig of mint,
But add no sugar –
The bitterness is what I want.
If I craved sweetness I would be asking you to bring me
The tears of Annabel Croft.

I never asked for the wristbands of Maria Bueno,
Though their periodic transit of her glowing forehead
Was like watching a bear’s tongue lap nectar.
I never asked for the blouse of Françoise Durr,
Who refused point-blank to improve her soufflé serve
For fear of overdeveloping her upper arm –
Which indeed remained delicate as a fawn’s femur,
As a fern’s frond under which cool shadows gather
So that the dew lingers.

Bring me the sweat of Gabriela Sabatini
And give me credit for having never before now
Cried out with longing.
Though for all the years since TV acquired colour
To watch Wimbledon for even a single day
Has left me shaking with grief like an ex-smoker
Locked overnight in a cigar factory,
Not once have I let loose as now I do
The parched howl of deprivation,
The croak of need.

Did I ever demand, as I might well have done,
The socks of Tracy Austin?
Did you ever hear me call for the cast-off Pumas
Of Hana Mandlikova?
Think what might have been distilled from these things,
And what a small request it would have seemed –
It would not, after all, have been like asking
For something so intimate as to arouse suspicion
Of mental derangement.
I would not have been calling for Carling Bassett’s knickers
Or the tingling, Teddy Tinling B-cup brassière
Of Andrea Temesvari.

Yet I denied myself.
I have denied myself too long.
If I had been Pat Cash at that great moment
Of triumph, I would have handed back the trophy
Saying take that thing away
And don’t let me see it again until
It spills what makes this lawn burst into flower:
Bring me the sweat of Gabriela Sabatini.

In the beginning there was Gorgeous Gussie Moran
And even when there was just her it was tough enough,
But by now the top hundred boasts at least a dozen knockouts
Who make it difficult to keep one’s tongue
From lolling like a broken roller blind.
Out of deference to Billy-Jean I did my best
To control my male chauvinist urges –
An objectivity made easier to achieve
When Betty Stove came clumping out to play
On a pair of what appeared to be bionic legs
Borrowed from Six Million Dollar Man.

I won’t go so far as to say I harbour
Similar reservations about Steffi Graf –
I merely note that her thigh muscles when tense
Look interchangeable with those of Boris Becker –
Yet all are agreed that there can be no doubt
About Martina Navratilova:
Since she lent her body to Charles Atlas
The definition of the veins on her right forearm
Looks like the Mississippi river system
Photographed from a satellite,
And though she may unleash a charming smile
When crouching to dance at the ball with Ivan Lendl,
I have always found to admire her yet remain detached
Has been no problem.

But when the rain stops long enough for the true beauties
To come out swinging under the outshone sun,
The spectacle is hard for a man to take,
And in the case of this supernally graceful dish –
Likened to a panther by slavering sports reporters
Who pitiably fail to realize that any panther
With a topspin forehand line drive like hers
Would be managed personally by Mark McCormack –
I’m obliged to admit defeat.

So let me drink deep from the bitter cup.
Take it to her between any two points of a tie-break
That she may shake above it her thick black hair,
A nocturne from which the droplets as they fall
Flash like shooting stars –
And as their lustre becomes liqueur
Let the full calyx be repeatedly carried to me.
Until I tell you to stop,
Bring me the sweat of Gabriela Sabatini.
Clive James

 

[mjmooney]

8 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

Wimbledon and specifically the BBC's coverage is really really poor. Much worse than many tour events.

If Johanna Konta says "One hundred percent" one more time...   

[Genie]

I watched about 3 minutes of the Radacanu match earlier and had to turn it off. The screaming and grunting is just too annoying.

I prefer much more nudity when i’m hearing those sounds.

[Xela]

3 minutes ago, Genie said:

I watched about 3 minutes of the Radacanu match earlier and had to turn it off. The screaming and grunting is just too annoying.

Don't scream and grunt then.