Author Topic: The tennis... (Read 85350 times)

rafletcher · « **Reply #575 on:** 13 September, 2021, 08:16:21 am »

Quote from: Peter on 12 September, 2021, 04:08:24 pm

To be honest, Matt, I was guessing, purely from having seen half a rally (with the sound turned off!). I actually followed the final by text on the website only and then with only half an eye. They just looked so graceful I was taking a chance!

There was some, but no more than you'd expect from a supreme physical effort. Certainly not the orchestarted whooping of a Sharapova.

Peter · « **Reply #576 on:** 13 September, 2021, 11:14:14 am »

I'm not sure supreme effort is an acceptable reason for vocalising. Federer doesn't do it. Does he not make a supreme effort (possibly not - he was so consummately good)? I don't remember anyone doing it until Monica Seles*. Mind, being stabbed, as she was, would be an understandable reason. That was appalling.

All that apart, I watched a little bit of the action on catch-up and was mostly astonished by the sheer speed of both the finalists shots. They really are very quick and strong.

Seles, incidentally, won her first slam at 16 and had won (I think) 6 by the time she was 19. But it is still mightily impressive how Raducanu has recovered from her breakdown at Wimbledon.

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #577 on:** 13 September, 2021, 11:18:34 am »

Jimmy Connors was noted for his vocalisations, to the extent that the late Clive James remarked upon it in one of his TV columns. Apparently Jimbo used to grunt at the moment his racquet made contact with the ball, but that year he had switched to grunting earlier in the stroke, thereby confusing his opponents into trying to return the grunt instead of the ball.

Peter · « **Reply #578 on:** 13 September, 2021, 11:35:44 am »

Yes, you're right - I'd forgotten that. Unlikely to forget Clive James, though - typically clever remark!

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #579 on:** 21 September, 2021, 06:58:26 pm »

La Raducanu has just received the ultimate honour; a Gentoo penguin at the London Sea Life Centre has been named after her

andyoxon · « **Reply #580 on:** 17 October, 2021, 12:55:32 pm »

Cam Norrie doing well in Indian Wells - hopefully a good match later.

Jaded · « **Reply #581 on:** 18 October, 2021, 07:31:07 am »

Yes he csn!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/58948928

So that place at Wimbledon is now going to be called Norrie’s Knoll.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #582 on:** 18 October, 2021, 10:02:28 am »

Having not heard of him before, I just checked his credentials to see if Britain would lose its top two male tennis players when Scotland becomes independent, but then discovered that he's South African.

salar55 · « **Reply #583 on:** 18 October, 2021, 11:13:05 am »

British tennis player wins? This quote Born in South Africa, Norrie has a Scottish dad and Welsh mum, and was brought up in New Zealand before playing college tennis in the United States. Is this another attempt to take the heat off Brexit.

rafletcher · « **Reply #584 on:** 19 October, 2021, 04:26:52 pm »

It's not as if tennis has a monopoloy on such things...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_international_cricketers_born_outside_of_England

Peter · « **Reply #585 on:** 19 October, 2021, 04:44:48 pm »

List possibly compiled by one such, or an American It should read, of course, ".....born outside England".

John Stonebridge · « **Reply #586 on:** 19 October, 2021, 05:04:13 pm »

In fairness Norrie played Davis Cup tennis for GB in 2018 when still outside the top 100 in the world rankings.

Add to that a Scots father and a Welsh mother its hardly tenuous to consider him British.

Jaded · « **Reply #587 on:** 19 October, 2021, 09:08:48 pm »

Come on! When did fairness stop a load of bollocks?

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #588 on:** 19 October, 2021, 09:42:21 pm »

Quote from: John Stonebridge on 19 October, 2021, 05:04:13 pm

In fairness Norrie played Davis Cup tennis for GB in 2018 when still outside the top 100 in the world rankings.

Add to that a Scots father and a Welsh mother its hardly tenuous to consider him British.

Which possibly makes him MOAR BRITISH than the fragrant Ms Raducanu, though nowhere near as appealing to tabloid newspapers

Jaded · « **Reply #589 on:** 14 January, 2022, 09:15:25 am »

Wondered whether Djokovik’s chances in the Aus Open should be discussed here

rafletcher · « **Reply #590 on:** 14 January, 2022, 11:23:46 am »

Probably better than his chances in the French Open.

Ham · « **Reply #591 on:** 14 January, 2022, 01:55:16 pm »

He is after all the only tennis player to have lost a whole tournament because of missing two shots.

De Sisti · « **Reply #592 on:** 14 January, 2022, 02:57:29 pm »

What does it say about a nation, if its population* gets hot under the collar about one of their
tennis players, who could be deported from a foreign country?

*Well, perhaps not all of them.

rafletcher · « **Reply #593 on:** 16 January, 2022, 11:20:28 am »

Quote from: De Sisti on 14 January, 2022, 02:57:29 pm

What does it say about a nation, if its population* gets hot under the collar about one of their
tennis players, who could be deported from a foreign country?

*Well, perhaps not all of them.

That they don’t have (m)any other sporting “heroes” of international standard and achievement? The Serbian population is, after all, only 2/3 that of London.

Anyway, he’s being deported. Silly boy. I wonder if he’ll elect to miss the French Open or get vaccinated?

Jaded · « **Reply #594 on:** 16 January, 2022, 12:04:11 pm »

Will Serbia declare war on Australia?

mattc · « **Reply #595 on:** 16 January, 2022, 04:24:31 pm »

Outside the initial hearing, police had to use tear-gas*
to quell Serbian tennis fans

*In neat hand-sized dispensers, which were new to me.

rafletcher · « **Reply #596 on:** 17 January, 2022, 08:30:41 am »

I wonder if he, or his lawyers, though about the possibility of a three year ban on entry for being deported?

barakta · « **Reply #597 on:** 17 January, 2022, 05:52:04 pm »

I saw some UK immigration lawyers making good points about how we may not like how Djokovic has behaved, but the Aussie government using another law to overrule a court ruling in an abusive manner like this is worrying cos next time it might be against someone who isn't as obnoxious... It sets a precedent for such things. If they didn't want him there without vaccinations, the Aussie government should have been clearer to the Tennis bods that their requirements were X and not let Djokovic have a visa at all.

Djokovic also needs to fuck off with his whining about being mistreated tho. Most immigrants who are not rich don't get hearings in mere days and are left for months in limbo while trapped in grim hotels or holding places.

Jaded · « **Reply #598 on:** 17 January, 2022, 06:56:01 pm »

The court over-rule was about process, as I understand it, not about the legality or otherwise of a visa refusal.

Anyway Djokovic lied.

barakta · « **Reply #599 on:** 17 January, 2022, 07:33:59 pm »

Yes, it was whether the government was entitled to use the process they did - not whether the process was fair. Which I think is very similar to UKGov changing laws in response to court cases which go against them, it's dodgy.

Djokovic may have lied but as far as I know that's not been proven to the tennis exemption authorities.