Someone on facebook posted how "Hey everyone in case you haven't noticed Wimbledon is on and hurr durr an American is involved and i can hear freedom with every service"
So I hope Isner has failed miserably.
Someone on facebook posted how "Hey everyone in case you haven't noticed Wimbledon is on and hurr durr an American is involved and i can hear freedom with every service
So I hope Isner has failed miserably.
Isner’s a far, far better player than Kevin Anderson, though I agree this Djok/Nadal match might as well be the final
EDIT: By better i mean on the eye
Last edited by mugbull; 13-07-2018 at 07:29 PM.
So the thing about men's tennis is that it's just as unhealthy at the moment as women's tennis. It's just disguised by the fact that the three good players that people pay to see can stomp all over the draw, even five years past when they should really be able to do so. The fact that Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic are able to largely dominate the circuit really is an indictment on where the sport is at, even if it's popular. Hopefully the young players coming through at the moment will wind up being able to do something about it eventually.
Also, what a waste of time big servers are. Congratulations, you can't get broken. You can't do anything when you're not serving though, can you?
My solution: take away second serves in tie-breakers, or any post 6-6 game. See how they fare when they don't get a second bite at the cherry.
I'd stop 'Rafa' grunting like twat first.
Ah joy, another interminable 70 shot baseline rally.
It's a slippery slope when you start thinking of ways to improve tennis. Might as well make the whole thing tiebreakers and get it over with asap (or can the whole thing). Hasn't the tiebreaker thing been suggested, actually?
I would just get rid of the 2nd serve altogetherOriginally Posted by ItalAussie
I feel like finding a way to deal with players who rely on big serves and nothing else is the equivalent of implementing the offside rule. There's a problem there that risks strangling the game if allowed to continue unabated. You're not just "improving it for the kiddies".
The ace-machine mongs ever actually win anything though, do they? The players with more to their game are always the ones at the very top (Nadal, Federer, Djokovic, Murray, Del Potro, etc). I know they all have good serves themselves, but they aren't John Isner.
Nah, the really good players can beat them. They (Isner, Cilic, Anderson) are pretty good at strangling anyone at a lower level than that though. Roddick would have won a lot more if he wasn't a contemporary of Federer.
Eh, until they start being actually dominant at the top I don't think it's an issue which requires a 'fix'. I'd see it as comparable to pace merchant footballers who do really well up to a certain level where they get found out by more technically skilled and rounded players.
The drama and tennis of Nadal-Djokovic just now.
Disagree strongly, there was nothing wrong with Nadal and Federer dominating last year because they were playing incredibly. Federer at the Aus Open and Miami last year was some of the best tennis I've ever seen. McEnroe reckoned Nadal played the French last year better than he ever had before.
Zverev and Thiem and probably others will be great players. They won't be as dominant as the big three but that's okay.
Just watched the women's final with my mum. Turns out she absolutely despises Serena Williams which was quite entertaining.
A month ago i checked and there were 7-8 servebots in the top 20, depending on whether you’d count Del Potro (probably not, he has a lot to his game). I don’t think it matters if they’re winning slams or not, it’s pretty absurd.
Outside of the ludicrously long final set matches (and there's a quick fix for that anyway) I don't see a problem with big servers, it's a part of the game they just happen to be very good at, but it's just as legitimate as any other.
I just think it makes the game less interesting, it doesn't matter if you have good technique, speed, stamina, mental game, if you have a Karlovic/Isner/Anderson serve you're guaranteed to win about 45% of games, and very often the full 50%.
But Karlovic can't move so it balances out.
But that's subjective, and while many might agree, there are other areas that border on tedium. As Niko mentioned, some of the 50 shot rallies between baseliners aren't much fun either.
Of course it’s subjective, everything is subjective. The baseline rallies require a lot more skill and athleticism than servebotting, at least
Sit down and watch every game of a five-set match between two of them. Once you've cleaned up the blood from your eyes bleeding, see if you still hold that opinion.
If a tactic is damaging enough, you have to find a way to fix it. That's why we have the offside rule. I'm not saying that big servers who are just barely competent at any other aspect of the game are currently a blight on the sport. But they do make their matches unwatchable.
I've seen loads of their matches and I still hold that opinion. Sometimes they're great, but sometimes they're a bit of a slugfest.
And comparing the impact of big serves to the impact of not having the offside rule is laughable. If the latter didn't exist football would be totally broken - are you saying tennis is?
I actually have a sneaking suspicion that it is, and it's only the outrageous brilliance of Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic that has stopped us noticing before now. But we'll see when they're gone.
But yes, I do think that being good at one single skill within tennis really shouldn't be enough to win a match. If it is, then the game is - to some degree - broken. If you have a fantastic drop shot, you can't ride that to a Grand Slam final.
6-2, 6-2 in the first two sets.
They should have just given Djokovic the title after the semi finals.
I can't recall exactly when it was or exactly how they did it, but in the mid-90's ish this debate was raging and they did something to the pressure of the balls and or stringing of the rackets to reduce the effectiveness of the big serve. So they'll probably do so again if it ever gets too bad.
At least Anderson made a fight of it in the third set. I love to see Djokovic back. Already looking forward to the US Open - hopefully he, Nadal and Federer will all be at their best.
Anyone watching US Open?
Awesome match right now between Nadal and Khachanov.
Nadal match was fantastic. He's nailed on to win the thing now.
The shot around the post from Federer.
I didn't watch but apparently Serena Williams has just had an almighty meltdown in losing the final. Was 2-6, 3-1 down and got some kind of signal from her coach. Umpire has given it as a code violation, so she's gone mental and a few points later smashed her racket. Umpire gives away a point this time.
She's then gone even more off the rails and called him a thief and launched abuse at him after every point. Umpire then gives her opponent a full game. She's cried and called for the referee and cited sexism. Lost that 3-1 lead in the 2nd and ended up losing the match.
Sexism? Was the other player a man?
She claimed that men are allowed to get away with what she got called for, all the time.
As the person here who knows least about tennis, I feel that I am best placed to write a gender/race article about this.
Hang on. The other one is Asian. This just got difficult.
Write it.
Williams was given a first code violation after Ramos judged a gesture from coach Patrick Mouratoglou to be coaching - which is allowed on the WTA Tour but not during Grand Slams.
Williams insisted she had not received any tactics from Mouratoglou, telling the umpire she would "never cheat to win and would rather lose".
The Frenchman later admitted to ESPN that he had been coaching from the box.
"I was coaching but I don't think she looked at me," Mouratoglou said.
"You are a liar. You will never be on a court of mine as long as you live. When are you going to give me my apology? Say you are sorry," she told him.
Asians don't count as minorities.
She's a fucking mentalist
She's always had this bubbling under the surface as well. I recall she had a fine for similar in a match against Clijsters.
I've already seen a thinkpiece saying the umpire can't deal with being spoken to sharply by a woman.
If you dissent the official in sport you literally never have the moral high ground.
Her dad coached her like that through most of her early slams. Also, way to ruin your opponent's first major title.
Last edited by Shindig; 09-09-2018 at 09:05 AM.
I've sourced (made up) an anecdote about Tim Henman ordering an omelette from a Chinese, so they do in tennis.
Jesus Christ. How can anyone watch that and defend her? I've seen a fair few tennis players have already backed her and screamed sexism.
Also, I felt most of the boos came up as soon as she played the gender card.
She's a pro at turning on the waterworks anyway.
In America, for some reason, they need dominant sporting heroes who do no wrong. It's very difficult for them to deal with it when those stars turn out to be humans with faults (ref: Woods, T)
Also the current political climate means that a prominent black person can do more or less anything and get on the right side of the opinion columns.
She's not playing the black card at all, she's whipped out the woman card for this one.
Now she has the daughter card.
Doesn't matter what card she's actually playing, it just matters who she is.
I only just found out she's a Jehovah's Witness, blimey.
All celebrities are part of a mental cult these days.
That was appalling, and Serena has form. Her meltdowns in matches against Clijsters (2009) and Stosur (2011) were equally spectacular.
This isn't to say that there wasn't any reason for her to be aggrieved - it's almost never called, and most coaches are doing it constantly. It is an issue that probably should be addressed more broadly, to be honest. But there's absolutely no excuse for threats, or any of the other petulance. It's something that should be addressed after the match, not during. But let's be honest, the real anger was that she knew the ship was sinking and she couldn't save it. Osaka was all over her from point one.
Half Japanese, half Haitian. That's a thinkpiece in itself.
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