The Generic Tennis Thread

[Steel Icarus]

Is that really the first ever major for a a Japanese player?

Singles, yeah
Ai Sugiyama won Grand Slams in both mixed and ladies doubles

 

[Hollis]

Awful display from Serena. There is precious little doubt that she is right, every coach coaches from their box, you can see them mouthing and gesticulating, so unless there is bloody good reason to think it is directly affecting the game, it should be ignored. Likewise men breaking rackets and arguing with the umpire is commonplace, regularly unpunished. Fuckssake, Kyrgios had the umpire came down and gave him a bloody pep talk to get back into the match. No one comes out of it with any glory.

Except for Osaka whose composure was magnificent.

My understanding from somes aussie ref on Twitter is that this ref had been pretty consistent in applying the rules? So it's more a case of the other refs being at fault.

 

[butchersapron]

Singles, yeah
Ai Sugiyama won Grand Slams in both mixed and ladies doubles

That's astonishing. That said, i saw a map of where F1 race winners came from the other day which was pretty surprising for it's absences.

 

[belboid]

My understanding from somes aussie ref on Twitter is that this ref had been pretty consistent in applying the rules? So it's more a case of the other refs being at fault.

This twitter thread implies the opposite -

 

[butchersapron]

Doesn't really matter if he's wrong or not though does it. You don't call umpires thieves!

 

[kazza007]

Serena showed herself to be an obnoxious, spoilt brat. Highly unprofessional and unsportsmanlike. She didn't deserve to win. Very happy for osaka and her win, as well as her maturity, unlike her opponent.

 

[Casual Observer]

Serena does have previous in the same tournament nine years ago - maybe its the September New York humidity. That time she threatened to ram a ball down a lineswoman's throat with a good few swear words thrown in during her semi final against Kim Clijsters. A code violation point was awarded against her which meant she lost the match.

 

[planetgeli]

Doesn't really matter if he's wrong or not though does it. You don't call umpires thieves!

Oh, I dunno.

Former Test umpire Darrell Hair pleads guilty of stealing from employer

Former Test cricket umpire Darrell Hair has been handed an 18-month good behaviour bond by an Australian court after pleading guilty to charges of embezzling and stealing money from a liquor store where he worked, local media reported on Tuesday.

The 65-year-old, who famously no-balled Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing in a 1995 Test, avoided a conviction after paying back the A$9,005.75 ($7,034.39) and writing letters of apology to his employers.

 

[rekil]

Del Potro back in this yay.

 

[butchersapron]

Needed some proper kip too. Oh well.

 

[butchersapron]

Or maybe not...

 

[butchersapron]

Think that first return in the tb won the thing...not the point, but mentally

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Spectacular second set. One of the best I've seen. That 25 minute game. Wow.

 

[rekil]

5 setter looks unlikely.

 

[kazza007]

Novak is steam rolling ahead in this thrilling three set encounter. Congratulations on your 14th major, equalling the great Pete Sampras, third joint in the all-time gentleman's msjor tally

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Break back.

And finally a time violation for Djokovic.

 

[belboid]

Phew, I might even get out of work in time to watch the end of the match!

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Great win. Scoreline doesn't quite do it justice. del Potro played well. Djokovic spectacularly good. Think he missed one return of a second serve in the entire match. And he got most of the first serves back as well.

 

[kazza007]

Novak will surpass the great Rafa Nadal at thia rate, in the majors Tally

 

[littlebabyjesus]

WTA now supporting Williams on the sexism thing.

Sounds like she was hard done by with the coaching thing, but not with the racquet breaking - that incurs a violation in the men's game as well, seen it many times. Bit like getting a red card in football when the first yellow was questionable but the second clear-cut. She knew she was on a warning, so breaking a racquet would cost her a point.

Don't see much that the WTA could intervene over there, so it has to come down to the idea that a player should be allowed to call the umpire a thief without incurring a code violation. If a man had called the umpire a thief, that wouldn't have happened, is the argument. The umpire being hung out to dry, it appears.

I would add that I think the umpire could have done things differently - quiet word about the coaching to start with, for instance. Especially if the coach was making signs but she wasn't paying attention, which she claims was the case. But that said, nothing that Williams did after that is excused by the fact she was hard done by for the first warning.

 

[butchersapron]

USTA have put out a statement praising her class and sportsmanship. Which one was this i wonder?

 

[rekil]

Henin really got to her.

Sorry Serena lost for words after Henin defeat

 

[D'wards]

I think she has a bit of a persecution complex.
She bitterly complained she was being targeted and discriminated against after they turned up at her house for mandatory drug testing, claiming she was being picked on and had more tests than any other player.

This was proved untrue.

She also claimed she was being discriminated against as a new mother because the times of her matches were dependant on the previous matches on the same court, and she needed a hard routine and to know exactly when the match would start to plan child care around it.

 

[butchersapron]

She locked herself in a panic room and wouldn't let the testers in claiming she thought they were violent robbers didn't she? Something odd like that anyway.

 

[poului]

If it's truly the case that the men get away with more on court than the women, then surely the focus should be on making sure those men are punished? Not glorifying Serena Williams' god given right to try and bully people into submission when things don't go her way.

 

[kazza007]

She definitely has a chip on her shoulder. Pure victim mentality. Never gracious in defeat.

 

[butchersapron]

Tennis umpires consider forming union following Serena Williams storm

Top tennis umpires are considering forming a union because they believe Carlos Ramos was “hung out to dry” by the authorities during and after the US Open women’s final despite upholding the rules in sanctioning Serena Williams.

Circa £350 for that days work for ump. Serena got about 1.5 million.

 

[D'wards]

I wonder if there's an Alex Ferguson angle to this, albeit inadvertent.

Her complaining and moaning on, then followed but loads of support on the internet, Guardian, left leaning publications etc due to the Identity Politics angle, might make future referees pause before penalising her. A lot could do without the subsequent aggro

 

[Lord Camomile]

Men's final - Nadal only won one point in the first three games

Just saved break point in the fourth, now has advantage. Could be a curious match...

And that's the game.

 

[rekil]

Time for some gamesmanship from Rafa. They introduced the serve clock just for his fucking about but he has a few other things up his sleeve.