Tennis 2010

by Zat Sun 10 Jan 2010, 02:14

New year, same sort of results. Andy Murray makes final of Hopman Cup mixed team tournament, then loses singles rubber in final 1-6 6-4 6-3.

by Nath Sun 10 Jan 2010, 02:26

does anyone really care who wins the Hopman Cup?

by Zat Sun 10 Jan 2010, 02:26

'twas more about Murray than anything else.

by Nath Sun 10 Jan 2010, 03:14

I know, just sayin'...

by Zat Sun 10 Jan 2010, 03:18

FedEx lost his semi in some tournament in Dubai. Or Abi Dhabi. Or Bahrain. Somewhere with lots of sand.

by Fred Nerk Sun 10 Jan 2010, 03:27

Could be Manly....or maybe Docklands?

by skully Sun 10 Jan 2010, 03:35

Zat wrote:FedEx lost his semi in some tournament in Dubai. Or Abi Dhabi. Or Bahrain. Somewhere with lots of sand.

I think that was Fed's vagina. He didn't look happy after losing.

by Zat Sun 10 Jan 2010, 04:48

Could all be part of the Gillette curse...

Thierry Henry - cheat on the field
Tiger Woods - cheat in several bedrooms
Roger Federer - on the downhill slide

(Of course, in Australia, Gillette also signed Michael Clarke, but that was after he started dating Lara Bikle.)

by Shoeshine Sun 10 Jan 2010, 12:22

Think the interest (such as it was) in the Hopman Cup was seeing how young Laura Robson is progressing.

by Zat Sun 10 Jan 2010, 12:29

She did all right.

Of course, she was born in Australia, so she'll either turn into an out-and-out champ, or if she follows the path of other young Aussie tennis girlies in recent years, she'll make sporadic forays towards the top 20, and win nothing of substance.

If she screams less than some of the other players on the WTA circuit, I'll be a fan.

by Shoeshine Sun 10 Jan 2010, 12:36

Born in Australia and reacted rather violently to any suggestion she might be Australian, bless her.

by Zat Sun 10 Jan 2010, 13:15

Good way to win fans ahead of the Australian Open! Then again, with a ranking of 400+, she'll have to qualify first.

by embee Sun 10 Jan 2010, 14:31

Shoeshine wrote:Born in Australia and reacted rather violently to any suggestion she might be Australian, bless her.

A lot of Wozzies have that reaction

by Shoeshine Sun 10 Jan 2010, 15:48

Zat wrote:Good way to win fans ahead of the Australian Open! Then again, with a ranking of 400+, she'll have to qualify first.

No different to Andrew Symonds insisting he's Australian. Only those being ridiculously precious would worry about it.

She's been given a wildcard, but her main aim will be the juniors. She's not 16 yet, so a ranking of over 400 is hardly a worry or an issue.

by Henry Sun 10 Jan 2010, 15:55

Can't see anyone other than Federer or Nadal contesting the Australian open final this year. Murray needs to toughen up mentally. If one little thing goes against him, the wheels tend to fall off.

by embee Sun 10 Jan 2010, 15:59

Henry wrote:Can't see anyone other than Federer or Nadal contesting the Australian open final this year. Murray needs to toughen up mentally. If one little thing goes against him, the wheels tend to fall off.

Nice Foowing Trev

I'm now tempted to put some money on the Scot

by Zat Sun 10 Jan 2010, 16:03

Shoeshine wrote:
Zat wrote:Good way to win fans ahead of the Australian Open! Then again, with a ranking of 400+, she'll have to qualify first.

No different to Andrew Symonds insisting he's Australian. Only those being ridiculously precious would worry about it.

She's been given a wildcard, but her main aim will be the juniors. She's not 16 yet, so a ranking of over 400 is hardly a worry or an issue.

If she starts winning, she'll have the crowd in her corner pretty quickly. As long as she doesn't threaten to shove a ball down an official's throat or something like that.

by Shoeshine Sun 10 Jan 2010, 16:05

Zat wrote:
Shoeshine wrote:
Zat wrote:Good way to win fans ahead of the Australian Open! Then again, with a ranking of 400+, she'll have to qualify first.

No different to Andrew Symonds insisting he's Australian. Only those being ridiculously precious would worry about it.

She's been given a wildcard, but her main aim will be the juniors. She's not 16 yet, so a ranking of over 400 is hardly a worry or an issue.
If she starts winning, she'll have the crowd in her corner pretty quickly. As long as she doesn't threaten to shove a ball down an official's throat or something like that.

I'm sure she will. Just like James Blake gets the Wimbledon crowd on his side quickly being half British (but still definitely and statedly American).

by Big Dog Tue 12 Jan 2010, 06:40

Zat wrote:
Shoeshine wrote:
Zat wrote:Good way to win fans ahead of the Australian Open! Then again, with a ranking of 400+, she'll have to qualify first.

No different to Andrew Symonds insisting he's Australian. Only those being ridiculously precious would worry about it.

She's been given a wildcard, but her main aim will be the juniors. She's not 16 yet, so a ranking of over 400 is hardly a worry or an issue.
If she starts winning, she'll have the crowd in her corner pretty quickly. As long as she doesn't threaten to shove a ball down an official's throat or something like that.

We've still got that good old aussie battler Jelena. She won her first round in the Hobart International as did Alicia Molik last night.

by Zat Wed 13 Jan 2010, 07:58

(link) Oh dear...

Selected bits...

Hird's concept is based on a 10-day tournament, featuring 32 nations, shorter matches and mid-match substitutions... The plans have already gained tacit support from key tennis administators amid fears the World Cup might be used as tool to replace the 110-year-old Davis Cup competition...

Hird said "In the new world order, sports must compete with Hollywood blockbusters, vide games, the world wide web, TV and music for a slice of the global consumers' atttention... Of course, the pride of tennis are the grand slam tournaments and we would never do anything to change that, but we are conscious of the need for tennis to bring in an entire new breed of followers... The youngster who doesn’t have the attention span to watch five-set matches."

HOW IT WOULD WORK
* Tournament would be played once every two years.
* 10 day event with 32 teams in eight groups of four, with 16 reaching the elimination stages.
* Each tie to feature a single match over the best of five sets - with each player having to field at least two players, allowing for mid-match substitutions.
* Maximum of 25 seconds between points
* Tiebreaks to be the first to five points

If it's necessary to cater for sports fans who don't have the attention span for a five-set tennis match, then perhaps it's time to call quits on civilisation.

by WideWally Wed 13 Jan 2010, 09:47

They should just play the tiebreak & not worry about anything else.

by Zat Wed 13 Jan 2010, 09:48

Why not just toss the coin?

by Shoeshine Wed 13 Jan 2010, 11:36

It's nothing to do with attention span and everything to do with television advertising. They just don't want to say so.

by Nath Wed 13 Jan 2010, 11:43

why should I care what James Hird of all people thinks about tennis?!?!

by Zat Wed 13 Jan 2010, 11:57

Because he's got tennis authorities listening, it seems. Although his idea could turn out to be the max cricket of tennis.

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