*Official* Tennis Thread

[Jono]

That's about as good as Rafa can hope to play vs. Novak nowadays, and its still a straight sets loss.

 

[Cabinet96]

Yeah, tempting fate a bit but it's hard to see Rafa really having the weapons to properly trouble Novak anymore, even after his mini revival in the last few months.

Still hope they consist the French final this year though.

 

[Jono]

He was a break up in the first, and had set point at 5-4, but he was absolutely dominated in that second set. Was hanging on for dear life. Just doesn't look like he'll ever beat him again.

 

[vcs]

A step in the right direction for him clearly, but Novak is brutal against the guys he wants to dominate these days (former main rivals). He won't give them a sniff.

 

[vcs]

Interesting interview by Federer:

Federer: I knew from the start that Nadal would become better than me - Tennis - Eurosport British

 

[Anil]

this may explain why he capitulated (mentally) to nadal so early in their rivalry...

 

[Jono]

Novak destroyed Milos. Jesus.

 

[Anil]

yeah...well...i never thought any one player could be as dominant as roger was in his prime but novak is proving to be even more dominant...he goes into matches with a physical and mental edge against anyone, anywhere...don't think that has happened before in the open era...

 

[vogue]

Novak Djokovic: men’s tennis should fight for more prize money than women ~ The Guardian
Interesting stance from Djokovic...

 

[vcs]

Yikes. That won't go down well. It's his opinion and he shouldn't be crucified for it.

The comments by the tournament director were spectacularly stupid though. There is no defending what he said.

 

[Furball]

Djokovic is 100% spot on.

 

[social]

He didn't actually say anything very controversial but editors have devised headlines to generate clickbait

 

[Cabinet96]

He wasn't as explicit as the headline suggests, but he didn't exactly cover himself in glory when asked about the Ray Moore thing. Think he was worried about condemning Moore too much.

 

[Anil]

i agree with djokovic...

 

[vogue]

Indian Wells CEO Raymond Moore steps down amid outrage over ***ist remarks ~ The Guardian

 

[vcs]

Around the turn of the century (before Federer had figured out how to be consistent), the WTA was much more vibrant and enjoyable compared to ATP.. on the men's side, you had Hewitt (never a great player) and Safin (perenially inconsistent) around the top, while old Agassi and Sampras managed to win Slams. I think Thomas Johansson won one FFS, and Martin Verkerk (who?) made a French Open final.On the other hand, you had the Williams sisters, Hingis, Davenport, Capriati, Henin and Clijsters consistently competing at the top-level in the WTA, which made it really interesting.

Unfortunately right now there is no credible competition for Serena, but then you could say the younger generation of men haven't stepped up to push Djokovic hard either. What we do have on the men's side is that since 2008, the big 4 (plus Wawrinka recently) have consistently been at an incredibly high level and 3 GOAT candidates simultaneously competing.

These things go in cycles, it is very ignorant to say that women's tennis should be "down on their knees" thanking Federer/Nadal/Djokovic to keep them relevant, women's tennis has been popular long before those guys and will be long after they're gone. There should definitely be equal prize money in Majors IMO, since those events are the standard-bearers.

 

[Furball]

Let the women play best of 5 in the majors then.

 

[vcs]

Nope, length of a match != quality

Many tight three-setters (e.g. Federer vs. Murray, Wimbledon 2015) are better than ugly error-strewn five-set matches (e.g. Djokovic vs. Simon in the recent Australian Open)

 

[social]

Around the turn of the century (before Federer had figured out how to be consistent), the WTA was much more vibrant and enjoyable compared to ATP.. on the men's side, you had Hewitt (never a great player) and Safin (perenially inconsistent) around the top, while old Agassi and Sampras managed to win Slams. I think Thomas Johansson won one FFS, and Martin Verkerk (who?) made a French Open final.On the other hand, you had the Williams sisters, Hingis, Davenport, Capriati, Henin and Clijsters consistently competing at the top-level in the WTA, which made it really interesting.

Unfortunately right now there is no credible competition for Serena, but then you could say the younger generation of men haven't stepped up to push Djokovic hard either. What we do have on the men's side is that since 2008, the big 4 (plus Wawrinka recently) have consistently been at an incredibly high level and 3 GOAT candidates simultaneously competing.

These things go in cycles, it is very ignorant to say that women's tennis should be "down on their knees" thanking Federer/Nadal/Djokovic to keep them relevant, women's tennis has been popular long before those guys and will be long after they're gone. There should definitely be equal prize money in Majors IMO, since those events are the standard-bearers.

The only a credible reason to pay women as much as men in any sport is to be PC - they just aren't relevant for any reason other than *** when it comes to quality

Unfortunately, it's a bad look for a multi-millionaire like Djok to be complaining whereas the real gripe lies with the mid-table guys who could all beat Serena et al blindfolded

Let's face it, Kournikova is still just about the greatest joke money-earner in sports history as she couldn't win a set off any man ranked in the top 1000, made 10s of millions and was only relevant because she was slightly better looking than Sanchez Vicario - very ****ing low bar btw

 

[Jono]

Let the women play best of 5 in the majors then.

Since when does length of hours worked = value of return on investment?

Sharapova (pre-ban obviously), Serena and Li Na brought in more money than anyone outside the top 4. And I wonder if Muzz draws as much as those 3 did outside of Wimby.