SMB Tennis thread (note there is a specific Wimbledon 22 thread)



Pepe said:
She is going on about women’s rights and sexism in the press conference now.

Idiot.
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Coaching violation - Against the rules. Clear as day in the video.
Racket smash - Against the rules. And always punished with a code violation, consistently.
Verbal Abuse towards umpire - Against the rules. You don't need to swear at the umpire to get a violation. She called him a thief because her and her team broke two rules, questioned his integrity and berated him continuously, demanding an apology.

I'm very left leaning in life but the sexism angle she's going for is her reaching. She was down 2-6 3-4* and going to lose the match and instead of behaving like a legend of the game and fighting for every point thereafter, she deflected because she didn't think she was going to win. That's all there is to it. I've seen the likes of Klizan, Fognini and Paire face game penalties in the past for similar behaviour towards an umpire, so for her to accuse the umpire of being sexist is disgusting, really.

Unfortunately, her ego let herself down tonight as it has done on occasion in the past. She's unable to accept fault.
 
The amazing thing is the WTA is supporting Williams. So it looks like, rather getting the fine and suspension she deserves, she will actually be martyred. At least after she threatened to ram a ball down the throat of an official the last time there was some kind of backlash. Society and the concept of sportsmanship seems to be devolving at an alarming rate.

The Bridge Lad said:
Back to an attacking slam winner on the women's side after 4 defenders or 'counter punchers' in a row.

Always great to see a talented youngster really burst on the scene and that's 2 of the biggest 5/6 trophies that she has now won in 2018.
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There was nothing defensive in Kerber’s Wimbledon win - she completely outplayed Williams.
 
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MrBraithwaite said:
The amazing thing is the WTA is supporting Williams. So it looks like, rather getting the fine and suspension she deserves, she will actually be martyred. At least after she threatened to ram a ball down the throat of an official the last time there was some kind of backlash. Society and the concept of sportsmanship seems to be devolving at an alarming rate.


There was nothing defensive in Kerber’s Wimbledon win - she completely outplayed Williams.
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You can be a defensive player and still outplay someone and it's not a negative. It's a bit like boxing and Mayweather. But there's no doubt of the 8 most recent grand slam winners, Serena, Ostapenko, Muguruza and Osaka are considered more attacking whereas Stephens, Wozniacki, Halep and Kerber are generally more defensive which is often reflected in the amount 'winners' in their matches (and unforced errors).

Kerber was the much better player in the final but she hit 11 winners to Serena's 23 in that match. Likewise she hit 10 compared to Ostapenko's 30 in their semi final, but a significantly lower UEs in both matches.
 
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Serena should apologise to both Osaka and the umpire for her behaviour. You can't break the rules and then your defence is "a bloke got away with it before" don't break the rules to begin with. Equality doesn't even come into it. If she was playing against a man and the umpire treat them differently then fair enough.

Equality doesn't even come into this for me. She's a sore loser who's acting like an entitled piece of shit.

Cracking legend of the sport, no doubt, but haway man.
 
I’m all for women tennis players being allowed to take their top off.

Infact allowing them to play in onky their underwear might make It a watchable spectacle as it’s f***ing horrific otherwise!
 
Just caught up with the second set and all the drama now. Pathetic from Serena and ultimately cost a young player her moment. Playing the women and mother card was low as well.
 
The Bridge Lad said:
You can be a defensive player and still outplay someone and it's not a negative. It's a bit like boxing and Mayweather. But there's no doubt of the 8 most recent grand slam winners, Serena, Ostapenko, Muguruza and Osaka are considered more attacking whereas Stephens, Wozniacki, Halep and Kerber are generally more defensive which is often reflected in the amount 'winners' in their matches (and unforced errors).

Kerber was the much better player in the final but she hit 11 winners to Serena's 23 in that match. Likewise she hit 10 compared to Ostapenko's 30 in their semi final, but a significantly lower UEs in both matches.
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True, but her performance to me was not defensive, as she was constantly using angles and was using ground strokes that did not just return the ball, but forced Williams to actually run a lot. It was this targeting of Williams poor movement that led to her victory.

I find it interesting that the Guardian shut down the comments on the final. This was despite the fact so many people were commenting.

In addition the BBC did not open the match to comments, did briefly, and have now removed all comments.

The fact they were, in the vast majority, against Williams seems to have had something to do with it. After the match here in the US nobody criticized Serena’s behavior at all. It is as if they have all been ordered to kiss her rear end despite her completely unacceptable antics.

The simple fact is Osaka was superior throughout the match. Serena just looked old and slow.

Shibby Safc said:
Serena should apologise to both Osaka and the umpire for her behaviour. You can't break the rules and then your defence is "a bloke got away with it before" don't break the rules to begin with. Equality doesn't even come into it. If she was playing against a man and the umpire treat them differently then fair enough.

Equality doesn't even come into this for me. She's a sore loser who's acting like an entitled piece of shit.

Cracking legend of the sport, no doubt, but haway man.
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She’s always been like this - her antics at the US Open semifinal were a complete disgrace and she got away with a slap on the wrist and a fine.

And don’t even mention all the doping controversies....
 
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Mrjardine said:
I don’t mind my tennis but the women’s game is a poor affair imo.

The fact they want parity in pay is laughable really.
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The first line is obviously subjective, and the BO5 and BO3 grand slam situation admittedly doesn't help the parity argument, but it's one of the few sports where women competitors can generally stand up to their male counterparts. If Federer played Serena then of course he'd not lose many points let alone games, but as respectable athletes, the women can hold their own - you ask general sports fans on the street to name 10 active tennis players and at least 4 of those would be women - that wouldn't happen in any other sport, bar maybe athletics. There's more women players on this list then men - Our third annual ranking of the biggest names in sports and all but 2 of the women who appear on the list are tennis players.

More people watched the women's Wimbledon final in the UK than the men's this year, over 7m tuned into a Konta quarter final last year and the WTA have recently signed a lucrative deal where their end of season championships now has a prize money of $14m, $6m more than the men's equivalent at the 02. - WTA Finals to be held in China through 2028

You might not like the general shorter rallies, the lower service holds etc. but it's by far the premier women's sport and far from in a poor situation at the moment and having an exciting, fresh 20 year old grand slam champion from a very lucrative market won't harm things from that perspective either.

MrBraithwaite said:
True, but her performance to me was not defensive, as she was constantly using angles and was using ground strokes that did not just return the ball, but forced Williams to actually run a lot. It was this targeting of Williams poor movement that led to her victory.

I find it interesting that the Guardian shut down the comments on the final. This was despite the fact so many people were commenting.

In addition the BBC did not open the match to comments, did briefly, and have now removed all comments.

The fact they were, in the vast majority, against Williams seems to have had something to do with it. After the match here in the US nobody criticized Serena’s behavior at all. It is as if they have all been ordered to kiss her rear end despite her completely unacceptable antics.

The simple fact is Osaka was superior throughout the match. Serena just looked old and slow.


She’s always been like this - her antics at the US Open semifinal were a complete disgrace and she got away with a slap on the wrist and a fine.

And don’t even mention all the doping controversies....
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I've always generally rooted for her opponents in grand slams but after her recent break and return to the game I was slowly coming round to her, but last night was just another reminder of her real personality and yep, certainly not an isolated incident.
 
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Another Everton Fan said:
Hoping for a great match, don’t really mind who wins.

Will probably be rooting for Delpo but I’ll be happy with a five set epic!
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Yeah, also hoping for a great match where the tennis is what's most remembered. I would like to see Delpo win and think he really needs the first set or it will be hard to come back. 9pm start?
 
The Bridge Lad said:
More people watched the women's Wimbledon final in the UK than the men's this year, over 7m tuned into a Konta quarter final last year and the WTA have recently signed a lucrative deal where their end of season championships now has a prize money of $14m, $6m more than the men's equivalent at the 02. - WTA Finals to be held in China through 2028
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In fairness, the women's final wasn't up against the world cup final.
 

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