TENNIS

[Zeno Marx]

Ons Jabeur has been such a joy to watch. She always is. I'll say it again: I'm not interested in watching power tennis. I'll take finesse and hands eight days a week. I love to watch people with great hands play sports. All sports. I don't care if a golfer can drive a ball 500 yards. Bend that drive around a set of trees. Spin that ball so it drops dead on the spot. Jabeur is like a kid playing with their own abilities. Like when you threw a tennis ball against the garage and caught the grounder between your legs or backhanded it. Or practice pop-ups, throw the ball high in the air and in the distance, chasing it, and shoestring, no-look catching it...just to see if you can. She's toying with herself and the ball and the racket and the sport. She's not disrespectful to her opponent or snubbing the situation, though. She's having childlike fun on the grandest stage. Spinning the ball this way and that way. Squash swipes. And yes, power when necessary. Such a variation of shots. Such a creative and joyful mind. I was disappointed that Elina Svitolina didn't go to the final and win Wimbledon...because I'm a sucker for romance and glory in a story. But Jabeur being in the finals again is a fine second best. Vondroušová, her Czech opponent in the final, has some oddball lefty spins and shots herself. It should be a fun one. This is all the same reason why I enjoy watching Tsitsipas play on the men's side. But I don't really watch much men's tennis anymore. It's not fun for me.

 

[Charley Scanlan]

I thought this might interest some people, I've been watching this item on eBay. It's a tennis themed Castello, unsmoked. They're asking one grand. I was once upon a time on the tennis team, but I just thought it was a cool pipe

2022 CASTELLO OLD SEA ROCK BRIAR PIPE TENNIS 2022 LIMITED EDITION#60 OF 100 MADE

 

[Blackhorse]

Ons Jabeur has been such a joy to watch. She always is. I'll say it again: I'm not interested in watching power tennis. I'll take finesse and hands eight days a week. I love to watch people with great hands play sports. All sports. I don't care if a golfer can drive a ball 500 yards. Bend that drive around a set of trees. Spin that ball so it drops dead on the spot. Jabeur is like a kid playing with their own abilities. Like when you threw a tennis ball against the garage and caught the grounder between your legs or backhanded it. Or practice pop-ups, throw the ball high in the air and in the distance, chasing it, and shoestring, no-look catching it...just to see if you can. She's toying with herself and the ball and the racket and the sport. She's not disrespectful to her opponent or snubbing the situation, though. She's having childlike fun on the grandest stage. Spinning the ball this way and that way. Squash swipes. And yes, power when necessary. Such a variation of shots. Such a creative and joyful mind. I was disappointed that Elina Svitolina didn't go to the final and win Wimbledon...because I'm a sucker for romance and glory in a story. But Jabeur being in the finals again is a fine second best. Vondroušová, her Czech opponent in the final, has some oddball lefty spins and shots herself. It should be a fun one. This is all the same reason why I enjoy watching Tsitsipas play on the men's side. But I don't really watch much men's tennis anymore. It's not fun for me.

Been waiting for your field reports. Lots going on this Spring. Enjoy watching breakthrough phenoms.

 

[Zeno Marx]

I forgot to mention this a few days ago, but there's been a little drama at Wimbledon too. First, Svitolina prefaced her play and said she would not shake the hands of players from countries terrorizing and destroying her country, Ukraine. Don't blame her a bit. Not to get political, but it was part of her story this year. Second, Emma Raducanu, who won the US Open in 2021 and created a multi-natrional storm because of her ethnicity and youth, didn't play at Wimbledon. While people don't think of tennis as a physical sport, it is. The extreme grip they use, the unnatural and violent swing they repeat [probably] millions of times in practice, the power and speed of the game, the unforgiving strings and rackets they use now, and the amount of mileage, starting and stopping to boot, is brutal on their bodies. Raducanu already had three surgeries this year (if I understand her situation correctly), which is why she didn't play and hasn't won much since winning the US Open. She's only 20 years old. The worst being on the wrist, which is what commonly, and permanently, retires players these days. The hoopla was about her making £402,000 through her sponsors by the end of Wimbledon, though she didn't play, and to come close to that, you'd have to make it to the quarter-finals that pays out £340,000. I think she went to a Formula I race rather than attend Wimbledon too. Kind of weird to not show up to a 2-week event in your home country when you're such a big deal, but hey, youth. I still do stupid things on the daily. I'm sure there has been some grumbling on the men's side too, but I haven't paid attention. There's a lot of tension in the men's game. Not fun. I ignore.

 

[Blackhorse]

And yet it was very rewarding to watch Alcazar play a Buddy Rich style drum solo on Medvedev’s dizzy head.

 

[Zeno Marx]

Funny stuff!

One thing to add to Jabeur's play: she doesn't just move her opponents east-west, but because she has such incredible touch and creativity, she moves them north-south too. Of course, that's part of tennis, but as Lindsay Davenport discussed at one point this week, a major difference between American players and the rest of the world is in the coaching. In the USA, at all levels, the concentration is to smash the ball. Crush it all the time. There's no development of touch. There's no development of variation. Pure power tennis, all the time. A significant issue with that is when you're game is off, you have no other options. Your strategy is limited, and you cannot adjust to the conditions or other players. If your serve isn't working on that day, you can't switch to location serves or into something like kick serves or slice serves. Or if you keep sailing your strokes long, you can't switch it up with a squash swing or slice or drop shots. It's like a Dave Kingman baseball player who can only swing for homeruns. Hit it out of the park or strike out. It's the same in tennis. It's also why Sabelenka has issues with winning tournaments. It's very difficult to have six straight matches of crushing the ball, and only crushing the ball, and to stay in the lines. Heck, it's also why so many of her matches go three sets. She can't be that precise for two straight sets.

Another off-court thing that happened, and I wasn't aware of it until I started wondering where Simona Halep was. Had she retired? So soon? She's embroiled in a doping scandal. Tennis is AWFUL about being transparent about the sport. You can watch a week straight of coverage and not hear one peep about something like this. One of the top players in the world, who has won multiple majors, is nowhere to be seen, but nobody will talk about it on air. It's insulting and a crappy way to go about things. It was the same way when Hingus was caught with cocaine. So yeah, you don't see Halep playing because she's appealing a 4-year suspension, which would essentially end her career.

 

[Zeno Marx]

only caught bits and pieces of the men's final. not too often you'll find me hoping the mouth breather will win, but there I was. not looking forward to when an energy drink and X-Games takes over sponsorship, though. Still find him to resemble and play like a humanoid build out of Westworld.

 

[Zeno Marx]

I missed the first four or so days of the US Open because I'm a lunkhead, and my mind was elsewhere. I knew it was coming up, as I've been watching the whole summer hardcourts season. I think I forgot it doesn't start on Labor Day, but is half over by Labor Day. I missed those first couple of rounds, which are always my favorite. I like the chaos of all those matches and characters colliding in a small period of time. I sure do love watching tennis late night. There's just something fantastic about watching tennis at 12:30AM. When it used to work out for me, I loved watching the Australian Open in the very early morning hours.

It's great to see Brad Gilbert coaching Coco Gauff. I personally feel Gilbert is THE best announcer and analyst in tennis. On top of that, he is a quality coach and has an actual personality that isn't just another jock personality. The funny thing is you'll find the standard jock personality more on the women's side than you will on the men's. It's sort of always been like that in tennis though. So many great women announcers and analysts, but I've surely talked about that before. Chris Evert is a perfect example of the jock mentalist and is a bore. Worse, she attacks other announcers who aren't traditionalists and who have any kind of quirks or charisma. The irony is that back in the day, everyone though Navratilova was the one with no personality. Turns out, Navratilova is also a far, far better commentator than Evert. Onward... Oh, and Coco's press conferences when asked about Gilbert are fun and funny. Look them up on youtube.

Caroline Wozniacki dropped her microphone and got back into the game. Svitolina has a similar game to her. Both are human backstops. No great power. No one finishing shot. Just consistent and make the other players hit another one, two, three shots. It makes their opponents impatient, making for mistakes...so is life. PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE. It's not a style of tennis I particularly love, but watching women players with a stronger mental game is a good thing. It takes all kinds, and in this period, this type is especially welcomed.

The Jannik Sinner/Alexander Zverev match last night was a great watch. Both players tearing it up, and then they both cramped up. First, Sinner could barely move, and then Zverev hit a wall. I think it was 2.5 sets of them hobbling around the court and fighting their own bodies and each other. Zverev has played like 25 5-set matches in his career? It's kind of crazy how often he can't be consistent to win a match and has a dip in his mental game, losing sets for no good reason. Both of these guys are some of my favorite men to watch.

Unfortunately, we're likely headed to another Alcaraz/Djokovic final. Snore.

 

[Blackhorse]

Watched Coco crush Ostapenko. Joy.

 

[Zeno Marx]

The 2024 season has already started in Australia, like it always does. It's nation play now, as they prepare for the Australian Open at the end of the month.

I've been watching the Daria Kasatkina/Natalia Zabiiako youtube channel, and while it isn't the purpose of the vlog, it puts a substantial spotlight how grueling and expensive the tennis tour is. It's easy to think of the massive payouts for the latter rounds and Grand Slam winners, but it's not that way for most of the players. They live out of suitcases 48+/- weeks of the year and are constantly hustling to make ends meet. I'd image it is similar to the golf tour, but if I understand golf correctly, golfers can mostly stay in the USA. Tennis players are paying for last-minute international flights and motel rooms, because they never know when exactly they're headed to the next city. In constant jet log, constantly sick or injured. They're lucky if they get 4 weeks off a year. Never home. Can't really have much of a life, other than hustling, practicing, and doing events. The number of events they're expected to attend is also kind of nuts. Every tournament has public meets and night events for donors and sponsors. Tennis play all day and become a politician and business huckster at night. Lug around athletic gear and ball gowns or tuxedos. If you aren't a top 5-10 player, you're working 12 hour days, every day; and doing all this other stuff on your own. Like a traveling circus performer.

 

[Blackhorse]

On my calendar. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Corncobcon]

I have tennis elbow, does that count?

 

[Blackhorse]

I have tennis elbow, does that count?

Take care of it carefully.

 

[Zeno Marx]

Australian Open starts January 13th, which I think is a week, or week and a half, earlier than normal? For some reason, I was thinking it usually starts the 19th-23rd or so.

 

[Blackhorse]

Aside from a couple of odd start dates the Australian Open starts in the middle of January and continues for two weeks coinciding with the Australia Day holiday. Is that right? That’s not very specific but calendars can be like that. I’m sure you know more about it than any other of us.

General information here…Australian Open - Wikipedia

 

[Zeno Marx]

ah, you're right! I forgot, and always forget, there's a pause in play for all the explosions and outside celebration. This year, it'll be on men's semifinals day...night. I used to stay up all night. I prefer the night. I liked being up at 3, 4, 5AM with live tennis. I no longer do that schedule though and depend on Tennis Channel's rebroadcast. It's not as fun, though it's still all new to me. Humans are stupid like that. Or at least, this human can be.

 

[Zeno Marx]

While I don't like Medvedev's grouchy, moody behavior towards staff and ball kids, he's one of the few fellas I enjoy watching. He's both deceptively athletic and quick, so as he plays so far behind the service line, he gets to more balls than you would think. This creates an obvious weakness, almost forcing his opponents to employ the dropshot. He frustrates them so much with his lanky, fast athleticism that they try to use it when it isn't part of the arsenal of too many players. That's changing though. All the men are faster and more athletic these days, so they have to develop touch and finesse for things like the dropshot. It's interesting because in the old days, serve/volley strategy demanded developing your net play, but these days, the dropshot is what is forcing this same skill set. You're now up at the net, so whatcha gonna do up there?

The other odd thing about Medvedev is his swing. If you watch his racquet, he finishes his swing behind his head on both sides. It looks like a long stroke, which it is, but he has the hand speed, and that aforementioned distant court position, to make up for it in the next shot. His full swing is probably close to 300° and almost a full circle. Everything about him is so deceptive. Of course, his unique play does make for certain opponents that are poor matchups for him, but as-is, it's almost a given he will remain in the top 5 or better of the men. He also suffers on smaller courts, when the distance from the service line to the wall behind them is shorter. He seriously plays back THAT far. He would've hated the small college court I used to play on as a kid. There was probably only 15ft or so to the fence. We would have never thought to play back that far and change the geometry of the game like he does. It simply wasn't done back then. It's interesting how standing back that far makes the court significantly wider, creating more distance to cover, but it also gives the player more time. If you're slower in speed, this strategy is not an option.

The guy is just a freak of the sport in certain ways and a weirdo by usual standards.

Go Ukrainian women!

 

[Zeno Marx]

I don't have a strong opinion about sports betting, but I do have to say that the regular flash of the odds or whatever from the sponsoring online betting corp is a yucky thing to have to see. I don't need to see the odds and other possible bets/data before a pivotal point is played. I know tennis is no longer of much interest to TV $$$ deals in the USA, and being such low priority leaves the ITF, ATP, and WTA little choice (though, even if it had a choice, it's clear the NFL, NBA, etc love the $$$ too). It's bad enough that there are sponsor logos slapped on everything and every square inch of the frame, but eh...I just don't care to know about betting. And let's not fool ourselves, the greater presence and ease of involvement has to be tempting for the 99% of the player ranking who can barely squeeze out a living.

 

[Zeno Marx]

Wimbledon started yesterday. I thought about it on Sunday, watching some pre-tournament stuff, but then I forgot about it until Monday night. I'm sure I've said it before, but I prefer the first three rounds at the Grand Slams. I like watching players I've never seen, the upsets, the new energy, the personal interest stories, etc.

I also like to see the other courts. I've never played on grass (or clay), so all I can do is dream about even trying. While Centre Court would be great, I see myself on Court 18. The posh club brick building is on one side (if you were a member and inside, you could watch from the 2nd floor windows), a small set of bleachers on one side, a wall garden on the other, and another set of bleachers on the remaining side. It's very cozy and beautiful. There are a couple other courts that are similar with ornate and cozy surroundings, but 18 is the one.

I wish they still played with white balls. Just something about them screamed LAWN TENNIS vs tennis.

 

[Zeno Marx]

If you aren't watching Jasmine Paolini, you're missing out. She's 5'3" or 5'4", depending on the source, has great hands, with a wide variety of shots, and is similar to Daria Kasatkina, but with a lot more power and speedy court coverage. She's not quite as chess-like as Radwanska or Hingis, but she doesn't have to be because of how quickly she moves. She's a ton of fun to watch. She's also evidence that playing doubles really pays off. Seems to be a super nice person as well.

Time for a little Europe lesson...Jannik Sinner is from the northern most province of Italy. Here's the weird one, at least for me: most people there speak German as their first language. I had no idea that part of Italy was a German region. I wondered why his accent didn't sound Italian. So many tennis players have lived all over the world, I guess I never was curious enough to find out why. That province is also the richest in Italy and is allowed to basically act autonomously, though still contributing tax wise. Europe is such a strange and complicated place.

Emma Navarro's, the new USA phenom, father is a billionaire and bought her a tennis academy where to train. Of course, she still had to put in the work and effort, but it does go to show you how much money is in tennis. I heard yesterday that it costs around $100K/year to train in development for kids in Europe. I'm sure it isn't much cheaper here in the States at one of the academies either.

Djokovic...oh, the ol' joker. He really rubs people the wrong way, and his little post-game performance, after beating Ruud, is a prime example of it. And directly after the last point, playing the racket like a violin to the crowd? This guy could win 40 Grand Slams, and he's never going to be warmly embraced by most crowds. And heck, the British crowd is generally warm to the greats, but he is not a likeable character. They just wanted more tennis and were rooting for the underdog. He tries to be fun and funny, but you can tell. Watch it on youtube. He also walked out of the press conference because he was asked about his post-game speech. Didn't like that he was being asked about his own words. Just an abrasive fella.