2018 In Between Grand Slam Thread

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Perhaps she just didn't read her emails :pac: Interesting that she's blaming the ITF though, not sure that will work in her favour. Should be interesting to see how it pans out anyway.

She claims she has valid reasons for missing them and the fact she took 20 others in competition should be enough to prove she's clean. There's a few athletes have gotten away with missing tests before, what was Mo Farrah's excuse? Didn't hear the doorbell?

mickmackey1

Ah so that's how she somehow managed to beat Gorgeous

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Not sure if it was mentioned but Bernard Tomic is doing the Australian version of I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

https://twitter.com/tennis_photos/status/957565629292339202

Hector Savage

Christ is that what Tomic is doing ??? ... he still has time to sort his head out I really hope he cops on .

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Apparently today's episode ended with him in the diary room thing saying he wanted to speak to the producers because he wants to leave.

TomSweeney

Sorry I posted this on the AO thread too, but in case people are no longer reading it

Just listening to RTE Sean O Rourke
Embarassing.

So Federer won his 6th grand slam, and a few years back was in tears after losing to Andy Murray(!) in a wimbledon final - embarrasing really!
This is the national broadcaster and in this information age there is no excuse to get such easy facts to check wrong !!!

Terrible journalism.

yerwanthere123

Sometimes I get truly exasperated with Tomic, then I remember that he's obviously a deeply damaged individual. The delusion is still unreal, still talking of getting into the top ten, top five etc but with seemingly no understanding of the work that it would take to get there. And just last night on I'm A Celebrity blaming the big four as to why he's never cracked the top 5, or whatever it was he said. Again, just utterly deluded, but sad in another sense I guess.

Both Sharapova and Azarenka have wild cards into Doha. Whether this means Azarenka will be able to or even expects to be able to play is another thing. Plenty of good WTA tennis to look forward to in February with Doha/Dubai, pretty much nothing on the ATP side until March, excluding the possibility of Federer taking a WC into Dubai to try and regain the #1 ranking.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

^ Azarenka has apparently hired a new coach so it looks like she's making serious plans to return. I wasn't expecting to see her so soon but I suppose her fitness should be fine, it would just be match fitness she's lacking.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Bernie has quit the jungle. You can follow his long weekend in this twitter thread.
https://twitter.com/pluckyloser/status/957910612494856192

Pistachios & cream

Thats a brilliant twitter thread. Tomic is being shown up for the idiot he actually is.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

ahayes84 wrote: »

Thats a brilliant twitter thread. Tomic is being shown up for the idiot he actually is.

I don't know if idiot is the right word. I mean, he is a bit but there's obviously some serious issues there.

Pistachios & cream

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

I don't know if idiot is the right word. I mean, he is a bit but there's obviously some serious issues there.

True. A better representation of what i mean is that i find much of his behaviour idiotic.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I'm no expert but he seems like someone who had every aspect of his life controlled from a very early age and doesn't have a clue how to function as an adult. It's kind of sad but at the same time he's had plenty of offers of help.

yerwanthere123

Apparently he promised that psychic wan in the jungle he was going to seek help when he leaves.. but I can't help but feel he'll be pictured rolling out of some nightclub the moment he lands back in Australia.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Apparently he promised that psychic wan in the jungle he was going to seek help when he leaves.. but I can't help but feel he'll be pictured rolling out of some nightclub the moment he lands back in Australia.

Are they not in Australia?

yerwanthere123

No, the Australian one is filmed in South Africa.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

No, the Australian one is filmed in South Africa.

That's mad. It's not like they're all living in the Aussie jungle 24/7 in their normal lives.
It wasn't always in South Africa, was it? I remember reading one year how they had to evacuate the camp because an escaped convict or something was on the loose in the area. Sure that was in Australia. Anyway, it's irrelevant now Bernie is out.

Chivito550

Is there any chance at all that somebody other than Rafa will win the French this year? Who are the most likely?

yerwanthere123

Chivito550 wrote: »

Is there any chance at all that somebody other than Rafa will win the French this year? Who are the most likely?

Well will be easier to know closer to the time, but Federer and Murray probably won't play, and difficult to know where Djokovic will be then. Thiem is a possibility is he realises that playing a tournament almost every second week isn't a good idea. If he's healthy then a redlining Wawrinka is usually the best shot, but right now it doesn't look like there'll be many who can realistically challenge him.

Lisicki is into the Taipei QF's in her comeback tournament, as well as Bouchard, who's won consecutive matches for the first time since May. Mladenovic has finally snapped her losing streak, beating Cibulkova and winning a match for the first time since July.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I didn't realise Lisicki had surgery. I thought she'd just faded into obscurity.

Rekop dog

Ireland got promoted in Davis cup last year but not sending their best two players to the first match today. Apparently James McGee doesn't have the funding to go on tour this year. Given the corruption which led to the appointment of former FAI man Richard Fahey over a highly qualified candidate its no surprise Tennis Ireland remains in the doldrums.

yerwanthere123

Rekop dog wrote: »

Ireland got promoted in Davis cup last year but not sending their best two players to the first match today. Apparently James McGee doesn't have the funding to go on tour this year. Given the corruption which led to the appointment of former FAI man Richard Fahey over a highly qualified candidate its no surprise Tennis Ireland remains in the doldrums.

Where did you hear that about James? I can't find anything about it. Cause I mean if tennis Ireland can't even send our best player on tour for the year, Idk...

Rekop dog

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Where did you hear that about James? I can't find anything about it. Cause I mean if tennis Ireland can't even send our best player on tour for the year, Idk...

Dave Miley Tennis on Facebook. Reputable source.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Where did you hear that about James? I can't find anything about it. Cause I mean if tennis Ireland can't even send our best player on tour for the year, Idk...

I don't know, McGee will be 31 in a few months. Depending on how much Tennis Ireland has to spend there's probably an argument to be made for giving it to the younger players who might still achieve things like Simon Carr.

mickmackey1

Reports that Djokovic has had surgery on his hand... in Switzerland. No word on how long he'll be out.

yerwanthere123

Either way, McGee is still our best player by a long shot. He's made a grand slam main draw, albeit only once, and has been close on a number of other occasions. I find it very difficult to believe that they can't muster up the money some place, I mean how much would he even need? Where's all the extortionate club fees that people pay going? I'd seriously question TI's dedication to their players, particularly given the fact how little they even bother promoting them on social media, as James himself noted. I wonder whether it has anything to do with the fact James publicly called them out when they appointed someone from the FAI (!) as their new CEO.

Anyway, Mladenovic is into the St. Petersburg final, hugely impressive given she's coming off a fifteen match losing streak. She'll play Kvitova for the title.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I'm sure McGee said once that it would take about 50k to fund just a player on the tour for a year. If you want a coach or anyone else with you it doubles.

I'm not saying they should just sack him off but if money is tight there has to come a point where you think about spreading the cash over two or three younger players that might still kick on to bigger things.

Of course with all things Irish there is always the possibility of corruption or dodgy dealings.

Rekop dog

It's farcically corrupt, not even subtle. Same in most higher echelons of Irish sport. I remember Derval O Rourke tweeting about opening of the national indoor centre in Abbotstown and the board was 12 businessmen with zero athletics experience. Just jobs for the lads spread out among the high paying CEO and similarly elite positions.

Royale with Cheese

Has anybody ever bought tickets to the ATP finals in London? You can get presale tickets at the moment for any of the group stage days, but not for the semis/final.

Tbh my main concern would be to see Federer, so buying a ticket for the group stage gives me a 50% chance of that (assuming he qualifies). Do semi finals tickets become publicly available in the general sale?

RosyLily

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Has anybody ever bought tickets to the ATP finals in London? You can get presale tickets at the moment for any of the group stage days, but not for the semis/final.

Tbh my main concern would be to see Federer, so buying a ticket for the group stage gives me a 50% chance of that (assuming he qualifies). Do semi finals tickets become publicly available in the general sale?

Semi-final and final tickets are available in general sale. I got one a few years ago, Federer vs. Tsonga. Great atmosphere at it!

mickmackey1

Apparently Fed has taken a wildcard for Rotterdam :eek::eek: Will be World No 1 if he reaches the semis.

NoviGlitzko

Great decision and delighted I can see the great man sooner rather than later.

jr86

Why not! Loves the indoors and I'm sure he'll get the number 1 back.

He feels good now and I'd doubt we'll see him between Indian Wells and Grass Court Season so he may aswell play here and maybe even Dubai

yerwanthere123

Post Meldonium life is rough for Sharapova, losing to Niculescu in Doha :eek:

yerwanthere123

So that lovely Macedonian Darko Grncarov kinda isn't real

Rob2D

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

So that lovely Macedonian Darko Grncarov kinda isn't real

Oh man that's awesome. I didn't hear anything about that.

I wonder if he's a top tier troll or just a bit touched.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

He apparently gave an interview on TV in Macedonia "in character" so I'd say top tier

I remember looking him up and thinking his story was amazing but I did find it odd that none of the pictures he posted ever had his face in them. Didn’t quite make the leap to this being the reason though

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

It gets better....

https://twitter.com/DarkoGrncarov/status/963429571268890624?ref_src=twcamp%5Eshare%7Ctwsrc%5Em5%7Ctwgr%5Eemail%7Ctwcon%5E7046%7Ctwterm%5E1

yerwanthere123

It was a terrific article by the usually clownish Rothenberg. In the immediate fallout it seems a lot of people were suspicious for a long time, or perhaps they're just saying that to avoid looking stupid now. I believed his story offhand, I guess cause I had no reason not to? Perhaps if I cared enough and dug a little deeper then I'd have got suspicious. The only thing that did strike me as odd was how vocally he apparently supported gay rights given the part of the world he's from. So yeah, very odd indeed.

So he's only ever played one professional match, and that was a 0-6 0-6 loss in the first round of a qualifying tournament in Montenegro? For sh*ts and giggles I'd love if the ATP actually did give him a WC into one of those tournaments he claimed he was gonna get one into :pac: I still have a lot of questions after reading the article though, I mean do we even know what he looks like? Is that one minute video from Macedonian tv actually him? And who is this guy that often shows up in searches for him? And how did he not get rumbled sooner when most of his photos/videos were being taken from the account of a Spanish junior player? An amazing story, overall.

It's a bit crazy he's now rejoined Twitter, he's either an epic troll or a headcase, but either way the game's up now.

yerwanthere123

Pretty serious allegation made by Donald Young about Ryan Harrison last night

https://twitter.com/Yimlife1313/status/963277551677378562?ref_src=twcamp%5Ecopy%7Ctwsrc%5Eandroid%7Ctwgr%5Ecopy%7Ctwcon%5E7090%7Ctwterm%5E0

jr86

Remember he started abusing Kokkinakis in a match because of the Kyrgios incident

He seems a right tool

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I saw someone on twitter say there's some other lower ranked player he apparently had words with at some point too.

jr86

A win tonight against Robin Haase assures Federer of the number 1 spot.

Completely deserved, even playing a tailored and reduced schedule

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Wozniacki not exactly covering herself in glory this week. Fighting with umpires and complaining about opponents on court. Not very becoming for the World #1.

mickmackey1

Greatest Of All Time In All Sports.

Chivito550

mickmackey1 wrote: »

Greatest Of All Time In All Sports.

How do we compare across sports though?

For example, Edwin Moses was unbeaten for 122 straight races over 400m hurdles from August 1977 to June 1987. 9 years, 9 months and 9 days without defeat. After this defeat, he went on to win another 10 races straight.

He won Olympic gold in 1976 and 1984, and was robbed by the US boycott in 1980. He also won the inaugural world championship title in 1983, and defended his title 4 years later in 1987, before bowing out of the sport with Olympic bronze in 1988 in the final race of his career.

All these years on, he remains the second fastest man in history, with only a freak run surpassing him. He ran under 48 seconds an outrageous 45 times during his career.

He’s just one example of pure greatness. Is he better than Federer? I don’t know how we can compare really.

Recency bias is a huge factor in these discussions.

yerwanthere123

On the Ryan Harrison thing, this was posted a couple of days ago.
https://twitter.com/Mike_Bruno55/status/963928659244568576

Harrison has subsequently been cleared of all racial accusations. He's clearly a dick, but racist? I hope not.

Speaking of dicks, Wozniacki is always arguing with the umpires. She argued with at least three at the Australian Open, and was mocking Niculescu's grunt yesterday I imagine she's kept quiet whenever she's played Azarenka or Sharapova. Anyway, hope Kvitova can take care of business tomorrow :cool:

NoviGlitzko

Yeah wouldn't be too keen on Caroline either. Though i've watched Niculescu play and regardless of the grunt she has the WORST play style I've ever seen. She makes Errani look like a ball basher.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

The thing about Harrison is he may well be saying racially motivated things but not everyone judges racism on the same scale. If he had called Young the N word then it would have been obvious to everyone who heard it. If he said something like "that's what you people all do" well not everyone who overhears that is going to jump immediately to racism but it very well could be racially motivated.

My opinion of Harrison is that he's a casual racist. He may genuinely believe he isn't and he may not be marching with the KKK but I think from a lot of things he says and does he's got some prejudices, at the very least.