Skin In The Game

Catching up on some unfinished business, we promised a visit to the Australian Open last year and we did indeed go there.  Musings on the loveliness of Melbourne, the friendliness of the Aussies and the overall enjoyable experience are certainly not overstated.  It is a tennis tournament and vacation that will meet the loftiest of expectations.  It is, as one wag calls it, a happy Slam.

However, the Australian Open still comes with the added pressure, media exposure and financial rewards that make it a marquee tournament.  And perhaps it comes as no surprise that the sports gambling world would take advantage of this.  What did come as a surprise is the idea that the Australian Open would welcome a major online sports betting company with open arms – allowing a tournament sponsorship and a booth presence.  The non-profit, Tennis Australia, got a cut of the proceeds and on-line sports betting got a cut at legitimacy in the tennis community.

Though the dream of playing in a Grand Slam tournament is the impetus to persevere on the tennis court, many players now seem content to simply throw in the towel and employ their pocketbooks to revel in the glory of the elite players.  Last year’s Australian Open attracted up to $30 million dollars a match at on-line sports betting sites.  While Australians have a tradition of the friendly sports wager in their DNA, it remains to be seen whether the rest of us are as good in our skin.

-TtM

Marathon Men

Once in a while we do consider events to be of such a nature that they require us to drop what we are doing and respond to them.  Case in point is the Wimbledon match that recently took place between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut.  While we generally eschew lavishing undue praise upon professional tennis players that by their very title are only doing their job, we have to admit that a few eyebrows were raised. 

Of course we aren’t going to parrot the myriad statistics, timestamps and trivialities spewing from the fourth estate.  Let’s just say this match breaks the Wimbledon record for breaking the most Wimbledon records and leave it at that.

Upon further reflection though, the question arises: if these guys took 11 hours to do what the rest of us spend all day doing, what is noteworthy in that?  Well, the answer of course is right there in the  question – we saw ourselves and the greatness that we all are, engaging in the activity of everyday life.

Relegated to the outermost court and without fanfare, these two players simply held serve.  They held and held and held and held.  And in this day and age for many of us, simply holding on can be quite an extraordinary achievement.

-TtM

A European Affair

A famous Arizona politician once quipped after losing a presidential bid: “If I had to do it over, I’d be born in Texas”.  In competitive tennis circles, an equivalent comment could be made about Europe. 

Perusing the rankings landscape for both men and women, we see that 39 out of the top 50 men players and 38 out of the top 50 women players hail from Europe.  As the world population certainly does not break down along these statistical lines, we thought it would be of interest to check the event calendars for these elite men and women players.  What we find is 34 men’s events are held in Europe and 32 events are held in the rest of the world.  Likewise for women, 25 events are held in Europe and 32 events are held in the rest of the world.  Evidently, home crowds, home cooking and a great transportation infrastructure are the keys to tennis success.

“What about the rest of us?”, you may ask.  We can only offer guiding solace with more words of bumper sticker wisdom: 

“I wasn’t born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could”.

-TtM

A Hat Trick

After beating 3 current or former #1 players, Sam is only in the FO Final. Talking about injustice! Congratulation, Sam, I like your way of playing, no grunts, no fist pumping after every winning point, no fashion show, just beautiful tennis. WTA needs you badly.

- AtG

Djoker, don’t be a Lester Hayes

I remember that it was painful to watch Lester Hayes being interviewed after Raiders won a super bowl in the early 80′s as he stuttered mightily to complete a single sentence. Then I learned later that Lester didn’t have any stutter problems until he started making fun of another kid’ stutter by imitating. Soon he couldn’t talk without a stutter. So, Djoker, what did that tell you? Stop imitating Maria’s serves then your double fault woes would go away.

Djoker did not look like he believes he can win anymore with his body language in this morning’s match with Ginepri. Perhaps a better thing to imitate is Maria’s will to win; and with some luck, it may rub off on you, Djoker.

- AtG

NBC Conspiracy

Venus was eliminated today so I didn’t get a chance to watch her outfit that had caused many uproars. Thanks to the technology, I went to espn360.com and brought up her 3rd round match against Dominika Cibulkova, the girl who came with an eyelash of double-bageling Maria at last French Open. Well, I was disappointed. I wouldn’t have given it a 2nd thought; it was just another outfit. Okay, maybe a little more to grab attention just like a few more before her but Venus shouldn’t have needed that.

So the next thing could be that Venus wanted to make a fashion statement. I am not into fashion so I am not passing a judgment based on that. But I would much rather seeing a stylish player (Roger or Justine) than a stylish dresser (sorry, cannot remember anyone). I would go see a fashion show if I want to see fashion instead of tennis.

Given Venus is known for her class by many accounts, so this has to be a NBC rating conspiracy (like Roger’s jacket last Wimbledon). Americans have done so poorly in French Opens recently, NBC needs something to attract viewers. I think it is probably working because even some of my friends who are not tennis fans were talking about the dress. I think next year NBC needs to ask Andy to wear a tuxedo to match Maria’s cocktail dress, a sure fire to boost the ratings but it will only delay the inevitable if NBC insisting on showing tape-delayed sporting events on the West coast.

- AtG

Maria, the Robot?

I was watching Maria against Justine this morning and it dawned on me a couple of things. First, I do not dislike Maria as much as I used to; second, I still need to tune down the sound. I think she got rid of some of her annoying habits of bouncing around or fixing her hair before her serve. Maybe that was it.

Anyway, one of the commentators, John or Mary, was saying that you can never tell by Maria’s expression if she is losing or winning or who is she playing. I guess I have to give her credits there: it is a robotic quality that many fail to achieve. Okay, I will try not to pick on her and find something nice to say about her next time.

- AtG

Tsonga’s rights?

So Tsonga wanted to play on Monday or Tuesday but he got Sunday. Being #1 French player, should he have the rights to complain? Okay, let’s compare him to a normal Joe in a dead-end office job. If the best sales guy in the company said he didn’t feel well to get a deal done on Sunday and would like to do it on Monday or Tuesday, should the company accommodate him? Maybe or maybe not, depending on if he is well liked or not perhaps. Maybe this was the French federation way of telling Tsonga that “we didn’t like you enough to give your dues; perhaps you should shape up in the future.” But, of course, Tsonga got himself into this precarious position because of himself so this would only get worse not better, just like a feuding couple. Oh well, we are allowed to complain just not so high-profiled.

- AtG

Federer the Great

Did Roger Federer finally win the French Open? Yes.
Did a great weight drop from his shoulders? You bet.

Standing in the Parisian “boue”, with the “pluie” masking his tears, Roger Federer composed himself enough to thank his supporters and mention that the French Cup was too heavy to hold.

Is he the greatest of all time? Who are we to say?

Addressing the question on everyone’s mind as to his thoughts on not having to face Rafael Nadal to win the tournament, he was unconvincing – saying of Nadal’s premature exit from the French tournament, “I didn’t wish for it, but I believed in it”.

Quotes are subject to interpretation – but what is inescapable is the idea that Roger Federer, conceivably from a very young age, is both author and protagonist of his own fairy tale.

And so it was to be in Chapter 14, the White Knight-Errant in the person of Robin Soderling, simply happy to be the trivial curiosity of an historical footnote in some tennis journalist’s encyclopedia, slaying the Clay Dragon. Also, simply happy to be playing in front of a large number of tennis spectators (hailing from a country which no longer admits them).

Though only Roger knows the length of this storybook, he has undoubtedly etched the words “and they lived happily ever after” on the back page.

-TtM

Pictures at an Exhibition

International Women’s Day just passed yesterday.  Can we talk?

I am for equal pay for the professional men and women at the Grand Slam tournaments.  As for the best of 5 vs. best of 3 format argument, I recommend that the men play best of 3 until the final; the same applies for the women.  There is no need for best of 5 in earlier rounds , as everything should be decided in 3 sets and non-title matches are not worthy of our attention for any longer – however compelling the matchup may be.

A more pressing matter is the Billie Jean King Cup affair.  Here we have Billie Jean, Tennis Night in America, the USTA, the Williams sisters, HBO, Madison Square Garden, Bill Clinton and of course Jelena and Ana together to glamorize our sport.  With flashbulbs and dollars aplenty, the Williams sisters thankfully made it to the final and the exhibition went off without a hitch.  

Billie Jean King seems to be on a crusade not just for women’s rights but to change tennis as we know it.  These exhibitions along with her World Team Tennis are meant to be more “fan friendly” but what this really means is that tennis must change  to satisfy the rancid masses.  We only want to watch the stars, have no Ad scoring, play net serves, cheer when we like and walk around the stands.  All this in the name of “saving the sport” from itself.

If the USTA doesn’t watch out, tennis will go the way of volleyball and become a rally scoring, beach hugging affair in everyone’s eyes and no one will play the traditional sport that we know today.   That would be a spectacle unworthy of an exhibition.

-TtM