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The Tennis Thread

Discussion in 'Other Sports' started by malakas, Sep 13, 2015.

  1. Pbev99

    Pbev99 Member

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    I think they did show this on ESPN. I thought his reaction was justified with the way the crowd was acting. Novak showed pretty good restraint considering what he was dealing with.
     
  2. Pbev99

    Pbev99 Member

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    The crowd was annoying. It's one thing to cheer for Fed but making noise during Novak's serve and cheering every error he made crossed the line IMO.
     
  3. FranchiseBlade

    FranchiseBlade Contributing Member
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    Djokovic did handle it. He handled it well, and he won. That doesn't mean the crowd should be yelling while they are serving.

    I think it was during the Cincinnati tournament or perhaps in Canada when the umpire told the noisy folks in the crowd to please be quiet because people were there to watch tennis not listen to their noise, and the camera showed who it was that made the noise. It was awesome because it shamed the trouble maker into shutting the hell up.

    The umpire should have done the same thing last night.
     
  4. jdh008

    jdh008 Member

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    I'll start by making sure to note that I'm a year-round tennis fan. I watch all four majors, sure, but I'm also the guy who watches the random ATP 250s, 500s, and WTA Internationals that come on Tennis Channel at odd hours.

    I say that because I don't want to be labeled as a casual tennis fan or a typical American tennis fan when I say that I don't mind that the US Open crowd does things like cheer errors or openly roots for one player over another.

    Perhaps cheering during a player's service motion is a little much, I will allow, but outside of that, I think it's part of the personality of the US Open. The fans were squarely behind Federer, so they were happy to see Djokovic's errors. That's the way sports works a lot of times. In baseball, fans cheer errors. In basketball, airballs are cheered, and worse yet, mocked. I guess I just don't have a ton of patience for the sport getting huffy about a lack of decorum at a sporting event.

    I actually like Djokovic as a player and person (although I was rooting for Federer). He seems like a nice guy, he seems generous with his time when it comes to doing promotional and/or charity work for the ATP, and he comes across as personable. But I really don't think he helps himself by making it so blatantly obvious that he is perturbed by the lack of fan support when he's on the court. I think that just makes it worse.
     
  5. malakas

    malakas Member

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    I ask again..so WHAT IF the crowd cheers for errors?? Some are fans who spent all that money to go cheer for Federer, they are not just tennis fans who go cheer for good tennis in general.
    Besides, this was nothing. I remember the USopen crowd actually booing Agassi's opponents at the later stage of his carreer.

    I think we as tennis fans should start going with the times some more. If a player can't serve well because an idiot in the crowd yells then he doesn't deserve to be champion anyway.
    Where is the mental toughness?
    I was like you, a hardcore tennis fan. (though only the ATP). Even followed some satellites.:eek:
    Tennis enjoys the best era in history. We have multiple living legends currently play. It has brought many new fans and with it more excitement.
    And yet most times even the fans who are not familiar with tennis ettiquete they still shut up during serves.
    We have the best behaved fans of any major sport and yet here we are whining about it. Like it's some kind of unprecented disgrace.
     
  6. FranchiseBlade

    FranchiseBlade Contributing Member
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    I don't care if people were for Fed or not. I don't care if they were for Novak or not. If you are going to a tennis match, you should follow the etiquette. There's a reason why they don't allow people into their seats during points. There's a reason why the umpires will request the audience to be quiet during serves.

    Players deserve it. The rest of the tennis fans who want to see the best tennis deserve it. The few a-holes that think it's okay or fun and funny to cheer during a service motion should watch it on television.

    Cheering for service errors is just stupid because that isn't a case of the player a fan is cheering for, doing anything good.

    Novak had the mental toughness to win anyway.

    But it wasn't just during Novak's serve, there were idiots screaming out during Roger's serve as well.

    As a fan I'd rather see the best tennis that players I'm cheering for or against can play. I just want the best games and matches possible.

    Tennis is a game built around allowing the players to concentrate and not have distractions. It's the reason why the rules allow for hindrance calls and penalties if a ball falls out of a player's pocket, or their hat falls off their head during a point, or whatever.

    It's how the game is designed.
     
  7. apollo33

    apollo33 Member

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    pretty stupid if you ask me. The game design in a cop out in my opinion. You can say that about any sport, the crowd should be quiet when a player takes a free throw, the crowd should be quiet what a soccer player takes penalty shot. It's not like those things takes less concentration than a tennis serve.

    too many etiquettes ruin the spectator experience, tennis should adapt because the people watching these games are getting older and older.
     
  8. SwoLy-D

    SwoLy-D Contributing Member

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    People get in your face in football? There are at least 10 feet between players, sidelines, etc., and fans... are you sure? I've never seen that. Got links? :confused: Seriously, I've never seen it.

    They are closer to players in basketball and in Tennis, I think.
     
  9. FranchiseBlade

    FranchiseBlade Contributing Member
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    It is different because it's a different sport. It also requires different concentration than making a free throw. Part of what a server does is watch his opponent, and make minute adjustments. When taking a FT there isn't usually an opponent that needs to be watched.

    Again it's part of the game for tennis. Even Fed cup when fans are noisy as hell will be quiet during a serve. There are times to cheer and be noisy, and times when it's not part of the game.

    I guess if it bothered people enough they could come with their own crowd distraction tennis league, and try and attract players to make that a viable option. But right now it is expressly not part of the game.
     
  10. malakas

    malakas Member

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    Yeah well the game was also designed to have wooden racquets and played on grass.
    I ALSO want to watch the best quality tennis as possible (let's be honest. The USopen final wasn't the best quality and it had nothing to do with the fans, the finalists weren't in their best day).
    But this is nitpicking.
    I don't see anyone (who isn't hardcore at least) counting the seconds between serves when Djokovic or Nadal spent bouncing the ball!!
    Or the illegal coaching that goes on. Tennis afterall supposedly shouldn't have coaching advices.

    And about "that's the way the sport was supposed to be" let's talk about the main issue here. The schedule. The slams are in the wrong times and we have to suffer EVERY single year again and again through the same crappy rain delays. Should we respect tradition that much when it goes in the way of logic?
    If someone wanted the best tennis they should advocate to finish the tradition so we can also have a bigger grasscourt season instead of this sample of grass we have today.
    Cheering for unforced errors or a small minority of the fans not managing to keep quiet between serves is nothing compared to the real issues.

    You are wrong. Tennis has more and more young and new fans which is why you often see that the ettiquette isn't followed so much anymore. The reason is that it is going through a golden era of HOFers that have attracted multiple new fans. And if the USTA manages to produce one more bright young talent there will be a more spike in interest in the US as well.
    Yes they get in your face in football. I don't have to show you any links just go watch some Serie A or smth. If you haven't seen it it's because you maybe don't watch any football.
     
  11. FranchiseBlade

    FranchiseBlade Contributing Member
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    I'm not saying crowd noise is the biggest issue or the most important issue. But I get sick of hearing it when I'm trying to watch a guy serve. It's rude by the fans and its disrespectful. They should be kicked out of the venue after more than one warning. They are jackasses.

    As far as coaching, there are tournaments where coaching visits are allowed on the court. But it isn't supposed to be allowed during the majors. So some rules aren't consistent for all tournaments. Fan expectations of quiet during serve are consistent, and it's always expected.
     
  12. jdh008

    jdh008 Member

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    A mixed bag today for the US in Davis Cup action against Uzbekistan.

    Steve Johnson lost a five-setter to Denis Istomin in heart breaking fashion. Johnson served for the match in the fifth set (an ugly set that featured numerous service breaks, including five in a row at one point), but Istomin just played steadier tennis down the stretch.

    Ultimately, although it would have been big to have Johnson start things off with a win, that was a coin flip match. Istomin has been a solid Top-50ish player for a long time now, and he has tons of Davis Cup experience as Uzbekistan's number one.

    Then, in the second singles rubber, Jack Sock took care of business, as he should have, against Farrukh Dustov.

    With no Bryan brothers in this Davis Cup tie, the doubles point is huge. Johnson and Querrey are set to play for the US, but that could change. I wouldn't be shocked if Sock ends up substituting, given his recent success in doubles partnering with Vasek Pospisil.
     
  13. I am a Donut

    I am a Donut Contributing Member

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    I am in love with Simona Halep. She's looking better than ever this year.
     
  14. KingCheetah

    KingCheetah Contributing Member

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    [​IMG]

    Agreed.
     
  15. tmactoyao

    tmactoyao Member

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    Halep loses to a girl who is 0-14 in all her grand slam matches.
     
  16. PhiSlammaJamma

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    Uh oh. Tennis turning to the darkside.
     
  17. jdh008

    jdh008 Member

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    I think the match fixing story that broke this week was much ado about nothing. It made its way onto mainstream news, which was new ground for stories like this, but among people who follow and/or cover tennis day-to-day, this was nothing new.

    The Tennis Integrity Unit operates with zero transparency, so we're all left to assume that they're largely doing nothing since bans for match fixing come along rarely, and usually only involve players playing on the low-levels of tennis' minor leagues.

    Match fixing happens in tennis fairly often, and probably will as long as betting is allowed on a point-by-point, game-by-game basis. Players can easily throw a game or two during the course of the match, not really have it affect the overall outcome, and no one is the wiser. Most of the guys on the low levels of the tour are actually losing money, or barely braking even, by chasing their dream, so it's easy to see how they could be convinced to take thousands of dollars to simply make a few errors at a certain point of the match to drop a game or two.

    Of late, there have been reports that Djokovic threw a match back in 2007, but I think this is a situation where most have failed to understand and take into account the distinction between fixing a match and tanking a match, which are two very different things. The quote floating around from the report is that Djokovic "wanted to lose the match" in question, which was at a Masters Series event late in the season in 2007. But accounts of that match point to the fact that Djokovic hadn't been feeling well leading up to the match, and he was also getting ready to leave to head to the World Tour Finals, at that time taking place in China, which is the most prestigious tournament outside of the four majors in a given year.

    Is there a chance that he lost the match in question on purpose so that he could get some rest to recover and so that he could start making his way to China to prepare for his next tournament? Yes, absolutely, and that would fall under tanking the match. But I think it's much, much less likely that Djokovic did anything in that match for the sake of winning someone (or himself) a bunch of money from betting taking place on the match, which would be fixing the match.
     
  18. malakas

    malakas Member

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    Yeah when I used to watch a lot of tennis I had seen many players tanking matches. Especially the headcases. One call from the umpire that they found unfair and a little meltdown and that was it. Or that the player doesn't even want to be there. The big names after all are paid to participate in tournies.

    As for the match fixing I wouldn't be surprised if in the bellow 250 a lot of match fixing is going on. The players dont' even make it even. Heck Davydenko used to sleep in his brother car while travelling all over europe because he didn't have money.

    Anyway..sad that Federer lost again :(
     
  19. tmactoyao

    tmactoyao Member

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    Serena struggling to get to 22, just like when she struggled to get to 18. She puts way too much pressure on herself to break these records. Missed so many net points. 46 unforced errors in the final.

    Happy for Kerber though. She produces some of the best matches against the top players.
     
  20. dockerland

    dockerland Contributing Member

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    Was a brilliant final to win, Kerber was the better player on the night without a doubt and managed to hold her nerve (except for the break when serving for the match the first time) Good to see her get some success in the majors, has all the tools but failed to take advantage of it so far in the slams.

    Serena very gracious in defeat.
     

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