Nadal will apparently sit out the rest of the season... then again, the dude is a walking ambulance.
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robow7 said:Maria is a cash cow to the WTA and because of the miserable state of the current women's play, with few owning any star power available to sell their product, they need her back in the game asap and weren't ready for her to retire.
WTA has become a big joke to a lot of the possible audience due to all the screaming. That's a bigger problem than the competition, dope, or star power of it's individual stars I think.gregrowlerson said:robow7 said:Maria is a cash cow to the WTA and because of the miserable state of the current women's play, with few owning any star power available to sell their product, they need her back in the game asap and weren't ready for her to retire.
I am pretty sure that the WTA has a fairly stable (and not massive) audience number, regardless of Sharapova's participation. Some of the best players will always be stars in the eyes of fans; for me personally I don't see a recent reduction in the standard or entertainment of play. It's mostly based on power, but has been ever since Graf really. Hingis broke that down briefly, and perhaps Henin, but we still have Radwanska today for example who is very prominent.
Re Sharapova and star power: Unless you are talking about a Kournikova type of factor, but in reality there are always going to be a number of players on the tour with sex appeal.
This isn't like Jordan in basketball or Armstrong in cycling (both increased the popularity of their sports significantly worldwide). I doubt that many have become - or would become - permanent fans of women's tennis due to Maria Sharapova.
this should settle that:Red Rick said:How sure are we that they just didn't photoshop Nadal's left arm from 2007 on her?
fair point.Anyway, a skiers having bigger arms than tennis players is not surprising it all. A bunch of variables determine how hard you can hit a ball, and muscle mass isn't one of them and only slows you down. Unless you're swinging a 2kg racket.
I partially agree.The Hitch said:I just read that when Wawrinka won the US title last year, he was the oldest males singles winner since before Aggasi and Samprass were even born (1970). Which I thought was an error for sure because I remember when Pete won it in 2002 he was old and a shadow of his former self and used every last ounce of energy he had to get to the final and never played another game.
But I looked it up and yes, Wawrinka now is older than Samprass was then. And yet he destroyed Roidkovic in that final, physically. Crazy how a sport for teenagers and mid 20 year olds magically turned into a game for people in their late 20's and early 30's over the last few years.
I wonder what the average age of a GT winner in our thing has been this decade, and the average age of a GS winner too.
King Boonen said:Tennis season underway. Evans... What's the general feeling?
Remmie123 said:King Boonen said:Tennis season underway. Evans... What's the general feeling?
I didn't watch the match, however Evans, certainly in the British press has been thought of as a huge waste of talent. I believe he's been around the top 100 for a decent amount of time now. Beating Cilic and Thiem is no reason to sound alarms just yet, lets see how far he gets.
King Boonen said:Remmie123 said:King Boonen said:Tennis season underway. Evans... What's the general feeling?
I didn't watch the match, however Evans, certainly in the British press has been thought of as a huge waste of talent. I believe he's been around the top 100 for a decent amount of time now. Beating Cilic and Thiem is no reason to sound alarms just yet, lets see how far he gets.
http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/players/daniel-evans/e687/rankings-history
Seems to have made steady progress but that's two big scalps (his first two as well). Hardcourt favours guys like Cilic doesn't it?
King Boonen said:I really don't know enough about tennis to get too involved. Konta again seems to be on a fairly steady progression but I have no idea about strength in depth etc. in mens' or womens' tennis to know if this is expected, strange, not representative etc:
http://www.wtatennis.com/players/player/13120/title/johanna-konta
sniper said:The UK doesn't have a great tennis history in the post-Fred Perry and post-Virginia Wade era.
I'd say it's slightly 'suspect' to see two UK talents emerge like this, with Murray already being nr1, but people will put it down to Andy Murray's popularity giving UK tennis an injection, and there's probably some truth in that. Anyway, it's a bit of a golden era for British tennis.
The Belgian situation in the early 00s was slightly more suspect when Henin and Clijsters emerged simultaneously at the very top of women's tennis. People speculated about a silent ban for Henin when she retired in 07 being nr1 in the world. Tried a comeback 18 months later but failed.
sniper said:The UK doesn't have a great tennis history in the post-Fred Perry and post-Virginia Wade era.
I'd say it's slightly 'suspect' to see two UK talents emerge like this, with Murray already being nr1, but people will put it down to Andy Murray's popularity giving UK tennis an injection, and there's probably some truth in that. Anyway, it's a bit of a golden era for British tennis.
The Belgian situation in the early 00s was slightly more suspect when Henin and Clijsters emerged simultaneously at the very top of women's tennis. People speculated about a silent ban for Henin when she retired in 07 being nr1 in the world. Tried a comeback 18 months later but failed.
fair points.King Boonen said:sniper said:The UK doesn't have a great tennis history in the post-Fred Perry and post-Virginia Wade era.
I'd say it's slightly 'suspect' to see two UK talents emerge like this, with Murray already being nr1, but people will put it down to Andy Murray's popularity giving UK tennis an injection, and there's probably some truth in that. Anyway, it's a bit of a golden era for British tennis.
The Belgian situation in the early 00s was slightly more suspect when Henin and Clijsters emerged simultaneously at the very top of women's tennis. People speculated about a silent ban for Henin when she retired in 07 being nr1 in the world. Tried a comeback 18 months later but failed.
Not for these two. Konta, An Aussie born, naturalised Brit who started playing there then her parents move to England when she was 14 and attending a tennis academy in Spain, is unlikely to count Murray among her heroes. Evans is only 3 years younger than Murray. He may look up to him but he was set on playing tennis before Murray came onto the scene in any significant way.
sniper said:from the ski thread, Marit Bjoergen making Serena look average
red_flanders said:sniper said:from the ski thread, Marit Bjoergen making Serena look average
Good heavens. Cleans.
T_S_A_R said:Super skinny Djokovic beaten by a wild card entrant.