Didn’t realize Serbia was so snowy and cold. Was expecting to see Ruud not Djokovic in that last bit! What, yet another purposeless exhibition from our gladiators?! The f**k…
AI coming to Wimbledon! Wimbledon: Line judges to be removed and electronic calling brought in from 2025
Nadal retiring from tennis. Rafael Nadal retires: 22-time Grand Slam champion confirms retirement from tennis aged 38 One of the all time greats. What an amazing career Rafa has had.
I don't think there will be a better clay court player in our life time. I also think he changed the game considerably. The physical side of the game, while always important, became the #1 thing most players were looking to improve, primarily to do with the freak athlete that is Nadal.
Drug cheat. Didn't he have the same doctor as Lance Armstrong, which would explain a lot of things, especially his remarkably quick recovery from injury time and time again.
Don't know - there was all that stuff about Spanish sportsmen and women being implicated in some sort of drugs scandal generally but nothing been proven.
It'll make tennis look weird on TV with no line judges behind the far end and no-one loudly shouting FAULT! every couple of minutes. But I suppose it's inevitable and a positive development because it basically ensures 100% accuracy in line calls now. And while the McEnroe style meltdowns over line calls were a big part of the spectacle in the past, in recent years it's mostly been eradicated by Hawkeye challenges anyway. And emotionally charged tennis players frustrated at their performance will just find other things to get angry about like the crowd behaviour, their opponent taking too long and things like that so there will still be outbursts.
I dunno. US and Aussie Opens already have used Hawk-Eye and no line judges for a few years. I’m well used to it by now for big events anyway. Wimbledon finally entering the 21st century. It was utterly ridiculous to not play the middle Sunday (prime viewing day) until the change a couple years ago that retired Manic Monday. Next up: get rid of the ‘predominantly white’ clothing ordinance.
In Britain, Wimbledon is by far the biggest tennis event of the year and for most people the only tennis they watch all year is at Wimbledon because it's available free to air on the BBC while almost all other tennis is behind a pay wall on paid for sports channels and streaming services. So in this country, it'll be a noticeable change for most people watching. I can't see it being very controversial though because the 100% accuracy of the electronic system is clearly a huge improvement over traditional line judges and any nostalgic complaints about it 'looking weird' will quickly disappear when the clear benefits become apparent. I don't agree about getting rid of the 'predominantly white' clothing rule though. It's pointless and archaic but it's part of the character of the event and helps to give Wimbledon a unique appearance on TV and differentiate it from other tournaments. In a world that is becoming increasingly homogenised with the unique identities and characteristics of different countries and tournaments being gradually eroded, I think it's important to preserve things like this when it doesn't have a detrimental impact on the performance of the players. And clearly wearing white doesn't have any performance impact.
Being the only remaining major tennis event played on grass, surely that is what distinguishes Wimbledon. Well, that, along with the blancmanges and Agnus Podgorny.
Oh crap…forgot to record the Tennis Channel events before going to bed last night. Did watch all the Shanghai and Wuhan semis yesterday, though. Well, not a spoiler. Djokovic looked pretty gassed after handling the going-nowhere-special Taylor Fritz. I figured Sinner would beat him after he defeated a lively bring-back-the-short-shorts Tomas Machac.
Nadal retiring will be a sad day for the sport. Legend of the game and a complete warrior. He was my favourite to watch, of the big 3.
Huge for Taylor Fritz to defeat Zverev to get to the final match of the ATP Finals in Turin. Gritty win. Not yet totally sold on his potential to win a Major, or even this (Sinner his likely opponent tomorrow) but a positive direction for a guy who struggles in the biggest matches.
Andy Murray is going to coach Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open. That is an interesting move for both of them.
Definitely interesting. Despite their on court rivalry and occasional political differences over things like the covid vaccine I think they've always been relatively close and they go right the way back to boys tennis. Be interesting to see how it'll work with Murray obviously having no coaching experience. What is it that Novak thinks Andy can bring?
