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Anyone else here a tennis fan?


Fiz

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I love watching tennis vonRothbart! I think the pleasure you get (or don't get) from watching individual players must be down to issues other than skill in part. I find Djokovic entertaining.

Really missing the tennis this week!

Edited by sarahw
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I came across this lovely quote the other day which pretty much summarises why I don't find Djokovic entertaining: 

 

"He’s so efficient, so cautious, so good at choosing the precise moments at which to abandon that caution for devastating aggression, so quick, so flexible, so fit, and so strong that he almost takes the tennis out of tennis, like a computer that’s solved chess." http://grantland.com/the-triangle/deus-ex-machina-accepting-the-cyborg-ian-glory-of-novak-djokovic-at-wimbledon/

 

I have to admit that he's very effective, though.

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Not if you're only on free-to-air telly.  Still, I've still got quite a bit of Queen's, Eastbourne and even the French Open still to get rid of from the hard drive.  That'll have to keep me going until the WTFinals in November.  Oh, and there's Davis Cup somewhere this weekend.  I think it's on the Red Button.  Don't know why.

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By the way, you'll notice I'm not using the standard abbreviation for the World Tour Finals.  Last time I did that on the BBC messageboards, I got an automatic slap on the wrist for using bad language, and had my post deleted.  I really *was* discussing tennis at the time!  I'm not sure whether the forum software contains any censoring programs, but thought I'd better not risk it :)

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  • 4 weeks later...

I thought Heather Watson played better than any British woman player has ever played. She was awesome. She pushed Serena Williams all the way. Serena Williams was very generous in her after match interview. Next year, Heather!

 

Well, I finally caught up with this tonight, and I have to say, what an excellent match!  It would have been well worthy of the final.

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  • 9 months later...

 

I think, Sunrise, you might end up regretting that.  After all, Djokovic is on 9 slams already, and with Federer pretty much out of the running, a big question mark over Nadal, Murray frankly being not as good as Djokovic in most respects at the moment, and it not being clear yet where the next generation or two's stars are coming from, he could easily have "more than enough" himself in a couple of years!

 

Anyone getting bored already? ;)

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I've been out of the country for the past three years, but prior to that I have queued every year for a ground pass, and I think there was only one occasion when we weren't successful. However, we always picked a day when Andy Murray wasn't playing during the first week, , and we had to be in the queue no later than about 7.30am, as I recall.  The one year we failed to get in, we were delayed by about an hour because of a broken down tube train. 

 

I have my fingers firmly crossed that somebody beats Djokovic before the final. 

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7.30 was too late on one day last year, at least :(  And yes, I was trying to avoid Murray's side of the draw - not sure it made that much difference, despite Djokovic being on the other side.

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I've just checked with my other half, and he says we were usually there by 6.30am at the latest.  I must have blotted that out of the memory banks.  I've never tried to get in on the first day, though.  I usually go later in the week.

 

While it is terrific to know that people are so keen to get a ticket, there is no way I am prepared to camp over night.  . 

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Perhaps that's it: maybe most people went to the Southfields queue.  I always walked up from Wimbledon station, so possibly I was in the shorter queue?  It seems to me that the problem really started when they consolidated the two queues - although possibly that's also the time when Murraymania started to take hold. 

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While it is terrific to know that people are so keen to get a ticket, there is no way I am prepared to camp over night. 

 

Not only that, but there are people who physically *can't*, for reasons of disability, and the current queuing system doesn't make any allowance for them.  Sure, if you're in a wheelchair you can get one of the wheelchair day seats, but if you're ambulant disabled that doesn't apply.  Plus there are all the people who can't queue overnight simply because they have children to get off for school, or other care responsibilities.  And the trouble is that the overnight queue has now become a self-fulfilling prophecy: people believe they *have* to camp out, so they do, and then that means other people have to get into the queue earlier, and ...

 

I remember back in the days when school parties and the like would turn up maybe by 9.30 and get in :(

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Twice when I was at school in the late seventies a group from school travelled to Wimbledon from Hertfordshire, queued up and purchased ground passes. I don't think that we would have arrived before 10am and we may have arrived somewhat later as the journey would probably have taken at least a couple of hours. At that time, people with tickets for the show courts would just give you their tickets if they decided to go home before the end of play and so you could often get onto Centre and Number One Courts and see a couple of hours play. I actually live only a few stops away from Wimbledon on the Thameslink line but I can't face waiting in a queue from the crack of dawn. I have thought of turning up late afternoon one day in the first week. Has anyone tried this and got in or has the ground been closed because it's full?

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I actually tried to use the Thameslink line to get to Wimbledon last year, as one of the few ways I could theoretically get there early enough to get in the queue.  They cancelled the train - and the next one wasn't due for another 50 minutes or something because it was so early in the morning.  That was one of the days I didn't make it to the queue in time, and involved a hasty rescheduling of travel plans to get me down to somewhere on the tram system so I could get the tram into Wimbledon instead ...

 

I used to have a colleague who regularly used to go after work, but I asked him a year or two ago and he said he hadn't been recently.  Given how early the queue can close these days, and how many people stay on regardless, my guess is that even if you showed up you probably wouldn't get in because there'd be all those people already in front of you.  Plus, it seems to me that they tend to close play earlier these days, so the chance of actually getting to see anything much might be greatly reduced.

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I gather Rafa Nadal is out of Wimbledon due to illness and presumably, Sharapova due to her ban. I suppose that means we will be spared the underwear adjusting and even better, the screeching, screaming Maria. I really can't abide her noise.

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Ah yes, that's right about Nadal. It's an injury not an illness. I have lost touch a bit with women's tennis, it seemed to have become very boring but there are some fresh names coming in now. No one screeches quite like Sharapova, but as you say there are some. Can you give me some names so I know to avoid them? I find it unbearably irritating and almost certainly unnecessary. I don't believe for a second they just can't help it. :angry:

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Larcher de Brito - she's one of the worst offenders, I think, so I'm hoping she doesn't stay in the draw for long. I lose track, because I don't tend to watch women's tennis that much, but there are several other offenders.

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I gather Rafa Nadal is out of Wimbledon due to illness and presumably, Sharapova due to her ban. I suppose that means we will be spared the underwear adjusting and even better, the screeching, screaming Maria. I really can't abide her noise.

 

I don't remember Sharapova adjusting her underwear.  :)

 

I've seen Nadal play several times, and in real life you barely notice this particular quirk.  But on tv, the camera always seems to zoom in to give us a close up of his rear view when he prepares to serve.  Lots of other men adjust their clothing, but haven't become famous for it.  Andy Roddick indulged in what I would describe politely as "front fiddling.", as do a few of the other current male players. 

 

Talking of grunting and shrieking, I've never watched Sharapova, but I have seen Serena Williams and Azarenka play, and didn't think they were loud when you are actually there watching them.  Do the on court microphones pick it up so that it sounds much more pronounced on tv? 

Edited by Fonty
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Believe me, Fonty, if you're sitting in the front row of Centre Court and Nadal's right in front of you, you notice it!  (It was a resale ticket, BTW - I'm not that rich!)  And IIRC his opponent, Robin Söderling, was taking the mickey (unless that's just one of those "tennis legends" which has grown up since the event :) )

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Actually, it's not lucky - you can't see the lines properly from there, so can't really enjoy the match. And if you get stuck behind the umpire's/players' chairs your view of the court is quite severely impaired. I did have a nice view of the back of Roger Federer's neck, but that didn't entirely compensate :)

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Oh dear!  Yes, I suppose those seats are "restricted view".

 

I think I have only been on CC once, in all the years I have been entering the Wimbledon ballot, and I was right up the back.  If I get anything at all, it is court 1, up in the roof somewhere.  It is so cold up there, I hate it.  I don't know what they have done to make it so drafty, but if I get those types of seats now, I don't take them. 

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Believe me, Fonty, if you're sitting in the front row of Centre Court and Nadal's right in front of you, you notice it!  (It was a resale ticket, BTW - I'm not that rich!)  And IIRC his opponent, Robin Söderling, was taking the mickey (unless that's just one of those "tennis legends" which has grown up since the event :)

Didn't Djokovic do an on court impression of Sharapova's screeching one year. Apparently the lady wasn't amused! 

Talking of noise, some of the line calls are a little over zealous sometimes. I realise they have to be heard, but the full throttle 'OOOUUUT's or 'FAAAUUULt's are unnecessary. Almost as though they are really excited about it. You think okay, calm down love.

I have never been to Wimbledon. It looks a bit too crowded for my delicate temperament, plus it is right in the middle of the worst of my hayfever. I like to watch it on tv as you can turn it off when it gets boring.

I heard the BBC is not doing the after play chat show again. It was a dumbed down disaster as I recall.

Edited by Jacqueline
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