Anna C Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 Ladies doubles and mens doubles winners get £600,000 per pair, mixed doubles get £128,000 per pair, so definitely the poor relation to the able-bodied mens and ladies championships (winners get £2,350,000 each). Wheelchair singles winners get £60,000 each. £26,000 per couple for wheelchair doubles is a disgrace, especially when Hewett & Reid’s match had a relatively large in-person audience on Court No. 1. Speaking of audiences, I always think it’s a shame that the doubles final on Centre after the men’s final only has a tiny audience scattered around the court. Why isn’t the mens final the last match on Centre? It would be like holding a Formula 2 race at Silverstone *after* the F1 Grand Prix, when everyone’s gone home. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawnstar Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 4 hours ago, Anna C said: Speaking of audiences, I always think it’s a shame that the doubles final on Centre after the men’s final only has a tiny audience scattered around the court. Why isn’t the mens final the last match on Centre? It would be like holding a Formula 2 race at Silverstone *after* the F1 Grand Prix, when everyone’s gone home. That's exactly the same analogy I used yesterday. I cannot understand why they didn't do the doubles first. The doubles players doubtless worked very hard to get to their final, but in terms of prestige the men's singles is a very long way ahead of them & is the pinnacle of the tournament so should be the last match. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bridiem Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 1 hour ago, Dawnstar said: That's exactly the same analogy I used yesterday. I cannot understand why they didn't do the doubles first. The doubles players doubtless worked very hard to get to their final, but in terms of prestige the men's singles is a very long way ahead of them & is the pinnacle of the tournament so should be the last match. I agree, but I think it's at least partly because it would not be thought OK for the singles' finalists to have to wait around not knowing what time their match was going to start. And, no doubt, that having an uncertain start time would be undesirable from a broadcasting point of view. (Same with the women's final on the Saturday which was followed by the men's doubles.) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emeralds Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 I’m guessing the timing of the singles matches are due to the international live broadcast demands (ie must start at 14:00 UTC regardless of what does or doesn’t happen beforehand). And the discrepancy in prize money probably down to the same reasons - how money singles earns in revenue (most of it from the millions earned from international broadcast income) cf doubles.. Many players play both singles and doubles -both for the practice as well as to boost income. Ironically, a player will win more money this year by reaching and being eliminated in the quarter finals than from winning the doubles title. (That said, if you reach the quarter finals of the singles event, you’re a pretty formidable player and a possible title contender!) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 2 hours ago, bridiem said: I agree, but I think it's at least partly because it would not be thought OK for the singles' finalists to have to wait around not knowing what time their match was going to start. And, no doubt, that having an uncertain start time would be undesirable from a broadcasting point of view. (Same with the women's final on the Saturday which was followed by the men's doubles.) That’s a good point, and I suppose the difference in motorsport is that there is a fixed time of either x laps or x hours raced, so the FIA knows that Formula 2 will only take a maximum of around 2 hours so can run in the morning. That said, Red Flag situations can and do happen, as do severe weather delays, meaning delayed starts or restarts for the F1 race. TV coverage doesn’t stop, it just continues as long as necessary (which the BBC is used to with Wimbledon anyway). Plus, with 3rd/5th set tiebreaks, we don’t have mammoth final sets that go on for hours (or even days) like Isner v Mahut, so if, on Finals Days at Wimbledon, women’s doubles finals started at 11am on Centre (with wheelchair singles starting at 11 on Court 1), I can’t see any way in which the Men’s singles would be prevented from starting at 2pm. Then the Men’s singles and all the associated presentations would be the last match on Centre. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted September 10, 2023 Share Posted September 10, 2023 Belated congratulations to Britain's Joe Salisbury and the US's Rajeev Ram for winning the men's doubles at the US Open for the third year in a row. The last time that was done was over a century ago, so it's quite an achievement. Congratulations to Coco Gauff, too, on her first Slam title. Not sure how easy it is to win one on home turf - not that easy, based on results over the decades from the Australian and French Opens and Wimbledon, I'd guess! Meanwhile, in what has apparently turned out to be one of the most ill-balanced draws in terms of player quality in Slam history (the US Open now has an AI assessing the ease or difficulty of each match, and Djokovic's draw, on a scale of 1-5 from Favorable to Difficult, is a 2, whereas his opponent's draw is assessed as Difficult!), Novak Djokovic goes for a record-equalling 24th Slam title this evening. Unless he's "undercooked" due to lack of opposition en route, I don't see him letting Daniil Medvedev get the better of him again. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sim Posted September 11, 2023 Share Posted September 11, 2023 15 hours ago, alison said: Belated congratulations to Britain's Joe Salisbury and the US's Rajeev Ram for winning the men's doubles at the US Open for the third year in a row. The last time that was done was over a century ago, so it's quite an achievement. Congratulations to Coco Gauff, too, on her first Slam title. Not sure how easy it is to win one on home turf - not that easy, based on results over the decades from the Australian and French Opens and Wimbledon, I'd guess! Meanwhile, in what has apparently turned out to be one of the most ill-balanced draws in terms of player quality in Slam history (the US Open now has an AI assessing the ease or difficulty of each match, and Djokovic's draw, on a scale of 1-5 from Favorable to Difficult, is a 2, whereas his opponent's draw is assessed as Difficult!), Novak Djokovic goes for a record-equalling 24th Slam title this evening. Unless he's "undercooked" due to lack of opposition en route, I don't see him letting Daniil Medvedev get the better of him again. And you were right. Much as I don't like him, this was an amazing achievement by Djokovic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emeralds Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Sophoife said: No, I really mean it. A day without learning something is a wasted day. And it's after 11pm so I'm particularly grateful. Re-reading what I said, though, I can see where you might think I had taken the sarky approach. Seriously, I'm embarrassed I was so clumsy! PS cheer for young Rinky Hijikata please No worries, it's probably me overanalysing it. Plus it was almost my turn to be ignorant by asking you "who is Rin..." then Google reminded his Australian Open match is in progress in the 4th set....which he has to win to stay in the match! Go Rinky! Edited January 15 by Emeralds 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 Who (was?) he playing? Sorry, this is REALLY off-topic, isn't it? I can't get my head round the AO starting before mid-January. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophoife Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 (edited) Alison it started on Sunday 14th but still in first round play. Thanks for the support Emeralds but sadly Rinky ended up losing a match tiebreak after a 6-6 fifth set to Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany. Endearingly, the net embrace shows Rinky to fit neatly under Struff's chin. Last match of the day is Félix Auger-Aliassime v Dominic Thiem and it's 6-3 7-5 6-7 5-7 as they start a fifth set after 4h 17m already on court. Both badly need this win. Actually Alison you could move these last three posts to the tennis fans thread? Edited January 15 by Sophoife Added last paragraph 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophoife Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 Australian Open has started, following Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra, Hobart and Auckland aka the Swing Down Under. I don't count the manufactured United Cup. Have we seen the last of Sir Andy at a Slam? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 4 minutes ago, Sophoife said: Alison it started on Sunday 14th but still in first round play. Thanks for the support Emeralds but sadly Rinky ended up losing a match tiebreak after a 6-6 fifth set to Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany. Endearingly, the net embrace shows Rinky to fit neatly under Struff's chin. Last match of the day is Félix Auger-Aliassime v Dominic Thiem and it's 6-3 7-5 6-7 5-7 as they start a fifth set after 4h 17m already on court. Both badly need this win. Actually Alison you could move these last three posts to the tennis fans thread? I think I'd better ... 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 I was hoping he'd stay on until Wimbledon. Thanks for bumping the thread, Sophoife. I'll move the other posts over now. So, Rinky is about Dudi Sela height? I didn't think Struff was *that* tall. And *that* (Thiem v. FAA) is one of those horror first-round draws that Stan Wawrinka was getting when he came back from injury. I do hate them so - you feel the returning player can't get a break Oddly enough, none of them ever get drawn against Djokovic, though ... (he had enough trouble getting past a qualifier the other day, I gather - although I believe said qualifier is admittedly held to be One To Look Out For). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophoife Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 I'd never heard of said qualifier until he popped up against the top seed. FAA v Domi is indeed a nightmare first round for both, and what a match it was! A fit Berrettini v Tsitsipas was mouthwatering for us fans - until il povero Matteo had to withdraw. Bet Sillypoo was relieved! (He's had The Poo aka Mark Philippoussis in his box, he can be Sillypoo for the way he sometimes behaves.) I'm personally on the Ben Shelton bandwagon - he's such an impressive young man as well as some tennis player. I'm also sorry to see Faaabio [Fognini] winding down his career: he's always fun to watch, whether playing to his magical ability or losing it completely. He's made the fourth round in Melbourne a number of times, but didnt even enter qualifying this year. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emeralds Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 (edited) 2 hours ago, Sophoife said: Alison it started on Sunday 14th but still in first round play. Thanks for the support Emeralds but sadly Rinky ended up losing a match tiebreak after a 6-6 fifth set to Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany. Endearingly, the net embrace shows Rinky to fit neatly under Struff's chin. Last match of the day is Félix Auger-Aliassime v Dominic Thiem and it's 6-3 7-5 6-7 5-7 as they start a fifth set after 4h 17m already on court. Both badly need this win. Actually Alison you could move these last three posts to the tennis fans thread? Ah what a pity. I remember seeing Rinky play a while back and didn't realise (today, at first) the name wasn't a dancer...lol... but I thought he was very talented in that performance. Five sets at tie break is so close though- he fought well. So on to the next ATP event I guess? Who are we supporting next? 31 minutes ago, Sophoife said: I'd never heard of said qualifier until he popped up against the top seed. FAA v Domi is indeed a nightmare first round for both, and what a match it was! A fit Berrettini v Tsitsipas was mouthwatering for us fans - until il povero Matteo had to withdraw. Bet Sillypoo was relieved! (He's had The Poo aka Mark Philippoussis in his box, he can be Sillypoo for the way he sometimes behaves.) I'm personally on the Ben Shelton bandwagon - he's such an impressive young man as well as some tennis player. I'm also sorry to see Faaabio [Fognini] winding down his career: he's always fun to watch, whether playing to his magical ability or losing it completely. He's made the fourth round in Melbourne a number of times, but didnt even enter qualifying this year. Trying hard to decode the code words. I'll just be "iggerant" now since it's impossible to Google code. 😄 Who is said qualifier and who is Sillypoo- Tsitsipas ? Edited January 15 by Emeralds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophoife Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 (edited) "said qualifier" was in response to Alison, the unknown who played the top seed (the Serbian whose name I will not say) and gave him a fright. Sillypoo is, yes, Tsitsipas, who I bet was relieved he didn't have a returning, fit Berrettini to face. The Greek-Australian Mark Philippoussis has been seen on a number of occasions in the Tsitsipas player box - they had a coaching/mentor relationship for a while (not sure if that's still the case). Philippoussis' nickname was The Poo. Tsitsipas is known by some as Sillypoo - it works better than Sittypoo. Yes, we're a bit silly ourselves 🤣 Edited January 15 by Sophoife Added explanation of why top seed unnamed by me 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophoife Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis just won a match tie-break over Austrian Sebastian Ofner (who's wearing Kokkinakis' 2023 bleached top, dark hair underneath look). Now for Carlos Alcaraz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 Lucky him BTW, I meant to ask, is the unusually large number of retirements down to the heat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophoife Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 No idea, because there were quite a few retirements or walkovers in the lead-up tournaments. The Adelaide WTA 500 last week saw both doubles semis with walkovers, and one of the singles as well - call me cynical but Laura Siegemund, who withdrew from both singles and doubles semis, would have seen her AO draw (17th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova) before withdrawing. At the age of 35, if she makes the semis in Melbourne, that's at least 800 WTA points and £522,000. Winning the Adelaide singles would have brought 500 points and £111,591. Doubles? £37,242. She's in form, not injured, and it's her best ever chance. She now plays the number 1 doubles woman, Aussie Storm Hunter (née Sanders), who had to qualify for the main draw. If she wins that, it'll be either Korpatsch or Krejčiková. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophoife Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 Well, Hunter got up and made the third round of the AO for the first time ever. The boost to her confidence of having reached number one in doubles has been immeasurable. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emeralds Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 On 15/01/2024 at 17:38, Sophoife said: "said qualifier" was in response to Alison, the unknown who played the top seed (the Serbian whose name I will not say) and gave him a fright. Oh-the Australian, Alexei Popyrin? Am finally getting my facts together. A good friend of mine is actually in Melbourne watching, but only ladles' singles and doubles. She says it's very exciting so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophoife Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 No, I was talking about the first round, @Emeralds. How is your friend avoiding men's matches given the courts mostly alternate? Is she running round various outside courts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emeralds Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 (edited) 20 minutes ago, Sophoife said: No, I was talking about the first round, @Emeralds. How is your friend avoiding men's matches given the courts mostly alternate? Is she running round various outside courts? She seems to be seeing outside courts as well. I'm not asking her in great detail- she's just telling us which matches she's seen. It may be that she leaves when the men's matches begin or doesn't think they're interesting enough to take a photo of? It could be because either a) 5 sets (or potentially 5 sets) in Melbourne heat is too long for her to sit through (she has an underlying medical condition), b) she used to play tennis so she'd rather watch the style of playing she is used to, c) the players she likes are only in the women's draw....or all three. So you're thinking of Dino Prižmić? BTW, like you, we don't talk about the seed whose name we don't name either! Am rooting for Alcaraz, Sinner, Draper, Norrie, Felix AA, Korda. Edited January 17 by Emeralds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophoife Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 Oh, I'm all in on Ben Shelton. I very much like his style and attitude. On my second line is... practically every other player in the draw, except Tsitsipas, the rude child from Scandinavia (not Casper Ruud, Holger Rune), and Voldemort. I would love to see Félix Auger-Aliassime, Andrey Rublev, or Jannik Sinner - if not Shelton - win the whole shebang. On the women's side, if Storm Hunter gets past Barbora Krejčiková, the sky's pretty much the limit, but I find it hard to see anyone getting past both Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Świątek, which they would probably have to do to win the title. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawnstar Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 (edited) @Sophoife Are you finding time amid all your tennis watching to also watch the Tour Down Under? Edited January 20 by Dawnstar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophoife Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 (edited) You bet @Dawnstar! TDU is on 7 terrestrial, tennis on 9 terrestrial. TDU also on 7's streaming platform 7+, tennis every court on Stan (owned by 9) and 9Now. TV, phone, tablet, computer... Also, my predictions have been shot apart somewhat...I will now go Sabalenka in the women, and...Sinner or Rublev for the men. 👍🤣 Edited January 21 by Sophoife 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawnstar Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 18 hours ago, Sophoife said: You bet @Dawnstar! TDU is on 7 terrestrial, tennis on 9 terrestrial. TDU also on 7's streaming platform 7+, tennis every court on Stan (owned by 9) and 9Now. TV, phone, tablet, computer... I've never got to grips with multi-screen watching because I can't manage to listen to more than one lot of commentary at once. I've watched all the TDU (definitely not live!) but the tennis I'm just checking the results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophoife Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 Oh I only listen to one commentary at a time, too! Listen to the cycling, watch the tennis. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophoife Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 Forza Jannik Sinner!! Match still in progress... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophoife Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 Forza campione! Sinner in four sets, will play the winner of the match now in progress (Medvedev v Zverev). On a PR front, Tennis Australia and tennis orgs generally must be praying for a Sinner win on Sunday. If Medvedev wins tonight we have a final between two guys who didn’t play in any of the lead up tournaments, which isn’t great for the Australian swing. And then there’s the whole PR win for Russia angle too. If Zverev wins, there’ll be (rightly) even more attention on the charge he’s going to be contesting in May and that’ll make for bad press for Tennis Australia and for tennis more generally. Not the least being the ATP player council, to which he was recently elected. I guess on the bright side, we know that given Melbourne, it’s likely to be a pretty friendly crowd for Sinner on Sunday. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sim Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 Bravo e forza, Jannik! Keeping everything crossed for him for Sunday. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 I hope he does win on Sunday, although I have my doubts - usually when you knock the top seed and big favourite out of a Slam you don't go on to win the tournament as well. But the alternative - can you imagine if players from Russia and Belarus win both titles?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emeralds Posted January 27 Share Posted January 27 Belatedly (I've been swamped) but forza Jannik! It's time. Gotta go for it this year! A huge "jia you" to Qinwen Zheng now. 🎾 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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