Tennis

[leicsmac]

21 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

I suppose it depends on the what the greatest means.  Is it just the results or is it more than that? Style of play? Personality? Interaction with the crowd?  Greatness is more than just being the best player I think, and that is why he struggles to be seen as that.

For me it does indeed just come down to numbers, and Djoko has the lead there, so fair enough.

 

Professional sport is about winning, after all.

[Phil Bowman]

I've gone off goats, to be honest.

 

Why can't we just enjoy good players for what they are, and once they're gone remember them for what they were, instead of endlessly trying to compare and rank them?

Djokovic, Federer, Nadal, Williams, Borg, Sampras, Graf, Agassi, Navratilova, Laver, Perry, McEnroe, Connors, Evert, Lendl...

There are loads of others I've missed. And in the future there will be more names to add. Does it matter whether Sampras was 'better' than Connors, or how well Martina Navratilova would have done against Serena Williams?

 

All amazing to watch, and that's good enough for me.

[Phil Bowman]

5 hours ago, leicsmac said:

Professional sport is about winning, after all.

It is. But then spectator sport is also about delighting the crowd.

[leicsmac]

13 minutes ago, Phil Bowman said:

It is. But then spectator sport is also about delighting the crowd.

Not every sport has that many spectators, and while this is a personal viewpoint I tend to place the ones who master their sport to a degree above their peers higher than the "entertainers".

Edited 14 June 2023 by leicsmac

[The boy Linacre]

23 minutes ago, Phil Bowman said:

I've gone off goats, to be honest.

 

Why can't we just enjoy good players for what they are, and once they're gone remember them for what they were, instead of endlessly trying to compare and rank them?

Djokovic, Federer, Nadal, Williams, Borg, Sampras, Graf, Agassi, Navratilova, Laver, Perry, McEnroe, Connors, Evert, Lendl...

There are loads of others I've missed. And in the future there will be more names to add. Does it matter whether Sampras was 'better' than Connors, or how well Martina Navratilova would have done against Serena Williams?

 

All amazing to watch, and that's good enough for me.

And the focus on that term has come about because the closeness of the 3 and the media narrative.  Was the word Goat mentioned between 1974 & 1990, when we had spells for Connors, Borg. McEnroe & finally Lendl.  Interestingly look at overall tournaments won, 3 out of that 4 are up there.

 

What I really don't understand is how 36/37/38 year old men e.g. Federer/Nadal/Djokovic could/can continually mentally and physically outlast repeatedly every next best thing over the last 5-10 years.  Murray got up to their level, for a while, why not Zverev, Medvedev, Tsitsipas etc.  Even prior to that why couldn't others win?

Alcaraz will, but the semi last week should be a lesson learnt about fitness certainly.

[lcfcben76]

Was thinking about joining ‘the queue’ at Wimbledon is a few weeks time for the first couple of days. Does anyone have any advice having previously done this at all?

[Super_horns]

6 hours ago, lcfcben76 said:

Was thinking about joining ‘the queue’ at Wimbledon is a few weeks time for the first couple of days. Does anyone have any advice having previously done this at all?

Get there very early and be well stocked up with food/drink I think is the answer.

[Super_horns]

From Opta.

3 - Three British players (Jodie Burrage, Katie Boulter and Heather Watson) will feature to a WTA tournament semi-finals for the first time since Paris Indoor 1975 (Sue Barker, Glynis Coles and Virginia Wade).

 

[Milky]

Sexy girls in all 

[rachhere]

12 hours ago, lcfcben76 said:

Was thinking about joining ‘the queue’ at Wimbledon is a few weeks time for the first couple of days. Does anyone have any advice having previously done this at all?

Done it loads of times. My advice would be to camp rather than join the queue on the day, if you are able. It’s honestly more exhausting just queuing on the day by the time you have got up super early to travel and down, only to arrive and be thousands back in the queue. Then once you get inside it’s more queuing as you wait to get an unreserved seat on an outside court. Instead of you camp you can relax in the park the night before, not get up quite so early. You will be in the grounds in no time once they start moving the queue, and you can get a show court ticket with a reserved seat. 
 

saying that, last year the queue was really weird with no where near as many turning up - it was unclear whether it was because it was the first queue post Covid, or potentially because there’s no Roger Federer. In reality probably a bit of both. 

[lcfcben76]

2 minutes ago, rachhere said:

Done it loads of times. My advice would be to camp rather than join the queue on the day, if you are able. It’s honestly more exhausting just queuing on the day by the time you have got up super early to travel and down, only to arrive and be thousands back in the queue. Then once you get inside it’s more queuing as you wait to get an unreserved seat on an outside court. Instead of you camp you can relax in the park the night before, not get up quite so early. You will be in the grounds in no time once they start moving the queue, and you can get a show court ticket with a reserved seat. 
 

saying that, last year the queue was really weird with no where near as many turning up - it was unclear whether it was because it was the first queue post Covid, or potentially because there’s no Roger Federer. In reality probably a bit of both. 

Thanks both for the advice. Tbh I’m not too fussed about getting a show Court, more just a grounds pass. Would you say heading down on the day is worth it in this case?

[rachhere]

7 minutes ago, lcfcben76 said:

Thanks both for the advice. Tbh I’m not too fussed about getting a show Court, more just a grounds pass. Would you say heading down on the day is worth it in this case?

Definitely. Especially the first week when there are so many matches going on. It’s a long day though, so prepare yourself! They used to only take cash when you bought you ticket, not sure if that’s the case this year. They let you take in food and drink - definitely recommended - you will be there for lunch and dinner so it can get pricey and the queues can be loooong. To get there you want the tube to Southfields rather than to Wimbledon. Come out of the station and take a right and follow the crowds. You will come to the park where the queue is after a few mins on your left hand side. If I was turning up to queue on the day I would be looking to get there for 7/730 at the latest - any later you might not get in. As I say last year it wasn’t as busy so you could potentially get away with later… there’s a Twitter account where they update on the queuing times and things - I will try to find it for you 

[rachhere]

@ ViewFromTheQ is the one you want for updates on Twitter. Now I want to go and queue again..

[Super_horns]

26 minutes ago, rachhere said:

Done it loads of times. My advice would be to camp rather than join the queue on the day, if you are able. It’s honestly more exhausting just queuing on the day by the time you have got up super early to travel and down, only to arrive and be thousands back in the queue. Then once you get inside it’s more queuing as you wait to get an unreserved seat on an outside court. Instead of you camp you can relax in the park the night before, not get up quite so early. You will be in the grounds in no time once they start moving the queue, and you can get a show court ticket with a reserved seat. 
 

saying that, last year the queue was really weird with no where near as many turning up - it was unclear whether it was because it was the first queue post Covid, or potentially because there’s no Roger Federer. In reality probably a bit of both. 

Or Nadal now.

 

Maybe even Murray after a round or two.

 

Be interesting to see if any of the next gen become crowd favourites?

 

Trouble is a lot are Russian or so inconsistent Djokovic could probably play and win for the next 5 years - not sure he is that popular tbh.

[rachhere]

1 minute ago, Super_horns said:

Or Nadal now.

 

Maybe even Murray after a round or two.

 

Be interesting to see if any of the next gen become crowd favourites?

 

Trouble is a lot are Russian or so inconsistent Djokovic could probably play and win for the next 5 years - not sure he is that popular tbh.

there would be a good few people for Nadal, but the Federer fans were crazy (and abundant!). 
 

People appreciate Novak, but wouldn’t go out their way to queue hours to see him. Alcaraz will go on to be the most popular player on the tour easily (he has the talent and like ability factor), but it’s left to be seen whether he can play well enough on glass to be a Wimbledon favourite. 

 

[Spacey_Fox]

Well done Foxes fan Katie Boulter, through to the final at Nottingham!

[Super_horns]

2 hours ago, Spacey_Fox said:

Well done Foxes fan Katie Boulter, through to the final at Nottingham!

And will play Burrage in the final.

 

All British contest .

[PhillippaT]

Nice one Murray.  Hopefully the Brits can we win everything tomorrow  

[leicsmac]

12 hours ago, PhillippaT said:

Nice one Murray.  Hopefully the Brits can we win everything tomorrow  

Nine straight wins on grass now, albeit against inferior opposition.

 

If he can win tomorrow, a QF place at Queens might - might - be enough to get him a seeding for Wimbledon.

Edited 18 June 2023 by leicsmac

[Jimothy]

Last two games from Murray worry me. He was 5-2 up and serving for the set. Was broke to love and then didn't break and it's 5-4. He's taken the set 6-4 now but against better players they could reel off half a set or a even a set during a dip like that.

[Dr Marco]

Come On Katie ! 

 

[leicsmac]

37 minutes ago, Facecloth said:

Last two games from Murray worry me. He was 5-2 up and serving for the set. Was broke to love and then didn't break and it's 5-4. He's taken the set 6-4 now but against better players they could reel off half a set or a even a set during a dip like that.

I think that given age and condition there are going to be times when he has lapses like that as a matter of course. Better players are of course going to take advantage of it, here's hoping that it isn't so much of an issue that he can make an impression at Queens and Wimbledon.

[leicsmac]

Murray breaks at the right time, serving for the tournament.

[Spacey_Fox]

Right, see it out now, Mr Murray...

[leicsmac]

2 minutes ago, Spacey_Fox said:

Right, see it out now, Mr Murray...

With gusto.

 

Ten wins, two grass court tournaments (admittedly against less tough opposition).

 

Bring on Queens.