2023 ATP General News

[kskate2]

Main Draw Wild Cards,
Bastad - Leo Borg, Elias Ymer, Dragos Madaras
Gstaad - Stan Wawrinka, Dominic Thiem, Dominic Stricker
Newport - Kevin Anderson ( 2 WCs to be announced)

Hey, I thought K.A. retired

 

[Jelenafan]

Wimbledon won't be making announcements on handshake etiquette despite booing | Tennis.com

The Grand Slam tournament is staying out of the politics of handshakes.

www.tennis.com

"Historically in tennis the decision on how a player reacts at the end of a match is entirely a personal decision for them and I think we don't really want to start mandating what happens," Bolton said. "We have an incredibly knowledgeable audience at Wimbledon and I think in the most part they would understand what was going on. I wouldn't want to speculate on what everybody in the crowd was thinking last night."

Nobody is mandating. Explaining that players may choose to not shake hands and their opponents are fine with that. How difficult is that? The player can simply tell the officials I will not be shaking hands ahead of time.

Soo annoying, Wimbledon, talking about staying out of politics...Uh, didn't they exclude the Russian/Belarussian players from entering last year because of political reasons??

 

[Moxie]

Wimbledon won't be making announcements on handshake etiquette despite booing | Tennis.com

The Grand Slam tournament is staying out of the politics of handshakes.

www.tennis.com

Nobody is mandating. Explaining that players may choose to not shake hands and their opponents are fine with that. How difficult is that? The player can simply tell the officials I will not be shaking hands ahead of time.

Soo annoying, Wimbledon, talking about staying out of politics...Uh, didn't they exclude the Russian/Belarussian players from entering last year because of political reasons??

Also annoying that commentators are always telling us how "knowledgeable" Wimbledon crowds are. It's not like this just started. And, yes, it was actually Wimbledon that jumped in, full-throated last year, to exclude Russian and Belarusian players, due to the war. To act like they don't know what this is about now, or to wimp out about explaining it is risible from them.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Also annoying that commentators are always telling us how "knowledgeable" Wimbledon crowds are. It's not like this just started. And, yes, it was actually Wimbledon that jumped in, full-throated last year, to exclude Russian and Belarusian players, due to the war. To act like they don't know what this is about now, or to wimp out about explaining it is risible from them.

Moxie,

The WTA has just issued a statement following the 'post match handshakes' saying due to the ongoing reprehensible war, the WTA respects the position of Ukarainian athletes in foregoing the tradition of shaking opponents hands ( from Russia and Belarus) at the end of a match, as this is a personal decision. We have some of the best fans in the world and are grateful for their passion and dedication, and we thank them for their understanding and respect for the athletes".
There was a instance yesterday in a match between Svitolina and Azarenka ( this wasnt the first non hand shake between other players this week at Wimbledon), Svitolina has made known that she wont shake a Russian or a player from Belarus, Azarenka was booed off the court, which I felt was unfair, it was a very long and tight match, sad to say politics is in our sport. Azarenaka said there were no bad feelings between Svitolina and herself and she understood Svitolina's stance.

 

[Jelenafan]

Also annoying that commentators are always telling us how "knowledgeable" Wimbledon crowds are. It's not like this just started. And, yes, it was actually Wimbledon that jumped in, full-throated last year, to exclude Russian and Belarusian players, due to the war. To act like they don't know what this is about now, or to wimp out about explaining it is risible from them.

I suspect they’re afraid that even with a pre-match announcement the crowds will still boo and hiss so there goes their cherished myth of the superior “knowledgeable” British W fans…

 

[Kieran]

Also annoying that commentators are always telling us how "knowledgeable" Wimbledon crowds are. It's not like this just started. And, yes, it was actually Wimbledon that jumped in, full-throated last year, to exclude Russian and Belarusian players, due to the war. To act like they don't know what this is about now, or to wimp out about explaining it is risible from them.

Very dramatic - full throated. Did you complain about American footballers kneeling at the behest of dodgy Marxists? Or the Nuremberg Rally ‘Pride’ flag waving hither and yon? What could be more colourful, eh? We all supported the WTA making a stand in China - until the finances ran out, anyway.

Wimbledon made a choice for good reasons to ban Russian and Belorussian players due to the war. We may agree or disagree but when the LTA cancelled whole events due to safety fears for one single player, we all applauded. They were right. There are limits to the ‘politics and sport shouldn’t mix’ cliche.

As for the knowledgeable fans, they booed McEnroe. I think every home tournament commentators brag about their fans.

Wimbledon shouldn’t have made a statement about fans booing, or the handshake. Not everything in life needs to be explained…

 

[Kieran]

I suspect they’re afraid that even with a pre-match announcement the crowds will still boo and hiss so there goes their cherished myth of the superior “knowledgeable” British W fans…

Is there any slam where home commentators think their fans are inferior and ignorant?

 

[Jelenafan]

Is there any slam where home commentators think their fans are inferior and ignorant?

True, but the English do it “so brilliantly ” . ; )

 

[Jelenafan]

Always one of my favorite tennis pundits, Virgina Wade:

Brits out at Wimbledon: Virginia Wade 'really concerned' by results

Former Wimbledon champion Virginia Wade says she is concerned that no British players have made it through to the second week of Wimbledon.

www.skysports.com

She laments about the British players what I say about the Americans: the lack of knuckling down on the claycourts ultimately hurts them and their overall game.

 

[Kieran]

Always one of my favorite tennis pundits, Virgina Wade:

Brits out at Wimbledon: Virginia Wade 'really concerned' by results

Former Wimbledon champion Virginia Wade says she is concerned that no British players have made it through to the second week of Wimbledon.

www.skysports.com

She laments about the British players what I say about the Americans: the lack of knuckling down on the claycourts ultimately hurts them and their overall game.

I love her, and she’s always been a classy, open minded pundit, very experienced and always smiling. Beautiful woman!

And that’s a really insightful point she’s making there..

 

[Moxie]

Very dramatic - full throated. Did you complain about American footballers kneeling at the behest of dodgy Marxists? Or the Nuremberg Rally ‘Pride’ flag waving hither and yon? What could be more colourful, eh? We all supported the WTA making a stand in China - until the finances ran out, anyway.

Wimbledon made a choice for good reasons to ban Russian and Belorussian players due to the war. We may agree or disagree but when the LTA cancelled whole events due to safety fears for one single player, we all applauded. They were right. There are limits to the ‘politics and sport shouldn’t mix’ cliche.

As for the knowledgeable fans, they booed McEnroe. I think every home tournament commentators brag about their fans.

Wimbledon shouldn’t have made a statement about fans booing, or the handshake. Not everything in life needs to be explained…

You have rather a lot of nerve to call my phrase "dramatic" and then say that the stance of NFL players is really just them being puppets to Marxists, (which is patently ridiculous,) and then also bring in the nazis?

I won't drag this out, but my only point is that I'm surprised that the fans at Wimbledon either, a) don't understand - at this stage of the game - why Svitolina won't shake the hand of a Russian player, or b) consider the gesture to be unsportsmanlike, when Wimbledon last year took a stand on the war, pulling in with the same side, and where was the protest from the fans on that? I just find it puzzling as a fan reaction at Wimbledon.

 

[Kieran]

You have rather a lot of nerve to call my phrase "dramatic" and then say that the stance of NFL players is really just them being puppets to Marxists, (which is patently ridiculous,) and then also bring in the nazis?

I won't drag this out, but my only point is that I'm surprised that the fans at Wimbledon either, a) don't understand - at this stage of the game - why Svitolina won't shake the hand of a Russian player, or b) consider the gesture to be unsportsmanlike, when Wimbledon last year took a stand on the war, pulling in with the same side, and where was the protest from the fans on that? I just find it puzzling as a fan reaction at Wimbledon.

Oh I liked your dramatic phrase, it was pure expression. I’m a fan of that.

BLM are Marxist. The flags that we have to suffer ad nauseum remind me of Nuremberg Rally flags and essentially are there for the same purpose. To subdue and to brag.

You were replying to a comment that was in the context of Wimbledon mixing politics and sports, and to this you added “also annoying..” which was in agreement with that sentiment.

Look, we all agree that in principle politics should have no sway over sports, and certainly I would say this extends to certain virtue signaling gestures among the pampered denizens of the west. But there are times when the frivolousness of sport is brought home to us by bigger things, and a meeting of the two is inevitable. Looking at Putin’s intentions in the region, I think it’s understandable that Wimbledon did what they did. I’m not even sure they were wrong to do it…

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Milos Raonic has received a wild card into Toronto Masters tournament in August

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Koolhol/Skupski (1) win their maiden major doubles title at Wimbledon defeating Granollers/Zeballos 64 64!

 

[El Dude]

In the "did you know" news...players you might not have realized are still on tour:

Feliciano Lopez #465, 7 tournaments this year
Fernando Verdasco #354, 19 (!) tournaments this year
Andreas Seppi #775, 5 tournaments this year
Gilles Simon #317, 8 tournaments this year

Also: Malek Jaziri, Lukas Rosol, Pablo Andujar, Pablo Cuevas, Robin Haase, and Denis Istomin are all still playing.

 

[Jelenafan]

In the "did you know" news...players you might not have realized are still on tour:

Feliciano Lopez #465, 7 tournaments this year
Fernando Verdasco #354, 19 (!) tournaments this year
Andreas Seppi #775, 5 tournaments this year
Gilles Simon #317, 8 tournaments this year

Also: Malek Jaziri, Lukas Rosol, Pablo Andujar, Pablo Cuevas, Robin Haase, and Denis Istomin are all still playing.

Feli officially retired after the Mallorca tourney.

 

[mrzz]

Feliciano Lopez is the only person who ever lived to have an ugly one handed backhand. Not even Karlovic has one. A creature called "Mongo" from a 1937 horror movie played tennis and had a pretty one-handed BH.

 

[Fiero425]

I love her, and she’s always been a classy, open minded pundit, very experienced and always smiling. Beautiful woman!

And that’s a really insightful point she’s making there..

I took to heart something she said well over 40 years ago; "I'd rather play beautiful tennis than win" is what I remember! I was all about looking good out there on court; my clothing, shoes, style of play, & giving audiences a show who watched!

 

[Jelenafan]

I took to heart something she said well over 40 years ago; "I'd rather play beautiful tennis than win" is what I remember! I was all about looking good out there on court; my clothing, shoes, style of play, & giving audiences a show who watched!

Virginia Wade in her early days may have said that much quoted statement but it was misconstrued. It wasn’t some personal vanity ar play, it had more to do with her temperamental perfectionism. A missed shot could send her into a spasm of despair.

It didnt help that the British press harped relentlessly “why Ginny cant do better at the champhionships” when she faltered at Wimbledon.

Her biting commentary was priceless and accurate, I remember once during a Sabatini match:

“Why is Gaby double faulting so much?! It's not like Kimiko is killing her with her returns."
Ouch. ; )

 

[Fiero425]

Virginia Wade in her early days may have said that much quoted statement but it was misconstrued. It wasn’t some personal vanity ar play, it had more to do with her temperamental perfectionism. A missed shot could send her into a spasm of despair.

It didnt help that the British press harped relentlessly “why Ginny cant do better at the champhionships” when she faltered at Wimbledon.

View attachment 8529
Her biting commentary was priceless and accurate, I remember once during a Sabatini match:

“Why is Gaby double faulting so much?! It's not like Kimiko is killing her with her returns."
Ouch. ; )

I was such a perfectionist on the court! I believed I could make any shot at any time, smashing many a racket when I failed! I easily went thru 60!