Rio Olympics Official Thread - Men's Tennis

[Moxie]

Yikes! You're all frightening, disgusting and myopic.

 

[teddytennisfan]

Turn away for a few minutes and the match is over!

Well done Andy Murray. Gold medal for Britain which I am pleased about, but confess I was pulling for Delpo after all he's been through over the last few years. Still, silver is a nice return for the man.

I THINK that andy COMPLETELY deserved this gold -- and delpo the silver.

the reasons being -- it was andy that proved the ''last man standing" ina test of ENDURANCE.

delpo has the skills to defeat andy -- and it was possible but ONLY if delpo had the same endurance -- mentally and physically to bring it to that last set and continue the struggle and send even more missiles to blow away any ''fence" that andy is famous for.

BUT a contest is ONLY a contest if the rival CAN ENDURE. IF HE CAN NOT -- the one that can endure is the rightful winner.

and that is ANDY MURRAY.

HIS VICTORY is what they lived for -- and even if delpo's ''preparedness" to endure was not the mos t'ideal" as comared with andy's for example (winning wimbledon - in great shape in his current career position - etc etc etc as opposed to delpo still just coming out of several critical injury related things )

the bottom line is the ATHLETE that is inBEST shape is the one that will have deserved that win.

and that's ANDY MURRAY.

CONGRATS ANDY! YOU DID WELL!!!

 

[Carol]

What I've read is that Rafa wasn't upset about that break but about when Bernades didn't allow him to change his shorts back in 2015 in the ATP Rio. That was the time that Rafa had put his shorts in reverse (lol) after rushing to get back to the court getting a warning. Bernades today didn't say anything to Kei, what a jerk!

 

[teddytennisfan]

At the risk of channelling @Front242 , Nadal himself has had some dodgy toilet breaks. Whether he objected to the tactic, or not, I would have preferred if he'd said nothing. It would have been more elegant. He was running on fumes by today, and was unlikely to have won, anyway. They didn't show the match where I was, but I was pretty impressed he turned the 2nd set around. Rafa put everything into these games. There's no reason to make it ugly at this point, and he's partially to blame, if it is. Take your doubles Gold Medal, and keep your trap shut about the rest.

assessing where he is at and prepare for USO with a better outlook than one might have thought BEFORE this week .

look at the fact that he lasted THIS far -- and to play even for a bronze -- and it wasn't a disaster at all. he just lost in a fight where KEI was probably really more suited to finish successfully than nadal.

 

[teddytennisfan]

What I've read is that Rafa wasn't upset about that break but about when Bernades didn't allow him to change his shorts back in 2015 in the ATP Rio. That was the time that Rafa had put his shorts in reverse (lol) after rushing to get back to the court getting a warning. Bernades today didn't say anything to Kei, what a jerk!

and nadal -- if so -- is CORRECT about that. it was not about ''rehashing the past" done against nadal -- but that the same umpire did nothing today...and that WAS unfair , unjust towards nadal.

 

[Carol]

Question, Muzz, Delpo, Nishi and Rafa are going play in Cincinnati? they are brave!

 

[teddytennisfan]

Question, Muzz, Delpo, Nishi and Rafa are going play in Cincinnati? they are brave!

is that so CAROL? oh my god! they aren't satisfied yet? lol these guys!!! hehe.

 

[Carol]

is that so CAROL? oh my god! they aren't satisfied yet? lol these guys!!! hehe.

If they are healthy (they seem to be) it's ok but still.............

 

[teddytennisfan]

If they are healthy (they seem to be) it's ok but still.............

VERY TRUE.
we can remind ourselves -- these are world-class professional athletes -- the legends of their times -- and who are we really? lol.

their business is to do things that we can't imagine ourselves - most of us anyway --manage - like all that practicing, training, concentrating,going through the pressure...and performing, performing performing..it's their job.

so they only can know what their body feels . after all this so so so intense WEEK - it's like we went through a whole MONTH of tennis -- just from being fans -- but to them - despite all the intensity -- it IS still just part of a season...an added intensity , certainly -- BUT

it is part of what they DO. PLAY tennis.

amazing!! but at least another olympic year comes by that also helps teach the REST of the sport-admiring world that TENNIS IS A WONDERFUL SPORT -- and NOT LESS in its intensity, its DEMANDS and achievements as any other - ''more popular" sport!!!

at least a few more sports fans all over the world will hopefully be added to the global tennis community of fans!! and appreciate what tennis players have to do to accomplish something ...that in tennis -- preparing as hard as others -- it is not JUST about undergoing severe tests for an afternoon -- it is days of it just to get something..and still be left wanting!!! that tennis players have to run miles and miles and miles not JUST in training -- but for that moment to hit a ball just right -- again and again and again...and jump and twirl and twist and bend and stretch and huff and puff and THEN be disappointed because theopponent was even better...

 

[Moxie]

assessing where he is at and prepare for USO with a better outlook than one might have thought BEFORE this week .

look at the fact that he lasted THIS far -- and to play even for a bronze -- and it wasn't a disaster at all. he just lost in a fight where KEI was probably really more suited to finish successfully than nadal.

Yes, I believe that was my point.

 

[teddytennisfan]

Yes, I believe that was my point.

HE';S GONNA BE OK!! i'm just actually relieved that RAFA is FINE with his tennis -- the shots are coming along -- the sharpness of his strategy, tactics - the intensity -- i liked what i saw -- compared to all our guessing and guessing

if we were to believe all the months of ''where is rafa" uncertainty. u know?

at least we have seen him go toe to toe with the best of the best at the levels that he needed to find himself in. i mean....we can even recall reeadily now how even 5 years ago -- or even BEFORE that at the very height of his dominance - over the tour and over roger when both were still ''the top top top "" rivalry --

that RAFA WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO LAST THIS LONG?

HAHAHAHAHA...........AND THERE HE WAS TODAY -- VYING FOR BRONZE STILL!! after a long long long lay-off!!

and he ain't done yet!

i'm so happy about that1

while TODAY AND THIS WEEK -- has been -- DESERVEDLY SO -- ANDY MURRAY'S -- and also wimbledon and of course novak in the last few years now...

when you really consider the over-all arch of THEIR careers -- particularly in comparison with TODAY'S AND THIS WEEK'S star -- ANDY

WHAT HAS RAFA BEEN ''coming back from big slump" TO , even if for now, just potentially?

it's 14 majors!! the most dominant player on a single surface -- EVER -- clay -- etc. etc. etc.

how easily one can forget -- myself included.

and there he is still going strong, really , when we consider he was supposed to have broken apart 5 YEARS AGO at latest!

and -- no disrespect to ANDY -- BUT WHAT IS ANDY'S career collection compared to RAFA'S ? REALLY?

3 MAJORS -- A USO - 2 WIMBY'S - 2 OLYMPICS -- a handful or more masters -- and relatively short spurts of season brilliance -- by comparison

that is NOT disrespectful -- it is just stating FACTS. YET -- they are of the same age --

with nadal -- since age 17 winning major after major after major -- with ONLY the AO ''unrepeated" and a FINE doubles career of his own on top of THAT -- PLUS DOMINANT or superior match records against both murray and federer - and just about equal with one of the most dominant players EVER inhistory -- NOLE DJOKOVIC.

HOW'S THAT for acccomplishment!!!

AMAZING RAFAEL NADAL , INDEED.
and if all we can ''hope for" is that nadal enters what might now be the ''late years of career"

hey -- that was SOME ''entrance" this week - isn't it? !!

 

[teddytennisfan]

Yes, I believe that was my point.

oh - this was a question posed by MARY CARILLO -- AND I thought it is intersesting for us to also talk about:

NOW that ANDY wrote history by DEFENDING HIS GOLD TREASURE -- in what is acknowledged as ''about equal at least to a major" -- just because of the occasion -

with HIS WIMBLEDON...AND whatever else titles he got this year --

and with NOLE having complete HIS CAREER SLAM , arrived with 2 majors more, - and Number One in the world keeping his nose ahead of everyone in rankings for consecutive years now --

WHICH PLAYER - BEFORE THE USO -- at this very point

SHOULD be considered the 'premiere player on the planet?"

=-===================

3 majors for NOLE if he wins USO again -- as opposed to 2 majors plus ''the olympic major" for ANDY -- who has not YET achieved number one status let alone having kept it for YEARS -- IF andy wins USO --

which player is to be considered the premiere player BEFORE THE ATP championships?

 

[Ricardo]

IKNOW!!! LOL.

for me -- the way it is described -- it was gamesmanship byKEI.

he should not have done that. imo. unfair to rafa -- even if in the end - whether with it or not -- rafa might still have lost.

but that doesn't matter - the point is -- , to me - anyway -- there was NO medical or injury necessity time-out -- and to take a shit that we know would take more time (the shitting - the pulling pants downa nd up - cleaning etc) SHOULD HAVE BEEN TAKEN CARE OF before the match.

U KNOW -- i am a musician -- and i know something about ''performing" onstage -- both solo and with singers (classical music is my background)

and with US -- we already know the score -- you go out and you do what you have to do --

the preparations are 'backstage'' - years of training, study, practice, blah, blah, blah...

you can not tell the audience "oh wait -- i forgot my music score - and i have to go backstage to look at the notes "

oh wait -- i am about to get distrcted because my tummy is growling and i forgot to have breakfast...

singers -- who USE THEIR BODY as instruments -- make sure they took their proper sleep -- wake up - open their vocal chords -- eat -- and time it so they go and take a SHIT to empty the tummy of that extra baggage -- and make sure they hydrate in the correct amount

so that when they walk out the stage -- open their mouth -- by 7 PM - what comes out as they PUSH their air out with their diaphragm muscles -- are beautiful sounds

while their ASS isn't complaining and threatening to push out some shit! because those ass muscles -- even the sphincter muscles have to come INTO PLAY to help support the bodily coordination to control the tones properly. JUST LIKE AN ATHLETE DOES..

MUSCIC PERFORMANCE TOO is an athletic affair.

so these things -- the preparations -- bodily functions-- peeing before you go out to play a 30 minute piece and sweat it under the suit or gown -- you already do what you are supposed to do.

same thing with these ''break time" in tennis, imo.

it is ONE THING when you're the ONLY one doing something and you tell the audience ""sorry i have to take a shit -- stay where you are"

but you are NOT throwing off someone ELSE that is your RIVAL -

in the case of tennis -- your ''shitting' is throwing off your rival .

and imo, that is not fair.

Kei isn't the only one who has taken toilet breaks, so that's harsh to focus on him. It is not something one can really control, like if the player ate something a bit off which he didn't know, hardly his fault. A match can last an hour, some 5 hours plus, it's not reasonable to generalise toilet breaks as gamesmanship.

Of course players can always choose to crap in their pants.....so they can avoid being labelled as such. But i doubt they really give a shit when nature calls.

 

[britbox]

I guess you're right if it wasn't gamesmanship. We won't know for sure, but I'm not aware Kei has a track record for doing it, so maybe he should have the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Ricardo]

I guess you're right if it wasn't gamesmanship. We won't know for sure, but I'm not aware Kei has a track record for doing it, so maybe he should have the benefit of the doubt.

Kei has a pretty clean record actually, not just that but also didn't hold up his opponent, or resort to on court coaching and other stuff. A gaming player does't do it once, it's usually long term.

 

[Tennis Fan]

I understand that sometimes they have to take a toilet break as an 'emergency' but that was a very ugly tactic by Nishi, what a shame that he won so meanly

I agree. I lost respect for Kei in that exchange, because 1. Nadal rarely complains about anyone and 2. Everything that Nadal does they put under a microscope. So, I'll be "fair" to other players and give them the benefit of the doubt when the same treatment is extended across the board.

 

[Tennis Fan]

At the risk of channelling @Front242 , Nadal himself has had some dodgy toilet breaks. Whether he objected to the tactic, or not, I would have preferred if he'd said nothing. It would have been more elegant. He was running on fumes by today, and was unlikely to have won, anyway. They didn't show the match where I was, but I was pretty impressed he turned the 2nd set around. Rafa put everything into these games. There's no reason to make it ugly at this point, and he's partially to blame, if it is. Take your doubles Gold Medal, and keep your trap shut about the rest.

I don't think he can afford to keep being elegant and ignoring people, because at it's happened he's been maligned by players, federations, and commentators. Any one person can only take so much. The fact that Yannick Noah, Roselyn Bachelot, one of the Rochus bros, and many more have been p*ssing on him for years, ultimately a person reaches the point of "That's it, I'm not taking it anymore."

I'm glad he said something, it's about dang time. Nishikori is the one who was being ugly. Toilet breaks are not 12 minutes. Ever.

 

[britbox]

Toilet breaks are not 12 minutes. Ever.

Have you ever eaten a Mutton Vindaloo Curry?

 

[Tennis Fan]

Even if he would have won it's unceptable to take a break so long and with the suspicion that he took a shower. When you have seen that? sooner or later all the players need to take a toilet break but under certain minutes. I don't see why Rafa has to be shut his mouth watching that. He has taken breaks same like Federer and others but under the regulations like when Rafa got the back injury in the AO and he couldn't move and the crowd booed him so badly

Exactly, apply the same standards across the board. During one of Federer's matches a few years back he went on a toilet break. I was watching on ESPN and didn't think anything about it. This was when Cahill was his coach, I believe. But later I watched the same match on TTC and the commentator actually admitted on air that Cahill called him on the phone with tactics. Not one word was breathed about that, but I heard it with my own ears. I've also been at tournaments and seen coaches calling out repeatedly during the match. These coaches don't sit in the players box, they sit with the regular fans and they were shouting. The umpire didn't say a word.

And the word on the street is that Federer's box covers the mikes in his box, but they'll never tell you that.

 

[Tennis Fan]

What Rafa has said? I've read that he didn't want to think about it though he didn't like that action too much, he didn't say anything else (very reasonable)

I thought he was more than reasonable, considering that he had just came back from a 2-5 deficit. The long bathroom break definitely broke his momentum. So yeah, he should've said something. Nadal fans all over the internet are ticked And in the same breath defending del Potro for talking about Andy's mum. Standards change based on who you like.