Tennis Volume 8: Is a FedEx delivery coming?

[TheLastWolf]

Hail Djokovic

As for that Osaka issue, shame on the bullies. 

Rarely watch tennis, cricket and football, shrug, but eventful month 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Nadal and Osaka have now pulled out of Wimbledon, with Nadal also saying he won't play at the Olympics. 

[LizisBriwi]

 

 

Federer is now preparing to return to the circuit after two knee surgeries. "Maybe it wasn't so bad for me that the Olympics were postponed," said Federer, who wants to return to the Australian Open. I went to a match of his and I was next to him, I kindly asked him to give me an autograph of his and he told me that he can't do it now, but he told me to leave the name and details I will send one. I had received a message from him that he had sent the package by express pursuit and I could see where it was with CNE express tracking. You have to try, I think it's beautiful.

[BigFatCoward]

The courts look so beautiful on first couple of days. 

I have zero interest in the inevitable djokovik coronation. 

[williamjm]

I turned on the coverage yesterday when Andy Murray was I think 3-0 in the third set having won the first two. It was a weird match, his opponent looked like he had given up until he got to 5-0 down then won the next 7 games to take the set. Murray then seemed to remember how to play and won the fourth set. It's good to see Murray back at Wimbledon given all the injury troubles he's had in recent years.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Was worried Feds might blow that one, but he marches on. And man is he fucking charming on the mic.

[3CityApache]

I really didn't see what happened to Fed yesterday coming. He has never lost a set in Wimbledon to love in his entire career, and haven't lost a match in straight sets here since 2002. Federer clearly wasn't himself (the way he slipped before an easy volley in tie-break for example), but Hurkacz surprised me with his consistency and maturity. I know he can serve deadly and move incredibly on court, just didn't expect him to do it for the entire match against his teenage idol. I feel like a certain era has just ended. I really doubt Fed will ever be back on SW19 and it makes me sad. And now I have to wonder if HuHu will be able to maintain this level of mental and physical composure in the next match, or maybe even (a wild thought) another two.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

So Joker is now level with Feds and Nadal. Well deserved.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Also, Matteo is a dish.....

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

To be fair, I take long bathroom breaks at work too when I don't give a shit or need to just get away for a moment. 

[baxus]

Yeah, but are you calling someone to explain to you how to do your job while you're there?

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

If it's proven that he's doing that then he should be punished, but there's a lot of gamesmanship in tennis and players get treatment and/or go to the bathroom when they don't need it just to buy time and disrupt the other player. 

And I still don't get why coaching during the match is a no-no. Tennis is the only major sport I can think of that doesn't allow it and it's only banned at some tournaments.  

[baxus]

It doesn't matter if you or I get why coaching during the match is a no-no, the fact is that it is and that's all that's relevant.

The only way to prove he is doing that is for someone to follow him to the bathroom and not leave him out of his sight which is not going to happen until rules of tennis (and proper/improper behaviour) are changed.

All that we see (Tsitsipas taking his whole bag with him, his father texting while he's out and Tsitsipas changing his whole approach to the match after coming back) points to him being in communication with his father/coach while using restroom. Obviously, it could just be that he reconsiders his tactics while taking a massive dump and that helps him immensely, but it's not really likely that it would happen that often.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

I disagree. It’s perfect fine to question why rules and policies exist, and frankly, it’s fine to break rules so long as you’re also okay with dealing with the consequences.

And there’s an easy fix to all of this: don’t let him take his bag and make him use a bathroom where a phone can’t be stashed beforehand. Problem solved. Also, five minute rule. Every minute you go over costs you a game. Extra solved.

[Which Tyler]

So it's fine for Tsitsipas to ignore the rules in order to get a competitive advantage if he thinks it's a silly rule, but it's terrible for Osaka to ignore a rule in order to protect her health whether or not she thinks it's a silly rule?

[baxus]

17 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

I disagree. It’s perfect fine to question why rules and policies exist, and frankly, it’s fine to break rules so long as you’re also okay with dealing with the consequences.

And there’s an easy fix to all of this: don’t let him take his bag and make him use a bathroom where a phone can’t be stashed beforehand. Problem solved. Also, five minute rule. Every minute you go over costs you a game. Extra solved.

Questioning rules and policies is one thing. Breaking rules and policies is another.

Once coaching rule is changed, chances are there will be no need for Tsitsipas to take those bathroom breaks any more, but until that happens he can't be coached or he needs to be punished if he is being coached.

Also, how do you ban a player from taking his bag if he wants to change his clothes (which rules allow)? Are you going to have players searched before going to the toilet? Or oversee them while they're taking a dump? There's so many lines that would need to be crossed in order to do that.

EDIT:
 

3 hours ago, Which Tyler said:

So it's fine for Tsitsipas to ignore the rules in order to get a competitive advantage if he thinks it's a silly rule, but it's terrible for Osaka to ignore a rule in order to protect her health whether or not she thinks it's a silly rule?

I'd say the same for Osaka. If she thinks the rules are wrong, she needs to try and change the rules not ignore them. Both her and Tsitsipas (and every other athlete breaking the rules) should be punished by the rulebook. 

[Which Tyler]

21 minutes ago, baxus said:

I'd say the same for Osaka. If she thinks the rules are wrong, she needs to try and change the rules not ignore them. Both her and Tsitsipas (and every other athlete breaking the rules) should be punished by the rulebook. 

My memory could be playing tricks, but my recollection is that Osaka didn't just ignore them; she explicitly said beforehand that she didn't want to do the media interviews, and that she was happy to pay the fines incurred for that.

She was then hounded, mocked and disbelieved (including on here by Tywin) until she withdrew.

[baxus]

Well, it's not that much of a difference between ignoring it and outright saying that you'll ignore it and then ignoring it.

If I remember correctly, Osaka was fined for ignoring media the first time and further sanctions for such behaviour would escalate up to disqualification from the tournament. THEN she withdrew before she could get disqualified by the rules. Also, no one was denying that her (and other athletes') mental health is important. Most people (at least around me) were saying that if she had health issues she should not play until she sorts that out instead of asking for preferential treatment.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

3 hours ago, baxus said:

Questioning rules and policies is one thing. Breaking rules and policies is another.

Once coaching rule is changed, chances are there will be no need for Tsitsipas to take those bathroom breaks any more, but until that happens he can't be coached or he needs to be punished if he is being coached.

It really isn't depending on context, and in this sense it seems like he's dancing in a grey area because there isn't a time limit on bathroom breaks. That has to change, because even if you allow coaching it's still a way to disrupt the flow of the match when you're losing.

Quote

Also, how do you ban a player from taking his bag if he wants to change his clothes (which rules allow)? Are you going to have players searched before going to the toilet? Or oversee them while they're taking a dump? There's so many lines that would need to be crossed in order to do that.

You can ban phones, have their bags searched before the match, and bringing one in is an automatic DQ. It's that simple if you think it's a real problem. 

3 hours ago, Which Tyler said:

My memory could be playing tricks, but my recollection is that Osaka didn't just ignore them; she explicitly said beforehand that she didn't want to do the media interviews, and that she was happy to pay the fines incurred for that.

She was then hounded, mocked and disbelieved (including on here by Tywin) until she withdrew.

No, I said her initial comment was incredibly flippant. She basically said that her job required her to do x, y and z, but she didn't like z and said I'm not doing it, mental health reasons. That kind of logic is dangerous because then anyone can just say they don't want to do something they don't like because it's bad for their mental health. I'm glad societies are talking about the issue more, but we're still doing a bad job at it because there's more focus on minor mental health issues while we mostly ignore the severe cases.

I never said I didn't believe her. I said if it's a serious issue for her she should go to therapy, get diagnosed, then go the powers at be and try and get the rules changed. She didn't do that, quite the opposite actually. When the tournament coordinators tried to reach out to her she and her team ghosted them, so obviously they were going to react harshly. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Damn, feel bad for Osaka. She's going to catch so much shit on social media for what happened tonight.