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Rybakina Suffers Through Torturous Media Questions
7 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
By Scoop Malinowski
Yesterday the Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina suffered through some of the worst, most boring, most meaningless questions ever asked at a tennis press conference.
Question: How do you feel physically compared to last year and did the cold and wet court conditions affect your gameplan?
Question: How does if feel with the roof on the court?
Question: What are the things you need to do to get to the final of Roland Garros?
Question: What made you choose the colors in your Yonex kit?
They might as well just cancel all press conferences at Grand Slams if the tennis media keeps up this rubbish. Tennis journalists are buzz killing the thrill of the Grand Slam electricity with these stupid, ridiculous questions which serve no purpose other than to bore the player and widen the gap of respect tennis players have for the tennis media.
I guess this is what happens when the media sends idiots and imbeciles with minimal tennis experience and understanding to cover a tournament.
How about some questions like this…
If you were not in the draw, who would you like to see win the mens and womens titles here?
Is there anything you dislike about Djokovic or Iga? What do you like about them?
Who would win a boxing match Sinner or Carlos?
The tennis establishment involved itself in the Russia Ukraine conflict, do you find it hypocritical that it has remained silent on the Gaza Genocide?
Reilly Opelka called the tennis media “awful, the worst” – do you agree with that? And if so, how could the tennis media improve it’s negative image with the players?
Can you think of a great example of sportsmanship you have witnessed by another pro player in your career?
One thing is clear. Elena Rybakina’s press conference at Roland Garros yesterday showed the tennis establishment has a media problem and it must take immediate actions to remedy the situation ASAP. Because subjecting Rybakina or any player to absurdly lame questions is a waste of time and an embarrassment of the overall presentation of the sport at a time when the industry is being severely threatened by other growing competitive sports.
Tennis is the most difficult and challenging one on one sport on earth. It’s the ultimate expression of athleticism, warfare, cool, elegance, and beauty. Allowing ding dong reporters into press conferences to ask stupid questions has to be halted.
Elena Rybakia · French Open · Reilly Opelka · Roland Garros · Yonex
Douglas Day · May 29, 2024 at 4:38 pm
Scoop: the Russian bear, Pavel Kotov abused Norrie and now Warinka. Vincent D’Onofrio with a live arm!
catherine · May 30, 2024 at 4:44 am
Scoop – you know political questions aren’t allowed, even if you don’t agree with that. Imagine the chaos.
Rybakina didn’t choose the Yonex colours, they were given to her. She’d answered that one before.
Only answer is to abolish press conferences. But I can see that going down like a brick in a pond.
Scoop Malinowski · May 30, 2024 at 8:13 am
Catherine, there certainly were a lot of Russia Ukraine questions in the anti Russia smear campaign, but Israel slaughtering Gaza is off limits for obvious reasons. Ons Jabeur managed to express her support for Palestine, as did Cristiano Ronaldo this week. Canceling all press conferences and post match on court interviews might be a good idea to test for a year. It would add an intrigue about the players and not subject them to silly, time wasting questions. But of course one on one interviews with reporters, like Biofile, would still be part of the program. But then the reporters would have to actually write about the actual tennis. Seems many hack writers can only write about what players say.
catherine · May 30, 2024 at 8:55 am
Hack writers often don’t even watch the matches. I bet that hasn’t changed in the years I’ve been away from the game. They just turn up for the press conferences and collect the stats sheets.
Scoop Malinowski · May 30, 2024 at 9:06 am
You are very right, most writers just stay at their media desk, attend press conferences, and go to eat in the cafeteria. Just a few actually go out and observe matches.
catherine · June 1, 2024 at 5:26 am
‘It has been a strange week at RG. Rainy days, rowdy crowds, complaints from players, restrictions placed in… even no media showing up for Rybakina’s (#4 female player) post match interview. Just because she asked the media to ask different questions in her previous interview. Is the media that unforgiving?’
Interesting and relevant quote from MCM – I guess the answer to the question is ‘yes’ !
Scoop Malinowski · June 1, 2024 at 7:31 am
Catherine, good for Rybakina that she scared off the dummy journalists who can’t think of anything interesting to ask her. Tim Henman once said Marcelo Rios considered the tennis media to be parasites.