Maria Sharapova Dominates Rafa in Rome Practice

Simona absolutely crushing Osaka. Not even a match.

Sorry, Sakkari. Anyway, she plays Angie next match and won’t be the underdog.

(Camera angles on some courts in Rome are awful – you can hardly see the player at the far end.)

Scoop, you would have been proud of Kerber’s vocalising and fist pumping at the end of that match.

I watched Naomi’s pc just for a change and was interested in something she said about there being two types of players – one who decides to change things in a match and one who goes on the same way. Naomi saw herself as the second today but when she gets to the stage of understanding how to combine the two she’ll be a complete player.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2018/05/16/president-itf-confirms-new-davis-cup-model-will-retain-home/

Any clearer ?

Love Pliskova’s attitude in destroying the chair. She tweeted about how she was robbed too. The WTA has a mess on their hands, they should not fine her.

I would love to see a Jack Sock or Sam Querrey bust up some equipment like that. they need to show some fire and quick.

I heard a very cogent reason for why they don’t use Hawkeye on clay courts. The Hawkeye image is not exact, it’s something like 3 cm either way so the players might start doubting Hawkeye on hard/grass courts if they went to Hawkeye on clay and on points where there’s a clear mark, and Hawkeye actually gets wrong call, players might not trust the system on other surfaces.

Like I said elsewhere – Rome can be the graveyard of hopes and dreams….Muguruza was on court around 3 hours and still managed to lose to Gavrilova.

Is there any surface Garbine can win on ? And don’t say grass 🙂

Where’s Hartt to tell us about Denis ? Can he beat Nadal ?

I understand Dan’s comment re Hawkeye but it’s always seemed to me pretty iffy, getting down out of the umpire’s chair and going to look at a scuffed court and decide which scuffed mark is the one in question. Plenty of room for human error there.

(In cricket there’s a version of Hawkeye to show whether a ball’s trajectory means it would miss the stumps or not and quite often the umpire’s decision on challenge is overruled – so I’m in favour of electronic aids in tennis. Might prevent chair destruction.)

Simona’s having a good time – a WO v Keys. Plays Garcia or Sloane next.

Further to my past post, it looks like the dispute fired up Fognini, because he broke in the next game and won the set.

I am also a big fan of Denis and am trying to copy his forehand and backhand 🙂
Hoping he can take the match to Rafa.

I’m happy – Angie beats Sakkari 6-1 6-1 and reaches qfs for the first time in Rome and Konta loses in 3 to Ostapenko.

(that sounds childish but I’m pleased for Angie and I just can’t get behind Konta – don’t know why)

Trying to hit like Shapo has to be a big challenge – he is so incredibly flexible. Sometimes after a shot, his two arms are so far behind his back that they touch.

Genie gets attention because of the way she looks.

You might well say the same thing about Sharapova and other attractive players in the WTA, whatever their race. That’s just the way of the world I’m afraid.

Chazz – she certainly would if she weren’t such a mediocre player.

I’m going to make a bold statement here – Shapo has a chance to be the most likeable and beloved champion ever. Look at all the past champions/#1s and find a more charismatic, positive, exciting player. Federer and Nadal are exciting and people love them for their accomplishments and personalities, but I think Shapo can be even more loved by fans. I don’t know how any fan of tennis can not like him. I don’t know if tennis can grow in popularity but Shapo is someone that could do it. He has that dynamic that Tiger Woods brought to golf 20 years ago and grew the sport immensely.

Stefanie Myles has an excellent analysis of Abanda’s remarks.

http://tennis.life/2018/05/16/canadian-francoise-abanda-makes-noise-racism/

I agree that Francoise needs to have better results before complaining about lack of attention. When she was a young, promising player she did get lots of attention, but she did not fulfill that promise. When you are ranked No. 128, with a career high of No. 111, I think it is, you won’t get noticed unless you are a future superstar, like Felix.

Outside of Bouchard, none of the female players get much press in Canada. If anyone has cause for complaint is it Gabriela Dabrowski, who has a high ranking in doubles and 2 Slams in mixed doubles. But she totally flies under the radar.

I don’t doubt that Abanda has faced racist taunts during her career, but I don’t think racism is why she does not receive much press. If racism were the issue, Felix, whose father is from Togo, would not get the considerable attention he receives.

Good analysis. Abanda is 21 and yet to advance past the second round of a Slam. She is a playing a sport that few Canadians truly care about.

She will learn.

Hartt – Myles has said the right things – I imagine Abanda will look back on all this with embarrassment in a year or so.

If Francoise achieves, she’ll get the attention. Just like Serena. Reading between the lines though, I suspect it’s not just tennis that’s on the table here. It’s Genie’s appeal, which we’ve discussed before. Nothing to be done about that. Except for Abanda to get on with the job, ignore provocation on Twitter and with success fame and fortune will come to her. If not, it won’t be because she’s black. It’ll be because she’s not good enough.

Abanda gave specific examples of racism, such as being told to go back to her country (she was born in Canada) when playing in a tournament. I have no reason to disbelieve her on this.

I have wondered, however, if Abanda doesn’t have an elevated view of her talent. I remember a time when she gave the impression that she would automatically make the top 100. As some of us have said, if she starts to get good results, she is more likely to get attention. Peter Polansky is a good comparison on the men’s side. He is currently ranked around No. 124 and has never made the top 100. He gets virtually no attention, either.

Scoop,

You’re not black, you’re the whitest white man alive in the world today, so how would you know if black players experience racism on the tour or not? And of course they do, I wrote a whole article on it in 1987 for The New York Times where there were many instances cited by black players, bad practice courts, bad practice balls, black players saying they were matched against other black players in the first round of tournaments so one would be knocked out right away.

The very fact that there are so few black players in the game today makes it very possible that they face discrimination and racism. I know on my son’s junior circuit, I feel sorry for the black players, particularly the boys, because there’s so few out there and I know I look at a junior black player when he steps into a club or a tournament because it’s just weird. I think, “What are you doing, brother, playing tennis? They kick you off the football field or the basketball court?”

You’ve never witnessed racism in pro tennis? What happened to Serena and Venus at Indian Wells? That wasn’t racism, the way the fans reacted, of course it had something to do with racism and the anger fueled by the fact that whites do not like blacks to be dictating the terms of anything.