Flagrant Behavior by Jerks in Pro Tennis

Rios maybe

That was a joke Scoop. Zverev puts a lot of pressure on himself and must have some kind of obligation to live up to which brings out the spoiled brat behavior however mild. Like Kyrgios he is a fine player and he’s a lot less profane. He is more like Kokkonakis in demeanor but has a bit of the eighteen year old Federer in him. So what he’s eighteen. And the match he complained about with Berdych was a live Davis cup match so probably every point mattered and he knew it. It didn’t necessarily help that he was less demonstrative in his match against Rosol, who smashed Zverev for the win and catapulted Czech republic into the next round. Probably took that one hard as well.

Sure he is growing up in public eye. It’s still not right to smash the ump. Though umps have seen it all and are probably used to it. It was never fun to ser Andy Murray go after his box so mercilessly, probably why his mom made him hire Lendl, Mauresmo and anyone he couldn’t do that to. Murray was a super negatron brat. Probably the only non brat has been Nafal, who does stuff that gets to opponents but for the most part lets his racquet rather than his tactics do his bidding.

In u.s. tennis we’ve had some mild mannered guys in Fish, Isner lately, but no one of the jerk status. I’d say as far as German tennis goes Becker was a renegade and he wasn’t much of one. No one like Ivanisevic or Safin both of whom ran their mouths of. Kafelnikov too if I’m not mistaken. Muster was hated by a lot of players. I don’t think Zverev has earned any of that.

But he seems to be boiling in terms of the pressure. Maybe like Giorgi he has a lot of people to pay off or something like that that makes the mild mannered German explode. Who knows. Harrison acts like that at his worst too, though I’d say Harrison is a heck of a lot more intense and a lot worse. His composure had gone down the tubes, though he seems more grounded. The lack of press probably helps him and his more solid personal life.

Why didn’t you mention the current #1 and multiple slam winner who is known for often screaming vile obscenities in a certain Eastern European language at his team and at people in the crowd? Vile ugly stuff.

I can’t believe you make excuses for any of them which you do, especially for any that have given you the time of day and spoken to you. Their behaviour should be as unacceptable on the tennis court as it is on the street. Would you be as quick to apologize for some jerk caught in a traffic jam on the freeway who goes into a rage against another driver that cuts him off and jumps out of his car and starts screaming and threatening and even kicking the other car? Of course you wouldn’t. In a civilized society it is unacceptable to behave that way. Let them go to a WWE fight or a Trump rally but stay out of the game of tennis.

I’m going to name names here – I was a witness to some of mcenroe’s more extreme acts of verbal violence (never saw any physical apart from raquet smashing) but I rated Connors lower on the graceful behaviour scale because he tended to do a lot of crowd manipulating and behind the back gestures etc which got a lot of sycophants sniggering but was in my view just downright rude and insulting to his opponents.
And gamesmanship as well. He got away with a lot.

Uh, I think you’re wrong, Andrew. I didn’t see the match, but what the heck went on!? Everyone on this site seemed to be convinced Raonic was not only going to win his first Masters event this year, but his first slam too. What’s the prognosis after today’s humiliating defeat?

How about Ray Moore’s quote about the women riding on the coattails of the men. I mean everyone knows it’s true in this day and age (although the Serena v Vika match was a much better finals), but it’s odd to hear it said by a tournament director.

Ray Moore said what he thought and paid the price. And he’s wrong.

Yes I thought Raonic would win. He didn’t, Djokovic smashed him. And Azarenka upset Serena Williams.

I think what this says is first, I don’t think I’m alone in believing Djokovic needs a serious rival. Nadal would be that but he’s not at peak Nadal (clay could change that). I thought Raonic would get there this tournament and Djokovic smashed that.

The road to a slam or Masters goes through Djokovic and only Wawrinka has thread that needle.

So Nishikori and Coric have fallen out of favor? Tsonga gave Djoko the best match in IW besides Frantangelo. Right now the Emperor is fully clothed.

When a guy like Ray Moore, older South African man, makes a comment regarding young women tennis player’s “attractiveness,” he’s history. That is something you just don’t do as an old white-haired stooped guy. Because it smacks of anti-feminism, patriarchy and dirty old man longing.

We all know a large appeal of women’s tennis are the young attractive women who play the game. Maria Sharapova wouldn’t be the pariah she’s turned into if the same situation happened to her when she was 22 and in full bloom. We like the Kirilenko’s, the Giorgi’s and Ivanovic’s not so much because their games are gorgeous (although they were and are), but because they’re gorgeous. We don’t view handsome men (at least men don’t mostly) with as much regard or interest.

Bad day for the Harry Bros in Miami. Both go out in first round of qualies

Interesting graph showing how much the ATP revenues are more than WTA.

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2015/11/23/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/ATP-revenue.aspx

When I say ‘who cares ?’ I mean why should anyone take issue with fact that women do, largely get equal prizemoney in tennis.
Why the resentment ?

That’s why I say, it’s not about the money.

Really, you like watching Aggie play? Not me, if I’m at the event, maybe, but its not like she’s a craftswoman. She just moves the ball around the court well. I didn’t see her volleying much or doing much of anything artistic.

And as far as equal prize money, yes, Djoko sounds like a prejudiced money-grubber saying he thinks women don’t deserve the money men make in pro tennis, but these guys are competitors and when the stats show men’s tennis popularity well above women’s, it’s natural he’d want more money in comparison.

Yes, I do enjoy watching Aga. She can volley well to close out points and in each match she makes some tough shots that leave you asking – how did she do that?

Um only the guys in challengers futures deserve more $. They are the field teams for the tour and their earnings haven’t gone up in decades, which because of inflation means they’ve gone down a ton. They play literally for expenses, let alone food, which forces a lot to play for clubs rather than up their rankings.

As for Djokovic and his dumb remarks he deserves the flak and probably got a stern lecture from his wife. Djomovic knows better, the most important person in his tennis life was a female coach, so he was an idiot who also helped Seles . But he’s lucky Moore overshadowed him.

Compare this with say a low challenger, high futures tournament in the early 1990s. I remember tournaments like that actually having a decent crowd DESPITE the lack of bleachers for spectators, just a few picnic tables.

And guess who played. One of Spadea’s sisters. And she was excellent.

Tennis indeed has a marketing problem. I can’t speak for the entire country – but I lived in one of tennis’ hotbeds and seriously, tennis was huge. Nearly everyone at school played, many of us played tournaments and there was a lot of excitement. This feeling continued for a good four or more years – it remained “huge”. Evening match play was “in”.

Maybe no coincidence that this period coincided with the Agassi-Sampras-Courier-Chang rivalry and on the women’s side, Seles-Graf. And, sorry to say, there was hardly any internet, cell phones, smart phones and the like. You had to keep yourself occupied somehow.

Anyone hear the ladies screaming out for parity and equality in their demand to play five sets at the ITF grand slams?