Tennis and All That

Recently, I was shocked by a TV documentary (made in the UK and aired last month) in which Martina Navratilova disclosed she was only paid one tenth (£15,000), or maybe even less, than John McEnroe (£150,000 minimum) for commentating at the Wimbledon Championships. For those who can access the BBC’s iplayer service, here’s a link to watch the programme. It is available to watch for the rest of 2018. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b09x4mfw/panorama-britains-equal-pay-scandal To say I was outraged is an understatement. I don’t accept any of the excuses given. In my opinion, there is no excuse. ·          Martina Navratilova is by far and away the more experienced and successful tennis player of the two. At Wimbledon she has won 9 singles titles, six of which were won consecutively, the only one to achieve this! In comparison, John McEnroe has won 3 singles Wimbledon titles. ·         ...

This week I thought I’d share something light-hearted and fun. Me practising my jumps/leaps by the River Thames in Richmond, Surrey, UK.   Monfils, here I come! Now I just need my racquet in my hand and I'm good to go! There's more where this photo came from! Check out my Instagram for a sequence of photos to see how I got up there and back down again, plus a couple of more leaps! https://www.instagram.com/p/BhuY81ElOiR/?taken-by=libakaucky https://www.instagram.com/p/BhuZ-WmFa0y/?taken-by=libakaucky

Congratulations to Sloane Stevens for winning Miami. https://twitter.com/WTA/status/980212140341678080   The final, especially the first set, was exciting. I think Ostapenko played really well throughout the tournament. Strong on both sides, her forehand and backhand were weapons that could have clinched the final but a wrong call at the beginning of the second set seemed to disrupt her rhythm, or so it appeared to me, and the set ran away from her. However, she played brilliantly all round. It’s the clay court season now so this is in her favour and I look forward to her defending her French Open title. The final left me wondering whether the tennis tour would benefit from using technology rather than lines judges. Ostapenko hits the ball so incredibly hard that it’s nigh to impossible for a human eye to see the ball accurately and judge whether it’s in or out since the margin of error is so miniscule. This is especially the case when a ball catches only the outside ...