Tennis and All That

#whereispengshuai is something we've been asking for 6 weeks (since 2  Nov) and we are still in the dark as to her whereabouts. I haven't posted about it because it's a tricky situation. Before commenting I need to feel sure I know what I'm talking about as I did when I posted on Facebook about Britney's conservatorship which was a blatant case of domestic violence, a subject I know a great deal about, as well as abuse of her human rights. Children/adult children can suffer domestic violence from a parent(s) and other members of the family.  Peng Shuai's case is very different and has happened in a non-democratic, non-Western country with which most of us, in the West, are less familiar.  Here's  an interesting article which gives a wider context to Peng Shuai's possible situation and why international concerns have been raised. My first thought was how can an international athlete go missing because surely they are in contact with their coach and traini...

Pennetta on Raducanu The US Open was certainly unpredictable and the results unexpected. I can't help but agree with Pennetta that, in her day, Raducanu would not have won a Grand Slam off the back of nothing but an ITF win in India (2019 ITF 25,000). I know ITF players can be surprisingly good, (many WTA players don't spend much time on the ITF!) but, nonetheless, it's hard to comprehend how a player can struggle to breathe in one Grand Slam yet win the next a couple of months later. Maybe the players were tired having just come from Japan where the Olympics were being held. Too Much Too Soon As for the ridiculous money she apparently has earned or will earn, it's outrageous. Even more so given Osaka's problems on tour, especially concerning post -match interviews. Too much, too soon everyone cried. Her astronomical wealth was, some thought, too much to handle at 23. What about Raducanu? Osaka is in her twenties, while Raducanu is still a teenager who expects her p...

 This Grand Slam has no dramas which is so much better!🙂🎾  Unless, toilet breaks count as one.🚽 That's a debate in itself. I'm not in favour of them unless it's a long match and then it should be as short as possible. Personally, I'd be annoyed with myself if I needed a toilet break during a match because it would break my concentration. I can quite honestly say that I wasn't aware of anything during my matches, but the match itself. But then players differ and maybe some concentrate better when allowed a break. Most matches are played in hot conditions so staying hydrated is important and when you drink a fair amount you are going to need toilet breaks. So, it's difficult to have hard and fast rules about it. Or the size of your logo. 👕 Reilly Opelka's logo (which was in fact the name of an art gallery so not technically a sports logo) on his 'unapproved' pink tote bag was apparently too large. Oh, shock, horror! 🙄 Was it the logo or the colour...

Giorgi Wins Montreal Camila Giorgi has won the Montreal title, a WTA 1000 trophy. Huge congratulations to her!🏆 🎾👏👏👏👏💪💪🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🍾🍸🍰I'm delighted!💖🙂Although I'm sad 😥Pliskova lost, nevertheless, congratulations to her for returning to the top 5. Giorgi, however, is short on titles. She only has 3 singles titles to Pliskova's 16. For such a good player matches don't seem to go her way. She has it all, including speed around the court. Her athleticism is beautiful to watch. In many ways, she reminds me of Anna Kournikova who should have won more titles too. What makes Giorgi special is her movement and coordination. There are very few players who grace the court in this way. And she's average height which means she has control over her body which aids her movement. Other players similar to her that spring to mind are: Hingis, Kournikova, Sanchez-Vicario, Henin, Carla Suarez Navarro, Schiavone. There are many players that can run fast on court but Giorgi ...

Wimbledon Championships Wimbledon happened this year and with spectators who were more enthusiastically involved than any I've ever seen before. Seeds came and went but Karolina Pliskova and Barty made it to the final. Pliskova slipped early on which seemed to distract her and she never seemed to recover. That was rather disappointing given her fantastic play during the tournament.  Breaking the Grand Slam Ceiling As for the men, Djokovic won his 3rd Grand Slam of the year and I sincerely hope he wins the US title. Why? Because it's time that someone won the Calendar Slam just as it's time someone won 25 Grand Slams. I can't help thinking it rather strange that Margaret Court has still not been overtaken by any player, male or female! And it's been a while since someone won the Calendar Slam. Not since Stefanie Graf in 1988! Graf still holds onto the Golden Slam because Djokovic didn't bring home the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo this year. And Graf also achieved ...

Congratulations are due to Novak Djokovic who not only won Wimbledon for the 6th time but has joined the elite club of 3 Grand Slams in a row in the same calendar year on 3 different surfaces. This is called achieving a 'surface slam'. The only other players to achieve this are: Navratilova (1984), Graf (1993, 1995 and 1996), Serena Williams (2002), Nadal (2010). However, all four of these succeeded in doing so by winning the last 3 Grand Slams in the year ie French Open (RG), Wimbledon and US Open. Djokovic is the only one, apart from Laver in 1969, to win the 3 in a row by winning the first 3 starting with the Australian Open. The 'calendar slam' is surely Djokovic's next goal which means all 4 grand slams in the same calendar year. In the modern era only Steffi Graf has managed this. She is also the only one to achieve a Golden Slam which means she also has an Olympic Gold medal in addition to a calendar grand slam in the same calendar year. The other historic mo...

Krejcikova has won the women's title at Roland Garros and I am over the moon about it. Hana Mandlikova 🇨🇿 was the last Czech player (representing the Czech Republic) to win the title back in 1981 and she coached Jana Novotna 🇨🇿who went on to coach this year's winner, Krejcikova🇨🇿. What a fitting tribute to Novotna! And how touching that Krejcikova doesn't forget the amazing impact that Novotna had on her game. History has been made. It is, I believe, the first time women grand slam winners have coached future grand slam winners and from the same nation. This makes this year's Roland Garros special. Barbora Krejcikova's win was, for me, totally unexpected despite the fact that she has been playing the best tennis of her career in the run up to Roland Garros. Nevertheless, she was up against players who were also playing at their best. Sakkari and Pavlyuchenkova were both strong contenders as was last year's winner, Swiatek. However, Krejcikova is already a ...

We're all talking about it so I will too. Osaka has gone on strike and not doing pre or post-match press conferences. Why? 🤔 Apparently, it's not good for her mental health. Maybe other tennis players feel the same. Opinion is divided over it. Osaka is playing at Roland Garros at the moment and has already been fined for not turning up for her first round post-match press conference. (Osaka beat Tig in her first round match.) And could face suspension from not only RG but future GS's. Is it worth missing Grand Slams she could win just because she feels press conferences are too mentally tough to get through? Losing is soul-destroying but you have to look at it pragmatically. It happens. Everyone has to deal with that scenario. The only thing you can do is ask yourself: What can I change to ensure a better result next time? 🤔 For instance, I changed my serve between tournaments and achieved 80% first serves in by my next tournament. However, this was still not good enough....

I have been reading about Zverev and his tennis career. Although German, Germany has little interest in him even when he wins big titles. This goes to show Thiem is inaccurate when he claims it's all about effort and results. Zverev is doing well but doesn't receive the hype much as Ostapenko didn't when she won Roland Garros. Trained by his mother, unlike his older brother, Zverev started with an aggressive game fairly early on which didn't seem to give him the desired results. His father wasn't concerned about this. He felt he should stick with his aggressive style. That was the way I approached my tennis game but it has initial drawbacks because you tend to lose to people who cling on because they are good at stringing out points. Nevertheless, like Zverev's father, my mother was unperturbed. She felt that the game would come good in time because it meant I wouldn't be afraid of playing high risk shots when the score line was tight. As we can see with Zve...

I'm moved to write a post on finding out that Conchita Martinez has tested positive in Qatar and has been moved to quarantine in a hospital. 😪 My thoughts and best wishes are with her. Can't wait for her to return to the tournament to continue coaching Muguruza.  Tennis 2020 did see 2 Grand Slams after tour return: US Open August 31-13 September and Roland Garros 27 September-11 October. (AO took place as normal despite the forest fire crisis) The only thing I remember about the US Open is the kerfuffle over Djokovic accidentally striking a lines woman when he hit a ball nonchalantly to the back of the court when going to sit down. He was perfectly calm and not looking at where he had struck the ball because he didn't hit it hard. It was just a normal returning of the ball to the back of the court. I watched the video a few times and he seemed concerned that he had inadvertently caused this mishap. Therefore, defaulting him, taking away all his points thus far in the tourn...

Girls and Women in Sports Day  This week (1st week of February) is Girls and Women in Sports Day (in the USA). Girls and women means ALL who identify as girls and women, trans and intersex included!  We can go around saying- oh yes, we must get girls and women into sport, get them active, all they need is a pep talk and a bit of encouragement and all will be well. We'll have lots of girls and women in s port soon, they'll be no holding them back! But this is a rather dispassionate and uninvolved take on the issue. So what I'm going to do here is my personal angle on it, my personal experience as a sporty woman who doesn't have family who have worked in the Sports world.  I was always physically active, literally from a few months old, whether I was jumping up and down on my mother's lap with her holding my hands or whether I was playing my percussion instruments on the sofa. Dancing and walking came at practically at the same time and by 1 & 1/2 I'd already ...