The Tennis Thread (Spoilers Within)

[Kid Seven]

I though it would be nice to start a thread for anyone who wants to talk tennis, or post results or anything like that, like me...

...and me. :rolleyes

One thing that's caught my attention today is that Andy Roddick has just signed a five-year deal with Lacoste, the French sports clothing maker.

He was previously with Reebok, who, along with Nike, though he wanted too much money.

So, Lacoste, how much money?

[Wesley Dodds]

I like that women who makes a funny noise whenever she hits the ball. She sounds like a psychopath!

[Kid Seven]

Monica Seles? SHe really does sound crazy. I think I'd be distracted if I had to play against her.

[macul]

Tennis. I know nothing about tennis other than my wife loves to play and the one time I played with her she kicked my ass all over the court. Course, that was my first (and only) time playing while she'd been playing for years including numerous scholarship offers.

[Kid Seven]

More and more Rafael Nadal, the young teenager from Spain, is looking like the French Open champion for this year. His game is perfect on clay, very few weak spots. The only questions would be how he'll deal with the pressure of being a favorite and if he canhold up fitness-wise. We'll see.

I can't remember the last time I referred to a player as a favorite for a Grand Slam that they had never played before. Just goes to show how much he's developed in the last year.

[borateen]

I love playing tennis, but as with any sports, I just have a hard time sitting still for so long and watching it on TV. As such, I have no idea what is going on in the world of professional tennis.

[hulahulk]

I coached girls' varsity tennis for 3 years. They hadn't ever even had a winning record before I stepped in, but we went to the regional playoffs each year I was there. We would do well within our region, but we got our collective asses kicked when we got to the playoffs because of all the deep teams from the southern part of the state.

Our league matches would consist of 1st, 2nd and 3rd singles; plus 2 doubles teams. Much of the time we would have the kids play one set to 8 games (win by two) due to court time, weather, and travel time. Sometimes we would be able to have matches of best 2 out of 3 sets.

Alot of the high school tennis in our state is pretty mediocre, due to the lack of turn-out and the fact that all of the really good teenage players stick with their age-group leagues. But there were some good athletes in our league.

[MarZom]

Not much love for tennis on this board. Dodds could be talking about Sharapova now though, since she loves to make the grunts now more then anyone. I've never really bothered to watch the French open, playing on clay is so much different then anything else that it seems like a different sport almost.

[Valmore]

Monica Seles? SHe really does sound crazy. I think I'd be distracted if I had to play against her.

Actually, if I recall correctly, earlier in her career some of her opponents actually complained to the line judges that her obnoxiously loud grunts were distracting them. I think she even received a warning on it. But this was way back in the early 1990's.

I love tennis, but I haven't played it in ages. Closest thing I've even played in recent years is racquetball. And I haven't even played that lately, since city league softball started this month.

[Valmore]

I coached girls' varsity tennis for 3 years. They hadn't ever even had a winning record before I stepped in, but we went to the regional playoffs each year I was there. We would do well within our region, but we got our collective asses kicked when we got to the playoffs because of all the deep teams from the southern part of the state.

Our league matches would consist of 1st, 2nd and 3rd singles; plus 2 doubles teams. Much of the time we would have the kids play one set to 8 games (win by two) due to court time, weather, and travel time. Sometimes we would be able to have matches of best 2 out of 3 sets.

Alot of the high school tennis in our state is pretty mediocre, due to the lack of turn-out and the fact that all of the really good teenage players stick with their age-group leagues. But there were some good athletes in our league.

I covered high school tennis in both New Jersey and New Hampshire as a sports writer. Your play was similar to New Jersey in that you played three singles matches and two doubles teams. However, in New Jersey they play full matches - best of three sets. In New Hampshire, they played one set to eight games. All of the best teams in New Jersey were up north, especially in the Parochial brackets.

[Kid Seven]

I'm very excited. One of my girlfriend co-workers is gonna hit some tennis balls with me on Tuesday. Apparently this girl got a scholarship to the University of Montana, and, though this was long ago when they were both much younger, has beaten Lindsay Davenport.

I shoudl win handidly. :rolleyes:

[Punchy]

I love tennis. I like it more than hockey even. Im a big Agassi fan and hope he can win another major before he retires. And I also hope Roddick can beat Federer one day.

[Tobei Miyake]

I though it would be nice to start a thread for anyone who wants to talk tennis, or post results or anything like that, like me...

I was wondering if anybody played tennis here...

I play local USTA stuff.

That Roddick news, I did not know that... Lacoste. Wow, that's... weird.

Last summer I read somewhere, I think it was like on the tennis-warehouse.com forum or somewhere, that someone said that he was going to Nike.
(I was over there because I was reading-up on the Federer racquet and the Liquidmetal and the new Graphite. I went with the Graphite; I picked up a few of those. I liked the Federer racquet and the Liquidmetal, but I've been playing with Prince since I was 10; since I started, so... Anyway.)

What, was it last week that Federer lost to Gasquet in Monte Carlo? That was like "whoa, Federer lost."
(Here's a link for you non-tennis people who don't know, and why it's a bit of a shock in the tennis world: Gasquet ends Federer's 25-match winning streak at Monte Carlo Masters)

I remember reading about Gasquet, like, two years ago on si.com; when he was a junior. They were talking about him because he was winning (or doing well or something) in a lot of satellite tournaments, and he was only 16. They were saying that Borg was spotted at some of his matches. He won the mixed-doubles at the French last year with his girlfriend, that Tatiana Golovin, I think.

And Nadal... yeah, I like him. And the French... probably will, I wouldn't be surprised. I gotta get a pair of those "man-capri's" that he wears. Those are cool as hell. :D

I don't know if any of you know, but there's a tennis manga. It's called Prince of Tennis, Viz has it (with previews)... And the manga is... I hate to say is kind of kiddie, so I guess I'll go with "All-ages." I started reading it when it started when I was around 14, and it was cool then, but later on it got to be like "aiight, I'm done; that's good." But, y'know, it's tennis, so, it's cool.

***
Favorites players? Tim Henman. And Federer, of course. And Henman because I call myself trying to play like him. And, y'know, him at Wimbledon... it doesn't get much better than that.

[hulahulk]

I covered high school tennis in both New Jersey and New Hampshire as a sports writer. Your play was similar to New Jersey in that you played three singles matches and two doubles teams. However, in New Jersey they play full matches - best of three sets. In New Hampshire, they played one set to eight games. All of the best teams in New Jersey were up north, especially in the Parochial brackets.

Yeah, some of our outdoor courts were still covered with snow even into our spring season. The northern Maine towns sometimes have 1-2 feet still on their courts as late as the end of April.

[Tobei Miyake]

More and more Rafael Nadal, the young teenager from Spain, is looking like the French Open champion for this year. His game is perfect on clay, very few weak spots. The only questions would be how he'll deal with the pressure of being a favorite and if he canhold up fitness-wise. We'll see.

I can't remember the last time I referred to a player as a favorite for a Grand Slam that they had never played before. Just goes to show how much he's developed in the last year.

Adding to that... He straight-setted Ferrero 6-1 7-6 (4) 6-3 in Barcelona yesterday to win that. (ATPtennis.com)

And yeah, Roddick won too, in Houston over Grosjean, 2 and 2 (6-2 6-2). But... y'know, no real contender for the French plays there. And Roddick always wins there and always goes out in the first week of the French still, so...

Back to Nadal: he's 25-2 on clay this year so far. He's won Monte Carlo. I assume he's playing the Italian and the German Open. I guess, like you say, the only thing now is to hope that he doesn't play too much before the French and comes in burnt-out.

And I guess if he does win, he'll be one of the youngest ever at 18. Chang is the youngest at 17 (and 4 months?) in '89, followed by, I guess, Wilander in '82 and Borg in '74 (or '75 or '73 or somewhere around then); both at 17.

And like you said, he's never played there before, yet he's a favorite! I know when Mats Wilander won, it was his first pro tournament victory -- I'm not sure if it was his first time playing, though; it couldn't have been more than his second time, though, I'm quite sure.

I think Nadal missed last year because he got injured during a practice session just before the French? I think they said he was messing around and tried jumping over the net and caught his foot on it and fell? Apparently he hurt his ankle or wrist or something and ended up missing both the French and Wimbledon. Wimbledon two years ago is when I first heard about him. Because he had created a bit of a buzz: he was this left-handed Spanish teenager serving and volleying at Wimbledon. That was like "you're kidding, right? He's from Spain... and he's playing Wimbledon; he's not "tired" from the French? And he's serving and volleying? This I gotta see." He got to the third round that year, I think.

I was checking ESPN to see if they were going to show anything before the French (because I don't think they've really shown anything since Miami); they didn't have any schedule up. I checked The Tennis Channel, and yeah, they're showing the whole week of coverage for the Italian Open next week; and then the German Open the week after that. ESPN, of course, will come in with wall-to-wall coverage of the French when it starts; in about four weeks. I guess they'll do their usual 8am to 2pm everyday, and then re-broadcast it at 7pm or 8pm or 11pm, or whenever-the-hell they put it on ESPN2.

***
An interesting historical/biographical book to read, if any of you are into that sort of stuff, is The Goddess and the American Girl by Larry Engleman. It's about Suzanne Lenglen, "The Goddess," and Helen Wills Moody, "The American Girl." And it's basically a story about the lives of two of the biggest names in women's tennis during the Roaring '20s. Suzanne Lenglen, of course, was Kournikova before Kournikova; the whole world knew who she was. She was so popular, that the present-day location of Wimbledon was built (in part) to accommodate the crowds that came to see her play; they previous location had just become too small. Of course, the thing is, is that she was no great beauty -- she was of course the first woman tennis player to show her ankles and calves while playing. (Heh.) The book also talks about how she used to drink brandy during the change-overs... It's really fascinating.