TENNIS PLAYERS (Off-Court Shenanigans)

[JazzNU]

[ti-amie]

TBH I never noticed Sinner's hair. Andrey's hair, on the other hand, has been displayed in all its magnificence for a long time.

[Suliso]

Been a very long time since I've noticed her picture anywhere.

[ponchi101]

That is one elaborate hair job. Pretty cool

[meganfernandez]

Probably talking about this... I don't know anything about Dr. Umar - from what I gather, he is controversial. The jist is he wanted Naomi to represent Haiti in the Olympics because, he said, her African DNA and her father's training made her an athlete, not her Japanese background, and because Japan doesn't care about her. I'm not informed at all on these issues, and I hope I'm not stepping in something by posting this. I found it noteworthy as a tennis topic given that his rant had a big audience on the Breakfast Club and that she acknowledged it.

[ponchi101]

A sensitive issue, indeed. Talking about DNA as what makes you "different" can lead to some not-desirable places.
If just her African DNA were the key to her success, there would be a lot of other African tennis players on the tour. It is a combination, like all the other world class athletes in the world. Your DNA, your economic capabilities to engage in proper training, the availability of such training facilities, your parents' means to provide you with proper nutrition, health care systems, etc.
No "good" DNA and you don't make it (Naomi's sister, with the same DNA, did not make it). But no tennis court nearby to train, no money to buy the racket, no proper teachers around, and you don't make it either.
Sidebar: if Japan does not care for her, then all those endorsement deals are foolish. And I doubt those people are that dumb (the endorsers).

[JazzNU]

I don't find it a noteworthy tennis topic and Naomi is dismissing it, not acknowledging it as a topic up for debate. It being heard on the Breakfast Club hardly makes it something of note. Not only do I not think this is a good forum to discuss a topic such as this, it's also generally not a topic that is deserving of attention.

[ti-amie]

Dustin Brown had the opposite problem. He wanted to play for Jamaica but as he found out and many Jamaican's told me the country doesn't support its athletes. They like the world wide attention their athletes garner for their country but that's as far as it goes. Haiti is not in a position to support a world class athlete like Naomi and they know it. Without going into a lot of detail this is just going public with something that has probably been dealt with already.

I'm so out of it I have no idea what the Breakfast Club is.

[ponchi101]

...

I'm so out of it I have no idea what the Breakfast Club is.

To me: Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson and Anthony Michael Hall, in a John Hughes movie that I love.
Makes two of us.

[Suliso]

Me and Ponchi not knowing is obvious as surely it's some kind of US TV show.

[JTContinental]

I'm American and also don't know what it is, either--maybe a podcast?

[meganfernandez]

I'm American and also don't know what it is, either--maybe a podcast?

Breakfast Club is a widely syndicated morning radio show.

[JTContinental]

That explains it--I bet it's been at least 20 years since I've listened to the radio.

[JazzNU]

I'm so out of it I have no idea what the Breakfast Club is.

The radio show that Charlamagne co-hosts. You can ask your daughter, I can't imagine she doesn't know. But message me if she doesn't.

[meganfernandez]

That explains it--I bet it's been at least 20 years since I've listened to the radio.

Me neither, and I work for a radio company. But in the smaller publishing division. And that's why I haven't had a raise in 15 years - because hardly anyone listens to the radio anymore. I wouldn't say it's a dying business but it has to reinvent itself.