Tennis Random, Random (On Court)

[ti-amie]

I never thought about how close the camera person has to get to the player to get that shot!

[JazzNU]

There was a cameraman that bit the dust earlier this season, maybe in Charleston, that helped to show how close they tended to be. But I think we don't think about it because I don't think this is the case, I think at smaller tournaments this happens more often and still not all the time. Think about larger tournaments, maybe ones you've attended, and you'll be hard pressed to think of a cameraperson up that close to a player mid-match.

[mmmm8]

There was a cameraman that bit the dust earlier this season, maybe in Charleston, that helped to show how close they tended to be. But I think we don't think about it because I don't think this is the case, I think at smaller tournaments this happens more often and still not all the time. Think about larger tournaments, maybe ones you've attended, and you'll be hard pressed to think of a cameraperson up that close to a player mid-match.

Disagree, happens on many changeovers at slams and other larger tournaments as well, although only on larger courts. Saying this from experience being there in person. Also the flyover camera on the wire can get pretty close to the player as well, I wonder how no one's hit one with a ball yet.

[meganfernandez]

Geez, how about just zooming in from 10 feet away?

I never thought about how close the camera person has to get to the player to get that shot!

[meganfernandez]

I was sitting pretty close to this. My friend was just thrilled that she got to see some good Medvedev aggro. Justified the cost of our tickets alone. "We saw history being made," she said.

Oh, this was funny ... a few of us decided the day before to go to semis, and spent a lot of time weighing ticket options for the day and night. We were waiting to see if Louisa Stefani won her dubs semi midday, because if so, we definitely wanted to say for the women's dubs final at night - one fo the women going is Brazilian and she was dying to see Stefani. Evidently Stefani is a huge deal in Brazil right now, as the first woman since Maria Bueno in the top 20 of either singls or dubs. If she lost, my friend wasn't sure if she was going to go at all, or if we would stay for the night session, so I was searching for 2 tickets instead of 3 to see what our options where there... went on for hours. Then the friend who was definitely going remembered that .... her brother is close friends with Torben Beltz, and maybe we should ask him for tickets first??? I was like, I'm sorry, we've known each other for a year, almost entirely through tennis, and this is just now coming out?? Yeah, the Beltz family was her brother's host family in Germany when he was an exchange student in the 1970s. My friend's uncle coached at Clemson at the time, so when Torben decided to play college tennis, the uncle was his connection. The families have stayed close - all the Beltzes came to the US for the brother's wedding. But alas, Torben ghosted and didn't come through with tickets. By then, I had fantasized about sitting in Kerber's player's box, then being invited to dinner ... I was going to be the hype girl in her entourage... we would be invited back to the finals, then maybe to New York... it was going to be amazing. But it probably would have been depressing to sit in her player's box, the way the match went.

The second one looks like a fine and cost of damage should be assessed.

[JazzNU]

Disagree, happens on many changeovers at slams and other larger tournaments as well, although only on larger courts. Saying this from experience being there in person. Also the flyover camera on the wire can get pretty close to the player as well, I wonder how no one's hit one with a ball yet.

That's not my experience in person. But I was not talking about the flyover cameras, but ones like in this shot.

[skatingfan]

My experience at tournaments is that it is quite normal for camera operators to be a couple feet from the player while they sit during changeovers.

[Deuce]

Disagree, happens on many changeovers at slams and other larger tournaments as well, although only on larger courts. Saying this from experience being there in person. Also the flyover camera on the wire can get pretty close to the player as well, I wonder how no one's hit one with a ball yet.

The 'camera on a wire' (is there an official name for this thing?) is retracted to a quite high spot before play commences - so it would be pretty hard to hit it with a lob.
That said, what surprises me is that no player has taken a swing at it with their racquet while it is buzzing around them during a changeover, or during the pre-match warm-up.
Guys like Medvedev, Kyrgios, Paire, Troicki, etc. are definitely capable of blowing a fuse and doing something like that.

It might happen yet.

[Deuce]

I was sitting pretty close to this. My friend was just thrilled that she got to see some good Medvedev aggro. Justified the cost of our tickets alone. "We saw history being made," she said.

Oh, this was funny ... a few of us decided the day before to go to semis, and spent a lot of time weighing ticket options for the day and night. We were waiting to see if Louisa Stefani won her dubs semi midday, because if so, we definitely wanted to say for the women's dubs final at night - one fo the women going is Brazilian and she was dying to see Stefani. Evidently Stefani is a huge deal in Brazil right now, as the first woman since Maria Bueno in the top 20 of either singls or dubs. If she lost, my friend wasn't sure if she was going to go at all, or if we would stay for the night session, so I was searching for 2 tickets instead of 3 to see what our options where there... went on for hours. Then the friend who was definitely going remembered that .... her brother is close friends with Torben Beltz, and maybe we should ask him for tickets first??? I was like, I'm sorry, we've known each other for a year, almost entirely through tennis, and this is just now coming out?? Yeah, the Beltz family was her brother's host family in Germany when he was an exchange student in the 1970s. My friend's uncle coached at Clemson at the time, so when Torben decided to play college tennis, the uncle was his connection. The families have stayed close - all the Beltzes came to the US for the brother's wedding. But alas, Torben ghosted and didn't come through with tickets. By then, I had fantasized about sitting in Kerber's player's box, then being invited to dinner ... I was going to be the hype girl in her entourage... we would be invited back to the finals, then maybe to New York... it was going to be amazing. But it probably would have been depressing to sit in her player's box, the way the match went.

I've missed your stories, Megan...

Stefani and Dabrowski made two WTA 1000 Finals in a row (winning 1)... and have made the Finals of their last 4 tournaments - 3 of them together, and 1 as opponents.

[MJ2004]

Oops, Sascha’s scandal and tennis’ failure to address it is currently headlining slate.com.

[mmmm8]

Oops, Sascha’s scandal and tennis’ failure to address it is currently headlining slate.com.

https://slate.com/culture/2021/08/alexa ... ypova.html

What a POS.

I would say his father, too, but we don't know what Sascha told him.

[ponchi101]

One technical issue that I would wonder about. In any of the American leagues, any athlete would know what jurisdiction any such issue would fall under. But the ATP is worldwide. If a player were to be involved in a case of domestic violence, wouldn't that create a problem in the sense that the location would dictate the laws under which to judge the player?
I am only talking about the difficulties of proposing an ATP policy, not that there should not be one.

[meganfernandez]

Oops, Sascha’s scandal and tennis’ failure to address it is currently headlining slate.com.

https://slate.com/culture/2021/08/alexa ... ypova.html

What a POS.

I would say his father, too, but we don't know what Sascha told him.

Was wondering when this would drop. Everyone on the ESPN and Tennis Channel sets are going to look severely uncomfortable for a while.

[dmforever]

One technical issue that I would wonder about. In any of the American leagues, any athlete would know what jurisdiction any such issue would fall under. But the ATP is worldwide. If a player were to be involved in a case of domestic violence, wouldn't that create a problem in the sense that the location would dictate the laws under which to judge the player?
I am only talking about the difficulties of proposing an ATP policy, not that there should not be one.

It seems to me there are two issues. One is what happens with a criminal investigation, and that would depend on where it happened. But what the ATP does is not a criminal investigation, right? So they just have to come up with a process. I don't really understand how the ATP works. Would the players have to vote on a proposed set of guidelines?

Kevin

[ti-amie]

Interesting perspective here: