Tennis Random, Random (On Court)

[Omess]

It probably means she will also get a Indian Wells WC….


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[Deuce]

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This is puzzling - and stupid. And possibly disturbing.

If there are any tennis officials in the U.S. who honestly do not know the meaning of 'Vamos' (or 'Bamos'), they should resign immediately.

Why is Speaking Spanish Out of Bounds in U.S. Youth Tennis?

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[ti-amie]

The article is from 2016. I would hope that this nonsense has stopped. US juniors are a very diverse bunch now.

[Deuce]

The article is from 2016. I would hope that this nonsense has stopped. US juniors are a very diverse bunch now.

Yes, it's from 2016 - but that was not exactly the 'dark ages' of tennis. It's not like it was written in 1976.
I doubt much has changed since the article was written.

[ti-amie]

The article is from 2016. I would hope that this nonsense has stopped. US juniors are a very diverse bunch now.

Yes, it's from 2016 - but that was not exactly the 'dark ages' of tennis. It's not like it was written in 1976.
I doubt much has changed since the article was written.

Oh I agree! It wasn't that long ago. and I remember some in the US being upset about Errani and others shouting "vamos". Plus ça change...

[meganfernandez]

It probably means she will also get a Indian Wells WC….


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Yes exactly.

[nelslus]

A 500 event this time. Nice. All of these have been at Kamau's tennis center. But no player list for a tournament that starts in 2.5 weeks? Is that normal?

The only way I initially found out about these recent Chicago tournaments was me, of all places, going on the WTA site to look at some tournament draws. At which point I saw Chicago WTA tournaments listed....which made me go, WTF, really?!?! I had to do some sleuthing and phone calls to finally get us some tickets for the first two of three events.

The outdoor courts are beautiful and all. And, they had a WTT event a couple of years ago, so John and I can confirm that the indoor facility is terrific. HOWEVER.....in many ways, the first two events were handled in a pretty rinky-dink way. The listed "food court" was ridiculous. "Opened" up at 2:00 p.m. or so, and all they had were hot dogs and bratwurst. And potato chips and I think popcorn. They didn't even have flippin' diet cokes!! You could get booze there, but since we don't drink alcohol....the folks were mostly nice, except for one snot-bag "official" II'd guess she was representing the WTA vs. the tournament itself?) who sidled up to John and me to huffily tell us at one point that we'd have to go and sit in the stands instead of the walkway, where you could have seen 2 matches at once. They also have a "main court"- three matches at the same time at most. At least for the first two tournaments, the stands would not allow for a lot of customers to enjoy the tennis. Crazy-bad job of advertising this event and social media posts. AND, the site I had bookmarked for the previous 2 recent Chicago tournaments didn't allow one to purchase tickets! THANKS MUCH to ti-amie, as your post let me go where I could actually buy tickets. LOL, of course we are still going to go- I got us SF and F tickets, and I'm at least also going to go that Friday. Five tickets for a total of $403.72. NOT cheap, but, hey, I love women's tennis. Best believe we're still going to bring food and water with us!!

[meganfernandez]

A 500 event this time. Nice. All of these have been at Kamau's tennis center. But no player list for a tournament that starts in 2.5 weeks? Is that normal?

The only way I initially found out about these recent Chicago tournaments was me, of all places, going on the WTA site to look at some tournament draws. At which point I saw Chicago WTA tournaments listed....which made me go, WTF, really?!?! I had to do some sleuthing and phone calls to finally get us some tickets for the first two of three events.

The outdoor courts are beautiful and all. And, they had a WTT event a couple of years ago, so John and I can confirm that the indoor facility is terrific. HOWEVER.....in many ways, the first two events were handled in a pretty rinky-dink way. The listed "food court" was ridiculous. "Opened" up at 2:00 p.m. or so, and all they had were hot dogs and bratwurst. And potato chips and I think popcorn. They didn't even have flippin' diet cokes!! You could get booze there, but since we don't drink alcohol....the folks were mostly nice, except for one snot-bag "official" II'd guess she was representing the WTA vs. the tournament itself?) who sidled up to John and me to huffily tell us at one point that we'd have to go and sit in the stands instead of the walkway, where you could have seen 2 matches at once. They also have a "main court"- three matches at the same time at most. At least for the first two tournaments, the stands would not allow for a lot of customers to enjoy the tennis. Crazy-bad job of advertising this event and social media posts. AND, the site I had bookmarked for the previous 2 recent Chicago tournaments didn't allow one to purchase tickets! THANKS MUCH to ti-amie, as your post let me go where I could actually buy tickets. LOL, of course we are still going to go- I got us SF and F tickets, and I'm at least also going to go that Friday. Five tickets for a total of $403.72. NOT cheap, but, hey, I love women's tennis. Best believe we're still going to bring food and water with us!!

Thanks for this report. Were many people there?

I thought the same about the publicity. Even once you found out about it, the info online was so hard to come by. The mission to help Black and other minority kids is nice, an extension of the XL Center's programming. My friend criticized some Black WTA players for not playing either of the earlier tournaments for that reason. I think that's extreme. I'd like to come up but we'll see. It will be interesting to see which international players stick around after New York to play this and Indian Wells. There's no player list yet on the WTA site - is this normal? Don't players already know if they're in or not? The WTA hasn't posted a player list for Ostava that week, either.

[Jeff from TX]

Joel Drucker remembers his brother

This could have gone elsewhere, but a truly moving story about tennis, sibling rivalry and love, and mental illness.

[meganfernandez]

Joel Drucker remembers his brother

This could have gone elsewhere, but a truly moving story about tennis, sibling rivalry and love, and mental illness.

Really beautiful. Felt the pain. Joel and i watched a match together two years ago on the Grandstand. We were the only people in the media box and he was kind enough to let me pick his brain. I didn't know who he was until we had talked for awhile. Then I kind of gasped and felt so silly. Thanks for posting this.

[skatingfan]

There's no player list yet on the WTA site - is this normal? Don't players already know if they're in or not? The WTA hasn't posted a player list for Ostava that week, either.

I think Ti could tell you better than anyone that this is standard practice for the WTA.

[ti-amie]

What I love most about the WTA is that there is an OoP posted for Portoroz but a draw? Why would they do something like that? It's so frustrating. And the site that used to post the draws is so full of bugs my browser won't link to it (Chrome).

[ti-amie]

I didn't realize that the status of the YEC was still in play. Apparently there's a decision coming in a few days. Who knows maybe it'll be in Chicago!

/s

Seriously London or Prague would be my choice but it's the WTA. They signed a 10 year contract to stay in Asia.

[meganfernandez]

I didn't realize that the status of the YEC was still in play. Apparently there's a decision coming in a few days. Who knows maybe it'll be in Chicago!

/s

Seriously London or Prague would be my choice but it's the WTA. They signed a 10 year contract to stay in Asia.

If it is, we'll never know.

[Suliso]

Before this tournament Coco Gauff was by far the most promising and marketable teenager on tour. Now she has been overtaken by two others at once. Funny how things turn out sometimes... Of course it needn't be permanent, but now the bar is very high (GS title).