Tennis Random, Random (On Court)

[ti-amie]

Some surprises from the earnings list:

Sveta in the top ten.

Osaka #21

Bepa #28

Seles still on the list at #30

Hsieh #56

Schnyder # 66

I guess you can argue about the value of money then and now but it's pretty obvious why of all sports tennis is considered the best for women in terms of earnings.

[JazzNU]

Sveta and Hsieh are old (in tennis terms). Sveta playing at a very high level for a very long time and Hsieh playing constantly with few injuries in both singles and doubles adds up. They turned pro near when Sharapova did. Consider that Caro and Aga didn't turn pro for probably 4-5 years after Sveta did and are retired now for comparison.

[JazzNU]

Story on Holger Rune from earlier this year (original discussion in rankings thread)


ATP is investigating rising star for yelling gay slurs during a match

[Fastbackss]

And being able to cover the Chinese market isn't exactly the be all and end all in tennis. I personally wouldn't say Li Na was ever the face of the WTA, wouldn't even go so far as to say she was the Top 3. Can Emma potentially help the tennis interest in China increase? Let's hope so, but that's as far as I'd take that thread right now.

.

There were some other "reasons" as to why Li Na didn't move the needle in China...plenty of articles state how the government wasn't pleased with her.

And if the government isn't behind it neither are the people.

[ti-amie]

Story on Holger Rune from earlier this year (original discussion in rankings thread)


ATP is investigating rising star for yelling gay slurs during a match

Wow.

[Suliso]

Li Na couldn't "cover" the European or American market as well. Raducanu as a native English speaker can. All that is assuming she doesn't fade like Ostapenko did after her surprise GS title run.

[Suliso]

Story on Holger Rune from earlier this year (original discussion in rankings thread)


ATP is investigating rising star for yelling gay slurs during a match

Disappointed to hear that about a potential future star...

[JazzNU]

There were some other "reasons" as to why Li Na didn't move the needle in China...plenty of articles state how the government wasn't pleased with her.

And if the government isn't behind it neither are the people.

Okay, but unless you're saying that is what held Li Na back from becoming one of the faces of the WTA, officially with the tour or unofficially through non-Chinese global tennis media, then that wasn't my point. My focus isn't on moving the needle in China, but it seems like @suliso thinks that's important. I don't personally think it's a major factor at the moment.

[JazzNU]

Li Na couldn't "cover" the European or American market as well. Raducanu as a native English speaker can. All that is assuming she doesn't fade like Ostapenko did after her surprise GS title run.

Same could be said of Badosa.

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

Final tweets of the above exchange: ( I couldn't figure out which tweets to delete to shorten the number of URL's)

ETA: They're still at it.

[mmmm8]

Tennis media is very incestuous (ITWA is a prime example) and I think it's accurate to say players not from North America or Western Europe get unequal coverage.

That doesn't negate the fact that Djokovic sat down with a war criminal.

[ti-amie]

[JazzNU]

What was the initial point from the now missing tweet?

[dmforever]

I'm not sure where to put this. Sorry if this isn't it and please feel free to move this. I have a friend in Brazil who calls himself and intermediate player. I'm not exactly sure what that means. He asked me what a good tennis racket would be for him. Because of back stuff I had to stop playing about 6 years ago and so I don't follow equipment anymore. Could some of you just give me a recommendation or two? I told him that there is no one "best" racket and a lot depends on what you learned on and your style of play, but he still wants a recommendation. Thanks in advance.

Kevin