Tennis Random, Random (On Court)

[JazzNU]

[JazzNU]

IOC President Thomas Bach spotted with Peng Shuai at the Women's Big Air event tonight.

Well great, along with the clearly not at all influenced statement after their meeting in recent days, we can all stop worrying about her now!

Give me a damn break. This is embarrassing.

[ponchi101]

Only thing I will disagree about: No, it is no embarrassing. It is the IOC. Par for the course.
(You are totally right)

[ti-amie]

[ashkor87]

Hope the tennis world grabs the opportunity - boycott China and move the Australian Open to late Fall in the NH, then it wont be so terribly hot in Melbourne..!

[meganfernandez]

Hope the tennis world grabs the opportunity - boycott China and move the Australian Open to late Fall in the NH, then it wont be so terribly hot in Melbourne..!

Interesting idea, end the season with the AO. But then what happens to the year-ending championships? Just not have them? Summer starts in December down there. I looked up the weather in October and it's pretty good - not much rain and just 10 degrees cooler than Jan, on average. They could definitely use that.

It might work if the other Slams moved up a month. Paris in early May (or late April), Wimbledon early June, US Open early August, then AO early October and year-ending championships and early December. Then when is Davis Cup and Fed Cup? Same? And are those times of year good for the French or AO? Most want to take place in summer. One plus is that the US Open wouldn't overlap the start of the NFL season.

[ponchi101]

Remember that the Aussie was held in December for many years. And it did not work out. Many players decided not to go, most notably Borg and Connors. And those were the lean years of the Aussie.

[Deuce]

Yes - there's probably something to that...
Going to Australia is a long trip for most players. And so having it as the final Major at the end of the season risks having players not go because they are tired from the season.
But beginning the season with the Aussie Open provides a rather natural incentive for players to go - because they are eager and enthusiastic to start the new season.

I agree, though, that it would be good to try to do something about the heat in Melbourne, as, not only does it make for a lower quality of tennis overall, but it can also be dangerous - for players and fans alike.
The Earth being situated where it is within the solar system, though, along with human activity screwing with its natural climates more and more, the options for moving around the dates of the Majors are somewhat limited.

[JazzNU]

AO in the fall or end of the year seems like a terrible idea to me. This is very American-centric, but the TV contracts in the US is some of the biggest revenue these tournaments get. The sports landscape is stacked in late fall and early winter. Period. Indian Wells was nothing but an afterthought this year in its own country because of when it occurred. I barely saw a mention on the ESPN scroll about it. I mentioned at the time how awful the timing of it was even though obviously it made sense for 2021, but in general, a bad idea.

Also, you make it in the Fall or December in the US, and I promise you, the TV coverage this time on ESPN will look great in comparison to what it becomes. You might, and I would heavily stress the might, get some after 11 PM and before 6 AM coverage, but I wouldn't even count on that. I'd guess semis and finals are all that make it onto ESPN, the rest gets relegated to Plus.

I think there's zero chance of the other slams moving in any context. I don't think Aussie Open has that kind of pull, and the dates the others hold them have been for a good reason and they won't budge from the dates they are in.

[meganfernandez]

Remember that the Aussie was held in December for many years. And it did not work out. Many players decided not to go, most notably Borg and Connors. And those were the lean years of the Aussie.

But was it because of the tournament's timing or something like how hard it was to travel then? And maybe the tournament didn't pamper players as much?

[ponchi101]

The top players simply decided that it was not worth going there. The finals were held around Dec 20th, so it was hard to get back home for the Xmas holidays. Borg was very much against it, and then Connors decided that if Borg was not going, why would he bother? Then Mac did the same.
And it was, indeed, the smallest of all Slams, making it a hard sell.

[ashkor87]

Remember that the Aussie was held in December for many years. And it did not work out. Many players decided not to go, most notably Borg and Connors. And those were the lean years of the Aussie.

But was it because of the tournament's timing or something like how hard it was to travel then? And maybe the tournament didn't pamper players as much?

All those,plus people (like us) werent counting majors as if it is the only metric that matters ..!

[meganfernandez]

Remember that the Aussie was held in December for many years. And it did not work out. Many players decided not to go, most notably Borg and Connors. And those were the lean years of the Aussie.

But was it because of the tournament's timing or something like how hard it was to travel then? And maybe the tournament didn't pamper players as much?

All those,plus people (like us) werent counting majors as if it is the only metric that matters ..!

Good point. And maybe the prize money wasn’t what it is now…


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[ponchi101]

Prize money in those days was around $25K for the winner. Imagine first or second rounds. Plus, of course, in the 1970's there were few airplanes that could fly non-stop to Australia. So it was not a one or two hops, it was probably three.

[JazzNU]

McEnroe says he wishes he had gone to more. But he says a lot of thing. He wishes he had more GS titles is what he really means and especially more than Lendl.

I don't think the changes between now and then matter, I don't see it moving on the calendar unless it's to later in January or beginning of February to give the players a more reasonable off-season.