Tennis Random, Random (On Court)

[ti-amie]

Does anyone know more about an ATP/WTA exhibition held in Russia (St Petersburg?) over the weekend where the following players appeared as either coaches or as players? This is one exchange I saw on the bird app but there seems to have been little if any coverage of the event.



Putintseva
Bondar
Potapova
Gasanova
Rakhimova
Diatchenko
Kusnetsova
Myskina
Vesnina

Fuscovics
Djere
P. Martinez
Davydenko
Donskoy
Karatsev
Troicki
Tipsarevic

[Deuce]

Ok - reading the article makes it make more sense. It's not truly an apology at all - it's just more hot air from Tsitsipas telling us all that everything is always about him.
But we knew that already...

[meganfernandez]

Wrote this for Tennis.com
https://www.tennis.com/news/articles/th ... ons-jabeur

[ponchi101]

Excellent piece, Megan. I will split ONE hair here: Jabeur never made us cry this year. Ok, maybe we were wishing her to win one of her two slam finals, but she has been great all year.
But a very clean and very thorough piece of journalism .clap.

[Deuce]

Wrote this for Tennis.com
https://www.tennis.com/news/articles/th ... ons-jabeur

Very nice piece, Megan...

“For all the noise Jabeur made at the All-England Club, she was most entertaining in silence—when she sliced and strummed the ball around the court so finely that it didn’t make a sound. Her semifinal against “barbecue buddy” Tatjana Maria of Germany, another old soul on grass, featured low-fi ornamental rallies that made you check the mute button. Six, seven, eight shots in a row flicked, feathered, fluttered.”
That ^ is a wonderfully descriptive paragraph (and very accurate, too).

I really liked the Coetzer reference.

There is probably not a current player who is more genuinely liked and respected by her peers than is Jabeur.

Did you get to choose which of the 'top 5' players you would write about, or was Jabeur 'assigned' to you?

[meganfernandez]

Wrote this for Tennis.com
https://www.tennis.com/news/articles/th ... ons-jabeur

Very nice piece, Megan...

“For all the noise Jabeur made at the All-England Club, she was most entertaining in silence—when she sliced and strummed the ball around the court so finely that it didn’t make a sound. Her semifinal against “barbecue buddy” Tatjana Maria of Germany, another old soul on grass, featured low-fi ornamental rallies that made you check the mute button. Six, seven, eight shots in a row flicked, feathered, fluttered.”
That ^ is a wonderfully descriptive paragraph (and very accurate, too).

I really liked the Coetzer reference.

There is probably not a current player who is more genuinely liked and respected by her peers than is Jabeur.

Did you get to choose which of the 'top 5' players you would write about, or was Jabeur 'assigned' to you?

Thank you so much! I love the wordsmithing in the paragraph you mention, too. I originally said "filagreed" instead of "flicked," which is a little hard/rough tonally for what I was going for, but I decided it was too pretentious. "Finessed" would have worked, but I used it earlier in the story, and repeating distinctive words dulls the copy. I'm glad you appreciate it.

They assigned me Jabeur. I didn't get to pick. I'm so glad. I think she was the most interesting one to write about.

Good point about the current play er most genuinely liked or respected. I guess we learned that this year, too. I could have used that.

[ashkor87]

Wrote this for Tennis.com
https://www.tennis.com/news/articles/th ... ons-jabeur

Very nice piece, Megan...

“For all the noise Jabeur made at the All-England Club, she was most entertaining in silence—when she sliced and strummed the ball around the court so finely that it didn’t make a sound. Her semifinal against “barbecue buddy” Tatjana Maria of Germany, another old soul on grass, featured low-fi ornamental rallies that made you check the mute button. Six, seven, eight shots in a row flicked, feathered, fluttered.”
That ^ is a wonderfully descriptive paragraph (and very accurate, too).

I really liked the Coetzer reference.

There is probably not a current player who is more genuinely liked and respected by her peers than is Jabeur.

Did you get to choose which of the 'top 5' players you would write about, or was Jabeur 'assigned' to you?

Thank you so much! I love the wordsmithing in the paragraph you mention, too. I originally said "filagreed" instead of "flicked," which is a little hard/rough tonally for what I was going for, but I decided it was too pretentious. "Finessed" would have worked, but I used it earlier in the story, and repeating distinctive words dulls the copy. I'm glad you appreciate it.

They assigned me Jabeur. I didn't get to pick. I'm so glad. I think she was the most interesting one to write about.

Good point about the current play er most genuinely liked or respected. I guess we learned that this year, too. I could have used that.

Very nice article..loved it .wish more people were as passionate about the sport, wrote so well, with such fine understanding ..

[ashkor87]

who would be your candidate for 'best player who never won a major'?
On the Men, I would say Marcelo Rios
on the women, perhaps Radwanska or Dementieva...
right now, Pliskova and Svitolina are fast becoming candidates.. Garcia and Jabeur may still avoid this unwanted title..they just need a bit of luck.

[ashkor87]

Btw apologies if there is already a board on this..looked, didn't find it

[skatingfan]

Men - Todd Martin
Women - Dinara Safina

[meganfernandez]

Very nice piece, Megan...

“For all the noise Jabeur made at the All-England Club, she was most entertaining in silence—when she sliced and strummed the ball around the court so finely that it didn’t make a sound. Her semifinal against “barbecue buddy” Tatjana Maria of Germany, another old soul on grass, featured low-fi ornamental rallies that made you check the mute button. Six, seven, eight shots in a row flicked, feathered, fluttered.”
That ^ is a wonderfully descriptive paragraph (and very accurate, too).

I really liked the Coetzer reference.

There is probably not a current player who is more genuinely liked and respected by her peers than is Jabeur.

Did you get to choose which of the 'top 5' players you would write about, or was Jabeur 'assigned' to you?

Thank you so much! I love the wordsmithing in the paragraph you mention, too. I originally said "filagreed" instead of "flicked," which is a little hard/rough tonally for what I was going for, but I decided it was too pretentious. "Finessed" would have worked, but I used it earlier in the story, and repeating distinctive words dulls the copy. I'm glad you appreciate it.

They assigned me Jabeur. I didn't get to pick. I'm so glad. I think she was the most interesting one to write about.

Good point about the current play er most genuinely liked or respected. I guess we learned that this year, too. I could have used that.

Very nice article..loved it .wish more people were as passionate about the sport, wrote so well, with such fine understanding ..

Thank you, ashkor! I learn so much about tennis from everyone here, including you.

[meganfernandez]

who would be your candidate for 'best player who never won a major'?
On the Men, I would say Marcelo Rios
on the women, perhaps Radwanska or Dementieva...
right now, Pliskova and Svitolina are fast becoming candidates.. Garcia and Jabeur may still avoid this unwanted title..they just need a bit of luck.

Women, Sabalenka. This isn't even recency bias.

Men, Berdych or Kyrgios. Berdych edges him on mental strength and professionalism, of course. I'f we're looking at everything, it's Berdych for me. But Kyrgios is more talented.

[ashkor87]

who would be your candidate for 'best player who never won a major'?
On the Men, I would say Marcelo Rios
on the women, perhaps Radwanska or Dementieva...
right now, Pliskova and Svitolina are fast becoming candidates.. Garcia and Jabeur may still avoid this unwanted title..they just need a bit of luck.

Women, Sabalenka. This isn't even recency bias.

Men, Berdych or Kyrgios. Berdych edges him on mental strength and professionalism, of course. I'f we're looking at everything, it's Berdych for me. But Kyrgios is more talented.

Sabalenka is not done yet so I didn't include her!

[ponchi101]

Men: Henri Laconte. We usually forget how easily that man produced magic with a racquet.
Women. I already said Sukova. Shriver was a also a fine player, but I just did not like that style.

[Deuce]

I think you have to include 'The Big Cat' Miloslav Mecir into any discussion of the 'best player to never win a Major'. You'd be hard pressed to find a more smooth playing style than Mecir's.

Selecting players for this category depends on if we are looking at physical ability alone, or if we're considering the overall package. On physical ability alone, I can agree with the selections of Sabalenka and Kyrgios - and I'd throw in Arazi and Leconte, as well - all 3 of these players have a very high level of physical ability - and therefore much 'potential'... but if we're looking at the overall player, which includes what is commonly referred to as 'mental strength', then I'd EXclude Sabalenka, Kyrgios, Arazi, and Leconte - because they have all proven to be severely lacking in the area of 'mental strength'.