Tennis Random, Random (On Court)

[ponchi101]

The subject has come up before. What would happen if we find out that women do not want to coach? You can see how many former greats have never even come close to coaching. I can't even recall BJK, as involved as she has been in the sport, coaching anybody in particular for any extended period of time.
I can only think of a few women coaches of late. Mauresmo and Conchita, Davenport coaching Maddy for a while. Nothing stops other former players to join the coaching ranks, and yet they don't seem to be in demand or don't want to. I have always wondered how come nobody has crawled on her (or even his) knees to convince Navs to be her coach.
Maybe indeed women have more and better things to do after their careers are over. And notice that other examples of successful women coaches come with a caveat: Gloria Connors, Melanie Molitor. Both parents of their player.

[Deuce]

^ And Shapovalov's mom, as well...

'Political correctness' has absolutely no influence on me saying this (or saying/doing anything else), but I honestly think that the answer as to why most coaches are male is paternalism. It's the age old thought/belief that 'men know better'. Of course, this is seen in action throughout many facets of society, not just in tennis or sports.

One of the ways this has always bothered me, ever since it was instituted, is that female tennis players are allowed to be coached during matches (except at the Majors), but male tennis players are not allowed to be coached during matches.
This quite blatantly infers that the female players require more help to navigate through a match than male players do. Add the fact that, as stated above, most coaches of female players are men, and the entire thing is extremely condescending and paternalistic.

It was at its worst when on-court coaching was allowed. This was always a drama being played out in front of everyone: The male coach would come down to the court from his seat to provide much needed 'guidance' to the 'overwhelmed', 'helpless' 'damsel in distress' who could not possibly continue without his aid. That is exactly the message it gave, which is terrible.
Again - male players are not allowed to be coached during matches - because they 'obviously don't need it', but female players ARE allowed to be coached during the matches because they 'obviously need it'.

I don't know why there's been no more objection to this than there's been. I've always hoped that a female player would stand up and yell out "WHAT IS THIS BLOODY SH*T?"

It's crazy.
Neither gender is more needy than the other.
Either allow coaching during the match for both sexes, or for neither. Period.

[ponchi101]

As there has been a bit of a talk about the naming of the TENNIS FORUMS, I started a poll to ask if we want a bit of renaming. That would mean that the tittles will change a bit, but not much (I will keep the RANDOM RANDOM oddity because I find it quirky and funny, and I like the forum better when we are funny). All current posts will remain as they are but the new title will apply to the new posts from now on only.
Having said that:
The forum is a bit like a Frat House kitchen, and I do mean ANIMAL HOUSE frat house. Yes, we know somebody put a big sign on the main blender saying DO NOT USE TO MAKE SOUPS, but then somebody did, and he cleaned it later, but it still smells like broccoli when you make your strawberry shake. And somebody used the really good knife to open a can, making it dull, because he could not find the can opener (which was right in front of him). But, that is one of the charms of a frat house: you have to learn to live with 50 other people that you really would rather not live with because, admittedly, you used the last roll of toilet paper yesterday and did not tell anybody, so you are guilty of this mess too.
Let me know. I can't ban myself but if pushed to it, I promise not to come around for a few days.
(See how you like that )

[Liamvalid]

I check out both threads regularly, and just scroll past what I’m not interested in. Maybe we could ask an admin to move something if we feel it’s in the wrong place? The vast majority of posts in the tennis players random thread are relevant

[Deuce]

I think that changing the titles of the forums would also make the content of the forums more clear for the new people who join this discussion board.

[ptmcmahon]

I think everyone is missing out by not picking the last option And now I look like the jerk for being the only one to pick that option...hehe.

[ponchi101]

I think everyone is missing out by not picking the last option And now I look like the jerk for being the only one to pick that option...hehe.

or the wise man...

[ptmcmahon]

I just didn't want you to have that option go unused!

[ti-amie]

So this happened earlier today...

[ponchi101]

F1 (before the 2000's. Now, literally a Sunday drive)
Boxing
UFC
American football/Ice Hockey (I really couldn't tell which one is tougher)
Rugby
Basketball (especially 1990's BB)
Tennis

[Owendonovan]

Gymnastics is tougher than contact sports.

[JazzNU]

I agree Owen. I think gymnastics and figure skating get overlooked because they are (usually) pretty to watch. But there's a reason retirement age from both is very young. Very tough to do and even more brutal on the body and the injuries you can sustain are yikes!


I have no idea if Liam and Andy are friends or just friendly enough, cause DAMN!

[ponchi101]

Yep. Dropped that one. I just don't watch appreciation sports, so I rarely watch gyms.
But you are right. They tell me "you have to play one down against the Chicago Bears defense, or walk the length of the balance beam" and I will put on the pads. I can always run backwards.

[Deuce]

Not taking anything away from the difficulty of gymnastics - but it would certainly seem that the primary reason people retire early from it is that the human animal is most flexible between the ages of about 13 and 20 or 21. And flexibility is, of course, paramount in gymnastics. There's a reason that so many gymnastic champions are teenagers. After age 20 or so, some can still get by in gymnastics for a few years, but that's when natural muscle structure, larger bones, etc. begin to obstruct one's flexibility.

[Deuce]

If Murray is not saying that in jest about Broady, it's quite classless from him. And obviously unnecessary in order to make his point.
(I don't know what the relationship between the two is.)

Insofar as determining the 'toughest sport'... it depends what is meant.
Are we looking to define which sport is the toughest on the body physically?
Or are we trying to determine which sport is the most difficult to master?
If the latter, tennis is probably close to the top. If you've ever seen top athletes from other sports trying to play tennis, it's usually pretty ugly. That includes pro baseball players, which seems odd, as they can hit a round ball with a round bat. But they are stationary when they do it - and that makes a huge difference.

In terms of mastering a sport - curling is also one of the most difficult. Surely some of you will laugh - but you'd also fall straight on your rear end if ever you tried curling! I've seen many people try it for the first time, thinking it will be as easy as it looks on TV - and they are shocked into reality when their behind hits the ice - usually several times.
It requires great balance and precision. Think of launching a 40 pound rock 100 feet or so on a sheet of ice so that it stops in a particular spot the size of a square foot or less...