mick1303 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 4:45 pm
Deuce wrote: ↑Wed Feb 22, 2023 8:51 pm
These withdrawals and retirements are ridiculous. Three (at least) high profile withdrawals in the past week - Bencic, Rybakina, Pliskova. Players no longer have any integrity - it's pathetic.
It's amazing how players view every scheduled match as being optional!
The flippant withdrawals and retirements are disgusting.
There is way too much money in the game, and that ruins everything on several levels. "I'm rich, I'm famous, so I can play only if I want to - if I feel only 98%, I'll take it easy and rest while looking at my lovely bank account numbers and not give a damn about the fans, my opponents, the tournament, or the sport looking bad."
Highly celebrated Serena gave 19 walkovers to her opponents. Out of the total of 172 losses it computes to 11%. I did not do a complete study but that seems to be a record percentage. I'm wondering if you were so harsh on her like you do now on these players.
Rybakina had until now 3 walkover losses out of 71 (4.2%). Pliskova has 208 losses and I did not find any walkover until now. This will be the first. Bencic has 158 losses of which there was only one walkover. It is less than 1%.
This rant about modern players being corrupted by money comparing to the previous generation seems to be missing the mark quite a bit.
1) Yes - I absolutely criticized Serena's attitude, lack of sportsmanship, and questionable commitment to the game for a long time. Though she was undeniably a great player, she was far too much of a 'diva' personality for my liking. The way she robbed Osaka of the joy of her first U.S. Open win tells you all you need to know about Serena - she insisted on the spotlight being on HER, completely depriving Osaka of a once in a lifetime joyful experience. It was pathetic. And that wasn't the only time she stole the spotlight from a more deserving person at the U.S. Open - she did the same to Kim Clijsters some years earlier.
Of course, as is the custom in this crazy society, one's faults, no matter how grave, almost always get completely overlooked if the person is A) good at their craft, and B) very 'famous'. Infinite (very poor) excuses are made for the despicable behaviour of 'famous people' because of the sick and very unhealthy celebrity worship/culture that exists. Think Tiger Woods, as well...
And I also obviously remember the frequency with which Serena decided not to play, often at the last minute (conveniently, after the tickets were sold). No - I was never a Serena fan.
As for the recent withdrawals... I stand by my position that it's bush league. What other professional sport on Earth has 4 matches/games cancelled in the space of one week? And they were 4 high profile matches, too - not first round matchups between qualifiers.
I really don't care what percentages you worked out in terms of their frequencies of withdrawals (why didn't you add in-match retirements to your tally?) - the fact is that when a player quits a tournament - whether through withdrawal or in-match retirement - the fans are screwed, the tournament organizers are screwed, and the sport looks quite bad.
And I maintain that if you enter a tournament, you enter it to play until you either lose, or you win the tournament. That is called honest commitment. That is called respect for the fans, your opponents, the tournament, and the sport. To view every match as being
optional, and to view quitting if you are not feeling absolutely 100% as being a viable option, is downright pathetic. The only exception should be if you are TRULY incapable of playing due to injury (or that there is a strong likelihood that your injury will become very serious if you play), or due to some sort of personal emergency. Does anyone honestly believe that this situation has occurred
4 times in the past week with the top athletes in the world? If so, I'm sure there are some good deals on a few bridges you could purchase.
History shows unequivocally and undeniably that money corrupts people. Do you honestly think that tennis players are above this?
If so, why?
If common sense is employed, there can be absolutely no denying that today's players are far more coddled and spoiled than were the players of the '70s, '80s, and even into the beginning of the '90s. They are treated as demi-gods today by sponsors, by tournaments, by fans, by the media... Plus they are making much, much, much more money (relative to the cost of living) than they were pre 1990s. To not see that this very directly leads to a sense of entitlement in the majority of players, and to a less intense level of commitment and respect for the fans, and for the game, is, in my opinion, to be ignorant of the obvious.
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