Tennis Random, Random

[Woody]

Poor Caro. I was trying to have a sports conversation in Copenhagen today, but my football knowledge is pretty limited, so I tried to change the topic.

Woody: Are any other sports popular here? Tennis maybe?
Not Woody: No, nobody follows tennis.
Woody: But you had the #1 women's player in the world!
Not Woody: (makes a face of disgust) Yeah, but she never won a grand slam!

Haha, they don't know much about tennis, but they know that!

[MeganFernandez]

Poor Caro. I was trying to have a sports conversation in Copenhagen today, but my football knowledge is pretty limited, so I tried to change the topic.

Woody: Are any other sports popular here? Tennis maybe?
Not Woody: No, nobody follows tennis.
Woody: But you had the #1 women's player in the world!
Not Woody: (makes a face of disgust) Yeah, but she never won a grand slam!

Haha, they don't know much about tennis, but they know that!

Wow. Those are tough Danes. That's funny. I thought she'd be Denmark's sweetheart.

[Drop-shot]

A two handled racquet:

http://ar.deportes.yahoo.com/blogs/s...122604083.html

[Ti-Amie]

LONDON (AP) The blue clay that made Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic feel, well, blue at last month's Madrid Open is going away.

In a posting on the tour's website Saturday, ATP President Brad Drewett says he decided blue clay courts will not be allowed at tour events next season.

He says that while the new color, in place of the traditional red clay, ''may have offered better visibility on television, there were clearly issues with the quality of the courts in Madrid this year, which were not acceptable.''

The ATP gave the Madrid tournament permission to test out the blue courts in 2012. After losses, Nadal and Djokovic said they didn't like the way the courts played and vowed not to return in 2013 unless a change was made.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/atp-say...vRhHaBFK04v7YF

[Drop-shot]

LONDON (AP) The blue clay that made Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic feel, well, blue at last month's Madrid Open is going away.

In a posting on the tour's website Saturday, ATP President Brad Drewett says he decided blue clay courts will not be allowed at tour events next season.

He says that while the new color, in place of the traditional red clay, ''may have offered better visibility on television, there were clearly issues with the quality of the courts in Madrid this year, which were not acceptable.''

The ATP gave the Madrid tournament permission to test out the blue courts in 2012. After losses, Nadal and Djokovic said they didn't like the way the courts played and vowed not to return in 2013 unless a change was made.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/atp-say...vRhHaBFK04v7YF

This came sooner than expected.

[JTContinental]

And at last, there can be peace again. Eh, what do I care? It's not like I really watch clay court tournaments anyway.

[Ti-Amie]

Letter from Ion Tiriac regarding the ATP’s decision


“I am very disappointed by the decision taken by the ATP. The blue color is one thing and the quality of the court in 2012 in the Caja Magica is a different one. Due to the fact that for the past 3 years our contract stipulated we could only arrange the courts 6 weeks before the event, it was impossible for the organizer to do a proper court.

Starting with 2012 the contract between the organizer, Madrid Trophy Promotion (MTP) and the owner of the Caja Magica has changed. All the courts can stay permanently the whole year long. So the problem of the quality of the courts is solved, no matter if it is blue, red, like in Europe or grey, like in US.

The various studies and feedback from broadcasters show that between the blue color and the yellow ball the contrast is greater than any other combination. So it is good for players, spectators and even more so for TV viewers. I proved that about 30 years ago in an indoor event and it was copied by big tournaments: US Open, Australian Open and most of the hard courts adopted a blue surface. I believe the field hockey at the Olympic Games in London is going to be played on blue grass (artificial). Then why not blue clay? In my opinion the future is blue, but for this the players have to be convinced and the governing bodies of our sport as well.”

http://www.madrid-open.com/en/notici...ion-de-la-atp/

[igorwright]

I'm with Tiriac!!! If the problem is the quality of the clay lets work on this, but the color was a perfect strike from Tiriac. I was delighted watching Madrid on television!!!

[Scotty]

I do have to wonder, if the courts HADN'T been blue at Madrid this year, just totally slippery and orange, would there have been as big a fuss?

Or was there really that much less traction than in past years?

[munchin]

I do have to wonder, if the courts HADN'T been blue at Madrid this year, just totally slippery and orange, would there have been as big a fuss?

Or was there really that much less traction than in past years?

I bet Rafa would have complained pretty vocally.

[Edmond Dantès]

I do have to wonder, if the courts HADN'T been blue at Madrid this year, just totally slippery and orange, would there have been as big a fuss?

Or was there really that much less traction than in past years?

The Madrid courts have never been particularly good (they tended to dry out and crack up more than at other events - probably because of the lack of prep time that Tiriac talks about in his statement). But mostly the players just got on with it.

I think there are 2 issues with the blue clay in Madrid this year; a) they didn't get the preparation right and this resulted in players feeling that they couldn't trust the surface - some had more issues with it than others. Tiriac issued an apology for this. b) Madrid is at altitude so conditions are already faster than at other tournaments. The blue clay (this version of it, at least) accentuated this even more and imo made it into one of the fastest surfaces you will see all year. Several players feel that these conditions are incongruous with the rest of the clay season and hinder their build up to Roland Garros.

I think we will eventually get back to blue clay. They should prepare one or two blue courts between now and next year and then demo them to the players, officials etc at the 2013 tournament - see if an improved version can get a better response. This is the way they should have gone about things before. Either that or test it out at a lesser tournament, not one of your premier events on the calendar.

[MeganFernandez]

Gilles Simon opposes equal prize money at Slams. So much for rooting for Simon - which didn't have much positive payoff anyway.

http://www.tennischannel.com/news/Ne...x?newsid=10975

[enigmaticdan]

I can't stand players like Simon when they're making that kind of argument.

Best of five is longer than best of three. Why stop there? Does that mean Nadal should've gotten less money than Ivanovic at the 2008 French Open because his final was shorter? And clearly, John Isner deserved a billion dollars for winning that first-round Wimbledon match in 2010.

Or if men's tennis is more popular, than should we give Roger Federer extra money for winning the first round because he's more popular than players like Stepanek or Kevin Anderson?

Or if we're basing it on number of hours... hey, guess what, I spend 8 hours every weekday - with no off-season - at my job, and I don't make as much as a tennis player!

Besides, if Simon wants more money, he can play at any of the many other men-only ATP tennis tournaments (more than there are in the WTA, with larger prize money, too). Oh wait, they complain about that, too!

[Ribbons]

Stakhovsky backing Gilles, in exchanges with someone on my Twitter timeline.

@naughtyT: Stako..seriously I am a fan.. but if you were on one court and next door was Henin, Graff or Amelie? no chance

Sergiy Stakhovsky‏@Stako_tennis: @naughtyT what if Sampras would be next door anyone on Female match?))

@naughtyT: @Stako_tennis which? Graff? not a hope in hell for Pistol. Caro? absolutely. The stupid generalizations of Gilles become evident.

@naughtyT: @Stako_tennis and also where is Pete playing? Roland Garros? I would run a mile to watch Henin.

Though, to be fair, it seems the context may be that Gilles and Stako want to see best of 3 instead of 5 at Slams. But I'm unimpressed by how they're framing it:

Sergiy Stakhovsky‏@Stako_tennis: On G.Simon statement "if you like it better lets change grand slams to best of 3sets then we will be equal "

Sergiy Stakhovsky‏@Stako_tennis: We push and they benefit not always right..I am not saying its an issue we gonna be talking about..

[@orlevy: @Stako_tennis You don't really want women to play best of 5, you just want them to earn less]

Sergiy Stakhovsky‏@Stako_tennis: @Orlevy no I want men to play best of 3.

[mwoods]

Gilles Simon opposes equal prize money at Slams. So much for rooting for Simon - which didn't have much positive payoff anyway.

http://www.tennischannel.com/news/Ne...x?newsid=10975

He does know that his legs will be paid at the women's rate, right?