The Tennis Thread

[eldanielfire]

DJOKOVIC!!!!!!!!!

[BnM]

/just seen on twitter firing up the telly

[Enzedder]

DJOKOVIC!!!!!!!!!

Twat being a twat shocker - with added idiocy

[eldanielfire]

DJOKOVIC!!!!!!!!!

Twat being a twat shocker - with added idiocy

He had it coming!

[BnM]

Skipped the press conference. Tim and Greg don't like Djokovic.

[Insane_Homer]

Cmon guys, he's the real victim here

[ScarfaceClaw]

Dick move from No-Vax and he knew what he was doing but that line umpire went down like Neymar in a slight gust of wind.

[fishfoodie]

Dick move from No-Vax and he knew what he was doing but that line umpire went down like Neymar in a slight gust of wind.

It's America. I hope they sue him for a million, billion dollars ! ... and win !!

[ScarfaceClaw]

Dick move from No-Vax and he knew what he was doing but that line umpire went down like Neymar in a slight gust of wind.

It's America. I hope they sue him for a million, billion dollars ! ... and win !!

It being America they’re probably arguing that either the mask didn’t save her or if she was armed then it wouldn’t have happened.

[fishfoodie]

Dick move from No-Vax and he knew what he was doing but that line umpire went down like Neymar in a slight gust of wind.

It's America. I hope they sue him for a million, billion dollars ! ... and win !!

It being America they’re probably arguing that either the mask didn’t save her or if she was armed then it wouldn’t have happened.

I like it; we start arming umpires

Let's see the next mother-fucker complain about a line call, when the ump is tooled up !

[Akkerman]

fkn serbs, man

[Slick]

Dick move from No-Vax and he knew what he was doing but that line umpire went down like Neymar in a slight gust of wind.

I thought that at first but I guess getting a tennis ball in the throat when you were not expecting it would be a bit of a shock.

I see has become the villain on Twitter etc. Bunch of cunts

[BnM]

Packed Centre court under a roof

[BnM]

Andy playing FFS Andrew Castle

[Saint]

Packed Centre court under a roof

It's a government test event

[BnM]

Packed Centre court under a roof

It's a government test event

I wasn't expecting it to be packed though with the roof on.

[Jock42]

Great challenge, by a fucking baw hair.

[BnM]

Bloody Andy

(so glad he's back)

[Slick]

Bloody Andy

(so glad he's back)

The most utterly frustrating sportsman to watch. Love it

[Jock42]

Ooft. Screamer

[Jock42]

Cheeky wee lob to finish. Good effort lad

[C T]

Not sure if it's just me not being used to seeing live crowds any more but these X% capacity crowds really seem to be giving it some welly. Love it!

[Tichtheid]

Cheeky wee lob to finish. Good effort lad

An Andy Special.

He's done that so often - the Davis Cup was won that way.

He missed so many shots tonight that Andy Murray six years ago would have batted away without a second glance, but we are where we are, he is not that player now.
Having said that, I'd love him to get a good run in this tournament, he is a one of our all time greats

[Slick]

Cheeky wee lob to finish. Good effort lad

An Andy Special.

He's done that so often - the Davis Cup was won that way.

He missed so many shots tonight that Andy Murray six years ago would have batted away without a second glance, but we are where we are, he is not that player now.
Having said that, I'd love him to get a good run in this tournament, he is a one of our all time greats

He is and a classic “we won’t appreciate him until he’s gone”. Certainly Scotland’s greatest sportsman and possibly the UKs

It’s strange because I kind of love him for battling on while at the same time thinking, mate, you’ve done enough, leave it.

[Tichtheid]

Cheeky wee lob to finish. Good effort lad

An Andy Special.

He's done that so often - the Davis Cup was won that way.

He missed so many shots tonight that Andy Murray six years ago would have batted away without a second glance, but we are where we are, he is not that player now.
Having said that, I'd love him to get a good run in this tournament, he is a one of our all time greats

He is and a classic “we won’t appreciate him until he’s gone”. Certainly Scotland’s greatest sportsman and possibly the UKs

It’s strange because I kind of love him for battling on while at the same time thinking, mate, you’ve done enough, leave it.

After the match tonight I allowed myself a "imagine if he won it" moment.

That would be Rocky territory

I have so much respect for Andy Murray, he trains to the extreme point, and he comes across as a good guy, his heart isn't ever far from his sleeve.

[Slick]

Don’t think I’ll articulate this well, but also love then fact that many non Scots don’t get him, whereas most Scots just see so much of themselves in him

[Tichtheid]

Don’t think I’ll articulate this well, but also love then fact that many non Scots don’t get him, whereas most Scots just see so much of themselves in him

by non-Scots I'm going to go out on a limb and translate that as "English" and it's all down to a deliberate campaign to portray him as anti-English, which of course would be difficult given his personal life.

It all comes from a silly interview with him and Henman, they were teasing each other about a football tournament, Henman made derogatory remarks about Scottish football, as an English guy would to a Scottish mate, Murray was asked who he'd be supporting (as Henman had taken great glee in pointing out that Scotland hadn't qualified, he ripped the piss out of Andy for it), Murray replied, "I'll support whoever is playing England", him and Henman were laughing about it, it was two mates ribbing each other, nothing else.

Since then Murray has been the target of the wingnuts

[Slick]

Don’t think I’ll articulate this well, but also love then fact that many non Scots don’t get him, whereas most Scots just see so much of themselves in him

by non-Scots I'm going to go out on a limb and translate that as "English" and it's all down to a deliberate campaign to portray him as anti-English, which of course would be difficult given his personal life.

It all comes from a silly interview with him and Henman, they were teasing each other about a football tournament, Henman made derogatory remarks about Scottish football, as an English guy would to a Scottish mate, Murray was asked who he'd be supporting (as Henman had taken great glee in pointing out that Scotland hadn't qualified, he ripped the piss out of Andy for it), Murray replied, "I'll support whoever is playing England", him and Henman were laughing about it, it was two mates ribbing each other, nothing else.

Since then Murray has been the target of the wingnuts

That’s part of it but I don’t necessarily mean that. His dourness seems to annoy a lot of people whereas I think there is a lot of humour hidden in it which a lot of Scots “get”. Also a lot of his emotional responses resonate, and his lack of stiff upper lip

[Tichtheid]

Don’t think I’ll articulate this well, but also love then fact that many non Scots don’t get him, whereas most Scots just see so much of themselves in him

by non-Scots I'm going to go out on a limb and translate that as "English" and it's all down to a deliberate campaign to portray him as anti-English, which of course would be difficult given his personal life.

It all comes from a silly interview with him and Henman, they were teasing each other about a football tournament, Henman made derogatory remarks about Scottish football, as an English guy would to a Scottish mate, Murray was asked who he'd be supporting (as Henman had taken great glee in pointing out that Scotland hadn't qualified, he ripped the piss out of Andy for it), Murray replied, "I'll support whoever is playing England", him and Henman were laughing about it, it was two mates ribbing each other, nothing else.

Since then Murray has been the target of the wingnuts

That’s part of it but I don’t necessarily mean that. His dourness seems to annoy a lot of people whereas I think there is a lot of humour hidden in it which a lot of Scots “get”. Also a lot of his emotional responses resonate, and his lack of stiff upper lip

To be honest, too much dourness and lack of stiff upper lip, being too emotional isn't really a consistent criticism.

I think the public would have had a different idea of his persona if some of the tabloids hadn't gone all in with the "anti-English" stuff.

[robmatic]

Don’t think I’ll articulate this well, but also love then fact that many non Scots don’t get him, whereas most Scots just see so much of themselves in him

by non-Scots I'm going to go out on a limb and translate that as "English" and it's all down to a deliberate campaign to portray him as anti-English, which of course would be difficult given his personal life.

It all comes from a silly interview with him and Henman, they were teasing each other about a football tournament, Henman made derogatory remarks about Scottish football, as an English guy would to a Scottish mate, Murray was asked who he'd be supporting (as Henman had taken great glee in pointing out that Scotland hadn't qualified, he ripped the piss out of Andy for it), Murray replied, "I'll support whoever is playing England", him and Henman were laughing about it, it was two mates ribbing each other, nothing else.

Since then Murray has been the target of the wingnuts

That’s part of it but I don’t necessarily mean that. His dourness seems to annoy a lot of people whereas I think there is a lot of humour hidden in it which a lot of Scots “get”. Also a lot of his emotional responses resonate, and his lack of stiff upper lip

I think he's quite a normal Scottish bloke with a typical dry sense of humour. He does let his negative emotions show more than some other players, but I think that's what he needs to do to be competitive.

[I like neeps]

Cheeky wee lob to finish. Good effort lad

An Andy Special.

He's done that so often - the Davis Cup was won that way.

He missed so many shots tonight that Andy Murray six years ago would have batted away without a second glance, but we are where we are, he is not that player now.
Having said that, I'd love him to get a good run in this tournament, he is a one of our all time greats

He is and a classic “we won’t appreciate him until he’s gone”. Certainly Scotland’s greatest sportsman and possibly the UKs

It’s strange because I kind of love him for battling on while at the same time thinking, mate, you’ve done enough, leave it.

I think it's a nice end to the career to battle on and show the mentality that got him to the top briefly in tennis' best ever generation by far.

I kind of forgot how much I love watching Murray in a proper battle.

[Openside]

An Andy Special.

He's done that so often - the Davis Cup was won that way.

He missed so many shots tonight that Andy Murray six years ago would have batted away without a second glance, but we are where we are, he is not that player now.
Having said that, I'd love him to get a good run in this tournament, he is a one of our all time greats

He is and a classic “we won’t appreciate him until he’s gone”. Certainly Scotland’s greatest sportsman and possibly the UKs

It’s strange because I kind of love him for battling on while at the same time thinking, mate, you’ve done enough, leave it.

After the match tonight I allowed myself a "imagine if he won it" moment.

That would be Rocky territory

I have so much respect for Andy Murray, he trains to the extreme point, and he comes across as a good guy, his heart isn't ever far from his sleeve.

sadly I think that was his Waterloo, I would stake my right nut on him going no further( which will be good for my nerves)

[robmatic]

An Andy Special.

He's done that so often - the Davis Cup was won that way.

He missed so many shots tonight that Andy Murray six years ago would have batted away without a second glance, but we are where we are, he is not that player now.
Having said that, I'd love him to get a good run in this tournament, he is a one of our all time greats

He is and a classic “we won’t appreciate him until he’s gone”. Certainly Scotland’s greatest sportsman and possibly the UKs

It’s strange because I kind of love him for battling on while at the same time thinking, mate, you’ve done enough, leave it.

I think it's a nice end to the career to battle on and show the mentality that got him to the top briefly in tennis' best ever generation by far.

I kind of forgot how much I love watching Murray in a proper battle.

I wonder how many Grand Slam titles Murray would have won in a previous era. Thinking back to the 90s, Sampras was a great player but he didn't have a lot of competition.

[Big D]

Certainly Scotland’s greatest sportsman and possibly the UKs

Sir Chris Hoy has a pretty big case for greatest Scottish sportsperson IMO. The UCI removed his best event from the Olympics and then went on to help dominate Olympic cycling and was alsoa double digit world champion too. Hendry also dominated a sport like few do too. But a discussion for another thread on another day and certainly not a slight on SAM. Perhaps best judged in 15 years time when we aren't still within his career.

[Chrysoprase]

Spoiler

Show

He is and a classic “we won’t appreciate him until he’s gone”. Certainly Scotland’s greatest sportsman and possibly the UKs

It’s strange because I kind of love him for battling on while at the same time thinking, mate, you’ve done enough, leave it.

After the match tonight I allowed myself a "imagine if he won it" moment.

That would be Rocky territory

I have so much respect for Andy Murray, he trains to the extreme point, and he comes across as a good guy, his heart isn't ever far from his sleeve.

sadly I think that was his Waterloo, I would stake my right nut on him going no further( which will be good for my nerves)

Agreed, he had to dig deep for that and has played a four set match and a five set match already this week - don't see how he can possibly reach the same levels again with only 48 hours rest. He's going to be up against someone who's ranked 10th in the world who's had a lot more recovery time.

[Big D]

He is and a classic “we won’t appreciate him until he’s gone”. Certainly Scotland’s greatest sportsman and possibly the UKs

It’s strange because I kind of love him for battling on while at the same time thinking, mate, you’ve done enough, leave it.

I think it's a nice end to the career to battle on and show the mentality that got him to the top briefly in tennis' best ever generation by far.

I kind of forgot how much I love watching Murray in a proper battle.

I wonder how many Grand Slam titles Murray would have won in a previous era. Thinking back to the 90s, Sampras was a great player but he didn't have a lot of competition.

Those types of debates are dangerous. He would have won more but how many more are questionable probably 10-14 IMO. Players weren't as professional as they are now with the travelling teams they have, and they didn't need to be. Agassi won 7 or 8 slams and he spent most of the 90s high or pissed.

There were still some very good player back then and there was a far bigger difference in surfaces IIRC. Wimbledon was won by very good players in the 90's; Edberg, Sampras and Agassi, and Stich was decent. Krajiceck hit a purple patch and beat Sampras who was nearly unbeatable on grass on his way to winning.

My memories of 90s tennis is hazy but I am sure there were players who when looking back may be viewed as lesser quality than they really were because players were more specialist and were excellent for a far shorter time than we have seen with the big 3 who won their first slams in the 00's and Murray in 2012. Rafter for example looked top class at the US open for a brief time and Brugera and Kuerton looked practically unbeatable at the French for a couple of years.

[Saint]

I think it's a nice end to the career to battle on and show the mentality that got him to the top briefly in tennis' best ever generation by far.

I kind of forgot how much I love watching Murray in a proper battle.

I wonder how many Grand Slam titles Murray would have won in a previous era. Thinking back to the 90s, Sampras was a great player but he didn't have a lot of competition.

Those types of debates are dangerous. He would have won more but how many more are questionable probably 10-14 IMO. Players weren't as professional as they are now with the travelling teams they have, and they didn't need to be. Agassi won 7 or 8 slams and he spent most of the 90s high or pissed.

There were still some very good player back then and there was a far bigger difference in surfaces IIRC. Wimbledon was won by very good players in the 90's; Edberg, Sampras and Agassi, and Stich was decent. Krajiceck hit a purple patch and beat Sampras who was nearly unbeatable on grass on his way to winning.

My memories of 90s tennis is hazy but I am sure there were players who when looking back may be viewed as lesser quality than they really were because players were more specialist and were excellent for a far shorter time than we have seen with the big 3 who won their first slams in the 00's and Murray in 2012. Rafter for example looked top class at the US open for a brief time and Brugera and Kuerton looked practically unbeatable at the French for a couple of years.

The big difference between now and then is that Wimbledon is a LOT slower - they changed the grass mix sometime in the early 00s which slower things down, but retained the variable bounce more or less. Sampras would have been far less effective today, and Murray's game would have worked less well back then.

What's definitely unusual is the absolute dominance of the big 3, with a relatively short period of them being the big 4; in that sense Murray is far more like a 90s player with a relatively brief spell of dominance

[Tichtheid]

Fed won his first slam in 2003, from then to now there have been around 65 Slam tournaments (I can't be arsed looking up what was his first and how many were cancelled last year).
Since then Fed has notched up 20 wins, Nadal 20 and Djokovic 19.

59 of the 65 available tournaments have been won by three players.

[Slick]

The questions from the BBC reporter at the end of the Murray match

[BnM]

Absolutely bonkers.

Emma Raducanu and Layla Fernandez into women's semi's.