Tennis, anyone?

[SymphonyX]

I was just wondering if anyone here enjoys tennis. Whether playing it or just following the pro scene, or both!

 

Post your opinions and thoughts about playing styles, training, techniques, the pro scene and the professional players and tennis babes like Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic.

 

 

Anyway, let me start with myself. I play tennis leisurely. I wish I could compete though even just in the local clubs, but I'm afraid I'm not up to it and I'm still in school anyway. I play one-handed backhand and forehand. I used to play two-handed backhand when I was younger though.

 

For professional tennis, I'm a big fan of Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams. It's kinda sad Federer's having a so-so season, but still, it should have been considered a great season if it were any other player save Federer and Nadal, who are clearly apart from the rest. Sharapova annihilated the competition at the start of the year but she's just fragile. She gets injured too easily and she's been playing with a shoulder injury since April and only became worse before the Olympics, bah, of all the times. Just another 4 years of wait. Venus is doing fine even though she doesn't play a lot of matches since she's kinda like Sharapova -- fragile. Anyway, she's in the final of the WTA Tour Championships right now and she'll be facing Zvonareva for the title. She'll most likely win if she played like she did against Jankovic. Low error rate, more defense but outright, raw firepower at the right times. Another sad thing is that Nadal won't be playing in the final ATP Masters tournament in Shanghai. Bahhh... He sucks on hard courts anyway. Federer and the other guys would have hammered him.

 

 

*I did search the boards and didn't find any threads relating to tennis in general, except for games like Virtua Tennis 3. I prefer the Top Spin series though*

[iBilo]

I personally hate tennis. I get bored. :)

[SymphonyX]

Wow. That was kinda hurtful.

 

Please, if you don't like tennis don't post here at all. I'd rather have no one post rather than people posting here saying 'I hate tennis'.

[Iced_Bullet]

Squash is sooooo much better :D

[SymphonyX]

Isn't that the old racquet sport in England where you try to outhit someone after ricocheting it off a wall? The court for squash kinda looks like the one used in Jai Alai. Then again, each one to his own. But you can't take away the fact that tennis is a much more popular racquet sport.

[Iced_Bullet]

Yeah, squash is indoors and much much faster :)

 

And yes, Tennis is much more popular, mainly due to it being easier to watch and has been around much longer.

[SymphonyX]

Squash is definitely faster because of that wall thing, but how long are matches played professionally? I mean, seriously, with that speed, I don't think those guys will be playing for more than an hour and a half on court. I've tried plenty of sports before and tennis definitely gave me the most work out. Baseball -- too much waiting. Soccer -- mostly standing and running for 90 minutes. Basketball -- like soccer, but smaller playing area and with hands. Ping-pong -- crazy fast... too fast that points end too quickly and it becomes boring. No thrill. Badminton -- court size too small for my taste. You need to be fast though like in ping-pong and it can be tiring, but not strenuous.

 

It's just that no other sport gave me as much adrenaline rush like tennis, without hurting myself of course unlike those 'extreme sports'. I did have a few injuries though, most were sprained ankles which God forbid, were already enough. I heard ACM/dislocated knee cap hurts even more. Thankfull I don't have that problem of a loose knee cap.

[Iced_Bullet]

I was intreegued and researched time length:

 

To be certain of the difference we recorded a set of tennis (Wimbledon final 2002 Hewitt and Nalbandian) between two baseliners , this means that the rallies are going to be longer than normal.

 

The set lasted for 38 minutes (the overall match was one hour forty-nine minutes so this was over a third of the total match time). The average rally length was 6.5 seconds. The average rest between points was 31 seconds. The average rest just between serves (after a fault) was over eight seconds. There were two rallies that lasted over thirty seconds. The total time that the ball was in play for the set was 8.5 minutes. 29.5 minutes of the set no balls were being hit.

 

Now lets have a look at a squash game. My game against Peter Nicol at the PSA Masters in Qatar. The first game lasted nearly 29 minutes. Ten minutes short of the Hewitt / Nalbandian set. The average rally between Peter and me was 28.5 seconds. The average break between rallies was 15 seconds. The total amount of rest for our first set was 9.5 minutes. The ball was in motion for 19 minutes. Well over twice the length of the tennis set. Our match had 15 rallies over 30 seconds in length and three over a minute. Only four rallies lasted less than ten seconds which was the average tennis rally length.

[Andreas¹]

Tennis, no thanks. ;) If I wanna play any raquet sport, it's almost certainly going to be badminton. :)

Btw, what is a 'rally' in tennis? The thingys Iced quoted confused me.

[Iced_Bullet]

When the score increase from 0-0 to 0-15 then to 0-30, then to 15-30 etc... that is a rally. So the bit of play between the points.

[SymphonyX]

@ Iced_Bullet

 

Not exactly. To be more precise, you consider a point being a rally if they've been playing the point for a considerable amount of time, especially if they're slugging it out on the baseline. They call it a rally because players are basically running while attempting to outhit another guy.

 

And so much for an example... that final was crap. Not just because it was short. It was just crap. The Wimbledon final between Nadal and Federer this year was epic. They played the best rallies and shots I've ever seen in men's tennis. And God knows how the hell they lasted nearly 5 hours on court...

 

The last year's final at the WTA Tour Championships between Maria Sharapova and Justine Henin is also another classic. Two former world #1s in a 3 1/2 hours display of nothing but the best in women's tennis.

 

Usually it's the long matches are the good ones because getting steamrolled or choking is pretty common in tennis. It is, after all, an individual sport.

 

Anyway, if you were looking for a really short but great Grand Slam final, Steffi Graf destroyed Natasha Zvereva, 6-0, 6-0 in a mere 40 minutes at the 1988 French Open.

 

BTW, I read the same article you read. Kinda sad. I feel sorry for that guy who wrote it. Biased criticisms from a pro squash player who whines about not even making a fraction of what a pro tennis player does is pathetic. If anything, he should have been writing about how great his sport his, etc. etc. without having to bash a similar sport under the premise that 'fitter athletes display better play and should be paid more'. If he's really bent on the cash and thinks he's better than tennis players he should try it himself. Besides, in tennis we've got a wider array of shot types and styles of play which makes for a more entertaining match. Why is he complaining about the cash when his sport is less appealing to a wider audience? Length of ball being played doesn't exactly equate to a good match. This is why I dislike the typical baseliners even in tennis, moreso women's tennis. Only the veterans or the more talented players actually do something else such as drop shotting, volleying, slicing, lobbing or other shots which makes the play interesting.

[iBilo]

I admit that final was good.:)

[Guest RB26DETT]

here here! tennis lover! :p

 

James Blake supporter!

[Nodz86]

I like Tennis but I only really watch it when its Strabe=rry and Cream time (wimbledon). I don't really support anyone, obviously I'm behind the English players but when they are rubbish they ain't english (i.e. Grag rudseski (sp) and the grumpy scotsman).

 

Female tennis is ok but the maoning gets a bit much, nice to watch tho.

[Asgardeh]

i only really play in the summer with my mates for a laugh. used to be into it alot but not so much anymore. my brother however is into it alot. he coaches at the local academy and is doing his LTA training at the moment think he has done the first bit or something. he went on tour to portugal last year i think.

[SymphonyX]

@ RB26DETT

 

James Blake downed Federer at the Olympics. Well, no offense though but it's probably a fluke. Federer's never been this 'bad' before. But still, if it were anyone else but him in Nadal, reaching a Grand Slam semi (Aussie Open), two finals (French Open and Wimbledon) and winning one (US Open) would be like a dream season for anyone else on the tour. It's just that his standards are insane. Federer's getting old. Losing to younger players like Nadal, Murray and Simon. Kinda sad. Bur I hope he gets to at least tie Pete Sampras' record of 14 Grand Slams before retiring.

 

BTW, isn't that the engine of the Skyline? RB26DETT?

[Guest RB26DETT]

Yeah, I watched that Olympic match. Really entertaining even though I was watching it at 1 in the morning. O_O

 

Yep, that's the motor in the R32 - R34 GTR's.