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Tennis-ERA |OT| You can't compare ERAs!!
- Thread starter perfectchaos007
- Start date
Honestly in terms of pure tennis population, France deserves a slam.
10 out of the top 100 are French players and it's been consistent for years, if not decades.
Coaching fails to bring out top 10 players for some reason, and France probably is the country that has the biggest gap between the average number of professional players and the number of players who make it into the top 10.
Now do you know what other country has 10 players in the top 100 but nearly 4 times the total population of France and a lot more money?
Let me break it to you: the US.
With Spain and Serbia, these 4 are the biggest countries in terms of proportions in the ATP top 100.
The French love tennis and love their slam.
You don't get this kind of numbers with shit coaches unless you have a very dedicated population of fans.
The French Slam needs to be modernized, it has needed to be modernized for at least 20 years.
But there is a reason it remains there.
Does Spain deserves its own slam?
Yes, yes it does.
Now, is your personal hatred of the French Open reason enough to make it go away?
Thinking objectively, what country would least be impacted by the loss of a slam? Wouldn't this be a question worth examining?
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No.
What's most important is to do what is best for the sport of tennis. For the last couple of decades, the French have not been treating their slam with the respect it deserves, and therefor it may be best for the sport to move the slam elsewhere.
What is best for the sport of tennis is never going to be ruining it in one of the countries it's been flourishing in for a century, and continues to gather people's interest to this day.
Pressuring institutions so that they do what's necessary to make the French Open the interesting tournament it should be?
Sure.
But moving it altogether? Come on, that is ridiculous. Numbers.
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There has been pressure on the French Open for a long time to modernize, and they resist. The pressure that they need, is the threat of moving the tournament out of France. Give them a deadline, and let them control their fate.
The courts are getting renovated now, should be complete by 2021, so they will have floodlights and what not. While PC will have a roof. The floodlights may even be on for next year.
Fair enough.
There are things in progress though; central court should have a retractable roof by next year and even proper lights by 2021! Imagine that! Lights!
Now it might be a hay roof and a bunch of candles, you never know.
At least that's a step in the right direction.
As for clay as a surface, though, it's synonymous with identity with a number of tournaments, the flagship of which is the FO. I don't think it's going to go away anytime soon. Personally, I don't want it to go away either as having different surfaces is one of the defining characteristics of tennis as a sport and losing that would be net loss.
How many other sports are defined by the ability of top players to perform on a given surface?
You want to know what's worse?
I grew up in France, and no one I ever knew played on clay.
I literally knew only one place that even had a couple of clay courts (along with a ton of Hard courts).
Now I haven't been back to the country but sporadically for the past 20 years, so things may have changed - but somehow, I doubt that.
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Yeah I knew they had a roof and maybe lights in the works but I'm to the point of "I'll believe it when I see it". Knowing what I've heard about the neighborhood, it would not surprise me if they complete the lights/roof project and they vote to not turn on the lights, or pull some other shenanigans.
For clay as a surface, as I mentioned before I think it would be fine as long as the courts are swept during every changeover. It's really tough as a fan to watch a match late in a set because the court looks ugly, the lines have clay dust all on them so it's hard to see if a ball is in/out, and the ball doesn't bounce as true since the surface becomes more and more uneven as the set wears on. Wimbledon has similar issues with their grass as the tournament wears on, but it's not quite as pronounced. I'm not saying clay or grass should be off the tour, but I think it's clear that hard courts are the best surface for a multitude of reasons to play and watch a tennis match. To me that's why I enjoy watching the US Open and Australian Open more than the French or Wimbledon
it is quite the battle. tsitsipas does look way more solid on serve, but he is also serving to stay in it so he might slip.
that's some finish. and just goes to show that clay needs hawkeye. no way can you trust some wanker looking for a mark to decide a point like that.
I dunno the replay they showed on Eurosport looked terrible and they only showed it once from one angle so I can't say for sure. why is this still a thing in 2019? with all the cameras they have they can't even show a decent replay ffs
They have two new stadiums this year, adding a roof and lights for next year. Give them some credit - they are on the right track. I had a lot of fun attending this year and the main complaint was the walk ways being too crowded and lack of open space. They are also addressing that for next year by demoing court 1 which creates bottlenecks for pedestrians and replacing it with open space.
They have Hawkeye installed. They just don't use it. Commentators check in on it during a controversial call.
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Which is ridiculous because late in a set when the court is terribly scuffed, it's really tough to determine the mark and if its even the correct mark at all. smh
I hope he is. :>
Edit: the only three times Wawrinka has beaten Federer have been on clay.
2009 - Monte Carlo - 6-4 / 7-5
2014 - Monte Carlo - 4-6 / 7-6 / 6-2
2015 - French Open - 6-4 / 6-3 / 7-6
Dammit, he's due for another win.
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I have seem some Hawkeyes that don't match the mark at all, so I don't think it is a perfect solution either.
I really wish there was a night session in Roland Garros. Would be much better for people who have to work from 9 AM to 6 PM. And it would be less hot in the evening.
and how do you know the mark was the right one? i certainly trust hawkeye more than the umpire.
it's Monday 1PM
it's rainy weather
a French player is playing over at another court
I've noticed it the whole first week though, not just today
interesting scoreline in the nishikori-paire match. nishikori won 2 sets 6-2, paire won 2 sets 10-8 in tiebreaks.
either one will get crushed by nadal.
either one will get crushed by nadal.
Paire is so frustrating to watch. he'd hit some amazing shot and miss the easiest ones
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Halep just destroyed an 18 year old today, I don't think she'll have trouble with the 17 year old. Anisimova's clay game is really impressive for her age and height though. Usually the clay is tougher for the taller players
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Konta into the semis after beating Sloane in straights. Great win for her and she will be favored in the semis
Couldn't watch, but was following liveblogs, and it sounds like Konta was playing out of her skin that match. If she could find that form on a regular basis she'll see more finals, she always seems to be just on the brink of a breakthrough year...
I've just looked back through the BBC liveblog, and I think you might be right... and that was a double-fault.