French Open 2021

I'm sorry to say I still think her original intention was to give herself an advantage over her rivals on her weakest surface. Her original, and frankly petulant, Tweet was sent before she contacted Roland Garros about her intentions to boycott the media and she 'apparently' ignored Roland Garros when they reached out to her. Those aren't the actions of someone who wants to address mental health in sport, they're the actions of someone who think's they're bigger than the sport. The subsequent media and player backlash, as well as the fine she received, forced her to pull out and it's very clear her PR/marketing team were involved with the second Tweet.

Unfortunately, ever since that second Tweet, everyone appears to have forgotten what she was initially trying to achieve and is now tiptoeing around her because the words 'mental health' were spoken about in greater depth. Despite that fact, a number of media articles aren't even addressing mental health in sport but are instead focusing on the perceived racism towards black women in tennis. Not really surprising given Osaka's a big advocate of BLM but she had a chance to use her voice to positively improve tennis and has instead caused far more damage.
 
While I’m on the side of media work being a responsibility/burden that elite sports people have to accept as part of the job and dislike this burgeoning culture of safety-ism, feelings being more important than anything else and painting mental toughness as toxic, I do appreciate the quality of the media these days is often dire and they don’t help themselves.
 
Personally if I was her I'd just retire. Not worth putting yourself through it if it's causing mental anguish, besides its not like she can't afford to.
 
One More Solo said:
Sport is littered with talented people who are totally unsuited to all the guff that comes with it. Good on her for taking a stand.
Click to expand...

That's my view. I want to see the best sportspeople competing, not just the ones that can manage the utterly tedious media guff. If the media work detracts from their game, then let them pass on it.

Has anyone ever listened to a sports press conference without nodding off?
 
Federer vs Cilic today at 3PM, could be a cracker.

mid_gen said:
That's my view. I want to see the best sportspeople competing, not just the ones that can manage the utterly tedious media guff. If the media work detracts from their game, then let them pass on it.

Has anyone ever listened to a sports press conference without nodding off?
Click to expand...
Andrew Castle suggested allowing them to compete as amateurs if they wanted to forgo their media obligations. No prize money but they wouldn't have to speak to the media before or after games.
 
Pigeon_Killer said:
Federer vs Cilic today at 3PM, could be a cracker.

Andrew Castle suggested allowing them to compete as amateurs if they wanted to forgo their media obligations. No prize money but they wouldn't have to speak to the media before or after games.
Click to expand...

So others profit off her success?

No thanks
 
omnomnom said:
So others profit off her success?

No thanks
Click to expand...
Only 10% of her income is from tennis, the rest is from sponsorship.

It makes complete sense if social media stars that have millions of followers that worship the ground they walk on, live in LA and are happy to milk attention whenever they're seen out with their rapper boyfriend can't cope with being in the spotlight.
 
Pigeon_Killer said:
Unfortunately, ever since that second Tweet, everyone appears to have forgotten what she was initially trying to achieve and is now tiptoeing around her because the words 'mental health' were spoken about in greater depth.
Click to expand...

Its quite funny seeing these things honestly. You can behave like a complete **** and then just come out with "mental health" or "I'm trans" and suddenly everyone is fawning over how brave and strong you are and that we need to take these issues more seriously.

Ellen/Elliot Page is a prime example of someone who just came out and said "hey i'm trans" and off they went. No big circus, no "look at me", just a personal decision and they get on with their lives. Then we have Demi Lovato who clearly has serious mental health issues and suddenly comes out as trans and wants to be in the spotlight. Shes been roundly roasted as a prime example of entitled narcissistic celebrity and everyone has piled in on her but suddenly she drop the fact that shes trans and wow, so brave, everyone needs to get off her back and show her love and understanding.

Its just baffling.
 
Pigeon_Killer said:
Federer vs Cilic today at 3PM, could be a cracker.

Andrew Castle suggested allowing them to compete as amateurs if they wanted to forgo their media obligations. No prize money but they wouldn't have to speak to the media before or after games.
Click to expand...

That is beyond daft! That would imply that the only reason they get paid is to talk to the media. They get paid as people pay big money to watch them play tennis in person and also on TV. The press conference are just fluff with a few sound bites for traditional news channels and print media. Let players opt out - if that causes a loss in revenue then have reduced prize money for those players.
 
Federer pulled out this afternoon, said he was using the French to regain form and fitness but wants to protect his knee ahead of the grass season.

https://www.skysports.com/tennis/ne...lls-out-of-french-open-with-wimbledon-in-mind

Not sure if that was always the plan but having to play a night match, that only started at 9pm and finished at 12:45am, knowing your next match is less than 36 hours later is crap scheduling that'll hurt a lot of players.
 
Last edited:
I wonder how big tennis is going to be over the next 5 years once the current crop of stars retire. Outside of Murray, the mens game has been utterly dominated by Federer, Nadal and Djokovic. No one else has really come close. The womens game seems far more open but there aren't many stand out stars or rivalries.

Some of the matches between Nadal and Federer have been absolutely sublime over the years. Genuinely stunning.
 
Djokovic looks like he's really struggling with Musetti's ability to stay in rallies, made a lot of tired unforced errors. Also struggling with his serve and could've been warned already.

Edit: The commentators were talking about their fastest serves earlier being around 200 km/h. Gauff was regularly hitting 190 km/h serves earlier and she's only just turned 17.
 
Last edited:
Medical timeout can't be too far away :D

Edit: Wow, 2-0 and he dominated that tie-breaker. Even if he wins in 5, Djokovic has got to be looking at a minimum of 4-5 hours before his match with Berrettini who had a walkover.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom