Embarrassing tennis knowledge gaps.

I generally know big chunk of Masters finals in period 2005-2016, and all slams finals since 2000, but there is big hole after 2016 Masters, as literally everyone started winning them
 
metsman said:
Even Philipowhatever wouldn't be able to spell his own name a few beers in, as he often was when facing Fed during the Greek era.
Click to expand...
Shows what kinda competition Fed was dealing with. Mark Philippoussis, Mike Gravinboginagis, Alex Bogdanovic, Sokratis Thracymakopoulos. ROFLMAO
 
I'm a tennis player, and only occasionally a picklesh*t player,
and I don't understand their damn scoring system.
I figure that's what picklesh*t partners were made for.
 
Philippoussis?

Big_Pussy.jpg
 
Mainad said:
Wonder how she would feel about you confusing her with 2 guys? :p
Click to expand...
Arantxa was used to that, considering her brothers Emilio and Javier. She was always competing with boys when growing up, which I think was a big factor in her "Barcelona Bumblebee" persona of sheer stubbornness and persistence in fighting on the tennis court. She simply couldn't afford not to be intense when playing tennis when she was growing up.
 
Pre-open era confuses me

You have professionals that can't play in the tournaments for amateurs? What were the pro's doing then and why did they have these big tournaments for amateurs?
Makes no sense
 
Chairman3 said:
Pre-open era confuses me

You have professionals that can't play in the tournaments for amateurs? What were the pro's doing then and why did they have these big tournaments for amateurs?
Makes no sense
Click to expand...
What we now know as the 4 majors only became that officially around 1924. The events were for amateur players only before the open era started in April 1968, i.e. no official prize money.

In the 1920s, it was only really coaches and a few eccentrics who turned professional. This changed a lot in the 1930s, where the best players would start turning professional (to get official prize money) and would be banned from playing in the majors. They would play in their own professional events, for official prize money. There were very few dominant players in the amateur only majors in men's tennis, as in year after year after year, because they would turn professional. The one exception was Roy Emerson in the 1960s, as he resisted turning professional until 1968, largely motivated by Davis Cup and (allegedly) under the table payments. Think of all the great amateur players of the 1930s to 1960s, like Tilden, Vines, Perry, Budge, Riggs, Kramer, Gonzales, Sedgman, Hoad, Rosewall, Laver etc. and they all turned professional before long and were thus banned from the 4 majors.

Not until April 1968 did a situation come about where amateurs and professionals could play in the same events, and professional players were allowed to play at the 4 majors. Of course, that wasn't the end of the matter, because there was all sorts of politics over the following 2-3 decades for control of the game, and many of the majors had weak fields as a result, especially the Australian Open. 1977 was the peak of tennis having so many different tours, governing bodies, chaos in the administration etc. It started to settle down a bit 1978-1981 time when the WCT joined with the Grand Prix circuit, but the WCT broke away again from 1982-1984, before joining properly in 1985-1989, and then in 1990 was the start of the ATP Tour. However, the 1990s had a split YEC, the ATP-run ATP Tour World Championship and the ITF-run ITF Grand Slam Cup, the latter of which had very high prize money but no ranking points. The Grand Slam Cup from 1990-1996 was the last event of the year, in December, but from 1997-1999 it was brought forward to September. In 2000, the YEC merged into one tournament again, and basically started the tour as we know it today, although the exact ranking points system of today didn't start until 2009.
 
Chairman3 said:
Pre-open era confuses me

You have professionals that can't play in the tournaments for amateurs? What were the pro's doing then and why did they have these big tournaments for amateurs?
Makes no sense
Click to expand...
Think of the pre-open era like the rugby split. Rugby was initially a sport for amateurs. However, this became harder to tolerate for the working class players in the north of England, who were demanding payment for their skills and for taking time off work like coal mining, steel works and factory manufacturing. This led to a split in rugby, where professional players broke away and formed "Rugby League", while the amateur game was "Rugby Union". Rugby Union has always gotten more attention from the richer sections of the establishment and the mass media, but it wasn't until 1995 that Rugby Union started having a professional game. For decades and decades before 1995, if a rugby player wanted to be paid, he had to defect to Rugby League, and would get ostracized from the Rugby Union authorities, almost as if they had never existed.

Also, when the split in rugby happened, the rules of the game were the same. But over the decades, things changed. The professional game of Rugby League got rid of things like messy breakdowns, lineouts and ultra-physical scrums and had more focus on the running game. Rugby Union, by contrast, stuck more with the traditional rules like lineouts, ultra-physical scrums and messy breakdowns. In Rugby League, if you get tackled to the floor, you aim to keep hold of the ball, get up, and backpeddle the ball to a team-mate to carry on the next run. In Rugby Union, by contrast, if you get tackled to the floor, you must release the ball, and your team-mates come crashing in with physicality at the breakdown and the scrum-half passes it out to a team-mate.
 
I never bother to learn which knuckle on which bevel number. All I know is continental grip is like a chopper / handshake grip and I use it for serving and volleying. Forehand grip is like frying pan handle grip.
 
Chairman3 said:
Pre-open era confuses me

You have professionals that can't play in the tournaments for amateurs? What were the pro's doing then and why did they have these big tournaments for amateurs?
Makes no sense
Click to expand...
The pros made money playing private events and often accepting cash under the table from business sharks. That was more lucrative than the 10 pounds they would get for winning Wimbledon. But because they were making money, they were not considered amateurs and not allowed in the Slams till 1968 - the start of the Open Era.
 
Terenigma said:
These young'uns eh? Id never confirm ages (2008 was 18 years ago) but comments like these make me feel old and I'm like 95% sure they make a good chunk of this forum feel old too haha
Click to expand...
I have quite odd sports path. As a kid, I only watched, played and trained football, it was like that untill my 16. As Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic, Janko Tipsarevic and Novak Djokovic emerged on the tennis scene, I started watching tennis and occassionaly playing it. Then in 2010 some events happened that changed my life forever, because that's the year I have discovered my love for basketball, my favorite sport, and nowadays I only watch and play basketball and tennis (much more basketball) and football is long gone.​
 
ghostofMecir said:
It’s impossible to remember how to spell that name lol
Click to expand...

I didn't even know this is how it's spelled to begin with until it was mentioned in this thread! LOL I thought it was two "Ls" and one "S" in the very end and i didn't even think it was two "Ps" either in the middle...
 
Djokodalerer31 said:
I didn't even know this is how it's spelled to begin with until it was mentioned in this thread! LOL I thought it was two "Ls" and one "S" in the very end and i didn't even think it was two "Ps" either in the middle...
Click to expand...
There’s a reason he used to be called “Flip” or “The Poo” lol
 
Has to admit never thought fedrer won his first slam in 2003. I thought when he beat sampras he won the wimbeldon same year but he was beaten by henman.
and always thought that nadal won 2 wimbeldon against roger but it was only 1
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

F
Bill Simmons (ESPN) continues to show embarrassing lack of tennis knowledge
Replies
9
Views
2K
World Beater
W
T
Great Players - what are their biggest achievements and biggest gaps in their Resumes?
Replies
16
Views
1K
Smasher08
Smasher08
T
Embarrassing moments
Replies
11
Views
1K
@wright
@wright
C
Your Tennis Knowledge, How Far Does it go and to what Depth?
Replies
25
Views
2K
roysid
roysid
S
Top ten best shots of number ones
Replies
3
Views
608
Polvorin
Polvorin
Back
Top