Keep on squealing and getting coaching; it's all good, says WTA supremo.

Bartelby said:
You do realise that most sports would kill to be able to have a competition with strong male and female competitions?

Everytime I open a newspaper it is filled with stuff about female UFC fighters, for some bizarre reason.

And the local football competition launched a female league to phenomenal success.

If you really want a a male-dominated sport there are some around, but tennis has never been it.
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I prefer womens soccer over mens, they are stronger hearted, dont cry or pretend to be fouled and never give in unlike in the mens
but womens tennis is a joke and should be either more like Hopman Cup which is fantastic, therefore have more events like this
or separate them from each other and see how far the female tennis event fans support it.

You will quickly find not many want to go and see women playing tennis at pro levels unless you absolutely have nothing better to do
and were given free tickets, you were paid to go and see it or the some beauty was showing off more meat than a pole dancing venue.
 
racquetreligion said:
I prefer womens soccer over mens, they are stronger hearted, dont cry or pretend to be fouled and never give in unlike in the mens
but womens tennis is a joke and should be either more like Hopman Cup which is fantastic, therefore have more events like this
or separate them from each other and see how far the female tennis event fans support it.

You will quickly find not many want to go and see women playing tennis at pro levels unless you absolutely have nothing better to do
and were given free tickets, you were paid to go and see it or the some beauty was showing off more meat than a pole dancing venue.
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Interesting points. It has to be noted. however, that men's soccer became like it is in reply to the earlier period where it was exactly the opposite. Teams could kick and injure opposing stars almost at will with very little reactions from refs. Once Van Basten's career was over in his prime due to him being constantly injured the authorities figured out it's bad for business and it became the opposite- you as much as think bad thoughts about Messi while being in the same zip code as him and you get the boot. But anyway...

As for women's soccer; the top level is really concentrated there. It's just several big leagues and important teams in the entire world. When you see women's soccer on TV you're seeing the best of the best. In comparison, the men's game is humongous in scale, being played in every country on Earth including active war zones. You see everything if you watch a lot of the men's game :) And yes, I realize there is a lot of grassroots women's soccer too... but it's still tiny compared to the guys. The money is also tiny; hence much less incentive to cheat in order to get ahead. The top men get paid millions to play the game these days.

But back to tennis - agreed, it would be silly not to acknowledge the fact that a big part of the attraction of women's tennis is that there are a lot of very pretty girls playing it. It would be great to have tournaments where one would know they could watch their favourite player in more than one first-round loss. I'd love to see more of Camila Giorgi, Alize Lim and Carina Withoeft, among others, but they're usually gone well before the televised portions of the tournaments start; at least here where I live.
 
sureshs said:
The eras are too different for either one to take the comparison seriously
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Tell them that. Though, you REALLY think Navratilova doesn't think she could beat Williams in her prime?! She had muscle, could run, and could hit every shot in the book, except a topspin backhand, according to her. They weren't joking around, even if everything out of Carillo's gob is a laugh. They were both serious. If you mean the broads in Mantina's day could play better, I agree, but carillo, king, evert all call williams the best, so I guess they don't agree. Hey, "jocks" aren't famous for their brains, are they?!
 
Kalin said:
For a while, maybe. But the ATP has had many greats retire and it's still going strong. Just among the new crop of 20-somethings there are already a few very big draws. Guys like Zverev, Kyrgios, Rublev, the new North American gen (Tiafoe, Fritz, Shapovalov) are all moving the needle big way already.

The girls have the anorexic looking Pliskova twin towers and a lost Halep holding the next-gen torch. An old, half-forgotten Sharapova will instantly be the top draw once she returns. They desperately need someone with personality and looks to step up. Muguruza looked like it but she also seems to have been overburdened by the expectations.
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Pliskovas aren't anorexic, they are perfect. There should be more of them. Perhaps they can take over the whole WTA, like Agent Smith in the Matrix.
 
racquetreligion said:
Separate both sexes for Slams would be a good start
this equal pay is a joke but fans putting up with lobsided
hormonal women schrieking like banshees is the pits
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You are going to get massacred for posting a comment like that. Being open and honest is not allowed these days. Couldn't agree with you more by the way.

Separate the slams and let's see how many people turn up to watch the women play.

In terms of equal prize money women should get no more than 60% of what the men get and that's being generous.
 
Purplemonster said:
You are going to get massacred for posting a comment like that. Being open and honest is not allowed these days. Couldn't agree with you more by the way.

Separate the slams and let's see how many people turn up to watch the women play.

In terms of equal prize money women should get no more than 60% of what the men get and that's being generous.
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I think he'll probably get criticism for the hormonal comment (which is unnecessary) and less so for suggesting the equal pay question.
However, given the lack of interest (and waning daily) for womens tennis on this forum, he'll probably only get a few challenge him.
Personally, I think he cheapened a valid point by making it vindictive.
 
AllCourtHeathen said:
Pliskovas aren't anorexic, they are perfect. There should be more of them. Perhaps they can take over the whole WTA, like Agent Smith in the Matrix.
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Well, tastes differ, obviously. Let's just say neither of them has the impact that Kournikova or Serena or Marty Hingis or Masha have had on the sport; whether because of looks or level of tennis or both.
 
Aussie Darcy said:
It was Nick Bollateri or however it's spelled. He taught Maria and Seles and a bunch of others from a young age and it pretty much followed from there. So all those whinging about women groaning and grunting should realise, the idea actually came from an old man who's now in his 80s.
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Pretty much.

PDJ said:
Practically most threads are about ATP players/matches. The WTA threads are supported by a loyal few (that love/and/or frustrated by the state of the women's game). I may be wrong...
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Yes you are because WTA has it's dedicated platform which has been extremely popular during the last few years called Tennisforum. Most WTA fans are either there or on Twitter. TTW has always kind of been an adult version of Men's Tennisforum which most ATP fans dislike as being extremely childish.
 
hugobosstachini said:
Pretty much.



Yes you are because WTA has it's dedicated platform which has been extremely popular during the last few years called Tennisforum. Most WTA fans are either there or on Twitter. TTW has always kind of been an adult version of Men's Tennisforum which most ATP fans dislike as being extremely childish.
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I've looked on the Tennis Forum site previously and I've found it less than interesting at best, and full of crazies at worst.
However, if you're a member of said forum, do you find it generally supportive of the WTA? Does it highlight any current problems? Or is everything in the garden rosey?
 
hugobosstachini said:
Pretty much.



Yes you are because WTA has it's dedicated platform which has been extremely popular during the last few years called Tennisforum. Most WTA fans are either there or on Twitter. TTW has always kind of been an adult version of Men's Tennisforum which most ATP fans dislike as being extremely childish.
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So I looked at the WTA Tennis Forum and the topic similar to this thread. Illuminating. Most agreed that the lapse of the coaching rule made women look silly and weak.

The post below, was one of the longer, more informative on the subject.

Copyright @1millionthSamFan.

Thread: Steve Simon wants to allow coaching from the stands.

"Steve Simon is the worst CEO of this century. He really has no clue what he is doing. Totally and utterly incompetent. He is going to kill women's tennis. Maybe that's his aim, as no one can be that dumb.

Regarding the grunting it is easy to set a decibel limit which you may not break while points are in progress for eg 3 times during a match (a beep can go off after the umpire calls the score, and it can be shown under the challenges on the scoreboard). After breaking the limit three times, you will receive a formal warning, and thereafter you will lose the point. A survey can be conducted to establish what the limit should be by establishing what is distracting, and then increasing that by 20% to be more lenient.

Regarding On court coaching from the box, that is a total circus!! If on court coaching is to be allowed any more than it is, then the coach and player must form a team who share the prize money equally, have both their names up, and sit on the players chair like with Fed Cup. But then this is no longer 'women's tennis' and is just an insult to women players and women generally!!
no.gif
Boooooo"
 
70sHollywood said:
http://www.nysun.com/sports/is-too-much-power-ruining-womens-tennis/61607

Written 10 years ago.
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Fascinating. And, to my mind, as relevant 10 years ago as today.
And JJ still going :)

"Robert Lansdorp, who trained Pete Sampras, Tracy Austin, Lindsay Davenport, and Sharapova, among others, has a more interesting theory: "What I think has happened is that the game is too big," he said.

By big, Lansdorp means powerful. Everyone hits bruising strokes now, he said, but few women have adapted to the power to move into position for each shot. The prevalence of power and lack of preparation breeds more errors, and also causes more injuries as women go for more in situations that call for something less. Lansdorp doesn't hold back when asked to describe what we're left with right now.

"I think women's tennis now basically sucks," he said. "It's not necessarily their fault, but women's tennis is bad. These people cannot put three good matches together."

I would prefer Mr Lansdorp was wrong, and maybe three matches together is harsh. Maybe three tournaments is closer to the mark?
Or just follow the example of 2010 and 2017 Serena Williams and play a tournament every 3 or 4 months ;)
 
my wife refuses to watch womens matches and would not waste her time trying to warm up her seat as the matches are over in a hurry

to be fair, separating the slams would be the death knoll for womens tennis and we cant have that as tennis would suffer for everyone
 
Separating the Slams would be injurious to men's tennis as well. They've had men's champions at Wimbledon since 1877 and female champions since 1884.

Female participation was never much of an issue until they started to pay players, so why would they dump over one hundred years of tradition?

racquetreligion said:
my wife refuses to watch womens matches and would not waste her time trying to warm up her seat as the matches are over in a hurry

to be fair, separating the slams would be the death knoll for womens tennis and we cant have that as tennis would suffer for everyone
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JDogg said:
Did anyone else watch Wozniacki-Muguruza yesterday? Mary Carillo went on a 10 minute rant about coaching during a pause, I'm trying to find a youtube video, but it made for some weird television regardless. Someone needs to ask her to please calm down.

One of my favorite (paraphrased) lines was:

"These are some of the most gifted female athletes IN THE WORLD!!, and you're going to coach them??" Uhh yea almost all high profile athletes have a coach, Mary.
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There is nothing wrong with an athlete having a coach/team to advise him/her on tactics etc. Nobody says that.

Point in question is: any coaching should happen before the match, or thereafter, to evaluate it, and to point out aspects that need improvement, or the like.

Not during the match itself, as it indicates that the athete him/herself is too daft to make proper adjustments all by themselves.
Tennis is supposed to be an individual sport: you're out there on court on your own, and it's YOUR job to figure out adequate tactics to be able to beat your opponent at that very moment itself.
Notice the difference!
 
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Kalin said:
Well, tastes differ, obviously. Let's just say neither of them has the impact that Kournikova or Serena or Marty Hingis or Masha have had on the sport; whether because of looks or level of tennis or both.
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They are hawt, they are talented in their own gameplan, yet they are both so "low energy" (or lethargic) that you wonder that deep down do they really want it.
 
PDJ said:
I've looked on the Tennis Forum site previously and I've found it less than interesting at best, and full of crazies at worst.
However, if you're a member of said forum, do you find it generally supportive of the WTA? Does it highlight any current problems? Or is everything in the garden rosey?
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Well, it depends on the periods and in which period you were there. Tennisforum was at peak around 2009-20013 and also in the times of Justine, Clijsters etc. Right now, with Williams playing less and less, Sharapova banned, Kvitova dealing with her left hand injury and Azarenka still out, it's probably not as dynamic as you would want it to be.

I think like most forums, discussions vary in interest and seriousness from thread to thread. However, there's much much less trolling than TTW and Men's Tennisforum because the moderators are slightly more engaged and serious about the moderation. There was a time where trolling was out of hand like in 2009 for instance.
 
hugobosstachini said:
Well, it depends on the periods and in which period you were there. Tennisforum was at peak around 2009-20013 and also in the times of Justine, Clijsters etc. Right now, with Williams playing less and less, Sharapova banned, Kvitova dealing with her left hand injury and Azarenka still out, it's probably not as dynamic as you would want it to be.

I think like most forums, discussions vary in interest and seriousness from thread to thread. However, there's much much less trolling than TTW and Men's Tennisforum because the moderators are slightly more engaged and serious about the moderation. There was a time where trolling was out of hand like in 2009 for instance.
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On your recommendation I looked again. Yes, there were some intelligent posts. The abuse, whilst minimal, was very frank! Clearly no censorship of swearing etc!!!
However, the lay out is very cartoonist which I'd find irritating in terms of contributing.
 
"While grunting is not just a female issue, last Sunday's final in Indian Wells was marked by constant screams from winner Elena Vesnina."

"hi-ya!"
 
PDJ said:
Fascinating. And, to my mind, as relevant 10 years ago as today:

"Robert Lansdorp, who trained Pete Sampras, Tracy Austin, Lindsay Davenport, and Sharapova, among others, has a more interesting theory: "What I think has happened is that the game is too big," he said.

By big, Lansdorp means powerful. Everyone hits bruising strokes now, he said, but few women have adapted to the power to move into position for each shot. ...

"I think women's tennis now basically sucks," he said. "It's not necessarily their fault, but women's tennis is bad. These people cannot put three good matches together."
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I just re-read the article and found that fascinating quote:

'"I think it's come to a point where the next person who can handle the pace, dish out power, and always be in position is going to be very hard to find," Lansdorp said. "Ten years from now, maybe you'll find [someone] like that.""

Well, guess what... 10 years later we're still waiting for this 'next person' to show up on the WTA :(
 
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