7 hours ago, Toups said:

Congrats Federer! I wish I could've seen the match. Can't believe he won a grand slam st his age.  Tennis is in trouble because there's no superstars coming up. 

You missed a great match!  Everyone was picking Nadal to win in 4 sets. I thought Rafa would win but in 5.  The shots made by them were just jaw dropping good. The audience was pumped from the first point and the legends in the crowd were talking about the match before it even started. This is what tennis should be about ....not rope a dope tennis that Murray and Joker play. I agree with you Toups that tennis is in trouble with no real star coming up except for maybe Sasha, Thiem or Grigor. 18 seems like a lot but compared to Serena its nothing....LOL...although Roger holds the record for most on the men's side. I am surprised his parents were not there. They never miss a grand slam. I could go on and on about how great this match was. This match just proved to me how far behind American male tennis is ....Sock is nowhere near in the league of Roger or Nadal. Hell...even Sasha has already beat Roger and has come so close in beating Nadal......I think Thiem has beaten both of them. That's why I am so sick of ESPN and TC pimping the american males. They are so far behind that its embarrassing.

 

This year has started out really great. I cant wait for March and the Cal/Miami back to back tournaments leading up to the French.  I think Nadal has a good chance of winning it. He looked almost like his former self.

 

 

Forgot to mention....with this win Roger in my eyes is the greatest male tennis player of all time.

8 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

That was a look of pure joy on Federer's face. This was nice to see too. Watch out for that next set of twins!

 

 

💕💕💕 #AusOpen #Federer pic.twitter.com/8sGRAqbDYy

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 29, 2017

They reported that one of the twin males has already started swinging a racquet and he is left handed.

@SoapsudsFederer and Mirka better make sure that kid learns to serve and volley, no camping on the baseline please.

I can't get past the names she gave those poor twins....Lenny and Leo. What awful names IMO.

1 hour ago, Soapsuds said:

I can't get past the names she gave those poor twins....Lenny and Leo. What awful names IMO.

 

They sound like a comedy team, I love it!

3 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

 

They sound like a comedy team, I love it!

Everytime I hear their names it reminds of them.......

 

Haha. Lenny and Squiggy.

 

I was telling someone yesterday, that coaches and tennis tutors need to show this video to their pupils as a cautionary example of what NOT to do in this type of situation. This behavior needs to be 'nipped in the bud' before these players get to the Pro leagues, I've seen it happen way too many times and have seen plenty of 'near misses', it was bound to happen sometime.

 

Fortunately, the chair umpire is alright according to a message sent from his sister.  Imagine if a ball kid or a spectator had been hit that way, the ITF/Canadian Tennis Association might have been staring at a lawsuit!

Edited February 6, 20178 yr by DramatistDreamer

I hope he was disqualified and suspended from playing for a specified amount of time. This is just ridiculous!

@ChitHappens Shapovalov was DQed immediately by the umpire (per the rules) and GSM was called for Great Britain, which resulted in GB going onto the Quarterfinals as this was the 'Final Rubber' that was to decide who would move on, each country had been locked in a 2-2 tie before this final match.

 

Here's a follow up on Shapovalov.

 

 

Denis Shapovalov will be fined $7000 by the referee: maximum fine of $12000 would only have applied had his actions been deemed intentional

— Russell Fuller (@russellcfuller) February 6, 2017

There needs to be some changes in the rules. Instead of a warning for ball abuse/racquet abuse there should automatically be a point penalty followed by game penalty for the second offense.....the warnings do nothing to deter this kind of behavior.

And tennis needs to learn to apply the rules evenly. Shapovalov gets a $7,000 fine for nearly blinding a chair umpire, Venus got a $5,000 for skipping a press conference after a loss. 

 

Does anyone remember when Heather Watson got a $12,000 fine for slamming her racquet onto the grass court at Wimbledon? It was more for grass abuse.

 

Djokovic has narrowly missed hitting ballkids on more than one occasion and got a warning.

SS, I think a warning for initial racket abuse in a match is sufficient. It's not realistic to say players cannot get angry.  Everyone should have the luxury of a warning before action is taken. 

4 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

Djokovic has narrowly missed hitting ballkids on more than one occasion and got a warning.

That's because he was #1 in the world. He gets special treatment. Wasn't he the one that should have been disqualified for grabbing a chair umpire? I remember Tennis Channel brushing it off as if it was nothing.