The Tennis Thread

[DramatistDreamer]

 

if she feels it's not working for her (and the precipitous drop in ranking seems to indicate as much) then that alone would be enough reason for a change.  After eleven years things can get stale. 

A few people people were discussing the fact that he'd said some negative things over the years (which I interpreted as his impatience with the constraints of her auto-immune illness) which made me think that, perhaps were it not for the Sjogren's and the need for stability, she might have made the change years ago.

If she got tired of the situation, she is free to make the change.  Nobody's obligated to keep a coach on for what remains of their career. Almost nobody keeps the same coach for half their career.  People are acting so surprised but even players who were considered to be 'slumping' or at the end of career made coaching changes.

I don't remember all this discussion when Pete Sampras had three different coaches in the final two years of his career. Everyone just believed that he was doing what he believed was best to squeeze whatever he could out of his game for whatever time he had left in his career. 

 

Maybe for Venus, the risk is worth it, rather than to sleepwalk for the remainder of her career with a situation that has gone stale.  She's already gone through the uncertainty of having an undiagnosed illness for five years, so she probably looks at uncertainty in a totally different way than many others.

[ChitHappens]

Oh, I totally dig that Venus can make changes at any time.  It just seems strange that a 38 year old would be trying to find a new coach.  

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Yeah, but Venus isn't your average 38 year old. 

And being stalled for two years, not being able to get that 50th singles title must be driving her mad enough to want to punch a clown by now.  She's probably been quietly seething about that one.  We don't see her emotions, which she keeps very close to her vest.

 

Even Oracene once admitted to wondering where her thoughts are, so inscrutable is Venus. The woman is like a Sphinx!

[Soapsuds]

Venus was very loyal to David and I thought she should've changed coaches years ago even though she had the great year where she made a lot of major finals with him as coach. But that was more her than David....

Edited December 12, 2018 by Soapsuds

[DramatistDreamer]

 

I agree. 

I do think the Sjogren's and all the chaos in her life also made her reluctant to make any changes for years as she seemed to want stability and safety.  Otherwise, I feel like she would've parted with David years ago.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

 

 

Apparently Gimelstob entered a not guilty plea today in court.

[Soapsuds]

I had forgotten that was today. What was he charged with? The court was going to say today. 

[DramatistDreamer]

After wasting time trying to find out more on traditional U.S. sports news outlets like ESPN, etc., I just found this article on the one site that seems to be reporting on this, so I haven't yet had the chance to read it.

 

[Soapsuds]

Thanks for posting it!  At least we won't see Justin in Australia.

 

So they have video yet Justin thinks he can wiggly out of it? Two sides of the story with actual video as proof??

[DramatistDreamer]

It wouldn't surprise me if TMZ ends up with a copy of that video, somehow, since they're good for that type of thing.  If they get their hands on the video, I expect a leak to happen after that.

[DramatistDreamer]

@Soapsuds Here's another article about the Gimelstob case.

 

GIMELSTOB’S CASE – NOT GUILTY PLEA, GRAPHIC VIDEO, AND POSSIBLE JAIL SENTENCE

[Soapsuds]

Thanks!

 

So everything is poor Justin...everyone is out to get him...that's what I get from the article .....I guess Justin forgot to mention the Anna K. story where he said awful things about her....how convenient.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

 The article definitely seems to present a perspective that seems to favor Gimelstob but I bet they believe that they are being fair.  I read a previous article in the same blog and was even more slanted toward Gimelstob than this one.

I don't expect much in the way of even-handed coverage in any U.S. based sports blog/magazine/journal. These normally outspoken American tennis journos seem particularly 'shy' about going near this story.

[DramatistDreamer]

This New York Times article, which is several days late and several dollars short, tells absolutely nothing new about the Gimelstob case.  Rather half-hearted effort at relevance.

 

Justin Gimelstob’s Career in Tennis in Doubt After Halloween Night Altercation

[Soapsuds]

Tennis Now has an article out. It has almost the same thing but some new info about how Justin put video cameras in his ex wife's bedroom and recorded the sex she had with other men and threatened to show them to their son.....I tell you Justin is one sick puppy

 

http://www.tennisnow.com/News/2018/December/Gimelstob-Pleads-Not-Guilty-in-Halloween-Assault.aspx