Tennis
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@mariner4life said in Tennis:
Apparent "flog of the highest order" Nick Kyrgios has promised to donate $200 for every ace he hits in every event he plays this Australian tennis summer to the bushfire appeal. Has convinced other Aussie players to follow suit.
Apparently also trying to spearhead other initiatives to raise funds while the world's best players are in Aus.
Follows on from a lot of reports that when he is representing Aus, he is the quintessential good team mate. Seems he likes playing for his country more than than he likes playing for himself.
But, you know, disgraceful selfish flog and all that...
If he resorts to serving underarm (something not unknown to Australians) he won't be having to fork out much.
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@mariner4life I kinda like him. Got abused last time I said that.
Though presumably not as severely as Fergus Murphy unless someone got banned.
At a rough calculation, assuming Nick serves 20 aces per match, he'll be up for $4K for every game he plays. He'll be able to play 40 matches before he's equaled his Cincinnati fine...
Kyrgios was fined US$113,000 for five separate incidents of unsportsmanlike conduct at the 2019 Cincinnati Masters tournament. During the second set, Kyrgios felt that the shot clock – which counts down the time allowed between points – had been started too early, and he delivered an expletive-laden rant at umpire Fergus Murphy, stating the Irish umpire was "the worst, hands down". He then walked off court, claiming he needed to use the restroom, but instead used the time to smash two racquets on the floor in a corridor. At the end of the match, Kyrgios told Murphy he was "a fucking tool", chose not to shake the official's hand, displayed a vulgar gesture, and appeared to spit at him.
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@mariner4life I kinda like him. Got abused last time I said that.
Though presumably not as severely as Fergus Murphy unless someone got banned.
At a rough calculation, assuming Nick serves 20 aces per match, he'll be up for $4K for every game he plays. He'll be able to play 40 matches before he's equaled his Cincinnati fine...
Kyrgios was fined US$113,000 for five separate incidents of unsportsmanlike conduct at the 2019 Cincinnati Masters tournament. During the second set, Kyrgios felt that the shot clock – which counts down the time allowed between points – had been started too early, and he delivered an expletive-laden rant at umpire Fergus Murphy, stating the Irish umpire was "the worst, hands down". He then walked off court, claiming he needed to use the restroom, but instead used the time to smash two racquets on the floor in a corridor. At the end of the match, Kyrgios told Murphy he was "a fucking tool", chose not to shake the official's hand, displayed a vulgar gesture, and appeared to spit at him.
Or a shorter way to describe it is the most interesting thing to happen at a tennis match in recent memory.
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Biggest month of the year for tennis downunder - best ever field assembles for the womens' tourney in Akl, mens underway players in Aussie complaining they can't breathe because of the bush fire smoke. No rugby, bugger all cricket. Wheres the love for the "allegedly" 2nd biggest sport on the planet?
I listened to this podcast last night.
Akl Tournament Director Karl Budge talking about how he lures players to Akl. This guy is worth every cent he gets paid and more. Well worth a listen IMO.
How does Karl Budge entice the world's best tennis players to Auckland?
Auckland's ASB Classic is a minnow of tennis tournaments - so how does director Karl Budge lure some of the biggest names in the business to the end of the earth?
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I think Budge is one of the best operators in NZ. Dude has built awesome relationships with players and organizers, and he plays the long game really well to. Just keeps upping the ante every year.
Well done and I bet he was happy Serena got the W too 😁
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@Paekakboyz said in Tennis:
I think Budge is one of the best operators in NZ. Dude has built awesome relationships with players and organizers, and he plays the long game really well to. Just keeps upping the ante every year.
Well done and I bet he was happy Serena got the W too 😁
Serena has got the W in four different decades! She's probebly the most amazing athlete of this era
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@Machpants said in Tennis:
@Paekakboyz said in Tennis:
I think Budge is one of the best operators in NZ. Dude has built awesome relationships with players and organizers, and he plays the long game really well to. Just keeps upping the ante every year.
Well done and I bet he was happy Serena got the W too 😁
Serena has got the W in four different decades! She's probebly the most amazing athlete of this era
Really??? That is incredible. Was her first ATP win (or equivalent back then) in the late 90's?
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@Machpants far out. That is pretty special
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@Paekakboyz I bet he was disappointed that Wozniaki couldn't get past Jennifer Pegula for a dream final (and what would likely have been Woz's last).
Interesting reading in Dogmeat's article that Serena owns part of the Miami Dolphins. Pegula's parents own the Buffalo Bills - a promo angle that might have been missed!
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It's funny seeing Serena at the end of the match shaking hands. She absolutely dwarfs her opponents in height and sheer size.
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Serena's just a newbie compared to this dude
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/51123128
I get he never scaled the heights that Serena did, although Serie A, Asian footballer of the year and 80 odd international caps isn't to be sneezed at. He's also probably more of a marketing good news story than an integral squad member …. but even so.
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I'm not much of a tennis fan, but reading an article today about how Roger thinks, without much emotion, that both Rafa and Novak will go past his GS number sort of hit home how ridiculous this era of tennis is.
Roger has 20. Rafa has 19. Novak has 16. Sampras is next on 14, then it's Borg on 11, and a bunch on 8.
They are 38, 33, and 32 years of age. Sampras won his last at 33 years of age. Novak and Rafa won all 4 last year between them.
Since Roger Federer won his first GS in 2003, there have been 66 Grand Slams, these 3 guys have won 55 of them. Arguably the three greatest players of all time have been playing at the same time. Who the hell is going to follow these guys? What will the sport look like without these three guys?
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@mariner4life said in Tennis:
Since Roger Federer won his first GS in 2003, there have been 66 Grand Slams, these 3 guys have won 55 of them.
Useless fucks.
Who were the other 11?
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@mariner4life I reckon we'll get some good players coming through once those 3 retire, but aside from Fed that could be a few years away... I think Nadal will go first as he's hammered his body Novak has also had injuries but I think hes got quite a bit left in the tank.
They really are just at another level. A big part of that is how they've pushed each other. Esp Fed and Nadal who have had amazing duels over the years.
Fark, image if it was just one of them playing these last 10 years...40+ titles probably! just hand the prize over brah 😂
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Who were the other 11?
Off top of my head:
Stan Wawrinka x 3?
Andy Murray x 3?
Del Potro
Roddick and Safin might have picked one early on in there, and there was a one off US open winner that I can't remember but was around for a long time, maybe Cilic? Or did Del Potro win 2 US?
Can't think of the other one...
