Tennis

[Gerrumonside ref]

Is this being shown live on Amazon?

[Futtocks]

2 hours ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Is this being shown live on Amazon?

Yes, but her semi-final is scheduled to start after 1am.

[tim2]

The Netflix film about American player Mardy Fish (*) is fascinating and really exposes the extreme pressure that comes with trying to achieve and sustain a position in the top 10 of tennis.

Raducanu has come tnrough her experience of physical manifestation of stress and hopefully it won't happen again. Fish basically went into a full-on breakdown for months.

P.S. In the same series of films there's a brilliant one about the ice hockey team that was bought by a "CEO of a waste disposal company" who used certain cash monies to pay players above salary cap. The fights they had in lower league ice hockey make RL's brawls look like handbags.

Any, whatever happens next Raducanu looks like the best British prospect in the women's game for years, better than Konta, who did pretty well but hasn't quite made it to the very top.

(*) And yes, I always imagine a haddock folding its fins and saying "I'm not swimming over there" when I see his name.

[graveyard johnny]

well done to the young canadian lass for getting through to the final- now go and win it!

[Futtocks]

She still hasn't lost a set, and she's in the final. And her opponent isn't much more experienced than her, so no advantage there.

[HawkMan]

3 hours ago, graveyard johnny said:

well done to the young canadian lass for getting through to the final- now go and win it!

Oh dear, one of the " must be born in Blighty to be British " brigade. Pathetic. 

Emma Raducanu is of Romanian and Chinese extraction and moved to England when she was two. I suppose you'll say Joanna Lumley is not British either but Indian.

[Shadow]

21 minutes ago, HawkMan said:

Oh dear, one of the " must be born in Blighty to be British " brigade. Pathetic. 

Emma Raducanu is of Romanian and Chinese extraction and moved to England when she was two. I suppose you'll say Joanna Lumley is not British either but Indian.

 

[17 stone giant]

15 minutes ago, HawkMan said:

Oh dear, one of the " must be born in Blighty to be British " brigade. Pathetic. 

Emma Raducanu is of Romanian and Chinese extraction and moved to England when she was two. I suppose you'll say Joanna Lumley is not British either but Indian.

I thought he meant the other finalist - 19 year old Fernandez from Canada. Although I'm not sure why he wants her to win instead of Raducanu.

Anyway, more curious to me is how the world number 73 has reached the final. I haven't been following this tournament, nor have I followed women's tennis closely for many years (not since early 90's really), so have no idea about the top players. Were they just knocked out, or were they missing because of Covid or something?

[HawkMan]

Raducanu was born in Toronto,  if GJ was supporting Fernández,  fair do's,  perhaps he's Canadian!

The point I'm making is that this attitude can hurt people and it annoys me. I was born here but I'm from a Polish background,  and our community and others do so much to integrate. My nephews have been taunted at school about not being properly British,  Raducanu is British by any sensible criteria. 

Edited September 10, 2021 by HawkMan

[Gerrumonside ref]

Good luck to our women’s tennis player in the final.

It’s an amazing story and she has done brilliantly to stay so focused.

Fingers crossed.

Edited September 10, 2021 by Gerrumonside ref

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

1 hour ago, 17 stone giant said:

I thought he meant the other finalist - 19 year old Fernandez from Canada. Although I'm not sure why he wants her to win instead of Raducanu.

Anyway, more curious to me is how the world number 73 has reached the final. I haven't been following this tournament, nor have I followed women's tennis closely for many years (not since early 90's really), so have no idea about the top players. Were they just knocked out, or were they missing because of Covid or something?

Fernandez beat the No 2 , 3 , 5 and 16 seeds on her way to the final , Raducanu beat No 11 ( Olympic gold medal winner from Tokyo) and No 17 seed , the No 1 seed was beaten by Shelby Rodgers , who was then trounced by Raducanu a round later .

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

1 hour ago, HawkMan said:

Raducanu was born in Toronto,  if GJ was supporting Fernández,  fair do's,  perhaps he's Canadian!

The point I'm making is that this attitude can hurt people and it annoys me. I was born here but I'm from a Polish background,  and our community and others do so much to integrate. My nephews have been taunted at school about not being properly British,  Raducanu is British by any sensible criteria. 

In the 1980s I went to school with 2 polish kids and later on went to work with a couple of blokes of Polish descent , in all cases , the only give away that they were Polish was their surnames ,but when you spoke to them , while they were very proud of their Polish roots , they considered themselves British .

[Futtocks]

The women's final is scheduled to start at 9pm (UK time) on Saturday. I think Amazon may be looking at some healthy viewing figures for this!

[Niels]

I think in Tennis a lot of people support a player as opposed to a nationality.

For example Roger always transcended national boundaries of support. Borg also. 

 

[17 stone giant]

11 hours ago, HawkMan said:

Raducanu was born in Toronto,  if GJ was supporting Fernández,  fair do's,  perhaps he's Canadian!

The point I'm making is that this attitude can hurt people and it annoys me. I was born here but I'm from a Polish background,  and our community and others do so much to integrate. My nephews have been taunted at school about not being properly British,  Raducanu is British by any sensible criteria. 

I take your point, but I think I would have to say that these things are a bit of a grey area sometimes. Identity can be a somewhat difficult thing to define, and people will have a different opinion as to what makes someone something. Obviously governments and sports have their own definitions of these things, for practical reasons, but there will be times that people might disagree with the criteria used. You only have to look at the likes of Coote playing for GB, as an example.

Personally, I'm more than happy to accept Raducanu as English and British. I actually go a fair bit on accent with these matters, and she speaks with an English accent. I appreciate that's not the only factor, but I tend to feel like it's a decent guide.

Likewise, you were born and brought up here, so I would consider you to be English and British too. However, I would point out that there are quite a few people that were born and brought up in England, but would call themselves Irish or Scottish etc. So it does work both ways. I appreciate you're highlighting people not being accepted, but there are also people that you could say are wanting to disregard that very same process in order to identify as something else.

If I take myself, I was born in Yorkshire, but neither my parents or grandparents are from Yorkshire, and I was 2 months old when we moved south. I personally don't consider myself a Yorkshireman at all - I identify as a southerner. But if I did want to call myself a Yorkshireman, I suspect a few born and bred Yorkshire folk would think I'm maybe not completely authentic. As I said at the start, it's a grey area, because where do you draw the line? Had I lived their for 30 years and then moved south, I'm sure people would have no issue accepting me as a Yorkshireman.

[Gerrumonside ref]

6 hours ago, Niels said:

I think in Tennis a lot of people support a player as opposed to a nationality.

For example Roger always transcended national boundaries of support. Borg also. 

 

I think this is true and especially of the top players on the tour.

I have had an extra interest in this story though because she is British and we haven’t competed at the top of women’s tennis often in my lifetime.

Personality and watch-ability definitely matters though as well as an appreciation of skill and national fervour.

Edited September 11, 2021 by Gerrumonside ref

[Damien]

9 hours ago, Niels said:

I think in Tennis a lot of people support a player as opposed to a nationality.

For example Roger always transcended national boundaries of support. Borg also. 

I think that is indeed true. I have always found it difficult to relate to many of the British players for one reason or another. As a kid I never felt they really represented me and class and background undoubtedly played its part.

The flair and flamboyance of some of the great European players have always been far more appealing to me. The likes of Boris Becker flinging himself around Wimbledon v someone like Jeremy Bates. No one wanted to be Jeremy Bates. 

I am glad that the LTA have spent many millions trying to make Tennis more accessible. I absolutely loved Tennis as a kid and in the summer holidays we used to play it from the moment we got up until it went dark. At that time though it was practically impossible to take it further.

The Raducanu story is great and she will be a huge star for years to come. I can't particularly recall a British female Tennis player of note in my lifetime. She has the world at her feet and hopefully this is just the start of it.

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

Amazon have struck a deal with channel 4 to show tonights final live .

[Gerrumonside ref]

Anyone else got a sound fault on the C4 broadcast?

Edit: Resolved now it seems 

Edited September 11, 2021 by Gerrumonside ref

[distantdog]

10 hours ago, Damien said:

I think that is indeed true. I have always found it difficult to relate to many of the British players for one reason or another. As a kid I never felt they really represented me and class and background undoubtedly played its part.

This is true for me too. I was/am a simple working class lad who used to play tennis a lot in Batley Park on many a weekend and evening and love the game. The wife often suggests that it is odd that I like tennis but it was accessible to me as a child. I always like Murray though as I liked the fact he wasn't really an establishment product and was the first British tennis player who competed against the very best on his terms, and showed some decent fight on the court.

[Damien]

Raducanu looks very confident and composed in winning the first game. Good start. 

[Damien]

Even better she breaks Fernandez in the 2nd to go 2-0 up.

[Futtocks]

Okay, the RL match is finished on the other channel, and I haven't missed much of the Tennis. C'mon Emma!

[graveyard johnny]

her mum and dad look nervous - they will be wiping their brows with 50 dollar bills soon

[Futtocks]

First set to Raducanu!

But there's really very little between the two finalists. Both are really impressive, and Fernandez has the crowd behind her.