Would you prefer if there was bad blood between Rafa and Roger?

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

Ricardo it was not an insult it was the truth, Pete was far more accomplished and decorated a champion than Rafter. All great champions have some arrogance, some more than others, and Pete's arrogance was visible in that heat of the battle, slight putdown of Rafter.

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

Hartt; Pete patterned his competitive style and court demeanor after the great Aussies, Laver and Rosewall. So if anyone wants to criticize Pete as boring then you have to put the blame on Laver and Rosewall because that's who he emulated and respected the most.

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

Serena smashes racquets sometimes because her rage gets out of control and she simply has to vent. She doesn't do it to live up to fans expectations Believe, me, as a guy who has cracked about a dozen or two frames in my life, I KNOW

 

[Horsa]

If you want to talk about the biggest arguers in tennis you need to talk about John McEnroe. We always used to watch him play. He was always arguing with the umpire. His main catchphrases were "You cannot be serious." & "That wasn't out. That was in." He always used to throw his racquet too. I used to find his arguments almost as entertaining as his game.

 

[Busted]

No, I wouldn't prefer it if there were bad blood between Roger and Rafa. For one thing it says a lot about them as PEOPLE that they're able to be friends while being rivals. Isn't there enough animosity in sports - and life - in general? Isn't it great for tennis that the two biggest stars (4 if you count Murray and Djokovic) are gentlemen who conduct themselves with respect, honor and dignity (most of the time!) toward their opponents and peers? Sometimes it's just nice to know that nice guys do finish first. Would it really have been better if they'd had the combative attitudes of Lendl & McEnroe, Marcelo Rios, Conners, Nastase, Thomas Muster, Kyrgios, Tomic, etc. Tennis is already seen as a sport of rich, white elitists (like golf) so do they really need the top stars to be seen as entitled jerk multi-millionaires who can't get along? I'm sure Federer and Nadal have had their disagreements (see the whole 2-year rankings that Nadal was pushing for and Federer disagreed about) but on the whole, and I'm no Nadal fan, it's nice to see grown men who aren't in a constant pissing contest because their egos are out of control.

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

Agree EquineAnn, McEnroe had great talent and his colorful tantrums and rage at officials and certain opponents added value to the theater. I think if Fed and Rafa had some tension it would also add value and enjoyment to the theater.

 

[Busted]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

She said F u to BJK. Major feud. Just read it in an old Tennis Week issue.

I remember hearing about this back in the day. Capriati, as we all know, had some substance abuse and anger issues. Remember when she and Serena Williams would get into it? I used to scream at the tv, "HOT DAMN! GIRL FIGHT!" LOL! (SInce I'm a woman this was ok. But...for the record? It's NOT ok if a guy does it! LOL!) Anyway...Capriati\Serena was an interesting matchup to say the least. Back in the day when Serena had actual rivals who could beat her and not all of these mediocre players who couldn't even tie Justine Henin's shoes. Sadly the current state of women's tennis is the future of men's tennis without the Big 4. Lots of average players playing average, boring tennis.

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

Hartt; thanks for mentioning Raonic, so he does not fall completely off the tennis scene radar. You have to wonder if Raonic has lost his belief and will fade into a Hanescu, Karlovic level player. Or can he hang in there and be a Berdych, Isner level threat?

 

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Scoop Malinowski writes:

Joe; Controversy sells and today in the ATP there is a severe shortage of controversy. The incredible talent and characters in ATP have grown the sport and are sustaining the sport now. Imagine if the ATP had 3-4 controversial stars?

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

Busted, are you saying you would not like to see a fiery, rebellious, me against the world, COME ON screaming teenager like Hewitt bursting on the scene? You don't think a villain such as the young Hewitt would be fantastic for tennis? I would love for a young gun rebel like the young Hewitt to bust through the door and show little respect ON COURT for Fed Rafa and the elites. Just like how Hewitt did it. Tennis needs that kind of revolutionary force right now IMO.

 

[Busted]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

Duke, everybody does not hate each other here in USA but the media is constantly inciting racial division and hatred, constantly. It's their agenda. But there actually are nice stories like this one: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4627034/Touching-moment-man-helps-83-year-old-escalator.html Though the US media will probably ignore this in favor of trying to find and blow up another cop killing a thug story to incite more racial division. It is nice to see how tennis is so fair and cleanly contested nowadays and for my Facing Sampras book one player said he felt Pete was the one who changed the image of tennis and then Fed and Rafa follow Pete and Andre's example. I thought it was a very good point. The player who said this was Sammy Giammalva Jr, who played Pete in his very first pro match in Philadelphia in 1988.

Tennis pause here - The media is "inciting racial division and hatred?" GMAFB. Are you serious? Please turn off FOX News. You have a racist, homophobic POTUS who's given his supporters the license to be openly and blatanlty racist - but it's the media's fault for what? Reporting that instead of lying about it? You have cops using excessive force on people of color on a daily basis - and what, is that the media's fault, too? Baloney. The reality is America is, was and always will be a racist society. News flash - that existed before the Fiffh Estate started reporting it. It is the media's job to report news and if some people see it as "constantly inciting racial division" then I can only assume that you're white and not a person of color or an immigrant or a Muslim with a fucking target on your forehead every time you step foot out of your house. Silence makes the problem worse not the light of day. Some of us live in fear that we're next. That one wrong move or being in the wrong place at the wrong time means you're going to die. Meanwhile others, like yourself apparently, are busy blaming the media for reporting the truth. I seriously wonder sometimes about people who blame the media for reporting the truth without skewing it to some right wing agenda. Yet another by-product of "Trump's America" - the truth, reality and honesty are all "fake news." Rant over.

 

[Busted]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

Busted, are you saying you would not like to see a fiery, rebellious, me against the world, COME ON screaming teenager like Hewitt bursting on the scene? You don't think a villain such as the young Hewitt would be fantastic for tennis? I would love for a young gun rebel like the young Hewitt to bust through the door and show little respect ON COURT for Fed Rafa and the elites. Just like how Hewitt did it. Tennis needs that kind of revolutionary force right now IMO.

But...like Murray, underneath his on court antics - Hewitt wasn't a jerk who was disliked by his peers. That's a completely different thing to me. Look at Murray - he sometimes acts like a huge jerk on court, but by most accounts he's one of the nicest guys on the tour and everybody likes him. You can have fire on the court and not butt heads with your peers off the court.

I think, as you're seeing with Kyrgios and Tomic, that being a divisive personalty on the court isn't bad for tennis - it's just a little of it goes a long way. There's too many other sports for tennis to compete with for fans, sponsors\money and attention to have a bunch of guys like Kyrgios in the sport - especially when they're NOT WINNING. If you win, as we all know, you can be the biggest jerk ever because you can flash the trophy and the check WHILE telling people to get bent. When you act like that and lose? Then you just look like a petulant, whiny, immature sore loser. That was the thing about Johnny Mac, right? He talked shite and acted like shite...but he backed it up by winning...and then talking more shite. I'm cool with that...just WIN something while you're flapping your gums. Otherwise - what's the saying? It's "all sound and fury signifying nothing."

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

Early Hewitt ruffled a lot of players feathers with his intensity and yelling, players like most of the Spaniards, Corretja, Moya, Costa, Ferrero, the Argentines, Chela, Coria, Nalbandian, and other players - Michael Russell, and I'm fairly sure there were others. Later on in his career Hewitt became a very popular well liked veteran. After Hewitt lost his powers and dominance his edges became softer also and he was less confrontational and less abrasive. But early on Hewitt was very controversial and not well liked.

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

Hartt; I was surprised the pop Peliwo puts on the ball, he was dictating and overpowering Tommy Paul and Fritz and that's quite an accomplishment because those two Americans are heavy hitters. Peliwo impressed me very much, to win this title in Knoxville over a strong field proves Peliwo has something special.

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

I've never considered the possibility that Goffin could win a major but after a win like this he now rates that utmost respect. He had Nadal on the ropes badly on clay earlier this year in Monte Carlo or Rome and that very bad line call ruined the match for Goffin. That was another clue that showed that Goffin may have that little extra special ingredient inside his engine. He is like many other secondary players, on the cusp and could shock the world in 2018.

 

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Scoop Malinowski writes:

Hartt; He was outhitting and dictating on both Fritz and Paul in the games I saw. We've seen several of these top juniors struggle for years to make inroads in the ATP - Berankis, Young, Harrison, Fucsovics, Gimeno Traver, Fabbiano, etc. Now it's important that Peliwo follow it up with another run in Champaign IL - to show Knoxville was not a random fluke week. Players will be on guard for him this week.

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

No reason at all for Rafa to kill himself to win the WTF, Australia is the next target. At this stage of his career 31 yr old Nadal needs to pick his spots. At least he played one match, probably against his own will. I know exactly how it feels to be stuck in a match you really don't want to be playing in when trying to conserve your best for future matches. Now we get to see Carreno Busta sub in.

 

[Horsa]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

No reason at all for Rafa to kill himself to win the WTF, Australia is the next target. At this stage of his career 31 yr old Nadal needs to pick his spots. At least he played one match, probably against his own will. I know exactly how it feels to be stuck in a match you really don't want to be playing in when trying to conserve your best for future matches. Now we get to see Carreno Busta sub in.

Exactly. Everyone should try their best in whatever they do or decide to do but we shouldn't strain ourselves. Straining ourselves just exacerbates situations & makes things worse in the long run.

 

[Ricardo]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

Ricardo it was not an insult it was the truth, Pete was far more accomplished and decorated a champion than Rafter. All great champions have some arrogance, some more than others, and Pete's arrogance was visible in that heat of the battle, slight putdown of Rafter.

It was insult alright, go and tell an obese person that he is fat....and say its truth and not insult. Now there wasn't heat of battle that justifies that, and what has accomplishment got to do with it? at that time, Rafter was Sampras's close equal as a rival though not in historical status. He played well enough to match Sampras, as well as Agassi, week in and week out and not just flash in a pan.

If Fed was saying Murray isn't even 1/6 of him in slams (3 vs 19), sure as hell every reasonable person would call it an insult as it is. You say he modelled himself along Laver and Rosewell, now those veterans didn't talk like that at all at the height of their powers. Sampras was my fav in the 90s just behind Becker, but you got to call spade a spade.

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

You don't know what Laver said, he might have expressed flashes of arrogance. If you were around Laver for his whole career and heard everything he said then you can refute this, if not, you can't The best in the world always show traces of their arrogance. It's only human. Pete expressed the perfect reply when some people started anointing Rafter with too much credit too early. He put Rafter right in his place with one sentence. Very sharp, well timed, direct strike by Pete. If you were offended by it, it's your misfortune.