Tennis

[Dave2002]

Impressed by how active forum contributors are.

(Also enjoyed the reference to Lord Beginner even if it applies to a different sport)

He of Calypso songs, eh!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFl9x3XzKSw

There is a piece called Tennis in Peterson-Berger's collection of Frösöblomster.

[Serial_Apologist]

Not that I ever quite comprehended the instruction to "time" a swing at a non-moving ball.

Nor me. I've always assumed the timing aspect must have to do with judging the exact moment to be one when all the cosmic forces of gravitational pull etc are correctly aligned so that the ball goes down the hole, then stays that way.

[vinteuil]

I'm very fond of cheese myself

... cheese is eminently preferable to tennis.

Or indeed to any sport.

In the end, I prefer alcohol.

[Serial_Apologist]

... cheese is eminently preferable to tennis.

Or indeed to any sport.

With Emmenthaler you can escape through the holes.

[Dave2002]

Is it cheating to have a court deliberately made to scuff the balls to suit one player and slow the play up? Perhaps not "officially", but it does seem a somewhat dodgy practice. Davis Cup .... Andy Murray.

[MrGongGong]

... cheese is eminently preferable to tennis.

Or indeed to any sport.

In the end, I prefer alcohol.

With cheese I would suggest

[Flay]

This is fantastic tennis from Murray. One game from victory

But I wish they would silence that idiot with the hooter

[Dave2002]

"This man has wheels ..." Andrew Castle - commentator.

Gives me an idea for a new variant - tennis on roller blades, or if played in the winter, tennis on ice skates!

[P. G. Tipps]

I don't know who's the more irritating, the idiot with the hooter or Andrew Castle.

On balance, I'd probably marginally plump for the latter idiot.

[ahinton]

To borrow from another thread, whilt we know that Schoenberg was a keen amateur tennis player, had Schönberg been one as well or did he only develop those skills when he espoused (to the extent that he ever did) America?

[Lat-Literal]

This is fantastic tennis from Murray. One game from victory

But I wish they would silence that idiot with the hooter

Well done to the British team:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/34307981

[gurnemanz]

Well done to the British team:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/34307981

Well done indeed. But a bit of a bizarre culmination to the Davis Cup: Murray family take on Belgium in the Final.

[P. G. Tipps]

Well done indeed. But a bit of a bizarre culmination to the Davis Cup: Murray family take on Belgium in the Final.

Sadly, that's the simple reality. And A. Murray is only really committed to the cause this year as, with the absence of Fed. and Djoko, he and his brother will never have a better chance of winning the trophy for GB.

Win or lose, I very much doubt we'll see A. Murray going through all this again when our chances of winning will be more limited.

For all his shortcomings, A. Murray is a canny opportunist as well as a great tennis player.

So well done to him, and to his rather more personable but less talented brother who has risen to the challenge amazingly well.

[Dave2002]

For all his shortcomings, A. Murray is a canny opportunist as well as a great tennis player.

So well done to him, and to his rather more personable but less talented brother who has risen to the challenge amazingly well.

I know that some people don't like Andy Murray, which may perhaps be to a sort of rough ungracious manner. Isn't it possible that this is part of the reason why he is almost at the top of the pile? Of course at the present time Federer and Djokovic are above, and seemingly more affable - but that may be an even more diffiult thing to achieve - except perhaps for some with extreme talent.

I suspect that a certain amount of grit and determination is required to get to the heights. For Brit supporters, if there was only a choice between a sometimes grumpy top ten player, or a very affable, amiable Brit player somewhere below the top 30, which would you back?

Note my assumption that being high ranking and affable may, at some stages, be mutually incompatible. This is not always the case, but may be much of the time.

[Lat-Literal]

I know that some people don't like Andy Murray, which may perhaps be to a sort of rough ungracious manner. Isn't it possible that this is part of the reason why he is almost at the top of the pile? Of course at the present time Federer and Djokovic are above, and seemingly more affable - but that may be an even more diffiult thing to achieve - except perhaps for some with extreme talent.

I suspect that a certain amount of grit and determination is required to get to the heights. For Brit supporters, if there was only a choice between a sometimes grumpy top ten player, or a very affable, amiable Brit player somewhere below the top 30, which would you back?

Note my assumption that being high ranking and affable may, at some stages, be mutually incompatible. This is not always the case, but may be much of the time.

This, I think, is partially about attitudes towards Wimbledon along the way. I wouldn't be able to quote what AM has said but it is a set-up that expects and even demands to be loved. How a player performs in that regard can be how he is perceived by the general public. He may not have criticized the old place overtly in the early years but arguably he gave the appearance of indifference. Even the likes of Federer at least play at putting the All England Club above themselves. The biggest problem was Ivan Lendl who at one time, frustrated by his lack of success there, said that he just didn't like it and, I believe, Michael Stich, who did win, was another who didn't endear himself with various comments.

With Lendl, who never won the singles at Wimbledon, I felt there was a sense that in his teaming up with Murray, before Murray appointed Mauresmo, it was the earlier Ivan of mixed motives. One, he wanted to be loved by the Brits more by helping Murray to win it and secondly he was doing it for himself and saying that Wimbledon hadn't got the better of him. I don't have a problem with Andy - and the British public have now taken to him - but I don't find him as personable as Federer, Nadal or even Djokovic. However, I am not sure that I found Ruzedski, Castle, the Lloyds, Buster Mottram or the nice but light Henman any more personable so maybe it is a British thing, sadly, at least in the men's game.

Well done indeed. But a bit of a bizarre culmination to the Davis Cup: Murray family take on Belgium in the Final.

Yes, quite. The BBC reports that Belgium haven't reached this stage for 111 years which makes further talk about Fred Perry and also 1978 seem almost like nothing.