[Sally Todd]

NEWSFLASH: You aren't automatically a loser or a hater of Vika if you think what she did was bad sportsmanship and lame.

You could simply be a fan of tennis who thinks this kind of stuff makes a mockery of the sport. MTO has been abused and stretched beyond the breaking point, it's time for the rules to be both stricter and clearer. Vika's 10-minute venture is roughly on the scale of Mary Pierce doing everything but ordering room service in her Dementieva semi at the USO years ago.

Am I a Mary Pierce hater? No. But what she pulled off in that situation was so shady it was ludicrous.

Most every player has an instance of shadiness or bad behavior on their resume. Some just have a lot more than others. No player is above criticism, and if you don't like hearing it, that's the way it goes.

[metamorpha]

Thank you, GOAT.

[TheBoiledEgg]

Originally Posted by Lachy

It's been said already that Australians typically detest bad sportsmanship, which is exactly what that was.

I don't even think the booing, if there at all, would be that bad. There will just be more crowd support for Li. Something Azarenka has had to deal with in pretty much every other match anyway.

thats not true as all Aussies love sledging
most are taught that from moment they are born

[Bronx19]

Originally Posted by TheBoiledEgg

thats not true as all Aussies love sledging
most are taught that from moment they are born

What does sledging have to do with Azarenka's piss poor attitude?

You sledge to get a desired result. In this case, we boo her because she is a brat.

[anthonyqld]

Originally Posted by Lachy

It's been said already that Australians typically detest bad sportsmanship, which is exactly what that was.

lol. So not true.

Look at the ARL demanding to the RLIF that an Australian referee, referees their matches against other countries (and the RLIF ridiculously accepts that)
Look at NRL teams with their niggles, sledges, tapping the ball out, hoping the ref misses.
The Australian cricket team are regarded as the world's best sledgers.
The Australian netball team are regarded as the best at using the injury timeout
Look at Bernard Tomic with him challenging a ball, stopping play, and the umpire missed it. When his opponent stopped play, Tomic told the umpire he never challenged.
And the many, many more

[TheBoiledEgg]

Originally Posted by Bronx19

What does sledging have to do with Azarenka's piss poor attitude?

You sledge to get a desired result. In this case, we boo her because she is a brat.

cos someone said Aussies dont like bad sportsmanship
simply not true

[anthonyqld]

Originally Posted by Bronx19

What does sledging have to do with Azarenka's piss poor attitude?

Sledging is poor sportsmanship. You can't beat them playing fair, as they're better than you, so need to sledge.

[Lachy]

This is turning into some sort of australian cultural discussion, it's detracting from the actual point. At risk of furthering it, sportsmanship is a massive part of the Australian SPORTING if not CULTURAL identity. You can pinpoint examples that suggest otherwise, as you can nitpick with anything. But overall it's something the country has been proud of for as long as I have known. What type of rock have you been living under anthonyqld? (joking).

[Bronx19]

Originally Posted by anthonyqld

Sledging is poor sportsmanship. You can't beat them playing fair, as they're better than you, so need to sledge.

You are not Australian.

[Nalby fan]

To be fair,in my experience,Aussies will sledge the crap out of you on the field,and once you've proved you can take it,they will be the first to buy you a beer in the bar afterwards.

What Vika did is show that she couldn't take the pressure,and that is frowned upon in Australia.

[Marcus1979]

We don't pick on players for nothing. Hingis,Seles and Serena are a few examples of top players who are loved here.

Clijsters also.

We booed Justine for the 2006 Final antics also.


Sent from Verticalsports.com App

[anthonyqld]

Originally Posted by Marcus1979

We don't pick on players for nothing. Hingis,Seles and Serena are a few examples of top players who are loved here.

Serena in Melbourne and Brisbane yes. But Serena & her father have previously called the Sydney crowd racist

[anthonyqld]

Originally Posted by Nalby fan

To be fair,in my experience,Aussies will sledge the crap out of you on the field,and once you've proved you can take it,they will be the first to buy you a beer in the bar afterwards.

What Vika did is show that she couldn't take the pressure,and that is frowned upon in Australia.

Sledging is not the same as abuse. Sledging is basically friendly jibes - if your opponent doesn't like you stop doing it - when players don't stop doing it, they're pointed out on various sport panel shows and the sledger is criticised.

2 well known examples-

1. that AFL player who sledged to an opponent "I f***ed your daughter (who was 6)" - the player didn't like that, so smashed him in the face. The sledger stopped sledging that player because he obviously didn't like it.

2. Billy Slater from the Melbourne Storm who told Corey Patterson "Why don't you go to your room and take some pills" - 3 games after Corey returned from 12 months out of the game due to severe depression and had spoken about how one night he was in his room crying with a bottle of pills in his hand, and how close he came to taking them. Corey certainly didn't like the sledge, you could clearly see it on the field. Billy was crucified around the country (except for Melbourne obviously) for his sledge. Groups such as BeyondBlue (which is based in Melbourne) were outraged Slater didn't receive a suspension for a sledge that could kill.

And for crowds to go over a certain level with their sledging there needs to be a reason - such as that soccer player in the A-League that slept with a 13yo girl (and laughably got off because they believed his "I thought she was 16" excuse).

[tildeloltilde]

Originally Posted by Soliloque

Your version.




Aren't you tired ? Jumping on me because I was rooting for Jovanovski the other day ? I have no problem with american/african american players and I'm not a fan of Sloane but I don't hate her either. I don't know why you're getting obsessed with me.

Don't try to invite her to your swimming pool party. I mean you can't just invite a lesbian to your swimming pool party! There might be girls there. IN THEIR BATHING SUITS!

[basset]

however. azarenka wasn't popular with the masses before this tourney and she will have even less "fans" now...