[treufreund]

Q. Marcelo, in the last press conference Capriati said that your remarks on women's tennis were stupid and ridiculous; what do you think of that?
A. What?

Q. Capriati said your comments on women's tennis and the lack of depth in women's tennis were stupid and ridiculous?
A. I'm not going to start arguing about what anybody thinks, I just said what I thought about it and in the locker room everybody was agree. Like, everybody was talking that thing that you see a match and everybody is winning 6-0, 6-1. Coetzer is 12th in the world and she lose 6-0, 6-0 in 20 minutes. It is ridiculous what is going on in women's tennis, and I think everybody agree. But I'm not going to start arguing with every girl that says that it's not true, it's ridiculous. Everybody thinks different, and that was my thought and I mean it, and good for her if she doesn't think like that.
Q. If Hingis wanted to be on court with you to show that you are wrong, do you want to play her one set or not?
A. I think they are not understanding what I said. I'm not saying that the girls are better - that guys are better than girls and all that, I said I think until quarters, girls win too easy. I'm not saying that if a guy beat a girl - I think they are understanding wrong what I said. Just tell Williams to tell Karsten Braasch he can play her again, like she did like three years ago. He is playing a little bit better now, so she's going to have a little trouble now - maybe 6-0 now.

Pretty funny about Venus vs Karsten Braasch! ROTFLMAO

 

[Beige]

Didn't Braasch play Serena? I could be wrong but I would've sworn it was the younger Willaims sister who played the chain-smoking German.

 

[ys]

They played one set each. Both got crushed.

Marcelo just shows how much smarter he is than those girls who replied. As always..

 

[TheBoiledEgg]

Rios played Serena 1st and Venus after

Rollo put up an article about that somewhere.

 

[treufreund]

He played a set against each sister back to back and won his set like 6-2 and 6-1.

I wonder if he came to the net a lot or what tactic he used. I suppose their serve would not really bother him.

 

[polishprodigy]

I somewhat agree with Rios. Ok, there are some great early round matches involving top seeds, but the majority are easy 'romps'. LIke that Hingis win over Coetzer 6-1 6-0 is a disgrace considering Coetzer was the no.12 seed. I don't like this 32-seed thing, it avoids upsets, which unlike some poster I read about, I like to see! In mens, any player whether they are 200th or 20th, can beat a top 10 player. And to the person who said, "i don't like seeing people i've never heard of beating top seeds. I like seeing the top players play eachother in the quarterfinals!", well I do too! But it's ridiculous when Capriati kills Husarova in the QF. Another thing is that when low-ranked and little-known men make the QFor SF of a tournament, they make their presence known for the rest of the year. Ok, where is Jankovic, Stevenson and Tatarkova after their 'remarkable' wins over top 10 players? As for Lucic, she somehow made it to the SF of Wimbledon, but can't even win a 10K 1R match. As much as I like Adriana or Janette, my guess is that they won't get past the third round whether they play an unseeded player or not in the next Australian Open or grand slam for that matter. I really like womens tennis more now,because the depth is greater, but greater depth MEANS UPSETS ARE BOUND TO HAPPEN. And if top players keep winning 6-1 6-0 before the QF, that depth must improve. Sure, the mens game is getting more boring with all the aces and stuff, but it does have a better overall outlook. The womens game is getting better though, and I'm sure it will. BTW, Hingis could give Rios a match (btw, i hate rios, so its not that I am a fan of him),and Karsten is a good player, but so is Venus, so I think it would be Karsten 6-3 6-4. I think Rios would win 6-2 6-3.

 

[Dawn Marie]

Imho the media is always using Rios as their little scapegoat. The media needs to stop acting so stupid. Rios has some valid truth to his statment and like he said he's not the only male player to feel that way.

It is easier(USUALLY) for top ranked women to the kick the ass of the lower ranked players before the quarterfinals. The point though is, so the heck what, and really the men need to realize that women's tennis is alot different then the men's game. Rios may not be the most sweet natured fella' but I feel he's being blasted unfairly in this situation. I am so sure he's not the only guy in that lockeroom to say that Women's tennis is a joke. The media clearly is taking this way out of proportion.

The issue is clearly not Rios and his stupid remarks but more along the lines of the battle of the sexes. Tennis is a sexist sport, but the media shouldn't bash ONLY Rios on the matter.

 

[Beige]

I don't get it.

Why do ATP players need to bash the WTA in the first place? Is it that insecure about its own appeal as a sports organization that it has to take cheap shots at the WTA? I hope they don't treat their wives, sisters and girlfriends like that.

<EMBED SRC='http://rock.mididb.com/20020120/Village_People/Macho_Man.mid' VOLUME='90' HEIGHT='60' WIDTH='144' LOOP='infinite' AUTOSTART='true' HIDDEN='true' Pfont size='-2'Music>

 

[Dawn Marie]

This kind of thinking has been going on for centuries. Alot of Men think that women and sports don't mix. They will always try to put the WTA down. Rios is not the first guy to state stupid remarks about the women. I can name plenty who opened up their mouths the past year.

Pete/Kafelnikof/Mcenroe

 

[Come-on-kim]

I DON'T LIKE Rios!!!!!!

He's jaleous

 

[polishprodigy]

Just to correct my statement to avoid juvenile bashing remarks, Jelena Jankovic did not beat a top 10 player, but she did beat Brie Rippner in her first match at a grand slam, so you get my drift. And yeah, I think this situation is being taken out of proportion as many mens players do not respect the womens game as much as it should be. BUT, it needs a lot of improvement, the low-ranked players keep getting whipped by the top players in the early rounds, even in the QF (i.e. husarova), so this cannot be criticized for lack of credibility! It is the truth, but i know that the WTA is trying to improve its game. It sure has more publicity then the ATP tour, but thats only AFTER the QF. I think this 32-seed thing makes the womens tour worse. I like seeing Schett win over Venus in teh first round! I like seeing talented Barbara Schwartz come back from injury and beat Rubin! So, I d o think the ATP is somewhat jealous, (as the "Beige" pointed out), but it does have a point with this criticism. And plus, it faces criticism too, about boring Sampras and all the aces in the game. But then again, doesn't Venus overpower her opponents as well?

 

[treufreund]

Dawn,

If anyone else had made those comments about Venus v Karsten you would have been miffed. The media has not gone after Marcelo or goaded him inot making those comments. He made those comments during an interview and they were completely unprovoked by the question asked of him. The same thing today. He did not need to name names and shame Barbara Rittner, Amanda Coetzer and Venus Williams. That is what is wrong. It is NOT, I repeat NOT, a question of whether there is any truth to his comments but whether he has any respect for these top women . It's a matter of respecting these players. I am sure that Amanda Coetzer was simply OUTPLAYED, she came up with some creative stuff but Martina was always one better. It wasn't like she was not trying out there and the same for Barbara Rittner. For me it is just wrong to make fun of the other players like that who are probably very depressed and embarrassed about those matches.

If you expect people not to gang up on Rios, then maybe he should not attack a player like Coetzer or Rittner when they are down. It is like kicking dirt in their faces. And like I said before I do agree that the ESPN commentators were too personal in their criticism of Rios. People should not gang up on the man but he needs to see that what he did in calling out those girls was also EQUALLY wrong.

 

[ys]

The biggest difference is that most of women are mentally weak and easily dominated. If one girl is #1 and the other is #30, the level of intimidation will be much greater than a similar one in ATP. #30 in ATP has no doubts that he can be the next best thing in the sport and that he can beat anyone. That's I guess, a bit of male thing. Men are naturally more competetive.

 

[Dawn Marie]

Sorry, but Rios is being blasted for saying what many other ATP players have said.

The media is taking Rios's comments way out of proportion. And I do think that a 200 ranked man can spank the crap out of a top 10 women player. I refuse to bash ONLY Rios where this is concerned. I dont trust the media when it comes to Rios. They have been targeting him for years. Rios needs to learn to be extra careful in his opinions because he is clearly a target. He needs ot take a page out of Venus Williams book. Also kudos to Venus for not even mentioning Rios name in her interview. She knows whats up.

Rios is not the only tennis player to talk crap about other players. He's not right and he may be posess a nasty attitude but the media should not use him only as their scapegoat. Why did the media even talk to Jennifer and Venus about him? All they chose to do is start controversy. They did the same crap last year at the US Open... concerning Indian Wells and Hingis and Navratolva.

 

[Dawn Marie]

treufrend your right I would be miffed at what he said about Venus. Which imho was not bad. but I don't trust the Media where Rios is concerned.

I dislike the media more then dislike Rios opinions. Which were probably spot on. Serena even said it herself about playing the men. They are tough.

note: The media reminds me of Tom and Clarence and the bean eating incident on Survivor.

 

[Greenwatch]

Dawn,

You couldnt be more correct.

This is a subplot of what the media frequently tries to do with the Williams in their press conferences and interviews. They are trying to milk a controversy on something which normally most fans would sit back and agree on without seeing it as a detriment of the WTA.

Just a fact of life.

Why should Coetzer or Rittner be hurt ? Think about it objectively. Those girls are playing a sport they love and will never be short of a buck. They dont need Rios validating them and they sure dont need our sympathy. Considering the amount of men and women players who will simply be tour veterans and who will virtually be millionaires whilst not ever being near the top I dont see the 'shame' they have to face when criticised for not doing better.

 

[franny]

lol

i think rios is afraid to play martina. I definitly think they should play a match, like a practice match or something, because rios is known to be scrappy and crafty, but martina is a little better at that. of course, doesn't hit the ball as hard, but still

 

[hugetennisfan]

If there were no top players, only players of the say, 20-50 calibre, then many of the matches might be a lot closer. I don't think this would be a very good thing.

Also, now they are quite a few top players, not just one or two. In my opinion the level of the top players is higher as is the level of the lower ranked players. The standard is higher across the board. I don't see why this is a bad thing, even if some of the matches are lopsided.

After reading the responses from the women, I think they did a great job, each in her own way. Btw, I am not sure if Martina meant that she wanted to play sets with Rios. When I first read it, I thought she meant just to practice, so he could see that the women worked hard, too. Anyway, his comments weren't really directed at the top players, but at the next level of players. Also, I loved what Venus said that every women's player out there worked very hard and deserves to be there! Way to go!

 

[QUEENLINDSAY]

To say that the mens tennis are better than women is riduculous. We all agree to that and we dont need a match between a man and women just to proved that. Thats a stupid thing to do. We all know that men are usually stronger than women, thus cannot be compared.

Women is completely diffrent from men.....period!!!!!!

Rios comment is completely stupid saying women tennis is a joke. In the first place Women should be compared to men in any ways. they are created differently and so functions diffrently.

 

[Philbo]

Dawn - What planet are you from??

Here is how Rios first attacked the women...

"Q. Do you consider yourself quite a sort of dangerous floater in this Championship? So many seeds have gone, and most people are looking at you and thinking, "Lets not forget Marcelo Rios has got a very good chance"?

A. I always say that men's tennis is too tough. It's not like girls, where they win one and love, until they're in Quarters Like, a girl that is 40 now is going to beat Hingis. Like, yesterday I saw match, Hingis and, I don't know, German girl, was 6-0, 6-1, and it starts fourth round. It's like a joke. And I think in men's that's not going to happen. Everybody is tough. And you can see Gonzales, he's 160, and he's from Chile, and he's in fourth round, killing everybody, playing as good as he can. I think mens is tough. You never know, even if you have a bad ranking, anybody can beat you today.




Can you see the media baiting him into attackign the women??

I cant - the question was totally unrelated, yet he feels the need to criticise the whole womens game in answer to the question...


NOT THE MEDIAS FAULT - MARCELO RIOS's ARROGANT/NARCISSISTIC NATURE!

I mean, please Dawn Maree, explain to me, like Im a 5 year old, how the media instigated this whole thing, when Ive posted exactly how RIos started it????

Was he asked what he thought of the womens game?? No, - he just turned a question about him being a 'dangerous floater' into a full on attack on the womens game...

"Why did the media even talk to Jennifer and Venus about him? All they chose to do is start controversy."

Ahhh derrrrrr, I think maybe they asked Jennifer and Venus about it, AFTER he made those comments - AND I sure as hell, would like Jennifer and Venus or WHOEVER to address those comments, so the media are DOING THEIR JOB, and I for one, am thankful.

The media did not start this controversy, anyone with an intelligence above Grade 6 can see that Rios started it with an unwarranted attack.