Positive Comment - the announcers, McAtee (sic?) in particular, went on at great length about Justine's power. This was welcomed. It klind of got all those 'Justine isn't a power player arguements off the table for good.
Negative Comment - They just HAD to mention that stupid hand incident at Roland Garros. The kid fucked up inthe heat of battle, facing an opponent she dislikes, and had lost often to. I've yet to see any other example of Justine demonstating flat-out cheating. Or even coming close. Justine said it herself. It the chair's job to call that. Where Justine went wrong is that she hadn't played many matches televised worldwide. She hadn't the experience to know that the whole world would see that, and that her critics wouldn't let it go. If she had done the same thing at a Tier II in Luxembourg, it wouldn't be following her arouond.
Negative Comment (General) - I missed Venus terribly at this open. And seeing a player she OWNED win the title naturally leads to thought of 'what if'. But I'd have felt better if the media had never mentioned the absence of Venus and Serena once we got to the semis. I understand that with all the rain, they had to find theings to talk about.
Yet this morning, on the radio, a guy was raving about the Henin-Hardenne vs Capriati match, and his partner just HAD to say, 'if Venus and Serena had been there, would that match have even taken place?' Guy #1 concedes that likely it wouldn't have, giventhe principals records vs V & S. True. But gimme a break! It was the match of the tournament on the women's side! Just this once, let it stand on its own! Lest we forget...
Venus and Serena are injured at a BJK-like rate, and don't play all that often when healthy.
Lindsay and Jenn are on the down-slope.
Amelie's injuries may have robbed her of her chance at multiple GS titles.
Monica is a total question mark.
Dani and Jelena have ... you tell me.
Simple sane unvarnished truth. Women's tennis NEEDS Justine and Kim to do well. Venus and Serena can't carry the whole tour on their backs. Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert presided over a historic decline of interest in women's tennis, and Steffi and Monica continued the trend. (Had Monica not been off the tour for 2 and half years, this might not have been the case.)
The current resurgence, such as it is, is the result of havng 6 or 7 competitors who can at least ENTERTAIN the idea of competing foe GS titles, not just 2. In the last five years, five different players have won multiple GS titles. That's just as important for the sport as having a glam star like Serena at the top.
Negative Comment - They just HAD to mention that stupid hand incident at Roland Garros. The kid fucked up inthe heat of battle, facing an opponent she dislikes, and had lost often to. I've yet to see any other example of Justine demonstating flat-out cheating. Or even coming close. Justine said it herself. It the chair's job to call that. Where Justine went wrong is that she hadn't played many matches televised worldwide. She hadn't the experience to know that the whole world would see that, and that her critics wouldn't let it go. If she had done the same thing at a Tier II in Luxembourg, it wouldn't be following her arouond.
Negative Comment (General) - I missed Venus terribly at this open. And seeing a player she OWNED win the title naturally leads to thought of 'what if'. But I'd have felt better if the media had never mentioned the absence of Venus and Serena once we got to the semis. I understand that with all the rain, they had to find theings to talk about.
Yet this morning, on the radio, a guy was raving about the Henin-Hardenne vs Capriati match, and his partner just HAD to say, 'if Venus and Serena had been there, would that match have even taken place?' Guy #1 concedes that likely it wouldn't have, giventhe principals records vs V & S. True. But gimme a break! It was the match of the tournament on the women's side! Just this once, let it stand on its own! Lest we forget...
Venus and Serena are injured at a BJK-like rate, and don't play all that often when healthy.
Lindsay and Jenn are on the down-slope.
Amelie's injuries may have robbed her of her chance at multiple GS titles.
Monica is a total question mark.
Dani and Jelena have ... you tell me.
Simple sane unvarnished truth. Women's tennis NEEDS Justine and Kim to do well. Venus and Serena can't carry the whole tour on their backs. Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert presided over a historic decline of interest in women's tennis, and Steffi and Monica continued the trend. (Had Monica not been off the tour for 2 and half years, this might not have been the case.)
The current resurgence, such as it is, is the result of havng 6 or 7 competitors who can at least ENTERTAIN the idea of competing foe GS titles, not just 2. In the last five years, five different players have won multiple GS titles. That's just as important for the sport as having a glam star like Serena at the top.
