Talk About Tennis 2.0

It’s good that the names of two Topics have been modified to more clearly indicate their contents... But I think we should add one more category - one that covers stories/discussions that are related to tennis and tennis players, but are not on court things (Tennis Random, Random - On Court), and are not more trivial things like selfie photos or glamorous photo shoots, etc. (Tennis Players - Off Court Shenanigans).

I had no idea where to put the two posts below this one...
Maybe put them in ‘Tennis Players - Off Court Shenanigans’?... but talking about the Russian invasion certainly doesn’t qualify as trivial shenanigans...
Maybe put them in ‘Tennis Random, Random - On Court’?... but tennis players talking about the Russian invasion is not related to anything on court...
Maybe put them in ‘Russian Invasion of Ukraine’?... but this involves tennis players, and so should go in a ‘Tennis Related’ category...

So I thought it would be good to create one more category for serious issues related to tennis and/or tennis players. I feel that this would be the place where my 2 posts below would go, as would the Becker jail stories, and even the 16 year ban for ‘match fixing' - and other similar posts - because none of these things are related to anything on court, and they are serious issues, and so are not ‘ off court shenanigans’.

So I decided to create this separate category for more serious type stories/discussions/articles, etc. which are definitely related to tennis and/or tennis players, but which are not related to anything on court, and are not 'off court shenanigans'.
I hope this topic can be used to post things which are related to serious off court tennis-related matters.

Nadal is hinting that the players may "take a stand" against Wimbledon banning Russian and Belarusian players...
Does this mean a possible boycott?

Nadal Says that Banning Russians and Belarussian Players is Unfair...

.

The link below is to an article that is very interesting... It begins with an 8 minute video monologue by Alexandr Dolgopolov - a Ukrainian former tennis player (with loads of natural talent) - who is in Ukraine. He talks about his experiences and his perspectives on the invasion.

Below that (within the same link) is an article focusing on Marta Kostyuk and her views on the invasion and on the Russian and Belarusian tennis players. It's extremely interesting stuff.
I absolutely admire her passion - it's wonderful to see a young person actually CARE about something other than their favourite video game today, and give profound thought to matters... but I feel she is misinformed and misguided about some things. Her passion, though, is very genuine and refreshing...

Below the link to the article, I've posted a statement Kostyuk wrote recently - in which, again, her genuine passion is undeniable, if (I feel) somewhat misguided.

A little snippet from the article below...
“I cut out all the contacts from all the Russian and Belarusian players I’ve been friends with because of the fact that we were friends and they never considered coming out to me and talking to me."

And this, from another article I read (but which overall is not as good as the article linked to below)...
"We used to be friends with a lot of players. I'm not friends with anyone anymore... We know the whole world is trying to support us [Ukraine]. Everyone knows that what's going on is wrong. And yet inside the tour, we're alone."

Link to article:
Marta Kostyuk Opens Up With Thoughts About Russian Invasion of Ukraine and How it Affects Life on the Tour
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Marta Kostyuk statement:

Deuce wrote: ↑Mon May 02, 2022 6:17 am Nadal is hinting that the players may "take a stand" against Wimbledon banning Russian and Belarusian players...
Does this mean a possible boycott?

Nadal Says that Banning Russians and Belarussian Players is Unfair...

.

That was my assumption. What else could it be that's meaningful? I don't think it will happen, though. Maybe a few top players could boycott, but the lower-ranked players desperately need their Slam paycheck.

meganfernandez wrote: ↑Mon May 02, 2022 1:13 pm

Deuce wrote: ↑Mon May 02, 2022 6:17 am Nadal is hinting that the players may "take a stand" against Wimbledon banning Russian and Belarusian players...
Does this mean a possible boycott?

Nadal Says that Banning Russians and Belarussian Players is Unfair...

.

That was my assumption. What else could it be that's meaningful? I don't think it will happen, though. Maybe a few top players could boycott, but the lower-ranked players desperately need their Slam paycheck.

If even just a handful of, say, top 20 players boycott, though, it will render Wimbledon just a shadow of its former self. There will be talk of an asterisk for the winners, etc.

I really hope it happens. I hope several players - male and female - have the guts to boycott. And to announce the boycott early, so as to pressure Wimbledon to remove their unfair ban of Russian and Belarusian players.
We'd all rather see an all-inclusive tournament than a boycott, of course. But if they hold to their unfair ban of those players, then I sure as hell hope the other players have the integrity to boycott.

Deuce wrote:

meganfernandez wrote: ↑Mon May 02, 2022 1:13 pm

Deuce wrote: ↑Mon May 02, 2022 6:17 am Nadal is hinting that the players may "take a stand" against Wimbledon banning Russian and Belarusian players...
Does this mean a possible boycott?

Nadal Says that Banning Russians and Belarussian Players is Unfair...

.

That was my assumption. What else could it be that's meaningful? I don't think it will happen, though. Maybe a few top players could boycott, but the lower-ranked players desperately need their Slam paycheck.

If even just a handful of, say, top 20 players boycott, though, it will render Wimbledon just a shadow of its former self. There will be talk of an asterisk for the winners, etc.

I really hope it happens. I hope several players - male and female - have the guts to boycott. And to announce the boycott early, so as to pressure Wimbledon to remove their unfair ban of Russian and Belarusian players.
We'd all rather see an all-inclusive tournament than a boycott, of course. But if they hold to their unfair ban of those players, then I sure as hell hope the other players have the integrity to boycott.

Think Wimbledon also bought boycott insurance?


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meganfernandez wrote: ↑Tue May 03, 2022 3:04 am

Deuce wrote:

meganfernandez wrote: ↑Mon May 02, 2022 1:13 pm

That was my assumption. What else could it be that's meaningful? I don't think it will happen, though. Maybe a few top players could boycott, but the lower-ranked players desperately need their Slam paycheck.

If even just a handful of, say, top 20 players boycott, though, it will render Wimbledon just a shadow of its former self. There will be talk of an asterisk for the winners, etc.

I really hope it happens. I hope several players - male and female - have the guts to boycott. And to announce the boycott early, so as to pressure Wimbledon to remove their unfair ban of Russian and Belarusian players.
We'd all rather see an all-inclusive tournament than a boycott, of course. But if they hold to their unfair ban of those players, then I sure as hell hope the other players have the integrity to boycott.

Think Wimbledon also bought boycott insurance?

Yes. I don't think that the academy of a retired player looks good with that player somewhere else.

If she came back try and drum up interest in her academy she went about it the wrong way.

Could they not find a way to maintain it?
Surely Clijsters has the money... While not ideal, I think it could still be run in Clijsters' name, with her making an appearance every month or so for a few days.
I guess she simply doesn't want to do that, though.

Mertens could make it her own - I'm sure Kim would give her a good deal on the purchase...
Or just keep it running as a tennis academy without a pro's name attached?

It seems strange that they say Mertens can't practice there anymore. Why not? Are they demolishing the courts??

Alex Dolgopolov @TheDolgo
8m
So apart from killing,raping,torturing our people, they continue to insult us as they can. But sure, no problem for their players to keep playing against Ukrainians and probably having the same stuf in their heads. Tennis way behind Soccer in these hard times

Well, that tells you how a lot of people in Russia think.

Did this read like Medvedev and other Russian players have been ordered to "play the Kremlin Cup OR ELSE" or is that just me?

Let's say it will be an offer they can't refuse..