Roger Federer retires

I have to agree with Warrior13 Matt, I prefer Sharapova too.

I?m a bit disappointed in Emma Radacanu?s performance, I was hoping she was going to be the U.K.s next big Tennis Star. She?s looking like a one tournament wonder.

Dennis - It was a disappointing loss, but her opponent Sasnovich is a streaky player with a roughly 30% win rate vs top 10 opponents. She also went on to easily beat 2-time GS champion Simona Halep in the next round.

I don't think she's a one-tournament wonder. She's 18 years old, and her US Open with 20 consecutive sets won was too good to be a fluke.

As I said, I'm waiting until next year to see if those young ladies can sustain.

Next year, you're right, the next big tournament is the Australian Open in January. Time is flying, seems like only yesterday I was watching Wimbledon.

I will give them whole year to prove to me it was not a fluke. Not saying they need to win a slam, but they should do some damage if they are for real.

In the Year End Championships a few months ago (features the top 8 players), Alexander Zverev & Garbine Muguruza were victorious. Zverev beat Novak in 3 sets in the semi final.

Also I'm sure you've heard the story of Peng Shuai, who came out with sexual assault allegations against a high ranked Chinese diplomat. Her pictures were removed from schools, her Weibo post was almost immediately deleted, and she disappeared. Then she reappeared, and there were several fake emails/forced videos that the Chinese Government tried to create. Essentially, she will probably never leave China and will likely have some form of surveillance for most of her life.

The Australian Open is roughly 3 weeks away now. With Australia's tough vaccine rules, all athletes MUST be fully vaccinated (2 vaccines) to be able to enter Australia and play. The big story out of this is that Novak hasn't revealed his vaccination status. There's speculation that he isn't vaccinated, which would mean he would miss the GS where he is a massive favourite to win.

Athletes are already testing positive for Omicron (highly transmissible, but mild). If any players test positive and don't make it out of 14-day quarantine in time, they won't be able to play the Australian Open. People that have already tested positive and are in quarantine include Emma Raducanu, Rafa Nadal & some other high profile players. They have tested positive at the perfect time to be honest, because they will get out of quarantine before the Open starts.

Also notable absentees:
Roger Federer - Knee injury (out until May at minimum)
Serena Williams - Not ready to play (will retire soon anyway)

« Last edited by Matt77 on Dec 28th 2021 »

I can't see the point of playing the Australian Open if plenty of the top players are unable to play. It just makes the whole tournament a bit hollow. There will forever be an asterisk next to the 2022 Australian Open, pretty much like there is one next to the 1980 Olympics which the USA boycotted, in this case stating top players could not play because of Covid.

Last Australian Open the protocols in Australia were tough (5 days quarantine, and 14 days quarantine for everyone on one charter flight). But apart from Paula Badosa (who had to undergo 21 days quarantine), no one tested positive. The coming AO will be different though. No doubt there will be players testing positive before and during the tournament, and everyone who does will not be able to play. It will be a disaster, and I think the tournament will be cancelled part-way through.

The thing about Omicron is that more people will get it, but it is a mild version of the virus. And then the fact that athletes are young and follow very strict health guidelines. Plus the first 2 vaccines aren't very effective against it. Protocols in worldwide sport need to change, otherwise most sports are going to have players out every week for no reason.

« Last edited by Matt77 on Dec 29th 2021 »

If the liklihood is that the Australian Open will be cancelled partway through because of Omicron doesn't it make more sense to just cancel the whole thing altogether before the tournament starts?

I'm hoping when everyone has had their three injections in a year or so time everything will start getting back to normal and Omicron will just be looked upon like the common cold. Something you catch but can recover from in a few days. I'm hoping the NFL season doesn't fall apart during the playoffs because of Omicron as it is heating up nicely and would be such a shame.

Most sports do have players out every week. The NBA has half the teams using no-name call-ups from the feeder developmental league. The NHL is constantly postponing games and pulled out of the Olympics and the Juniors are a mess. Even the NFL has a lot of players out, it's just masked by the teams being so large compared to other sports.

No wonder there is parity in leagues like the NFL at the moment, everybody is filling holes in their team with whoever they can find. Unable to do that with solo sports like Tennis though, when a big name player is not present their absence can't be filled.

I would love it if Rafa can win, even if that means Novak does not participate. lol

Rafa actually has an advantage, because if he wants to play, there is a 100% chance he can play. He's already got the virus, and you can't get it a 2nd time until after months have passed.

So far there are only 3 men and 4 women who we 100% know can play the Open. This included Rafa Nadal and Emma Raducanu. Anyone else may contract the virus too late. So even if Novak comes to Australia (he will), who knows, he may get the virus anyway.

Dominic Thiem and Karolina Pliskova are also officially out. They are both injured, and would've been slight contenders for the Slam.

Has there been any further development with the racquets players use? I started watching Tennis in the 70s when the likes of McEnroe and Borg used wood. Then when I started playing in the early 80s I had a black and white steel racquet the same as Jimmy Conners used and then after that graphite racquets, the last being a Prince Shark hybrid endorsed by Maria Sharapova. Is there a new material in development for Tennis racquets or is it going to stay as graphite for a while longer.

In the short term I think it will stay the same. These days it's rare to see players change rackets partway through their career. So there isn't really demand for any improvements. There are a few instances I can remember where high-profile players changed parts of their rackets, and they lost form until they changed back.

Changing racquets for an average player probably isn't much of an issue but for top flight professionals it must be a nightmare if they have to change because of sponsorship deals. Sharapova won her grand slams with a Prince racquet towards the end of her career, then she switched to Head and never won anything of note afterwards.

I've heard of NFL players covering their footwear with white tape and drawing on the logo of their sponsor regardless if the show brand they are wearing is something else.


« Last edited by Sanzano on Dec 31st 2021 »

There is huge drama happening in the tennis world.

Novak had not revealed his vaccination status (likely meaning he was unvaccinated), and Australia requires all professional athletes to be fully vaccinated (2 doses).

He then applied for a 'medical' exemption, and somehow it was approved by 2 independent panels. So he got on the plane to come to Australia.

At the airport the border security officers discovered that Novak's evidence for his exemption was not up to the required standard. So the Australian Government decided to cancel Novak's visa and order him to leave the country, or face being deported!

He and his team tried to appeal, but it got delayed and delayed and now he has to spend 3 days in hotel quarantine, awaiting the hearing on Monday. We'll then know whether he is successful and whether he will be allowed to stay.

What a mess. I've read that his exemption was based on the fact that he's had covid in the past 6 months, meaning he's not likely to get it again during the tournament.

That's great preparation for a grand slam tournament, sitting in a hotel room watching Netflicks for three days. I bet the guy is in a seriously bad mood.

Rafa ftw! lol