Heading into week 2 of the year's first Slam has already seen some silly things thrown up, here's my take on it all and please, excuse my brutal honesty, I don't get paid to write this stuff.....
The talk of the first few days of qualifying were all about a 16-year-old kid whose old man used to play a bit, Cruz Hewitt, ranked on the wrong side of 1200 in the world in the ATP rankings and on the wrong side of 100 in the junior world rankings.
Many asked the obvious question, how on earth did he get a spot in qualifying and a guaranteed 30 or so grand in his pocket? C'mon (pardon the pun) it's not what you know, it's who you know (or rather who you are related to) in most walks of life, always has been, always will be.
Swedish legend Mats Wilander won the French Open juniors at age 16 in 1981 then won the Men's Open Championship the following year. That's allowing the process to take its natural shape. Trying to speed up the process is like skipping L Plates and going straight to P's and that's not intelligent.
Aren't some names simply outrageously synonymous with what they do in life?
Remember the American who had and lost 7 match points to Roger Federer at the Oz Open in 2020, Tennys Sandgren? Well whilst that name was an absolute corker considering his profession, what about a teen who is just learning the game by the name of Learner Tien who knocked out Medvedev in round 2??
Considering Learner's mother was a mathematics teacher, his sister is called Justice and their father was a lawyer I suppose some names simply make sense, who are we to judge??
What about the Danielle Collins controversy where she even signaled to the crowd to basically kiss her butt as well as boast about her prizemoney? Here in Australia, we forget sometimes that our antics as spectators rival some of the worst one-eyed crowds in the world, namely at the French and US Open where it seems that the main reason for them being there in the first place (to get pissed and be loud and obnoxious) pales in significance to actually courteously watching a tennis match.
Tony Jones called Danielle a brat, c'mon Tony, a bit of tit for tat never went astray, no one got hurt, just some feelings.
Speaking of Tony Jones, if he had his time again as he openly admits, he probably would have left off his last comment to the Serbian fans where he suggested Novak should be kicked out. Many suggested Tony should actually be the one who should be kicked out as once again some feelings got hurt but either way, Tony is still there, being offended is still alive and well and life still goes on, who would have thought?
Spare a thought for Jim Courier who was left standing all by himself after Novak decided to boycott the interview in retaliation to what Tony said to Novak's beloved fans. It's not very often Jim is stood up yet I still haven't read anywhere that his feelings got hurt so perhaps Mr Courier is now the new benchmark of the Oz Open as far as manning up and simply brushing it all off is concerned.
You have a new fan here Jim, keep up the good work champ.
Let's turn our attention to Nick Kyrgios' favorite player Jannik Sinner and just how much this bloke in fact takes the piss.
There are many who do not believe for a minute that Sinner should in fact still be playing due to his little indiscretion with a certain substance last year however the Italian isn't letting that get in the way of his quest for back-to-back titles in Melbourne.
Jannik, it seems is not only blocking out the noise of the substance allegations, but he's also coming up with different ways to win matches.
Take for example his effort against Rune in the round of 16 where his body started to shake just prior to him taking a medical time out for around 11 minutes, then returned and lost only another 4 games in a 4-set win. Back in the day it was all about who was the better and stronger player over the course of 5 sets whereas nowadays it's more about how you can flaunt the rules to your advantage.
Take for example Victoria Azarenka's blatant choke against Sloane Stephens in the semis of the Oz Open in 2013 where she actually admitted she was choking and took a 10-minute bathroom break to compose herself?
Who writes the tennis rules book and is this person a certified snowflake who allows mediocrity to shine through over guts and determination in a sport that used to reward someone for their mental and physical prowess??
We could go on....
Finally, how's this tennis coaching thing?
We now have a loungeroom set up of sorts at either end of the court for a player to regularly chat with his or her team and discuss how things are going, laughable.
The sport is cooked.
Where did it all go wrong and who has decided that players now do not get enough time on a practice court to go through scenarios with their coaches at certain stages of matches and how to implement changes when required?
Personally, I think it's time to make a united stand, time to man up.
No more nepotism, if a player has a higher ranking than another then that player heads the queue for the wildcard, pretty simple really.
No more getting offended as a member of the crowd particularly if you are deliberately baiting a player, man up, sometimes your favorite player isn't going to win, fact of life and if that player gives it back to you verbally or otherwise then cop it on the chin, move on.
No more medical time outs, particularly the off-court ones where no one really seems to know what on earth is going on, if you are not fit to continue, well, concede to the opposition, toughen up princess, have some intestinal fortitude.
No more lounge chair coaching on court, do your time as a player and coach off court and think your way through a match without any help from anyone except yourself, it's what used to make tennis unique.....
Over and out.
Much Love
Glenn Thompson
