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Tennis Thread 2021

Regardless

Regardless

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Might as well renew this for the new year.

And let’s start with a remarkable story of Francesca Jones. Until now, for me, she’s just a lower ranked name that I had noticed getting some decent results, without pulling up trees.

But I just read that she was born with some deformations in her hands and feet - most obviously a missing finger on each hand and her feet have got 3 &4 toes on them.

In a sport where balance on your feet and grip on your racket are so fundamental, what a phenomenal young person she must be. (Now aged 20). She’s up to no 241 in the world - and just won a first round match in the qualifiers for the Aussie Open

Good luck to the girl!
 
justinr73 said:
Blimey.

Which current cricketer, with 16 ODI tons in the bag, has only two toes on his left foot?
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No idea. I do know that the late Fred Titmus lost 4 toes in an argument with a speedboat while on tour in the WI back in the 60s. He continued to play for England for a few more years after that
 
justinr73 said:
England may well have lost the World Cup Final if he had the full complement.....
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I was thinking English players until regardless's comment

Either Trent Boult or Martin Guptill were the 2 big moments the game hinged on. I've got more chance of making an ODI hundred for New Zealand than Trent Boult and I have never even visited New Zealand.

So I'd guess Guptill?
 
Marty Two Toes it is.

Fork lift truck accident when he was 13.

As Essex indicates, Fred T probably trumps him. Turns out Colin Cowdrey’s wife was at the wheel of the speedboat in question!

He actually turned out for Middlesex in 1982!
 
Anyway - back to tennis. 30-yr-old Dan Evans’s late-blooming career was crowned with his first ATP title at the weekend.

Bit of a strange one with players missing because of Covid issues- but it was still a key warm-up event for the Aussie Open - and it was his 3rd ATP tour final, so not a complete freak result.

Good luck in this week’s Grand Slam. We already lost Katie Boulter, who I hope might have got through a round or two.
 
Well - did Evans let too much get taken out of him in the ATP tournament? Knocked out first round by Cameron Norrie - and radio commentary suggesting he looked physically in trouble.

Fran Jones’s heartwarming journey to be first grand slam main draw has also come to an end. Decent win for Heather Watson. Konta? Serving for the first set, but just went off for medical treatment (not the first time in her career!)
 
Konta won the first set but has had to retire injured.
So I think we’re down to just Watson and Norrie remaining in the singles draws.
 
I thought that Kathryn was our resident tennis guru ??

I thought that she might have been posting on here with tennis tips ;)
 
Tennis pros tend to be very hard to like.

Dumno why that should be. Maybe because a lot of them were shipped off to academies when they were kids. Quite a few seem to have difficult patents too. Then there’s the over-privileged English ones.

Roger is an obvious exception and Greg was always amiable enough.
 
Really nice Australian Open final this morning. Osaka is darned good. Brady made a match of it though.

It really has started to feel a bit weird seeing a crowd... as lovely as it was!
 
Dan Evans is having a stormer. Reached his first Masters Level quarter-final when becoming the first this year to beat Novak Djokovic. And now followed it up today beating David Goffin to reach the semis.

Looking at the ranking points, if Nadal doesn’t suffer a surprise defeat in the other semi, then if he wins his next match (against Tsitsipas), Dan will, I think, rise to 20th in the world next week.

Whatever- absolutely tremendous. Not sure how many players reach top-20 for the first time when past 30. Hope he does - and if not this week, then sometime soon.
 
Nothing from you on the French Open yet Regardless?

I’m not going to get involved in the Osaka stuff but did you see what Venus Williams said about how she copes with the Press?

Nothing about them having to do their jobs or having papers to sell (or not being obliged to blow smoke up the asses of the players).

Nope.

It’s because she thinks they’ll never “light a candle” to her. I think she means ‘hold a candle’ but I imagine tennis prodigies miss a lot of schooling.

Did nothing to change my mind regarding my theory that tennis pros are the least likeable people in sport.
 
Osaka throws a tantrum because she has to answer a few inane questions, anyone would think she's been asked to storm the Normandy beaches.
 
Missed the Venus stuff. The Osaka stuff has been a mess - with the Grand Slams now scrabbling around trying not to look inhumane. Osaka has always been very strident and maybe they thought she was being bolshy - when it was really clear that this was a real issue for her.
 
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