Showing posts with label wimbledon 2016. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wimbledon 2016. Show all posts

Monday, 11 July 2016

Wimbledon Tennis finals!

Hubby and I have been watching them. Lest you think we are total couch potatoes, we have exercise equipment in our basement, which means that we can work out while watching curling, tennis, soccer, all things we cannot do! Old age sucks, especially if you have aches and pains, or tennis elbow (from playing squash), and tendonitis (from biking). I have to just do what I can and let others do their marathons!

Women's Finals

Firstly, Williams (USA) vs. Kerber (GER). I love the people watching, the commentators are not always the best! I know some of my blog buddies have an interest in tennis, as well.
@TSNTennis tries to keep the audience entertained by taking footage of famous folks. The match drew some famous folks, as well as former champions. The first is Beyoncé and hubby, Jay Z. The last is Ellen Degeneres and Portia De Rossi. Poor Beyoncé was mocked on Twitter. She was sitting in Williams' box, but didn't seem to know the rules. In the 3rd photo, William's coach, Venus Williams, and her mom, with the lovely mane of hair.



Men's Finals Sunday

Then there was the Raonic (CAN) vs. Murray (GBR) match! I had to go provide respite for a client whose spouse wanted to go to church (9:30 to 2:00). It was a long drive, nearly 30km, and a half hour away. I had to keep the radio off in the car on the way home!
Hubby's job was to ensure we taped it. We are so proud of our Canadian, Milos Raonic. He is the first Canadian to make it to the semi-finals. At 6'5" he's had to learn to work with his height, and up his speed across the court. At age 25, he is still improving.  He has a HUGE team: two coaches, publicist, physiotherapist, doctor, nutritionist, sometimes a chef, I watched an interview on The National. His coaching team was supplemented by McEnroe who was brought in as a consultant.  There is controversy from both The Globe & Mail, and BBC, as Mac is also an ESPN commentator.
Our PM was watching, as well. (He's got good publicists, as well!)
The hats are quite comical, it is fun people-watching! Andy Murray's wife is standing, in the peach dress. Hugh Grant, as well as David Cameron were there! It was David Cameron's mum sitting beside him. The Duke and Dutchess of Cambridge were in the royal box, as well.
The outdoor TV screen for the riff-raff was impressive.

In the final photo, you can see the man in the hat behind Murray's coaches. He is a Steward with Wimbledon. Always in his hat, suit and tie. From @TSNTennis:
David Spearing is a steward who sits in the players box to make sure the players representatives are in the correct place.

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Monday, 4 July 2016

Wimbledon Tennis 2016

We had fun trying to watch Wimbledon tennis. They have a complex website, with live scores and schedules.  There are issues, trying to figure out who is playing when and where on @TSNSports. I finally sent a tweet and they told me Bouchard, for example, was on TSN4! It does distract one from the crows fighting over poor Lil Orphan Annie in the ditch.

I am irked with the US commentators. TSN takes time to cover some of the fans. They like to focus on US stars. Sometimes we don't have a clue who they are featuring.
TSN focuses on the big names, but they are terribly biased towards the American players. It is terribly disconcerting, as they have international viewers, including the Australians who have a 248th-ranked player, Mathew Barton (248), who won his first Grand Slam match against France's Olivetti (773) .

"How much longer will Radwanska hang on here?" says the biased commentator. She lasted 10 min, going back and forth. She ended up winning the point, and the game against Cibulkova (below). Do they hear themselves? Cibulkova has taken a penalty for taking too much time between serves. Three warnings, but the commentators are still on her side!


Rain Delays

Add to that, the rain delays last week. We usually tape them if we aren't going to be home, plus the 5-hour time difference, but that is tricky! This screen grabs show them about to cover the courts. It is a choreographed dance! Drizzley rain for days. What we couldn't figure out is why they didn't just close the roof and leave it closed.

Canada had two players in the finals, Genie Bouchard (48), and Milos Raonic (7th) [MILOSE RAYONICH]. Raonic had back surgery last year, as well as hip and foot issues. He's playing well this year. He's earned nearly $1.9 million this year.

Bouchard has had issues with pressure, nerves and stress in 2015, and had lost some weight, trying to keep food down before matches. She fell in a dark shower after a late game at the US Open in September 2015, and had a mild concussion.  She had an off-year in 2015, after a stellar 2014 (she was ranked 4th).

We taped the Bouchard/Konta game. I had to not go on Social Media, as they give way the scores. She challenged the very last play, which she won, and won the game. Bouchard is now out. She earned herself $309,000 for 2016, though!
They have had some controversy regarding the Nike shift sponsored ladies are wearing. Wimbledon has strict rules about white clothes, no off-white. Williams wore a black bra under her whites one year. She was fined for that, too! (They just deduct it from their winnings!)

Federer and Willis

The highlight of the event, to my mind, was the game between Federer and Willis. Roger Federer is ranked 3rd. He came up against Marcus Willis, ranked 575th in the world. He was a great junior player, who sunk into a bit of a lazy funk as a senior. He's lost weight, however, and made a good showing against Federer. It was a good game, with some humour.
@Willbomb90 had fans, as well as family, cheering him on. @rogerfedere said it was a game to be remembered.



The grounds crews are amazing. The ball boys and girls are well-trained and disciplined.

Poor conduct

There were fines for temper tantrums!

  • Heather Watson: $12,000 (unsportsmanlike conduct)
  • Serena Williams $10,000 (unsportsmanlike conduct)
  • Victor Troicki $10,000 (unsportsmanlike conduct)
  • Nick Kyrgios $6500 (bad language)

The No. 1-seeded Williams' fine was from her second-round victory over Christina McHale at Centre Court on Friday. She smashed her racket repeatedly against the turf while sitting in her sideline chair after dropping the first set, then flung the piece of equipment so far behind her that it landed in the lap of a TV cameraman. Considering yer YTD winnings are $3.9 million, she's doing OK! Career winnings are at $77 million.

Snappy fans

Then there are the fans...fascinators, fancy-dancy hats, suits, and dangly earrings.

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