Thanks.paolo wrote: ↑Thu May 18, 2023 10:31 amhello old friendtennisman wrote: ↑Thu May 18, 2023 9:33 amHi Paolo,paolo wrote: ↑Thu May 18, 2023 9:09 amtennismantennisman wrote: ↑Tue May 16, 2023 9:17 amDon't worry, Carlos - I'm here!Carlos J wrote: ↑Wed Jan 18, 2023 9:15 pmBut winning a Slam is a Slam, paolo and can never be taken away.paolo wrote: ↑Wed Jan 18, 2023 10:09 am got to get these birds on 5 sets
3 sets is still a lottery
if you have a bloke, pretending to be a woman....and then particpating in wimmins tennis, does he have an advantage playing three sets instead of the 5 that he is used to
what does billy hill say on emma never winning another slam after the US fluke?
A fluke? Lucky? Maybe. But you had to win.
As our aviation forum friends on PPRuNe say about plane accidents, sometimes all the holes in the Swiss cheese line up. It did for her.
Personally, I can't see her winning another Slam. The womens tour is wide open anyway bar Swiatek and most can beat most. But as always there are younger, hungrier players coming through.
But she did play some good tennis in the second set and probably should have taken it to three. She can be very good, so many injuries so early shows as per, she needs to grow into her body and the physicality of the WTA tour.
And yeah, the money is no sense. Same coin, play the same sets. Only Slams play 5 and the problem is there would be so many walkovers after retirements, it would be a farce. But Slams are already a farce because of the prize money. Half fit players will go along to get beat in R1. £56k equivalent to go out R1 at the AO.
We need Tennisman back and, yes, read his book. The tennis parts are good, but as a travelogue, it is great. He does say it is a bit of both.
Have been dealing with another joint replacement and now, in the last 3 years, I have had a new hip and two new knees put in. Still rehabbing the left knee with some frustrating, although quite common soft tissue problems in the calf.
Thanks for reading the book and the kind comments.
My book has just gone past its first anniversary and I am about to start another round / year of shameless self-promotion.
Sales have been what is to be expected from this type of book and author, unknown to the sport / tennis world at large i.e. quite low, in my view. For example, Sue Barker's book will have sold many thousands as will Judy Murray's impending first novel (tennis related). Everyone knows them. They have notoriety. My social media networks are not small but no-where near approaching the levels of the likes of Judy and in sport / tennis / Wimbledon, she is known via Andy and Jamie and Sue has been a household name over the last 30 years, let alone winning the French Open and reaching no.3 in the world as a player.
I bought Sue's book which is a pretty standard ghost written 'auto' biography and it's solid and tells you all the basics. But it doesn't really go any further than that. There are always exceptions and Andre Agassi's one, Agassi, is another thing entirely.
It's the reality that well-known people's books will sell and not well-known peoples books, unless, they catch a wave, will not, pretty much regardless of whether the writing is good or not. Although for the non well-known author, they won't catch any wave unless the writing / story / content IS good.
On mine and its contents, although tennis fans were the target audience, by nature of the story, it was always going to be part travelogue. However, I did try and cut right down all the non-tennis stuff and this was especially the case with the chapters on the US where I cut out a mass of stories about various cities and all the details of the NFL / College football games.
I have no doubt that there might be people who would buy it and only want to read about the 4 Grand Slams (1 chapter each!). I hope there is enough about the Slams to meet most tennis fans' needs on those top tournaments.
What is interesting to me is that around now, awareness and interest in the book is actually growing not declining. I have been contacted by one of the popular social media tennis news sites (one I didn't contact initially) to do an interview which will go on Youtube, FB, Twitter etc (watch this space) and the Tennis Gallery in Wimbledon (the only specialist tennis bookshop in the UK - see link below) now stocks the book and sold most of its first order very quickly after the owner read the book, liked it and placed an order.
An old marketing axiom from my Amex days was, 'Just when you think your audience will be getting sick to death of your product / service and you feel like giving up on it; that's just the time when in all probability, they are getting interested!' I hope that is the case with my book. Lets see.
Also, let's see with Emma R. The only people who really know what is going on with her are the people around her.
It would appear that her physical fragility in relation to the demands of the pro tour is not a new thing. She had injuries in her mid-teenage years and actually, around Wimbledon 2021 when when burst forth, she had been taking time off for her exams but also to recover from injuries.
The tennis pathway is littered with the many bodies of junior players who have not even made it into the adult ranks, let alone those who did and then their minds and / or their bodies burnt out. She would not be the first, nor the last.
Non the less, having surgeries (3!) at 20 is not good.
But I have been staggered by the multitude and weight of negative and pejorative comments on social media about her considering that she has made no claims about her likely end placement in the pro game and she went out and did exactly what most fans are always demanding of their athletes: She won a Slam and from qualifying and without dropping a set. The fact that she did what she did in NYC and she is a beautiful young woman who is utterly charming have meant that her deals and exposure have been huge. But while she does have social media accounts (just like all of the players), she doesn't post daily photos of herself on all the tennis news websites - they do that.
Rather like with my book, I am not going to make any judgements for some time. Come back to me in 5 years.
Here is the link for my book on the Tennis Gallery site:
https://tennisgallerywimbledon.com/coll ... ark-cripps
For those who prefer Amazon:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pursuit-Slam-T ... 314&sr=1-1
what were your views on the development of equipment, namely rackets and shoes from the end of the wooden era (i still have my trust dunlop maxply mcenroe mid) tried playing with it on several occasions...wooden era players desrve a medal...like f1 with a manual box
i remember the aluminium rackets, gimmick rackets (i had one where you tightened the strings with a bar of soap type thing) and I finally settled on a court hacker/hitter special, the wilson hammer then triad 3...went through more but changing rackets a mare and right up until 2 years ago, trust triad 3 of which i have several with same strings as i would often break strings) but so forgiving on poor technique...had a fed matchplay racket that cost a small fortune, was like holding a lump of wood as a simple club player
shoes....nike wibledon...horrible...wilson pro staff...old tech, supportive but no rounding, so going over on an ankle when it dug in was a risk....greats such as adidas lendl supreme, puma becker, dia dora borg elite, nike air tech challenge, the adidas eqpt series, nike air trainer series endorsed by mac...the end of old school before tech really dug in.....
what were your fave rackets, and why?
fave shoes and why?
subject shared with my pal/arch enemy (hope you're improving old friend)...attire....would love an adidas edbery shirt circa 88, ellesse, fila mid 80's to early 90's...of course, la coste....home court with fred perry.....slazenger (i used to get my cricket stuff from them in wakefield when i was sponsored)....adidas seemed way bigger the nike until the late 80's marketing machine took over
my face courts were clay and hard court...hated tarmac school courts....grass......evil....last grass plays at cowichan tennis court...lovely to look at but the bounce....eaither barnes wallis or back into space
pre match....was same for me with football....if i started hitting and flowing...timing, i knew i was on it, my mind set changed, same with ball coming out the air at footy, bring it down ne touch and spray a pass....ur in, eye in, confidence up, bounce of ur head like it's a 50 pence piece, ur in for a long afternoon....(list of endless boots...brings joy, not to many...found airstrike d a bit of a gimmick, as with early predator....couldnt beat copa mundial for dry pitches, pro 3000 for wet, tiempo d quality, quasar utter dross, patrick liverpool and keegan, meh, penarol good, new balance nb 1500...heavy....puma king obviously...puma dalgish silver when ur paper round wouldn't stretch)
fave players?
most underatted players or players who didn't get the recognition they desrved?
fave modern players
my fave from most recent era not to win a slam for ability and attitude and you could argue attitude let him down as in not quite 100% contantly was gael monfils
have the big three, plus stan and murray been lucky to play in an era where global sports have expanded, perhaps taking away from the domination tennis once had...i think back to the 80's and 90's and you couldn't nail on a winner.....and there were great players who didn't get a slam....whereas in recent years....meh
i guess with most modern sports...if u were a great back then, odds are with modern tech, diets, money and med science, you'd be a great now
and with an allegedly of course, which players do think were/are juicers...balco being close to spanish hearts
Wow - there is an awful lot there.
And I'm tempted to reply by saying if you really want to know my answers ... buy my book! (if you haven't already)
Cos in it, while maybe, I don't necessarily answer your questions directly, I do cover a lot of the stuff you mention / ask about - the early chapters set the scene for my Grand Slam trip, so go back and give a brief summary of my sporting childhood where football and cricket ruled the roost and tennis for me / our family, was as for most, was a 2-week thing during Wimbledon with the odd trip to the local park to play on worn grass courts.
Mentions you'd find would include, old rackets and frames, Dunlop Maxply, Prince, Maggia (Newk's brand) etc.
I don't cover it deliberately (not the point of the book) but I think that the homogenisation of the sport where with racket and especially string technology combined with adjustments to court surfaces, especially grass at Wimbledon, have meant that we see this slug-fest style technically, leading to a back court war of power-hitting attrition, tactically - not for me, Beaky.
Of course, this state of play (literally and figuratively) is at the other end of a continuum which began with serve-return-volley point over at Wimbledon after WWII and that got boring too. The best? Somewhere around the time of my trip / memoir with more all-court players, more single handed backhands and little, if any aggressive snarling and ubiquitous fist-pumping (can't stand it) even though perhaps my favourite player (other than Rod Laver and Roger Taylor, of course), Stefan Edberg was actually doing it during my Slam trip, although not on every point won like they do now.
Anyway, I could go on for ever - that's it, I did, in the book!!!
PS You Holmfirth; me Oldham - not far away!
still working, but late and shut eye required
book...i'm on it....
edberg for elegance
was was calderdale district league in my latter and shatter years....over 35's in bc until other committments meant that three nights a week was too much...season is 6 weeks in here, but would take me until september to get up to scratch...but teempted now
current attire would be a snoopy sweat band, arc teryx xmas decoration from the 70's material shorts and t shirts, trainers...not sure what i have tennis wise, maybe some old asics (being a uk 14 was never easy)
holmfirth...past compos cafe, over to greenfield and in....regular trip during early very late 80's early 90's nicking my old mans car and heading to the manchester clubs
still a gaff there, but currently vancouver island...was heading to europe on a mission in 3 weeks but passport cock up....if passport has not long to go, no bueno, so another task for tomorrow...passport wallahs probably on strike again....might have another one in a month...so buying mission switches to online....us roadtrip planned (did one in march) and swamper kit arrived for my van today, so weekend will be fitting that
but thinking now....triad 3 with alu banger crossed with something a little more forgiving.....doubles the only realistic option now....
i remember getting the boat to stockholm for the open in 98...never been so tired, but also never been so close to the players....tim and greg etc....i think todd martin won it, king of sweden and family a few rows up.....place resmbled a glorified sports hall....
now...to amazon....
Good luck with the passport processing.
