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Hi all, here is a short mail bag ahead of Wimbledon 2022. We will have seed reports later this week.
Plus, your good soldier reminds you that Tennis Channel’s coverage of Wimbledon begins June 27.
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Mailbag
I agree with your assessment that Serena plays Wimbledon 2022. But I find it interesting that regarding Roger Federer you said “[n]New rule: Win an event eight times and you’ll automatically be listed as a contender.” Wouldn’t the same logic apply to Serena, even though her total is seven, not eight? But one could argue that her 2012 Olympic title could easily equate to an eighth Wimbledon title.
-D. harris, tennessee
• I like your second point. In 2012, wasn’t Serena, in effect, a double Wimbledon winner? (In fact, was Andy Murray’s gold the first of his four Majors?) It was, after all, won on the site of a Major, against a full field, amid pressure and high stakes equivalent to a Major.
The reader suggested last week that, even if healthy, Federer would not make it to the second round if he played Wimbledon 2022. My point: he made it to the second WEEK in 2021 with a very compromised knee.
Again, do I think Federer or Serena win another Major? No. But I don’t understand this strange joy in some corners because of the declines of Serena and Federer. They have over 40 Majors between them. Both, happily for me, insist on continuing to play. I understand the tribalism of sports. I understand the right of a fan to prefer the opponent. I get the desire for new blood. But this Nelson Muntzian (dated reference) Ha ha, you’re old and you don’t meet the standard you once set it’s, well, strange to me.
You rarely seem to do well with your picks at Grand Slams! Yet you are so rational in your arguments. Am I missing something?
—Pierre Ross
• Dude, before RG 2022, I had Swiatek beating Coco Gauff in the final! And he had Nadal beating Casper Rudd. Oh wait, look at that. In the men’s I had Djokovic beating Tsitsipas. Oops.
I am divided into picks and predictions and forecasts. Nothing arouses indignation and how-do-you-have-a-job carping as failed spikes. I met a woman at the US Open a few years ago who came up to me and said, “I lost all respect for you…”. My heart sank, thinking of some horrible ethical mistake I had inadvertently made. She then finished her sentence, “Did you really think Roger wouldn’t win Wimbledon?!?!” I was criticized last month for “not choosing Nadal to even reach the semi-finals at Roland Garros.” Which sounds absurd. Until he deemed his quarterfinal opponent, who didn’t have a degenerative foot condition that forced him out of the previous event, was the defending champion.
And yet…as much as I wish I could get out of the prediction game sometimes…it’s so central to the experience of being a fan. What is a fantasy league but an opportunity to make educated guesses? What is a pre-game game show but an opportunity to speculate? What are seeds but bits of forecast? The great beauty of sports: it is its spontaneous nature, the possibility that anything can happen. (See Raducanu, above). As such, it stands to reason that foresight is a critical part of the experience. So we’ll continue, spoiling selections rationally.
I’m not sure how closely you are following the chaos in the world of professional golf. It seems that tennis is potentially in a similar position: too long a season, world-class players outside the top 50 with little financial security, etc., and vulnerable to a deep-pocketed regime trying to take their best players into a league. rival. .
Do you think the ATP and WTA will see this as a kick in the pants to make some changes?
—Joel G.
• This could cut one of two ways. Or tennis joins in, sensing the destabilizing threat of a Saudi-style bid. Or tennis, which was never exactly a study in unity, becomes increasingly vulnerable. Someone asked me if tennis could fall prey to a similar rival tour, buying off the best athletes. It is not necessarily likely. But is there something specifically other than tennis players that prevents them from being seduced by a doubling of their income? Nope.
Jon, I can’t wait for your “exceedingly accurate” predictions later this week in your Wimbledon seed report! But this time you’re lucky for the winners… I don’t see any way for the Joker or Swiatek to lose! Both Prohibitives can’t miss favorites!
—@adamginsberg9
• Watch? These damn picks. I agree with Adam. But to keep things interesting, maybe we’ll go with Iga and the selection of less contending but not crazy men like Berrettini or Felix?
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Jon, how excited should I be us be about Nick Kyrgios and his chances at Wimbledon. Is this the year?
—Jackie W.
• I have strenuously avoided Kyrgios’s question lately. Dude it just consumes too much oxygen. And it’s like the Fredo of the ATP. He betrays (his talent from him) and breaks our collective heart. He was great in Halle (reaching the semis before losing 7-6 in the third to Hubie Hurkacz. He won three games in Stuttgart. He has a new management. He’s excited. handicaps himself by being unseeded and I don’t trust his body and mind to withstand the rigors of winning seven best-of-five matches.
On the subject of the Wimbledon ban on Russian and Belarusian players, a common refrain is that the players compete not on behalf of their respective countries but as individuals. However, that position seems a bit false to me when, for example, the Spanish national anthem is played in honor of Nadal’s victory, in the style of an Olympic medal ceremony. I remember when there weren’t such official national associations made during major tournaments, but now even television coverage (particularly ESPN comes to mind) often superimposes graphics of player flags on their respective sides of the pitch before let the game begin. If the players really are just individuals, they should be treated as such in all respects. Otherwise, one could easily understand the logic of the All England Club.
—Sean, San Diego
• Yes, I think that is a point worth discussing. It’s easy to say “nationality shouldn’t matter” and point out how expendable representation has become in tennis (the half-Haitian, half-Japanese player residing in Los Angeles is one example among countless). But that is an oversimplification. In some cases, nationality matters a lot. The real question: is this the best basis for banning a player from trying to make a political statement?
Who is the GOAT of the NBA? Michael Jordan, LeBron James or Steph Curry? Please give rational reasons for your answer. Also list your five all-time NBA starters. You can put me on it if you want.
-Dr. j
• Jordan. More rings. Best defender. He never lost in the finals… Also, and this is very important in tennis, are there no bonus points for being first? You set the standard. The other guys know exactly what they have to do to outshine him, and they adjust accordingly. It’s like batting in the bottom of the ninth. I’m not saying Federer is the GOAT. I’m saying it’s worth considering that he set the standard and Nadal and Djokovic knew what it took to surpass it. That has to count for something, right?
Has it ever been revealed what has kept Serena out of tennis for the past year? I know she had a hamstring injury, but this is not usually the kind of injury that lasts that long. Also, what has kept Venus out of tennis the longest, but not to mention her nature or her retirement?
—John R., Middletown, CT
• As is her prerogative, Serena has been sparing in her disclosure of details. This is not a review. And this is nothing new. In 2010 she won Wimbledon and then missed months after cutting her foot in a Munich restaurant. (You will not find any reference to the name of the facility where this injury occurred, the nature of the injury, the treatment, etc.) This is tennis. Tours do not have the jurisdiction or authority to require an NFL-style injury reporter. Players are individual contractors. They control the flow of personal information. And Serena has long been inclined to that.
As for her whereabouts in the last 12 months, Serena is 40 years old. She is a mother. Even before Wimbledon 2021, she was playing on a very short schedule. For years, she has been playing, quite correctly and reasonably, for one reason, and that is to win Majors. If she’s not 100 percent, there’s no reason to tie him down. My strong feeling is that it was less about repairing a hamstring than repairing motivation.
The DC correspondent in his latest mail folder delves into the comebacks from a two-set-to-one deficit at Wimbledon, but I’m not sure any valuable conclusions can be drawn. Comebacks from a two-set-to-nil deficit in a major final don’t happen often either. In the nearly 80 years (and over 300 endings) since the end of World War II, they have only been produced 13 times. Three times in Australia and New York, seven times in Paris and never at Wimbledon. In a surprising turn of events, there has been a 2-0 comeback in each of the last three years and in three of the last seven finals, with Thiem, Djokovic and Nadal coming from 0-2 down against Zverev, Tsitsipas and Medvedev. . Make of it what you want.
—Elsie Misbourne, Washington D.C.
• Interesting, thanks. Humblebrag: A Nobel Prize-winning economist reads this column and is convinced that there is behavioral economic gold in best-of-three versus best-of-five outcomes. If someone with advanced math skills wants to do it, I appreciate more analysis here.
Shots, Miscellaneous
The International Tennis Hall of Fame is embarking on the public phase of a $12 million capital campaign to enhance connection with the local and global communities the organization serves and to support the preservation of its historic property. The bell, tennis foreverit’s a nod to the far-reaching and lasting impact your initiatives will have on the nonprofit and those it serves.
Leif Haase sends this and notes the connection with Federer.
Henman Hill arrives in New York.
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