Tennis 2016

[Exeter 77]

Virtually all the greats have won Grand Slams against players who were still up-and-coming, were a bit past it or who were just having the tournament of their lives and likely to be largely forgotten.

I completely agree. I think John McEnroe beat an unseeded New Zealander, Chris Lewis, in the final in 1983. Lewis never got beyond a world ranking of 19 but I doubt McEnroe or anyone else thinks any less of winning the title that year.

[dave shelley]

I was just reading about his victory on Facebook (couldn't watch as it's pissing rain here) and the grandkids have commandeered the telly to play Wii and this lovely congratulatory message popped up:

Sad day for British sport if he's the best we've got to offer. He got a few lucky points off of Raonic. He hardly outplayed him by any manner of means. And let's face it, he's only won because the three real greats of tennis either weren't there (Nadal) or didn't make it to the final (Federer and Djokovic) This will certainly never be repeated & he will certainly never achieve anywhere near like what those three have!.

The bit about Federer and Djokovic not reaching the final made me laugh.  Surely that's the whole point, beat your opponent.

Strange comment - you didn't see it but he was lucky? He pretty much bossed Raonic in the key points. If you think facing 140+ mph and winning is lucky, you've never played tennis!

That's not my opinion Nick, it's just something that came up on my Facebook newsfeed as I was reading about it.  It's a post by some woman who obviously has no idea what she's talking about.  Some of the replies to her gave her very short shrift.  I should have italicised  the post and not left it ambiguous.

[cdbearsfan]

You can guarantee she's one of the idiots that thinks Murray "hates England", and refuses to give him any praise as a result.

Anyone suggesting that a date which sees a Brit become Wimbledon Champions is "a sad day for British tennis" is clearly an imbecile.

[Whiney MacWhineface]

Fair enough Dave.

[Dante Lavelli]

It's more than harsh, it's ridiculous. Think back to the days we got excited because Jeremy Bates reached the third round of Wimbledon and then imagine being told that folks would be moaning as a Brit won a second Wimbledon title because of who he beat along the way.

Jeeze, yes I remember that.  Henman, and agonising semi final defeats, seemed like a golden era at the time.

On that note, are Henman and Murray the product of an improved system or weird outliers?  I have always thought that they've succeeded despite the LTA not because of it.

[Meanwood Villa]

Some people always find something to moan about. I'm just grateful I'm here to witness this fantastic sportsman's career. He's a true sporting hero in my book and long may he continue.

[cdbearsfan]

Watson and Kontinen win the Mixed Doubles.

Four Wimbledon Champions today.

[cdbearsfan]

It's more than harsh, it's ridiculous. Think back to the days we got excited because Jeremy Bates reached the third round of Wimbledon and then imagine being told that folks would be moaning as a Brit won a second Wimbledon title because of who he beat along the way.

Jeeze, yes I remember that.  Henman, and agonising semi final defeats, seemed like a golden era at the time.

On that note, are Henman and Murray the product of an improved system or weird outliers?  I have always thought that they've succeeded despite the LTA not because of it.

Murray had to go abroad to learn how to be as good as he is so can't be classed as an LTA success.

[Risso]

Murray is absolutely brilliant.  Some of his returns in the last couple of rounds have been nothing sort of sensational.  What a player, what an absolute legend.  He is everything that is good about British sport in my opinion.

The LTA though, is a disgrace.  For a country like the UK to produce such a poor crop of players over the decades, despite being pretty good at most other sports just isn't on.  Football, cricket, golf, rugby, athletics, swimming, cycling, motorsport...you name it, we've held our own in all of them, with a fair depth of talent throughout.  Murray though, has been a rare one off, and the people who run tennis in this country should be ashamed.

[Dante Lavelli]

I hope that we are using this success as a springboard to create future players.  However I have not seen many new courts being built and coaching seems to be on an adhoc/personal business basis rather than part of a system.

Andy Murray should bolt training centres onto the side of his hotels, although the scottish weather might not be the best conditions to get lots of hours in on the court.

[cdbearsfan]

We won't ever produce consistently great players while tennis clubs remain the preserve of estate agents and salesmen.

[Villafirst]

Brilliant from Murray. To me, Lendl makes a huge difference to Murray. Pity he took that 2 year break; Muray has missed Lendl's influence - he gets that extra 5% out of Murray which is a big difference at that level.

[PaulWinch again]

Andy Murray is the best ever British tennis player and he chose to go and train in Spain as a youngster. That tells you all you need to know about the British development system.

[paul_e]

Murray is absolutely brilliant.  Some of his returns in the last couple of rounds have been nothing sort of sensational.  What a player, what an absolute legend.  He is everything that is good about British sport in my opinion.

The LTA though, is a disgrace.  For a country like the UK to produce such a poor crop of players over the decades, despite being pretty good at most other sports just isn't on.  Football, cricket, golf, rugby, athletics, swimming, cycling, motorsport...you name it, we've held our own in all of them, with a fair depth of talent throughout.  Murray though, has been a rare one off, and the people who run tennis in this country should be ashamed.

I'd go as far as to say that Murray is the best defensive player I've ever seen, he beats players like Raonic by completely nullifying their serve and then just letting their mistakes win the game for him.  It doesn't work so well against the very best players because they naturally make fewer errors.  The edge that Lendl gives him is that he plays more aggressive shots and therefore a lot more winners.  I remember seeing some stats about it a few months back and the difference is quite stark when you look at the analysis.

[Jon Crofts]

Uu

Andy Murray is the best ever British tennis player and he chose to go and train in Spain as a youngster. That tells you all you need to know about the British development system.

And that's how it's always been, when I was 12 I was playing for my county, regularly beating 14,15 & 16 year olds who were knocking on the doors of the GB and England squads.  There was no real coaching or development for youth players just competitions and tournaments, club tennis was run by pensioners and stuffed shirts and was all about social tennis not competition and certainly not about finding and nurturing young talent.  If you wanted to get into Team GB or English tennis you needed to head to France or Spain all summer to La Santa in Lanzarote for example, my parents couldn't afford that so my tennis career ended at 15.  I still play now and again, I hate club tennis to this day.