Serena Williams to Retire

Reportedly, tennis star Serena Williams will retire after the US Open this year. If she wins it, the record currently held by Margaret Court will be equalled and you'll never hear her name again. The media are desperate to see Margaret Court cancelled. But think about this; even if Williams is able to record her win at New York, she will retire having never held all four majors in the one calendar year. Two women have done that in the professional era, Margaret Court in 1970 and Steffi Graf in 1988. To my mind, Williams equalling the record of Court, still places her behind Court who has won that critical calendar year achievement.

Australia - Clown Colony

World number 1 tennis player, Novak Djokovic is to be deported. The Australian Open isn't a major tournament any longer, strip them of the status. 

https://www.skysports.com/tennis/news/12110/12514730/novak-djokovic-faces-deportation-after-australian-government-revokes-his-visa-for-a-second-time

Novak Djokovic at the US Open

While Novak Djokovic being defaulted out of the US Open may look harsh, it was the right call in my opinion. Hitting any ball without a clear idea of where you're sending it can result in disaster. The line judge was hit in the neck, an area of the body that is potentially fatal with a knock like that. Think of all the cricketer batsmen who have died from fast balls to the neck region. Add to that the line judge was not expecting the hit.

Australian Open

Nick Kyrgios is looking good, I hope he goes deep this time, or even wins the whole show. I like how he plays fast, dictating the pace of the game. I laughed when he mocked Nadal over his pre-serve routines, which are tantamount to poor sportsmanship. How could the chair umpire give Kyrgios a time warning? He plays so fast, it isn't possible for him to be holding the game up. C'mon.

Good to see the back of that monumentally bad sport Serena Williams. This time beaten by the 27th seed Qiang Wang. I'll say it again, it's time for Williams to retire, she's old and slow. The seedings she's receiving are a nonsense, by being seeded so high she's always able to collect enough ranking points by drawing much easier opponents in the early rounds. As soon as she comes up against players of real class, she buckles. That's because players these days have her power, as well as the finesse she lacks. Give it up Serena Williams, for the good of the game.

Serena Williams Meltdown

Spare a thought for Naomi Osaka. Who is Naomi Osaka? The 2018 winner of the US Open tennis tournament. She beat Serena Williams in the final quite easily.

All you hear about is how Williams lost. And she lost badly by being outplayed and then throwing a hissy-fit of monumental proportions. I guess she's desperate to equal Margaret Court's record. To do that she'll have to wait until next year and the Australian Open at the earliest.

Williams only has herself to blame. She's a top professional, she must know all the umpires and how they officiate. A player of her stature must be able to adjust to whoever is in the umpires chair. She couldn't, what she expected was for the umpire to bend to her will. She scolded him, finger pointing, then questioned his honesty. The umpire acted very professionally, playing it straight down the middle. A good case could be made for Williams losing by default, that's how bad her tantrum was.

Now we're subjected to Williams hogging the headlines about how she's fighting for equality, the rights of women, you name it. It is very unbecoming and very unsportsmanlike. Now you can see why I avoid anything to do with Serena Williams. I try not to watch but seeing as Osaka had done so well, I just had to catch the highlights, and then no surprise from Williams. I wasn't even forewarned about what to expect and when the tantrum started I could only feel for Osaka having to stand there stranded while Williams tried to influence the match by causing a disruption.

Bigger picture; the game at the highest level has to be wrestled back off the elite players. They're starting to think they call the shots. One option would be to restructure the way tournaments are played. Currently tournaments really want the stars to advance. Anyone who loses is out, and thus the organisers don't like early exits. So a premium is placed on this top talent. Change the way things are done and neuter these top players. Got any ideas?

Serena Williams

Women's tennis star Serena Williams has been in the news of late. She had a baby, good for her, then attempted a comeback but lost the 2018 Wimbledon final in what can only be described as a flop. She performed very poorly, almost laughably.

Then most recently, she's complained about the number of 'random' tests she has been subjected to. Implied in her comments is that random surely means even distribution of tests. Right? Well no, that's not what random means at all. Random just means that, random. Take a single dice. If I throw it and get a six, that's random. If I throw it again and get six, then again six. Three in a row, is that fixed or am I being set up? No, it's random. See? This is the fallacy in Williams complaint. She's talking nonsense in other words.

I will add that while she has clearly been the best female tennis player recently, that does not mean she is the best of all time. There is too much about her game that lacks finesse for that to be the case. This lack of skill was cruelly exposed in that Wimbledon match. What should be questioned is why she was seeded at all. If she had been entered correctly, the debacle that was the final would have been avoided as Williams would have been knocked out. 

Someone will say, what do you know about tennis? My answer would be, about as much as you can write on the back of a postage stamp with a builders pencil, that's how much. But I can comment on skill and sportsmanship. Williams has spent her whole career overpowering her opponents, not beating them with craft. That much is obvious. But then when she wins she is often not that generous to her opponent, it's often about her alone, she's a classic narcissist. When she loses it's even worse, then she often damns her opponent with faint praise. It's all very unbecoming and I prefer to take no notice of her. I would not pay to watch her. In fact, unless it was free and just down the road, I'd prefer to not watch her at all, that's how unpalatable I find her attitude. And I think I'm not alone, just that few are brave enough to say it. 

Want to know who to emulate? Watch Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. What great sportsmen both of them.

What of Williams then? Well she's not even equalled Margaret Court's record yet. And Court also won three majors as a mother. Evonne Goolagong was back to world number one 12 months after having her first child. Kim Clijsters equalled Court's record of three majors as a mother. That means there is a long way to go for Williams, to be ranked alongside Court she has to win at least one major as a mother, two to exceed the existing major winning record. But I for one will not take any notice if she does beat Court, unless of course she has an attitude transplant and grows up. 

And one last thing; Venus Williams, the sister and also a great athlete in her own right. She's an absolute credit, a wonderful person, which just goes to show, poor sportsmanship does not run in the family.

Garbine Muguruza

Watching Wimbledon, I admire the mental toughness of Gabine Muguruza. When down or things are not working out she has the capacity to self-correct and get back on track. She did this against both Angelique Kerber and Svetlana Kuznetsova. She is clearly playing to a game plan and it's good she keeps to that plan.

[Phew, she won Wimbledon, I'm back to predicting well after my failure in picking the Cavs to win the NBA Playoffs]