I always kinda wondered if the paucity of grass-court events on the ATP and WTA tours was part of a conspiracy by the LTA to finally get another British win at Wimbledon.
Henman’s most famous gut-wrenching loss came in the 2001 semis against Ivanisevic.
He led 2 sets to 1, having taken the third 6-0, when a rain interruption took the match into a second day. Ivanisevic got the fourth on a tie-break and went on to win. This was by far Henman’s best chance to win Wimbledon, and I think he would have given Rafter a good game.
Tim was frequently undermined by the UK media, some elements of which had him down as a choker. More accurately I think, he was a fine player, the best we’ve had since Fred Perry until Murray turned up, but maybe a semi-finalist was all his game would ever allow him to be.
It’s true. The UK press was very harsh towards him. He was by no means one of the greatest tennis players of all time and did not deserve the negativity the press there gave him.
I’ve heard it said that the British press is even meaner than in America, and it was certainly true for Henman.
I’m with both of you on that one. Lesser talents than Henman have won majors, but did the most he could with his game. He was very successful on grass, but he wasn’t Sampras.
I was thinking of Johansson and Petr Korda. For that matter I never thought much of Gaston Gaudio; he had no business beating Coria at that French Open final.
Wow, really? I mean, he only had one major, but he went to three other Slam finals, and he played at a high level for several years. He got his ranking up to #2 (behind Sampras) at one point.
Chang only won one major and he was a limited player, but he did have talent and stayed around the top for a pretty long time. Johansson and especially Korda were journeymen who got lucky. And Korda then got caught, twice, for taking banned substances. The second time it was a steroid.
I was a fan of Chang back in the day. He was much shorter than the other top players, which limited his serve game, but man did he have some legs. Saw him play once in a US Open warm-up event, and that guy could run. I agree with Marley that he’s a cut above Johansson and Korda.
By the way, I don’t get the Tennis Channel, but did you guys know they stream their coverage in the morning, before ESPN 2 takes over? You can choose your match and watch archived matches, as well.
Also, where does the general French dislike for the Williams sisters come from? I know some would guess it is racism, but look at the top French men. Gael Monfils and Tsonga are Black and get cheered extensively.
Why do they seem to always cheer against the Williams? They tend to support the top men, like Federer and Nadal. They don’t boo all Americans. I think Andy Roddick gets at least some basic support from the crowd.
Caution Generality ahead: The French don’t like Americans.
As far as saying they like Roddick: Maybe it is something that they like about Roddick that the Williams sisters don’t possess. I don’t think it is because he is white.
My memories are vague, but I believe one of the sisters was involved in an alteracation at the French Open a long time ago. One of them disputed calls, and refused to shake either her opponent or the umpire or both. Google has not helped.
The French are avid tennis fans and I think they might appreciate continued and consistent support of tennis. Serena skipped the French Open in 2005 and 2006. and Venus has skipped major tournaments as well (but not the French). Neither have routinely played a full schedule of tournaments.
I like the Williams sisters now, but I didn’t like them when they first came out. They were arrogant, and his father was and still is an easy person to dislike.
They feed into the general French dislike of Americans because they fit several of the stereotypes. They’re loud, arrogant, and (I think this applies more to Venus) generally don’t give a shit what anyone else thinks.
ETA: IOW, what notfrommensa said. I’m quite fond of them now, but when Venus first burst onto the scene (and I still lived in England) I remember thinking that somebody really needed to punch her in the mouth.
Isn’t that more of an American belief? I have known plenty of Americans who have lived in France, and all of them say that they do/did not perceive that anti-American hate that they had expected.
Didn’t the French support Andre Agassi as well? What about Pete Sampras?
Jim Courier won there and I have never heard him talk about anti-American actions there.
Did you read the link that amarone supplied? Serena said some anti-French things, although it was not specific.
And in my dealings with anyone from France has not been a pleasant experience. And I can speak a little bit of French. Admittedly, my sample size is very small though.
