Tennis coverage - brutal quirks and annoying habits

[Ro_Carter]

I avoid watching Sharapova as much as possible because the way she acts from the time she steps on to the court annoys me so. The glaring, the acting like a sulky two-year-old, the shrieking for EVERYTHING, those awful commercials with the stupid dog that we are forced to watch during breaks…

And did anyone read how her father got into trouble for his behavior after Sharapova’s win over Henin? He had this camoflague jacket on and he pulled the hood up over his head. Then he made a slicing motion across his throat, a “cut her throat” kind of image. It very disturbing and very inappropriate.

Back when I used to play tennis, there was a particular girl that was a complete… well, let’s just say she wasn’t a nice person and leave it there. She was also dating her coach, and said coach would sit by her court during matches and scream things like “Rip out her jugular!” “C’mon, she’s absolute crap! Are you gonna let this piece of crap beat you!”. She always ended up playing a friend of mine with a quick temper, and I had the worst time trying to calm her down after matches so she wouldn’t go punch her opponent and the coach.

[EllisDee]

@PunditLisa

did anyone read how her father got into trouble for his behavior after Sharapova’s win over Henin? He had this camoflague jacket on and he pulled the hood up over his head. Then he made a slicing motion across his throat, a “cut her throat” kind of image. It very disturbing and very inappropriate.

I think that was overblown, or at least mischaracterized. He had on the camo jacket. At some point, Maria commented to him that it made him look like an assassin. So later on he played into that by mimicking the assassin thing.

Seemed mostly harmless, though certainly ill-advised and in bad taste.

You forgot step 1:

Jog in place
Jog in place

hehheh, so true. Even before that, there’s:

Walk backward off court
Stop, look at ball on racket
Turn around, approach baseline

Thankfully she skips these steps on a second serve, but the hopping is definitely every single serve.

[Richard_Pearse]

@PunditLisa

I, too, was a bit puzzled by the crowd’s reaction to Djokovic, who i think is cute as a button. I wonder if there’s a large French component in Australia…

I don’t think there’s any puzzle. Tsonga had just soundly whipped the world number two and people wanted to see that continue. It’s pretty much just a matter of supporting the underdog when you have no particular connection to either player.

[Intelligently_Designed]

Well, if you don’t like shrieking, don’t watch this. Though it can get downright funny.

[Xema]

@Intelligently Designed

if you don’t like shrieking, don’t watch this. Though it can get downright funny.

For the first minute or so, I thought that had to be a joke - each player screams each time she swings the racquet - amazing. (Shows I’m a bit out of touch with tennis.)

[Richard_Pearse]

The men are just as bad, or some are.

[Philster]

I think the overuse of video to review one’s performance has allowed players to break down small components into rituals. They try to make each component an exact replay.

Superstition and rituals have been a big part of sports, which feeds into this nonsense, but whether it’s golf or tennis, it’s very vogue to record a swing or serve and then watch it over and over and over again in super-slo-mo.

So, you can break it down to every step, bounce, look, inhale/exhale, pause, set, hold, toss, etc.

[minlokwat]

If we’re comparing cross-sport OCD manifestations, we can’t leave off Mike Hargrove who as a player was dubbed “the Human Rain Delay”.

You may recall when it was Grover’s at-bat, he would obsessively -and in this order:

1. Adjust his batter’s helmet.
2. Pull on his batting glove to make sure it was snug on his hand, especially his thumb.
3. Hitch one sleeve up about an inch then do the same with the other.
4. Wipe his hands on his uniform pants.
5. Step into the batter’s box and bear down.

This he would do…before every pitch.

[Marley23]

Nomar Garciaparra probably rises to that level of obsessiveness, although I couldn’t detail his routine. Wikipedia keeps it brief by describing it thusly:

Garciaparra is known for his idiosyncratic tics when batting. This habit includes an elaborate routine of glove adjustments and alternating toe taps on the ground prior to an ensuing pitch.

Steve Traschel is reputed to be the slowest modern day pitcher.

[Mister_Rik]

Click on the video titled “Epidemic”.

[Darryl_Lict]

I had heard so much about Djokovich’s imitation of Maria Sharapova that I had to track it down. Here it is, and I think he’s a riot. I was cheering for Tsonga in the Australian Open, but after seeing that, it makes me like Djokovich a helluva lot more. There’s more funny impersonations on that Youtube page.