Wimbledon 2018

EagererBeaver

The Off the Ball lads regularly talk about tennis with Luke Jensen of ESPN.

It's covered appropriately for its profile in Ireland, i.e. a bit of coverage towards the business end of each GS, moreso at Wimbledon.

Rollo Fox

walshb wrote: »

Probably the GAA trumped it...

Give you a right pain in the hoop that incessant GAA sh1t!

Yeah your dead right, the media should clearly give preference to much much less popular sports thereby reducing their audience and advertising revenue . It's what all the intelligent media outlets who want to make a profit do.How foolish of newstalk not to give preference to something much less popular.

Rollo Fox

walshb wrote: »

True..

But as regards GAA, and Rugby to a lesser extent, there’s a huge contingent who couldn’t give a toss about the sport, but they daren’t show that...gotta’ keep up the facade that they like it...makes them feel Irish...

Sorry, bit off topic..

Stop talking nonsense would you.


It never ceases to amaze me the lengths people will go to have a cut at the GAA, there were 80,000 people at the 4 matches in Croke Park this weekend and a further 20,000 at the hurling but somehow you think the media should give preference to tennis which is very much a minority sport in Ireland.

There is one tennis club within 10 miles of my house and about 10 GAA clubs in the same radius.

walshb

Rollo Fox wrote: »

Yeah your dead right, the media should clearly give preference to much much less popular sports thereby reducing their audience and advertising revenue . It's what all the intelligent media outlets who want to make a profit do.How foolish of newstalk not to give preference to something much less popular.

Who said the media should give preference to much less popular sports?

You’re all on your own there, pal.

Rollo Fox

walshb wrote: »

Who said the media should give preference to much less popular sports?

You’re all on your own there, pal.

You did by critcising the coverage the GAA news today got at the expense of tennis.Nobody really gives a fiddlers about tennis in Ireland whether you like it or not.There is no interest at grassroots level there is feck all interest in watching it on tv either.

I like watching it but I'm one of the few in my workplace yesterday who did watch the final.

walshb

Whatever. You keep seeing what you want to. Obviously a touchy subject for you..

Back on topic...

Rollo Fox

walshb wrote: »

Whatever. You keep seeing what you want to. Obviously a touchy subject for you..

Back on topic...

Yes absolutely, clearly you saying incessant GAA **** wasn't you complaining about the GAA getting coverage at the expense of wimbledon.

The Golden Miller

walshb wrote: »

Not saying he doesn't do well and compete. He absolutely does, and he has. Just think he wouldn't break them, as in displace any of them. He may well grab a major here and there, ala Murray, but I think he'd be a clear 4th in the group.

What slam can we give him? Grass I see Fed always beating him. Nadal on grass and Nole on grass, from what I have seen would beat him most times.

Clay? I'd back all three over him with confidence....

He has a hard court chance......

It's not about whether he would or wouldn't win, it's how he and others of that generation broke through to compete at a serious level against the old gaurd, and the qualities they had that made them winners. It's in stark contrast to the young guys today. No real belief or fight in them

Rollo Fox

That is what people want though.

If there was more demand for other sports they would be covered more.

GAA ,rugby and soccer are clearly the 3 most popular spectator sports in this country so they are gong to get the most coverage.

Rollo Fox

It's not up to the media in this country to promote sports for the sake of it, it's up to the sports themselves to get people involved.The GAA tend to be very good at getting people involved at a grass roots level, considering how easy it is to build a tennis court you'd think if people were so interested in tennis in this country it would be promoted better by the organizing bodies of the sport here and there would be more interest in general.

The Golden Miller

I think we've become very tunnel visioned in regards sport over the last 20 years, I guess technology allows us to always have what we want to see at the tip of our finger. Wimbledon/tennis used to be quite popular in Ireland, as was snooker, athletics etc. Even in football, Serie A was quite popular. Now it's really only GAA, rugby and English football exclusively. I guess going back in time, you watched what you were shown, little choice, and so there was more interest in other sports by default. Sad to see tennis, snooker and the rest become effectively niche sports in Ireland

Rollo Fox

The Golden Miller wrote: »

I think we've become very tunnel visioned in regards sport over the last 20 years, I guess technology allows us to always have what we want to see at the tip of our finger. Wimbledon/tennis used to be quite popular in Ireland, as was snooker, athletics etc. Even in football, Serie A was quite popular. Now it's really only GAA, rugby and English football exclusively. I guess going back in time, you watched what you were shown, little choice, and so there was more interest in other sports by default. Sad to see tennis, snooker and the rest become effectively niche sports in Ireland

Wimbledon used to be on RTE in the 90's it isn't anymore.

If you don't have free to air broadcasting for anything other than the main sports they tend to disappear from peoples minds.

Tennis being stuck behind a paywall for the last 20 years or so is not really a good idea and combined with the fact that we never have any good players unlike in golf where there is always strong irish interest so the interest in maintained in that sport as there are always updates on how the irish players are doing.

Joe_ Public

The Golden Miller wrote: »

I think we've become very tunnel visioned in regards sport over the last 20 years, I guess technology allows us to always have what we want to see at the tip of our finger. Wimbledon/tennis used to be quite popular in Ireland, as was snooker, athletics etc. Even in football, Serie A was quite popular. Now it's really only GAA, rugby and English football exclusively. I guess going back in time, you watched what you were shown, little choice, and so there was more interest in other sports by default. Sad to see tennis, snooker and the rest become effectively niche sports in Ireland

That’s very true. Going back 30 years I remember when you’d be lucky to see one live soccer match a week on the box and after that there was match of the day and the odd Irish match. Tennis and other sports nicely filled the gap. I loved the old sports stadium, being able to watch boxing, athletics and even show jumping had an audience. Saturation may seem great now but it’s killed a lot of the smaller sports and that saddens me.

walshb

The Golden Miller wrote: »

It's not about whether he would or wouldn't win, it's how he and others of that generation broke through to compete at a serious level against the old gaurd, and the qualities they had that made them winners. It's in stark contrast to the young guys today. No real belief or fight in them

But you cannot assume they have no real fight in them just because they cannot break the stranglehold of the 3 strongest players ever...are you seeing some clear mental/character deficiencies in the rest of the field? Or are you “seeing” it based off their lack of real success?

Hewitt would be no different if he were around today. He wouldn’t break them either, no matter how much “fight” he showed...

walshb

Joe_ Public wrote: »

That’s very true. Going back 30 years I remember when you’d be lucky to see one live soccer match a week on the box and after that there was match of the day and the odd Irish match. Tennis and other sports nicely filled the gap. I loved the old sports stadium, being able to watch boxing, athletics and even show jumping had an audience. Saturation may seem great now but it’s killed a lot of the smaller sports and that saddens me.

Saturation is for me killing some sports...incessant coverage and events and the same old same old week in week out. It kind of takes away the specialness of it...

It’s why the Olympics will always remain special..

The Golden Miller

walshb wrote: »

But you cannot assume they have no real fight in them just because they cannot break the stranglehold of the 3 strongest players ever...are you seeing some clear mental/character deficiencies in the rest of the field? Or are you “seeing” it based off their lack of real success?

Hewitt would be no different if he were around today. He wouldn’t break them either, no matter how much “fight” he showed...

If he, Roddick, Safin etc were breaking through now, at least initially in their careers, they would be alot more competitive against the big 3 than anything Zverev, Dimitrov etc have shown thus far. This new lot are useless, and I'm not convinced any of them will amount to much. Another guy will come along in 3 or 4 years and blow them away.

I think if Roddick or Hewitt broke through now, while having the benefit of any advancements that 20 years brings, they would be regularly beating, at least splitting, matches with a 37 year old Federer. I've no doubt about it. Either way, they'd be alot closer than this new lot

Chivito550

Rollo Fox wrote: »

That is what people want though.

If there was more demand for other sports they would be covered more.

GAA ,rugby and soccer are clearly the 3 most popular spectator sports in this country so they are gong to get the most coverage.

Bit of chicken and egg though. The most popular sports are the sports people see and hear about. If other sports got more coverage they’d be more popular.

GAA is the only game in town in many rural parts of Ireland. They have a complete monopoly on young kids in these areas. That’s not a criticism against GAA, but unless you are from a good sized town or a city then there’s not a lot of choice for kids. All I can say is I’m glad I’m from Dublin and have been able to try so many sports, and been able to find the one that excites me the most and which I’m best at (athletics). If I was from Sneem I’d be playing Gaelic Football or nothing really.

Chivito550

Rollo Fox wrote: »

It's not up to the media in this country to promote sports for the sake of it, it's up to the sports themselves to get people involved.The GAA tend to be very good at getting people involved at a grass roots level, considering how easy it is to build a tennis court you'd think if people were so interested in tennis in this country it would be promoted better by the organizing bodies of the sport here and there would be more interest in general.

Given Ireland is absolutely awful at tennis, the sport actually gets a lot of coverage. Athletics generally only gets coverage when Irish people do well, or during the Olympics. If our success levels in athletics were the same as tennis, then it would get zero coverage whatsoever.

Compare tennis to other sports Ireland are non existent at (winter sports, table tennis, basketball, ice hockey) and it actually gets decent coverage. Everybody knows who the Big 4 are, Sampras, Agassi, Graf, Navratilova etc

Does everybody here know who Sidney Crosby is? Or Alexander Ovechkin? Or Lindsey Vonn? Or Shaun White?

Hector Savage

Chivito550 wrote: »

Given Ireland is absolutely awful at tennis, the sport actually gets a lot of coverage. Athletics generally only gets coverage when Irish people do well, or during the Olympics. If our success levels in athletics were the same as tennis, then it would get zero coverage whatsoever.

Compare tennis to other sports Ireland are non existent at (winter sports, table tennis, basketball, ice hockey) and it actually gets decent coverage. Everybody knows who the Big 4 are, Sampras, Agassi, Graf, Navratilova etc

Does everybody here know who Sidney Crosby is? Or Alexander Ovechkin? Or Lindsey Vonn? Or Shaun White?

Good point, I know none of those last 4 you mention ...

Chivito550

Hector Savage wrote: »

Good point, I know none of those last 4 you mention ...

The first 2 are arguably the biggest stars of Ice Hockey over the last 10 years. Lindsey Vonn is the poster girl for Alpine Skiing, and Shaun White is like the godfather of Snowboard Half Pike. All are as huge in their respective sports as Federer and Nadal are in theirs. They'd also be very well known across the Atlantic, and in parts of Europe. But here? No way!! Only those who have a very wide ranging interest in sport know who they are. I'd say the only Ice Hockey player Irish people could name is Wayne Gretzky. The name Mario Lemieux would be annonymous!

The fact every Irish person knows Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, the Williams sisters, Sharapova, despite us being as terrible at tennis as we are at the above sports, shows that tennis actually does OK here, in terms of exposure. It does better than it deserves to really, given how irrelevant Ireland are on the global stage in that sport.

EagererBeaver

Chivito550 wrote: »

Does everybody here know who Sidney Crosby is? Or Alexander Ovechkin? Or Lindsey Vonn? Or Shaun White?

All of them, but that's because I'm awesome.

mickmackey1

Tennis has had a high profile in this country for years though, there are or have been tennis clubs even in isolated rural areas. Somebody like Maureen Connolly would have been as famous in the 1950s as Williams is now, and even played some exhibitions here. You couldn't really same the same for ice hockey, basketball etc.

PlaneSpeeking

Rollo Fox wrote: »

Stop talking nonsense would you.


It never ceases to amaze me the lengths people will go to have a cut at the GAA, there were 80,000 people at the 4 matches in Croke Park this weekend and a further 20,000 at the hurling but somehow you think the media should give preference to tennis which is very much a minority sport in Ireland.

There is one tennis club within 10 miles of my house and about 10 GAA clubs in the same radius.

He's absolutely spot on tho - GAA "football" is just proper football for those who need a modifier. No skill to score a goal ? Sure, pick it up and throw it.

Skying the ball 50 foot over the bar ? Instead of derision - here's a consolation point.

Utter s***e. Say that in public though and you start getting people wanting to take your passport off you.

PlaneSpeeking

EagererBeaver wrote: »

All of them, but that's because I'm awesome.

I'm not awesome but I have heard of them all.

The Golden Miller

Chivito550 wrote: »

The first 2 are arguably the biggest stars of Ice Hockey over the last 10 years. Lindsey Vonn is the poster girl for Alpine Skiing, and Shaun White is like the godfather of Snowboard Half Pike. All are as huge in their respective sports as Federer and Nadal are in theirs. They'd also be very well known across the Atlantic, and in parts of Europe. But here? No way!! Only those who have a very wide ranging interest in sport know who they are. I'd say the only Ice Hockey player Irish people could name is Wayne Gretzky. The name Mario Lemieux would be annonymous!

The fact every Irish person knows Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, the Williams sisters, Sharapova, despite us being as terrible at tennis as we are at the above sports, shows that tennis actually does OK here, in terms of exposure. It does better than it deserves to really, given how irrelevant Ireland are on the global stage in that sport.

I guess tennis has more appeal in Ireland, due to our association with Britain

walshb

The Golden Miller wrote: »

I guess tennis has more appeal in Ireland, due to our association with Britain

Same with Rugby and soccer.....golf too...

England and Britain having such a major influence on Irish society.

Joe_ Public

I know Lindsay Vonn because I am partial to watching a bit of downhill and always get really into the Winter Olympics when its on. The others I'd never heard of because I have zero interest in ice hockey or any sport that happens on any kind of board. Just personal preference.

I find it sad that we dont produce more good tennis players, male and female. There was a very good tennis club in the town I grew up in, but hardly any coaching or any coordinated activity. Most people seemed to treat it more as a social outlet than a serious sporting facility. In school I could look out my classroom window at the tennis court below but could count the number of games i ever saw played on it on the fingers of one hand. I remember the small stir that was created when McEnroe came to play Davis Cup in Dublin and then again when Ivanisevic came a few years after. It showed that there was a public appetite here for the game but not sure enough was ever done to tap into it.

Chivito550

I did tennis in school (a school in Dublin which had its own courts) and we'd get professional coaching, and the coaching was an utter farce. 99% of the time we were just playing games (lose all your lives, you go to the other end and try to catch a ball to go back in). Granted games are fun, but not when its the same game for 6 years, and not when we are not being taught how to play certain shots, how to improve our footwork etc. We learnt topspin and that's pretty much it. I pretty much went for 6 years as a social outlet, but in terms of tennis, it could barely have been called coaching.

Only time I recall any kind of big event held in Ireland was a seniors competition in the Point with Borg, McEnroe etc. It was live on RTE and the crowds looked really big. It only happened once from memory. Maybe somebody recalls it better than me. Sad that we couldn't bring a proper ATP event here instead, but I suppose the average punter is more interested in seeing washed up legends than a ATP 250 type event with guys they have never heard of.

The Golden Miller

Chivito550 wrote: »

I did tennis in school (a school in Dublin which had its own courts) and we'd get professional coaching, and the coaching was an utter farce. 99% of the time we were just playing games (lose all your lives, you go to the other end and try to catch a ball to go back in). Granted games are fun, but not when its the same game for 6 years, and not when we are not being taught how to play certain shots, how to improve our footwork etc. We learnt topspin and that's pretty much it. I pretty much went for 6 years as a social outlet, but in terms of tennis, it could barely have been called coaching.

Only time I recall any kind of big event held in Ireland was a seniors competition in the Point with Borg, McEnroe etc. It was live on RTE and the crowds looked really big. It only happened once from memory. Maybe somebody recalls it better than me. Sad that we couldn't bring a proper ATP event here instead, but I suppose the average punter is more interested in seeing washed up legends than a ATP 250 type event with guys they have never heard of.

The only tennis I got to play was in my mates house. They were wealthy and had a proper tarmac court set up out the back, but still rubbish by comparison to real courts in clubs. Used to spend hours playing. Would have loved to have been in a real club, same with snooker. Was better at the snooker though, p!ss poor at tennis.

Used to work on a farm growing up for an old fella who was a big tennis fan. He would of been a "castle Catholic", part of the educated class when only a select few went to college, family had connections to the British aristocracy etc. Had a croquet set and the works, used to play tennis in Blackrock until they bought a big farm out here in Meath. Big fan of Pancho Gonzalez and the Aussie's from that period. Said he always went into a big tournament either before or after Wimbledon when the biggest tennis stars came to play in Dublin. Fitzwilliam I think they played?

Joe_ Public

Most people probably wont remember how big a deal the Irish Open used to be here, when the likes of Rod Laver and Virginia Wade were regular annual visitors. I have vague recollections of it as a kid. Open to correction but I think it was one of the main ATP events back then but it just seemed to die a death for whatever reason. Our history of hosting major sporting events in this country is nothing short of shocking. I used to adore the Goffs Irish masters, one of the best events on the snooker calendar, but that shuffled off into oblivion as well. Even the Irish Open (golf) would probably be gone had McIlroy and a few others not stood up to rescue it from almost certain death.