My God what have I started, as I had said before I am right behind him and was the only person a) who knew who he was and b) was cheering him on in his QF. I made a comment about his ground strokes lacking penetration which should have been taken in the same context as my comment about his weight. I was only trying to give people some understanding on the strengths and weaknesses of someone who will hopefully become a top tennis pro. Lilly I apologise if any offence was taken, it was certainly not meant.

I don't know about Willis - I've never seen him play - but this board is not always going to be polite about the players it follows. There is a great deal of commentary on players here and not all of it is going to be flattering.

The players themselves probably take (constructive) criticism every day from coaches so will have skin thick enough to accept their weaknesses, but, as Lilly says, friends and family also come on here and it will be a lot harder for them to read. To be brutally honest, though, that's kinda their problem. Defend the player if necessary; correct false allegations if applicable; but I don't think forumites should stop posting commentary just because it's not positive. I won't.

I'm sure a lot of friends and family deliberately don't come here because they don't want to read anything negative, so credit to those that do.

That's why I like this board so much - we virtually all support all the players we talk about, genuinely want them to do well and don't gratuitously slag them off for the most part (unlike MTF where a lot of people seem to post purely to have a go at the players they don't like) but we also say what we think rather than being a fawning fansite (like rogerfederer.com, for example!)

Most of us also realise that many of the opinions we spout come from a position of not knowing the full facts, we don't expect any players to read or take any notice of what we say, but we do hugely appreciate those players, people close to them, journos, etc who do join in the discussions, tell us the full story or even just explain to us why we might be wrong!

The fact that so many players and people close to them do post on here (semi-anonymously or otherwise) must mean the board is getting something right.

I've also never come across a community on the net where the posters are so slow to slag each other off in a nasty way or to take offence, which is what makes it so easy to have plenty of good-natured fun at each other's expense.

We're also very good at completely confusing each other, as the Count is doing his best to prove

Looks like now we're even

ok Daddy Drew, i'll be a good boy now

Lilly wrote:

---

Oh dear I think I started something which it wasn't supposed to do.. I personally think comments about players needing to improve on things.. be it weight, speed, agility, strokes.. whatever.. they are all fine.. that is what the discussion board is here for. Players and family alike, I imagine, are thick skinned enough to take it, and if they aren't then they should be. I just think the comment about Burger King had stepped over the line a little bit, as its mocking someone for something that actually isn't even fact. But to make something clear, no one was offended about any comments.

-- Edited by Lilly at 19:44, 2008-10-28

---

And that brings this matter to an end.

Good discussion. thats what this place is for.