British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

Coup Droit wrote:

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Sorry, I should have said 'utterly daft to me'

You don't put a whole event behind closed doors for the sake of one player

And the LTA HAVE given their case - or, at least, they did several years ago, pre-covid, it might have changed - but then it was to do with monitoring the grounds in the run-up to Wimbledon, and not having enough personnel

But when challenged about how that worked, when all the players and their team members and their families were let in, and the public numbers would be quite small (another one of their reasons i.e. it didn't matter), they didn't reply and the guy I spoke to didn't really have an answer

I also asked why they didn't use somewhere else, then - after all, if they team entrouages are an issue in themselves, and the public can't support an interesting Wimbledon element, then that means you have the wrong venue. But again, that didn't get a precise answer.

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        There is a weird type of snootiness in British tennis regarding the way perceived outsiders are treated.  I remember a Futures competitor asked a physio about a fellow competitor who had been injured, presumably because the two competitors were friends, and the inquiry was out of concern.  The physio said "Are you his father?" "No" "Are you his coach?" "No" "Well I am not authorised to tell you.  That is confidential."  Why not just smile and say "Thanks for asking.  I really appreciate your concern.  However, we have confidentiality requirements about these things so I can't tell you unless you're his coach.  You're not his coach are you?" "No."  "Ok, well I can't discuss that but good luck to you anyway."  Why not make other people feel better in communication rather than maxing every opportunity to be hostile.

pauldepstein wrote:

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Coup Droit wrote:

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Sorry, I should have said 'utterly daft to me'

You don't put a whole event behind closed doors for the sake of one player

And the LTA HAVE given their case - or, at least, they did several years ago, pre-covid, it might have changed - but then it was to do with monitoring the grounds in the run-up to Wimbledon, and not having enough personnel

But when challenged about how that worked, when all the players and their team members and their families were let in, and the public numbers would be quite small (another one of their reasons i.e. it didn't matter), they didn't reply and the guy I spoke to didn't really have an answer

I also asked why they didn't use somewhere else, then - after all, if they team entrouages are an issue in themselves, and the public can't support an interesting Wimbledon element, then that means you have the wrong venue. But again, that didn't get a precise answer.

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        There is a weird type of snootiness in British tennis regarding the way perceived outsiders are treated.  I remember a Futures competitor asked a physio about a fellow competitor who had been injured, presumably because the two competitors were friends, and the inquiry was out of concern.  The physio said "Are you his father?" "No" "Are you his coach?" "No" "Well I am not authorised to tell you.  That is confidential."  Why not just smile and say "Thanks for asking.  I really appreciate your concern.  However, we have confidentiality requirements about these things so I can't tell you unless you're his coach.  You're not his coach are you?" "No."  "Ok, well I can't discuss that but good luck to you anyway."  Why not make other people feel better in communication rather than maxing every opportunity to be hostile.

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 emmsie's right that there are rude and stupid people everywhere but I agree, pauldepstein - tennis has the worst of the worst in terms of snootiness

Joe Public is generally considered to be an absolute oik, someone who doesn't understand the elite nature of tennis, something that has to be suffered and endured

This is more a Roger Draper story really (but he was head of the LTA at the time):

I'm standing watching three matches at a British Tour event inside (Sutton, from recollection) 

Ben Draper is playing Adam Thornton-Brown, I'm pretty sure it was. Two women are playing a match on the other side, and two men on the other side (a young Mike Shaw might have been one of them but can't remember and it doesn't matter)

Roger Draper is watching his son's match. And there are several women standing near him (mother's of other players?), nodding, smiling, simpering and basically curtseying every time he says something. It is dreadful but it's a free world, I guess.

Adam and Ben disagree about several line calls - it's not obvious who's in the right or wrong, or who 'started it'

But it really kicks off and the two are shouting their heads off at each other

The women are shocked (and want it to be known that they are shocked) - that Adam is being so 'nasty' to Ben. Roger seems to find it quite funny and is making a few jokey comments 

But this argument goes on and on - seriously, it's full volume, and it's 3 mins, 4 mins, 5 mins - it's filling the whole hall

And I say out loud, to no one (as I'm on my own)

"Completely disgraceful"

"Yes" says one of the women "Ben's been utterly cheated there, shouldn't be allowed"

"No", I said loudly "it's completely disgraceful that the two of them are carrying on with no respect for the players that are trying to play either side of them - the tournament referee should have been here long ago - I'd disqualify the pair of them"

Her eyes pop out of her head and she leans over and says:

"Shhhhh, that's Ben, that's Roger Draper's son, he's there, you can't say that"

So I say:

"I know exactly who the players are, what difference does that make? In fact, you could say you'd expect better"

And then I threw in my 'I'm part of the French federation' card  - and only then did Roger Draper turn round, go quiet and walk away a bit (which Ben noticed and decided enough was enough) 

alex03maccy wrote:

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My word that is absolutely stacked. Didnt think Liam would turn up but cant help but root for him. Anton will be tough to beat if his serve is on, but tough to pick 2 winners from that.

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 Be keen to see the draw order when it is up, that will influence things.