Getty
Agnieszka Radwanska could afford to acquire a little grace. I'm all for bucking tradition from time to time, but not when it comes to the traditional sportsmanship players show at Wimbledon by walking off the court together after a match. This is the second year in a row she has departed before her vanquisher. Nothing earth shattering, mind you. But I can't imagine it would cause her undue pain to suck it up and just do it.
Getty
Sabine Lasicki could afford to get more fit. She hasn't won a three-setter that I'm aware of and today, she was a waste in the final set of her match. I thought she was gagging, which she might have been as well, but she was simply unable to put anything behind her incredible serve or get in position to hit her ferocious ground strokes.
Getty
Francesca Schiavone could afford a little pampering when she returns to Italy. Strike that. Her people should throw her a big party with loud live music and a feast. My longest-lasting dark horse did everything she could to make the final eight, everything she could to defeat her opponent, but without the weapon of a finishing shot, the Russian with the body to die for and the tennis to back it up was just too strong.
Reuters
Victoria Azarenka could afford to get out of her own way. Clearly, as I said in the comments earlier, she has the talent and desire to become the star the hypemakers are trying to turn her into, but her inexcusable temper and attitude when things don't go her way will keep her from becoming a champion. Nicole Vaidisova 2.0. And I sure wish she would stop making that dying pigeon sound every time she strikes the ball. At least she could smile and chat with her vanquisher as they walked off the court together.
::
Getty
Venus Williams seems unstoppable, taped knee be damned. I feel sorry for the Russian with the too-small clothes. Almost.
Getty
Dinara Safina seems way out of her league. What else is new. But here she is in the final four despite herself. Her fight a tribute to the peasant stock from which her people come.
Reuters
Elena Dementieva seems to enjoy flying under the radar. And boy was she flying today. She can do just about everything on the court when she feels like it. If only she possessed a bigger and better serve. But what legs.
Reuters
Serena Williams seems to have played her match as though saying "Fuck you!" to the Wimbledon schedulers who decided her opponent's "hotness" trumped Serena's ranking, past Wimbledon history, and current tennis form when they put together the Day 5 Order of Play. Apparently, Serena got lost trying to find her way to the new Court 2 last Friday. Now I see why Serena said "no comment" when asked about it in her press conference after.
Today, she let her racquet do all the talking. Not another young, blonde, "rising star" was going to build a career on her back by allowing the ingenue to hit her off Centre Court. No way. No how. What Serena ultimately said was beautiful, brutal, vicious, outrageous, devastating.
Posts
15 comments:
Yet another brilliant article.
Pete Bodo has a post up called the Williams Woodshed. It is so funny. What was even funnier was a question was asked of Serena about where she keeps her trophy or what she does with her trophies. This is her response regarding her IW trophy.
"My Indian Wells '03 (smiling). Or was it '01? Whatever year that was."
Great writeup, but "peasant stock"? That is a bit needlessly insulting...
I saw my quote,my bbc quote, very Craig-a-nized.
well. Nice. cant complain. LOL. And I join Serena to say a Craig-a-lized Fuck You too to the opposition.
What a beauty Serena's play was.
I am afraid to play her.:)
Great write-up, Craig. You make me interested in what the women are doing, and that's tough to do.
And about Serena and the schedulers? HAH! Great stuff!
"Her fight a tribute to the peasant stock from which her people come."
lol.
Dinara Safina seems way out of her league. What else is new. But here she is in the final four despite herself. Her fight a tribute to the peasant stock from which her people come.
Ouch.
To Wimbledon's knuckle-dragging neanderthal stuffed shirts, keep pissing off the WS and you risk having one of them win your pristine title and not one of the "babes". Most deserved.
Here's to Murray losing tomorrow. Or the next day. Or in the final.
After Manic Monday it was Snoozy Tuesday.
"Two days removed from Wimbledon's official rest day, Tuesday felt like another one."
From Yahoo.
http://tinyurl.com/ktffm9
rabbit, where I come from there's nothing insulting whatsoever about peasant stock.
But please let me know more about why it's insulting from where you come from.
I'm open to removing it. I simply am not aware of any insult contained in it.
Okay, so I just looked it up and I do see that "peasant stock" has a negative connotation of uncouth and uneducated, among other not-so-insulting meanings.
Where I come from, we always used the term to describe tough, strong, hard-working people who prevail against all odds.
That's what it means in my post. That's what it appears to mean here as well.
The internet. What a library.
apparently, Safina said on bbc interview somewhere today.
"sometimes, I feel as tho I dont know what I am doing"
dooooooooooh!
Serena Williams seems to have played her match as though saying "Fuck you!" to the Wimbledon schedulers who decided her opponent's "hotness" trumped Serena's ranking, past Wimbledon history, and current tennis form when they put together the Day 5 Order of Play. Apparently, Serena got lost trying to find her way to the new Court 2 last Friday. Now I see why Serena said "no comment" when asked about it in her press conference after.
Today, she let her racquet do all the talking. Not another young, blonde, "rising star" was going to build a career on her back by allowing the ingenue to hit her off Centre Court. No way. No how. What Serena ultimately said was beautiful, brutal, vicious, outrageous, devastating.
Posted by Craig Hickman at 11:30 AM
============
IF wimbledon won't be honorable about the Great Serena Williams
who i think just happens to be THE PLAYER of the decade
- court 2, bad schedule -
She and her sister Venus - playing at or near their best will just continue to
BRING HONOR
wimbledon seems DEDICATED to losing.
Just get to the Finals, Serena and Venus..and TEACH THEM ALL
great tennis, athleticism,
championship,
competing
and who OWNS tennis.
lol.
I was away after I made that comment.
Craig, I get really uncomfortable in general when a player is judged by his/her "stock". I think it can get kind of nasty soon. In this context, "peasant stock" to me connotes uneducated, stupid, relying on brute force, etc. Dinara may be all of those, but to me, not because of her stock.
Apologies if this is a common, positive expression in some places. It just has a negative connotation for me. Also, thanks so much for that link...what a touching story.
yeah I cant be an aga fan anymore. she looks better in that pic but in the previous match she had a gigantic geico patch safety-pinned to her strap. hideous. theres a polish joke in there somewhere, apologies to babci...
gotta go with azarenka now. I like her little bad girl attitude
of course I always support the williams sisters but its kind of hard rooting for them when theyre supposed to win every match and when they lose they just "defeated themselves". then when they do happen to flame out we have to listen to people sneer about the weakness of their opponents. bottom line is nobody can beat the williamses at their best, the only one who ever could is a little 5-6 girl named henin. that said Im looking for serena to pull the upset this year.
I think azarenka will get a GS. She's young enough to still be in her prime when the williamses retire. After all the Kuz has two and shes not exactly a transcendent player
rabbit, for me, it's a positive description. About the only positive thing I can say about her at this point. How ironic it's tinged with negativity and I wasn't even aware of it.
You may remember when I found out that the term "walkabout" as commonly used in tennis was a derogatory term used to describe the Aboriginals in Australia.
Language evolution is a beautiful thing.
Glad we had this brief discussion.
Post a Comment