The Random Tennis News Thread

by The Special Juan Sat May 04, 2013 8:17 pm

First topic message reminder :

There's not really a thread up for random tennis news that perhaps doesn't require it's own topic.

First of all, it's sad to hear of the death of Brad Drewett, Chief Executive of the ATP. I don't know if anyone's mentioned that and I've missed it.

Secondly, here's an interesting bit of tennis gossip about Evert and Connors: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/05/04/tennis-connors-evert-idUKL3N0DL05G20130504

by lydian Sun Jul 20, 2014 6:58 pm

Tomic probably driven on after being dropped by IMG.

Good week for Zverev, lots of learnings and lots to do, he'll need to muscle up too.

Goffin won 2nd challenger in 2 weeks on clay today. Moving on up...

4 Brits in same US challenger next week...Evans, Ward, Cox, Smethurst.

by The Special Juan Sun Jul 20, 2014 9:17 pm

"Zverev, a top-ranked junior who won the boys’ title at the Australian Open in January, has found success at the professional level suddenly. He was ranked outside the top 800 at the beginning of this year and 665th at the beginning of the month. But after winning a tournament in Braunschweig, Germany, one of the largest on the Challenger circuit, and reaching the semifinals in Hamburg, he will have risen more than 500 spots in three weeks, to No. 160."

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/20/sports/tennis/teenagers-zverev-and-konjuh-find-success-in-a-veteran-dominated-sport.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

by kingraf Sun Jul 20, 2014 11:08 pm

Not quite tennis related, but Rory McIlroy has won the Open Championship. Seems pretty clear that he's winning at the break-up.

by lydian Mon Jul 21, 2014 12:19 am

Zverev has joked that he was “born with a tennis racket in my hands.” His parents, Alexander and Irina, were successful tennis players for the Soviet Union, and his brother Mischa, 26, reached the top 50 in 2009. But the younger Alexander Zverev was already beating his brother in some practice games three years ago, when he was 14.

Mischa was a fully fledged 23yo, top 100 pro then...so to be beating him, albeit in practice, at 14 shows what talent we may be dealing with here. Not just ball striking ability but his mental composure too.

by Born Slippy Mon Jul 21, 2014 12:22 am

Although C-Woz also won her first title of the year today as well.

Mayer beat Ferrer in Hamburg. Tomic and Karlovic in a final set tiebreak. Would be good if Tomic could win. He's got phenomenal talent and it would be a shame to see him continue to waste it.

by Jahu Mon Jul 21, 2014 8:40 am

Tomic wins.

The Australian world No.124 withstood 39 aces from his second-seeded opponent to take Sunday's match 7-6 (5) 3-6 7-6 (4) in almost two hours and 13 minutes.

by lydian Mon Jul 21, 2014 12:15 pm

Good for Tomic...I'm sure being dropped by IMG will prove to be the kick up the **** he needed. By the way, I've seen on the internet that a number of people say he's actually 23, not 21...? Shocked

On other fronts, Viktor Troicki returns to action today after his ban and is currently playing talented Dominic Thiem in R1 at Gstaad Open, Switzerland.

by Born Slippy Mon Jul 21, 2014 12:20 pm

Coric has a wildcard in Umag and faces ERV today. Interesting to see if he can be inspired by Zverev's run.

by lydian Mon Jul 21, 2014 1:34 pm

Troicki beat Thiem 76 64, that's not bad going for being out of action for some time.

That's a tricky match for Coric as ERV is a wily player but like you say he may be buoyed by Sascha's runs...as may all 17-19 yr olds presently! Feels like some new seeds of change are slowly starting to come through, albeit at lower levels so far.

by Silver Mon Jul 21, 2014 4:33 pm

Thiem himself entered the top 50 today, career high and youngest player of the 50. More good news for youthful players!

The gap between Wimbledon and the US HC swing has got to be a good window for some of the lower-ranked players, with the top guys spread few and far between, if indeed they play at all.

by ListenUp Mon Jul 21, 2014 5:04 pm

The Special Juan wrote:
ListenUp wrote:
The Special Juan wrote:

As for A. Zverev, he's taken down Giraldo in straight sets today and will face Kamke in the quarters. I didn't realise Hamburg was on clay - the surface seems to suit him.
Sascha was runner-up in the French juniors last year (remember him beating Kyle Edmund on his way to the final). I saw him a couple of weeks later practising on the grass at Stoke Park - it took me a while to twig who he was, having only seen pics of him before, but he was hitting with Mischa, so it finally dawned. Then he had a hit with Djokovic, at which point the press came sniffing around wanting to know who he was. (I wonder if they remember that now!)

He didn't get that far at Wimbledon juniors, but I think he retired injured so I don't know how well he'd really got on with going from clay to grass. When he finished the year as the Junior no. 1 he didn't have a junior slam win, so I was very pleased he won the Australian junior title, he didn't need clay to shine.

He's certainly been making good use of his plentiful wild card opportunities - but this week's performance is something else!

So he looks like a fairly decent all surface player? Good to know, cheers I remember last year's FO performance, mainly because John Inverdale was almost proclaiming his love for the young man.

I don't remember that. Laugh

by ListenUp Mon Jul 21, 2014 5:14 pm

Silver wrote:Thiem himself entered the top 50 today, career high and youngest player of the 50. More good news for youthful players!

The gap between Wimbledon and the US HC swing has got to be a good window for some of the lower-ranked players, with the top guys spread few and far between, if indeed they play at all.

Thiem recently became Austria's no. 1 - overtaking Jurgen Melzer who'd been the no. 1 since... forever. Shocked

(Must have been about 10 years since he overtook Koubek for the top spot, I think.)

by ListenUp Mon Jul 21, 2014 5:18 pm

Christian Garin, who beat Zverev in that French junior final, looks as though he might be quite decent too.

by Josiah Maiestas Mon Jul 21, 2014 7:31 pm

Never thought Zverev was lanky as that. He definitely will be a fixture in the top 10 in 2/3 years!

Zverev, Kyrgios, Garin, Taro Daniel... at least 2 of these will end up with multi slams imo clap

by The Special Juan Mon Jul 21, 2014 10:45 pm

Coric won today, beating EVR 2 & 4.

by lydian Tue Jul 22, 2014 12:48 am

Wow

EVR ranked #45

Boy there's some talent coming through...!

by lydian Tue Jul 22, 2014 8:49 am

James Ward came through his 1st round at Lexington CH, 3 other Brits to play there today. Have we ever had as many Brits in a foreign event outside the slams before?

by The Special Juan Tue Jul 22, 2014 11:04 am

Is Andy one of them? Run

by ListenUp Tue Jul 22, 2014 1:41 pm

No... apart from James, they're all called Dan. Laugh

by Born Slippy Tue Jul 22, 2014 3:40 pm

Ward beat another promising 17 year old (Donaldson being the 3rd highest ranked 17 year old behind Coric and Zverev). One of the Dans faces the promising 18 year old Aussie whose name I can't spell later as well - Kokkinakis or something like that (4th highest ranked 18 or under).

by djlovesyou Tue Jul 22, 2014 7:52 pm

lydian wrote:James Ward came through his 1st round at Lexington CH, 3 other Brits to play there today. Have we ever had as many Brits in a foreign event outside the slams before?

I would say we get about 4 guys in a challenger a couple of times per year. Last time in happened before this week was Rimouski in Canada in Week 12 of this year.

If we're talking futures too, there are sometimes stacks of Brits in foreign events because the players often travel in groups.

This is just for the men, I would imagine something similar for the women too.

by Born Slippy Wed Jul 23, 2014 9:35 am

Edmund beat Fabbiano to reach the QF of his current challenger. Plays Blaz Kavcic next but again good signs.

by Born Slippy Wed Jul 23, 2014 9:55 am

Bad loss for Evans though. Not built on that US Open run at all. Will plummet down the rankings when those points come off in a couple of months.

by The Special Juan Wed Jul 23, 2014 9:30 pm

Bad news for Neil Harman of the Times - he's been done for plagiarism apparently...

http://deadspin.com/respected-tennis-writer-cops-to-plagiarism-theres-like-1609661132

by The Special Juan Wed Jul 23, 2014 10:53 pm

Ouch. This is the type of thing which ruins careers. http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports/2014/07/neil_harman_plagiarism_the_all_england_club_discovered_journalistic_malfeasance.2.html

by Born Slippy Wed Jul 23, 2014 11:55 pm

Wow, that's a serious bit of news. Have to think he's finished. The plagiarism is shocking. Amazing he thought he could get away with it.

by lags72 Thu Jul 24, 2014 10:43 am

Am inclined to agree with BS that there would seem no way back from this for Harman. The genie is well & truly out of the bottle, and it's hard to see how Harman can retain any respect within the tennis community, despite his remorse-laden, woe-is-me, statement of culpability. Silly way to end a career if that's what eventually happens.

I still have clear memories of how a work colleague (neither of us was involved in the media) was discovered to have presented an important report consisting almost entirely of stuff penned by others but distinctly claiming it as his own, with no credit or attribution given whatever. The motive was to ingratiate himself with executive management. This obviously had a far more narrow audience than Harman's production, but for me plagiarism at any level is particularly distasteful.

by Born Slippy Thu Jul 24, 2014 11:35 am

Yes, the "I only had a short turnaround time" excuse is particularly distasteful. It looks like he did this in more than one year and must have known it was wrong. If he had insufficient time to generate his own content, he could presumably have approached the people whose work he stole and asked to include quotes in the Wimbledon book - something I would have thought they would have been keen to do. Instead, he passed it off as his own work. Alternatively, if the timescale was too short he should have asked for longer or declined the commission.

by Guest Thu Jul 24, 2014 11:47 am

That is just unbelievable!!

HE will be crying into her conflakes! Wink

I like the others agree that he is finished. I can't believe that he would take others work and pass it off as his own! As a journalist that is low!

by lydian Thu Jul 24, 2014 4:23 pm

Agree BS on DE...I just get the feeling Evans doesn't put the real hard work in to make the most of his obvious talent. I reckon he could have been staple top 50 with the right physique and attitude...instead he forever doomed to stay top 200-300.

by lydian Thu Jul 24, 2014 4:24 pm

Harman - “I am not proud of my many mistakes. This is not a good day and it is at times like this when you discover who your real friends are.”

Er no, its times like this you discover who the best tennis writers are(nt).

They're the ones who have mastered the art of avoiding the allure of CTRL+C & CTRL+V.

by hawkeye Thu Jul 24, 2014 6:24 pm

The Special Juan wrote:Ouch. This is the type of thing which ruins careers. http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports/2014/07/neil_harman_plagiarism_the_all_england_club_discovered_journalistic_malfeasance.2.html

Shocking! Not just stealing work but the weaselly excuses. Harman so far has retained his job with The Times as his (or someones) latest offering is in The Times today. I will be interested to see what the journalists whose work he stole say and do about it. This afternoon articles in The Telegraph and The Guardian have appeared about this story.

lol legendkillar. Did you take me for a fan? also lol at Harman making out he was so emotional about Murray's Wimbledon win he didn't know he was stealing...

by kingraf Thu Jul 24, 2014 7:06 pm

Lol, when I read the apology, I thought, he'd stolen basic premises, and ideas, and narratives. He's gone word for word! Doesn't Wimbledon use TurnItIn?

by djlovesyou Thu Jul 24, 2014 9:16 pm

He did switch a few words around though, come on.

by **JuliusHMarx** Thu Jul 24, 2014 9:45 pm

djlovesyou wrote:He did switch a few words around though, come on.

True - he changed it to 'By Neil Harman'.

by lags72 Thu Jul 24, 2014 10:58 pm

hawkeye wrote:

..................................................................................................................................

lol legendkillar. Did you take me for a fan? also lol at Harman making out he was so emotional about Murray's Wimbledon win he didn't know he was stealing...

Harman is clearly guilty of extremely bad behaviour unbecoming of a 'professional' journalist - but as regards him being emotional ........ I'm not sure if that in itself can be considered a misdemeanour.

I mean ....... all sorts of people felt all sorts of emotions at Murray's impressive Wimbledon triumph - including even yourself, surely, hawkeye .......... Wink

by hawkeye Thu Jul 24, 2014 11:31 pm

^ lol lags72. There was nothing wrong (or surprising considering the depth of his love) about Harman getting emotional after Murray's win but I'm not so sure it is a valid excuse for theft.

djlovesyou wrote:He did switch a few words around though, come on.

Maybe if he'd bothered to correct some of the spelling mistakes it would have been slightly less obvious Wink

by The Special Juan Thu Jul 24, 2014 11:37 pm

http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2014/07/neil_harman_plagiarism_more_examples_of_wimbledon_plagiarism_from_the_times.html

by sirfredperry Fri Jul 25, 2014 12:28 pm

This is very sad news. Harman, to me, is one of the best writers about tennis. All would have been well if he'd attributed it, especially if he'd used words like..."as so-and-so ably described it, Bartoli.....".
Journalistic pressures (I'm one myself) are enormous these days, with social media, websites, overpowering newsdesks to keep happy. if you're doing a Wimbledon book as well, you're up against it. No excuse for plagiarism, but a reason perhaps. Do hope Harman is not lost to tennis journalism.

by The Special Juan Fri Jul 25, 2014 1:13 pm

If anyone has absolutely nothing better to do, Edmund is playing Kavcic somewhere... http://new.livestream.com/ATP/astana2014centrecourt

by The Special Juan Fri Jul 25, 2014 3:00 pm

Edders crushes Kavcic 3 and 4.

More on Mr Harmans... http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2014/jul/25/thetimes-tennis

by Born Slippy Fri Jul 25, 2014 4:32 pm

Coric faces Fognini later in the QF. Already moved into the top 200 on the back of his efforts this week. Edmund up to about 220. Kokkinakis is still going in Lexington as well so its a promising week for the teenagers.

by kingraf Fri Jul 25, 2014 4:56 pm

You're quite right, Fred. I'm in new media, so I don't consider myself a journo, or anything of like, but I understand the pressures, which is why I said initially that I thought, and assumed reading his apology, he'd essentially used another writer's narrative, or premise, something which you would know happens quite often, and while not expressly permitted, is only flirting with the boundaries. This is a lift, Copeh payste. Awful.

by The Special Juan Fri Jul 25, 2014 6:49 pm

KR, I forgot to say that the TurnItIn comment was the funniest thing I've seen in ages.

by lydian Fri Jul 25, 2014 7:45 pm

These youngsters are doing good! Coric has been perhaps spurred on by Zverev?
Edmund could be top 200 if he has a good run at Astana.
He's the ATP tours fastest mover this week so far...up +43 places...great effort!

Meanwhile, Goffin continues to destroy opponents...handing out bagels and breadsticks all over the place this past 2-3 weeks. He could be on for 3 Challenger wins in 3 weeks at this rate. Probably likely to face Nieminen in the final on Sunday...that's a tough one with it being Jarko's home tournament too. But speaks well for Goffin ahead...

by The Special Juan Fri Jul 25, 2014 7:57 pm

After seeing Murray get hammered, he must have thought to himself "I've just been beaten by this chump? I need to get my act together."

My problem with Goffin is that I don't think he has the weight of shot necessary to make any impact at the top of the game. He's the same as Evans, and Dan should be looking to emulate him.

by kingraf Sat Jul 26, 2014 10:03 am

Cheers Juan...

by YvonneT Sat Jul 26, 2014 1:05 pm

I feel quite a lot of sympathy for Neil Harman actually, but only in the sense that he has lost so much - his livelihood and reputation - over such a really dumb decision to create the text for a cushy sideline project in this way.

On Twitter, I found him to be quite sanctimonious at times, quoting his religious thoughts and deeds and also being critical of bloggers etc against his old-fashioned journalistic standards. I expect, therefore, some have quite enjoyed his being exposed in this way, but also that this has made his "fall from grace" all the harder for him.

Still these were his actions, and the consequences were inevitable. It's hard to see a way back in for him even after the passage of time either after being tarnished in this way.

by YvonneT Sat Jul 26, 2014 1:13 pm

Also, is it just me or is this concept of a Wimbledon yearbook rather an anachronism in these day where we can reads all sort of reporting and blogs on the matches, the players & the tournament as a whole on the internet? I suppose it is a souvenir, but then it's not available until weeks after, so who buys it?! I wonder who Wimbledon have asked to produce it this year, and if they have asked them to produce it more as a collection of the best writing published at the time from various outlets, properly attributed of course.

by kingraf Sat Jul 26, 2014 2:33 pm

I see he's deleted his Twitter account. Taking the Hide My Head in Sand approach. Might work given the fact that he's still really only a journo, and wouldn't be recognized in public.

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