Tennis Board Community thread

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Tennis Board Community thread 

Post#1 » by Doctor MJ » Tue May 3, 2011 8:02 pm

Hey all,

As I've just taken over the reins of the Tennis board due to Slava's busy schedule, I thought I'd take the opportunity to start a community thread. Given the sparse posting on the board, I don't expect this thread to exactly have a flurry of conversation, but I figure it'd be nice for those of us poking in from time to time to introduce ourselves, and say things on our mind that don't warrant a specific threat for.

Also if you have any suggestions for the board, you could mention them here or PM me directly.

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Re: Tennis Board Community thread 

Post#2 » by Doctor MJ » Tue May 3, 2011 8:10 pm

As for me, I've been following tennis since I was a kid when Johnny Mac, Jimbo, Martina, and Chrissie were at center stage. My dad and I would play & watch together. On the morning of the men's finals at Wimbledon, we'd have "Breakfast at Wimbledon" which atraditionally just involved us getting donuts.

Been playing since I was young, but I had some health issues which disrupted my progress in the formative years. I played tournaments and was all-league on my high school team playing doubles, but I wasn't at a level where playing at the college level was really in the cards.

Favorite player right now: Fed, though Nadal's not far behind

Favorite player growing up: Boom Boom Becker. There was nothing like seeing him come out of nowhere diving all over Wimbledon to win the thing.

Historical guy I dig: Ken Rosewall - criminally under-remembered.
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Re: Tennis Board Community thread 

Post#3 » by Slava » Wed May 4, 2011 5:38 am

Started watching tennis in the best days of Pete Sampras, Michael Chang, Jim Courier and my favorite player of all time, Ivanisevic. I still remember crying like a baby every time he lost at Wimbledon, which frankly was far too many times until he won as the wild card in 2002.

Two players I think should have done better with their careers are Richard Krajiceck and Maliwai Washington. If I remember correctly, they played in the 1996 wimbeldon finals and I never heard of Washington after that. Great athlete though.

Favorite womens' player: Venus, Hingis (childhood crush) and Steffi Graf.
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Re: Tennis Board Community thread 

Post#4 » by Doctor MJ » Mon May 9, 2011 4:29 am

SlavaMedvedenko wrote:my favorite player of all time, Ivanisevic. I still remember crying like a baby every time he lost at Wimbledon, which frankly was far too many times until he won as the wild card in 2002.


I was always a big fan of the Wimbledon-only guys. Zivojinovic, Krajicek, Ivanisevic. Was so happy when the latter two broke through.
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Re: Tennis Board Community thread 

Post#5 » by Baphomet » Mon May 30, 2011 6:56 am

I've been watching tennis for as long as I can remember, but it's only been the last five or so years that I've really gotten into the sport, and subsequently tuning in to watch every tournament I feasibly can over the course of the yearly circuit. Being from the UK I grew up with Wimbledon being one of the biggest sporting events of the year, and went to see the 2004 men's finals (Federer / Roddick) in person with my Dad.

Favourite player right now is, unsurprisingly, Novak Djokovic. He has an inspiring competitive spirit and is an absolute winner, through-and-through. As a british fella I'm a fan of Andy Murray too, and I wasn't at all surprised by his initial meteoric rise seemingly out of nowhere. He's significantly more gutsy than Tim Henman or Rusedski ever were, and really it's only a matter of time until he has a really special Grand Slam performance. He's capable of beating any one of the big 3, he's demonstrated it in the past. He was unlucky to lose to Djokovic in Rome a few weeks ago.
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Re: Tennis Board Community thread 

Post#6 » by Import » Thu Jun 2, 2011 11:11 pm

Big tennis fan. Will post more during Wimbledon and US Open.
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Re: Tennis Board Community thread 

Post#7 » by REDDzone » Sun Jun 5, 2011 6:56 pm

Been watching tennis since 2004ish when I started playing. Usually try to play 3-4 times a week, I'm nothing special but feel like I can hit most people.

Huge Nadal fan.
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Re: Tennis Board Community thread 

Post#8 » by AdamTheGreek » Sun Jun 5, 2011 7:33 pm

Sampras is my idol, been watching since the mid-90s as a kid.

After playing youth soccer for 6 years, I picked up a racket at age 11 and played 4 years until my left arm shattered right before my sophomore high school season started. I had lettered my freshman year. Still love the game but I haven't picked up a racket since. Enjoy watching it to this day.
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Re: Tennis Board Community thread 

Post#9 » by Doctor MJ » Sun Jun 5, 2011 7:41 pm

REDDzone wrote:Been watching tennis since 2004ish when I started playing. Usually try to play 3-4 times a week, I'm nothing special but feel like I can hit most people.

Huge Nadal fan.


I too feel like I have a good shot against anyone if I can just get a good crack to the skull in before we play. :P
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Re: Tennis Board Community thread 

Post#10 » by Mike Hunt » Sat Jul 2, 2011 3:56 pm

I've been watching tennis since the early-mid 90's. My favourite player was Jim Courrier. While Sampras was never my favourite player, I often preferred him over a lot of his biggest rivals. In the women's game. I never had a major preference until Martina Hingis showed up. It was just really cool seeing someone dominate despite being out gunned (in terms of power) in almost every match.

Recently, I haven't watched tennis quite as much as I used to (it was easier when I didn't have a job, obviously). I still make a point of watching as much of the grand slams as possible. My favourite players to watch are Djokovic and Sharapova (though I hadn't gotten to see her as much of late).

As for my tennis, I started playing when I was 8. I only played with two of my friends once every couple of weeks over the summer but we all became pretty decent. In 1994, our town (just 6000 people), for some reason, decided to set up a tournament for kids under the age of 13. They allowed up to 32 kids to play. Our town only probably had 25 kids that played so the first couple of rounds of the tournament were rough, I ended up winning the tournament as a chubby 12 year-old, despite there being 13 year-olds who played a lot more than I did. The prize was a flashy yellow baseball cap and 2 tins of tennis balls.

As I grew older, I gravitated much more towards golf. Tennis was pretty much cut out of my summers (played about once a year). A couple of years after moving to university, I discovered a tennis court about 3 blocks from my place. My roomate (a newbie) and I started going there as a means to get a little bit of activity in (I'm obese so there was a definite need for me to sneak in some exercise). I then moved even closer to that court (half a block) and my roomate and I really got into it, playing 3-4 times per week. Unfortunately, we had to eventually move away and neither of us has played since then (despite the fact that I live relatively close to courts right now).
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Re: Tennis Board Community thread 

Post#11 » by MikeIsGood » Mon Jan 16, 2012 5:00 am

New arrival here.

I grew up on tennis, and have been watching and playing (or trying to) since I was 3. I taught kids, along with my sister, while I was in high school. As an 80s child, I grew up on 90s tennis. With Sampras and Agassi leading to Federer and Nadal, I consider myself lucky to be a tennis fan in those eras. My favorite players are Nadal - by far - and good ole' Kimmy. All-time, my favorite players are still Nadal on the men's side, and Lindsay Davenport for women. I grew up on her, and she broke through to win her first slam as my taste for tennis went from like to complete love. I have appreciation for all forms and styles of play, but at heart I love physicality, athleticism, and defense. It's shocking I like Nadal, I know.
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Re: Tennis Board Community thread 

Post#12 » by REDDzone » Fri Jan 20, 2012 6:55 am

MiG, you are a Madison guy right?
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Re: Tennis Board Community thread 

Post#13 » by Slava » Mon Jan 23, 2012 8:28 pm

Anyone else remember Mary Pierce? My dad would only let me watch those games depending on what outfit she wore to the match. :lol:
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Re: Tennis Board Community thread 

Post#14 » by G R E Y » Mon May 28, 2012 11:04 pm

Hi, I LOVE tennis. I've been watching it for many years with Becker winning his first Wimbledon being one of my favourite memories. Mac yelling at anything in the vicinity, taking out the poor flowers lol. Really liked Edberg (complete opposite of the above two) and later Sampras, and now really REALLY hope Federer wins at least one more major. Don't have a favourite female player at the moment, but really liked Graf when she played.
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Re: Tennis Board Community thread 

Post#15 » by Doctor MJ » Sun Jul 8, 2012 7:26 pm

GREY 1769 wrote:Hi, I LOVE tennis. I've been watching it for many years with Becker winning his first Wimbledon being one of my favourite memories. Mac yelling at anything in the vicinity, taking out the poor flowers lol. Really liked Edberg (complete opposite of the above two) and later Sampras, and now really REALLY hope Federer wins at least one more major. Don't have a favourite female player at the moment, but really liked Graf when she played.


Oh man, I idolized Becker & Edberg too. I kept the newspaper from when Becker won his first Wimbledon as one of my cherished bits of memorabilia.
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Re: Tennis Board Community thread 

Post#16 » by Slava » Mon Jul 9, 2012 3:07 am

I should have done that when Ivanisevic won Wimbledon.
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Re: Tennis Board Community thread 

Post#17 » by Doctor MJ » Mon Jul 9, 2012 3:51 am

SlavaMedvedenko wrote:I should have done that when Ivanisevic won Wimbledon.


I was a big Ivanisevic fan too (I'm big and slow, so I have some sympathy for the "hope you don't have to play him at Wimbledon" class of big guy). I was so happy for him when he finally broke through.
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Re: Tennis Board Community thread 

Post#18 » by G R E Y » Mon Jul 9, 2012 11:34 pm

Doctor MJ wrote:
GREY 1769 wrote:Hi, I LOVE tennis. I've been watching it for many years with Becker winning his first Wimbledon being one of my favourite memories. Mac yelling at anything in the vicinity, taking out the poor flowers lol. Really liked Edberg (complete opposite of the above two) and later Sampras, and now really REALLY hope Federer wins at least one more major. Don't have a favourite female player at the moment, but really liked Graf when she played.


Oh man, I idolized Becker & Edberg too. I kept the newspaper from when Becker won his first Wimbledon as one of my cherished bits of memorabilia.

When I was a kid, Becker played and lost at one of the Rogers Cup tournaments at York U. He came off the court and I got all excited about getting his autograph. I mean, there he was, my favourite player. Surely he'd sign something for a kid, right? Nope. I asked. He said no (albeit politely) and kept walking. I cried :lol: . Early lesson in not idealizing your heroes - they have bad days, too.
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Re: Tennis Board Community thread 

Post#19 » by Doctor MJ » Wed Jul 11, 2012 12:20 am

GREY 1769 wrote:
Doctor MJ wrote:
GREY 1769 wrote:Hi, I LOVE tennis. I've been watching it for many years with Becker winning his first Wimbledon being one of my favourite memories. Mac yelling at anything in the vicinity, taking out the poor flowers lol. Really liked Edberg (complete opposite of the above two) and later Sampras, and now really REALLY hope Federer wins at least one more major. Don't have a favourite female player at the moment, but really liked Graf when she played.


Oh man, I idolized Becker & Edberg too. I kept the newspaper from when Becker won his first Wimbledon as one of my cherished bits of memorabilia.

When I was a kid, Becker played and lost at one of the Rogers Cup tournaments at York U. He came off the court and I got all excited about getting his autograph. I mean, there he was, my favourite player. Surely he'd sign something for a kid, right? Nope. I asked. He said no (albeit politely) and kept walking. I cried :lol: . Early lesson in not idealizing your heroes - they have bad days, too.


Oh that sucks man.
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Re: Tennis Board Community thread 

Post#20 » by Hero » Sat Jul 6, 2013 9:11 pm

I love tennis too. Especially a big Fed fan. I mostly like the ATP and have been really disappointed in the Women's tour of late. I grew up on a small island where there were so little tennis facilities so it ended up being only the well off who had access to playing tennis. It's such a stark contrast to how easy it is to play the sport in Canada compared to where i grew up. I hope in the future as more people are able to play, that the sport grows in popularity and players from all over the world are able to do well.

First time seeing a pro tennis match in person was a few years ago. I had moved to Toronto to study and the Roger's cup was taking place. Turned out it was the women that year which didn't really impress me.

So I took the train to Montreal by myself to watch the men play. Was an adventure. Got lost a couple times since I'd never been there and didn't have a cellphone or anything. Didn't help that these jerks didn't want to speak English to me.

I showed up early and it was pretty crowded surprisingly. Was a bit uncomfortable though since I was alone and everyone spoke French. Anyways, it was really nice to see Federer in real life. I took so many pictures. He won his match easily, vs Hewitt I think. The other match was Novak vs Roddick if I recall, Nole won, Roddick had a lot of support. The night match was Nadal vs a Canadian guy but Nadal had most of the support! Especially a lot of teenage girls ...

Pretty good experience tennis wise but kinda sucked because I was lonely.

The next time I went to see the Rogers cup was un Toronto and imo the crowd was so much better. It's so crazy how popular Fed is. Was really cool to see how noisy people would get too. I really felt more into it and more excited than any other sporting event which was cool, and I've been to some intense soccer,bball games etc.

Wanna go to the U.S open eventually. Maybe next year?...

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