Like nearly everyone in this forum, it would seem, I have virtually no interest in tennis. Mrs BS, however, enjoys it and is insisting the telly is tuned into Wimbledon.
It seems unlikely that they would have a massive facility and infrastructure like Wimbledon solely for a 2 week event. So my question to the Sotonians hive mind is what happens at Wimbledon (or any of the other major tennis venues for that matter) over the other 50 weeks of the year? What else does centre court get used for? What other competitions do they have there?
Oh, and Mrs BS wants to know why the beeb keeps employing Boris Becker - apparently he’s an arse.
I can’t answer the capacity issue, but Becker is retained as part of the BBC’s commitment to equal opportunities.
He’s foreign (German to boot), a tax-dodger, a lothario and ginger so he ticks a lot of boxes for the BBC.
They’re on the lookout for a disabled, lesbian-dwarf tennis player at the moment, but got Andy Murray in the 'box instead (ticks the Scottish*, Ginger and cunt* boxes).
* Murray, as we all know, becomes a British player with auburn hair if he wins.
Blimey, some real ignorant comments about Wimbledon.
Tennis players are far fitter, more agile and have a harder season than any footballer and Wimbledon is the Holy grail of tennis, so should be held in the reverence it rightly deserves and marked on everyone’s calendar. I’m shocked no one seems to realise that. Thought you would all be clued to the screen for such a majestic event.
I think the secret reason Mrs BS like tennis so much is because of the ‘tennis player physique’
What struck me from the aerial shots is that it is really a massive piece of infrastructure. In any sport I can think of, they’d seek to maximise use of all the capacity. As @Polski_Filip I’m sure would inform us, with enough money you can play any golf course including St Andrews. twickenham and Wembley are used for lots of matches throughout the season and Ascot and other race courses host horse racing throughout the year.
I’m clearly in a minority here, and I suspect a very small one at that, but I really enjoy tennis. There have been some excellent matches this year, though I was massively disappointed at the relatively early exit of Roger Federer, as watching him play is a wonderful aesthetic experience as well as a great sporting one. There’s also no question that the players generally regard Wimbledon as the major that they’d most want to win - it’s the oldest of the four, has all the history and blah blah blah.
All that said, the Lawn Tennis Association, who run tennis in this country, and the All England club, who own Wimbledon, are pretty horrible, anachronistic and reactionary organisations - less so then they used to be, but they’ve been forced into change and not done it by choice. Players always used to complain of their treatment at Wimbledon - they were made to feel like nasty common types who should be honoured to be permitted through the gates, rather than as the people who make the whole tournament possible.
All of this, of course, is redolent of the whole amateur bollocks that infests so much sport in this country - the LTA and All England Club pretty certainly looked down their noses at those who played the game for living, as was the case for so long in cricket, rugby union and athletics in this country. This attitude was exported - the International Lawn Tennis Federation only allowed professionals into their tournaments in 1968, in spite of the fact that there was sufficient interest in tennis for a professional game to thrive. An example of the utter idiocy of this is that the great Rod Laver won at Wimbledon in 1961 and 1962, then again in 1968 and 1969. In the intervening years, having turned professional, he was not allowed to enter.
But the tennis at Wimbledon can be truly brilliant - there’s certainly something about grass courts that favours a more adventurous and attacking game.
And, on @Bathsaint’s final point, I like Boris Becker. He’s totally mental, but mostly in a good way.
Televised pool big in the US of A and the Philippines (for some reason)
But any competent local league player in the UK would win every tournament.
My son in law organise competitions for the local area and has banned me on the fact that he knows I would win and it would be constued as a conspiraracy and Duterte would either jail him or shoot him.
