Roland Garros 2021

[ursus arctos]

Irony. She dead.

https://twitter.com/benrothenberg/status/1399453017569742850

[Nefertiti2]

interesting thread from an arts journalist

https://twitter.com/tds153/status/1399456910059966467?s=20

I can't imagine that tennis bureaucrats, tennis sponsors, tennis audiences and tennis players both professional and amateur are overall big fans of Black Lives Matter

[ursus arctos]

Nike wants you to believe that BLM is one of their core values

[Hot Pepsi]

What everyone will learn from Osaka that being interesting creates problems and the safe way to get through media obligations is to answer all questions in a completely safe and neutral way so you don't ever have to engage the emotional side of your brain and instead give the same pre-learned safe rote responses that everyone else gives. If the media don't give some leeway to the likes of Osaka (or Nick Kyrgios, for that matter) you're going to end up with a bunch of people who give sponsor-safe comments about how they gave 100% but are disappointed to have been the second best player on the day, and you'll end up with a much worse product over all.

Isn't that how it is already and isn't that ok?

We get the illusion of insight into the players and the illusion that they care about their fans and we can continue to pretend like sports matter. Everyone wins.


BUT

I suspect that female athletes are expected to reveal a lot more about themselves and talk more about their feelings than male athletes. I can't prove that, but I suspect it's true.



I do like to hear players' explain the X's and O's of what happened or their strategy.
But some players are better at that than others and some can't do it immediately after it happened.

Lebron, on the other hand, is a genius.

[Hot Pepsi]

Nike wants you to believe that it is one of their core values

What? Irony?

[ursus arctos]

BLM

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Well, that escalated quickly. Do "the Grand Slams" have the power to bar her from Wimbledon too as a punishment? If they do might there be a player boycott in solidarity? And where the fuck is Janik?

[Hot Pepsi]

BLM

Oh, I see.
I do suspect that Black Dollars Matter is among their core values.

[ursus arctos]

Thus my particular phrasing

[San Bernardhinault]

Isn't that how it is already and isn't that ok?

We get the illusion of insight into the players and the illusion that they care about their fans and we can continue to pretend like sports matter. Everyone wins.

Well, that's my point. Osaka gives far better value when answering than those hockey players do. But what she'll learn is that for her there's no value in being interesting or thinking or being considered, and the only value is giving answers about the consistency of her crosscourt backhand and praising the organisers for how nice the locker rooms are. If you train yourself to say nothing interesting, you presumably take a lot of the mental pressure off. But the consequences are that everything is much duller. I'd rather have one interview from Osaka being normal during a tournament than 20 minutes of dull nothingness after six different matches.

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/the_kk/status/1399473406978891777

[DCI Harry Batt]

I find it absolutely extraordinary that there are people supporting the competition organisers. Shameful.

[delicatemoth]

Absolutely with TonTon.

This statement is so much more gracious than the organisers and the media deserve.

https://twitter.com/blgtylr/status/1399435568388444166

[delicatemoth]

I'm angry. How the fuck is she the one in the wrong for not wanting to engage with this mindless shit?

https://twitter.com/kainazamaria/status/1399465026621222914

[ursus arctos]

She's not.

This is Piers Morgan's sole useful purpose.

Knowing that one is on the other side of an issue from him removes any lingering doubt one might have about its correctness.

[Hot Pepsi]

If she tried to talk to them before skipping the PC, that’s different than if she simply didn’t show up. But either way, that’s just a miscommunication between her management and the tournament. It shouldn’t happen, given what publicists get paid, but no big deal.

She has to do what’s best for her health, regardless, and the tournament should respect that.

It may be an obvious point, but the fact she used Twitter to explain herself shows very clearly who ultimately has leverage here and it isn’t the journalists. It’s amazing how many of them haven’t noticed that yet.

It’s going to be up to the players to work together on this. If they agree to stop answering dumb questions, maybe the press will stop asking them.

Movie stars figured this out a long time ago. They still have to “do press” but they have as much control over the questions as they want to and we all just have to take it or leave it. That’s not ok for politicians or CEOs, but for entertainers, which is what athletes are, it’s fine. They know that if they’re too boring, that it will make them less marketable, but they have every right to make that trade off if they want to.*

It’s nice to see at least some reporters recognizing their responsibility here. I’ve read so many self-aggrandizing editorials from sportswriters who insist their unfettered access to the lockerroom is the foundation of a free society.


* And, as it turns out, it doesn’t usually matter. Michael Jordan is not a particularly charismatic person, but he’s a massive brand. Same with Tiger Woods.

[anton pulisov]

Osaka withdraws from Paris

(Nicked from a headline)

[San Bernardhinault]

Is Petra Kvitova's "post-match press requirements" injury, forcing her withdrawal, a deliberate act in support of Osaka or just ironic?

[Sporting]

Is Petra Kvitova's "post-match press requirements" injury, forcing her withdrawal, a deliberate act in support of Osaka or just ironic?

I don't think it was on purpose but I was asking myself if the apparent lack of public support by current players for Osaka is due to conviction or fear, or simply disinterest.

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/josemorgado/status/1399513600226701315

[Incandenza]

I do like to hear players' explain the X's and O's of what happened or their strategy.
But some players are better at that than others and some can't do it immediately after it happened.

Lebron, on the other hand, is a genius.

Caitlin Thompson (a tennis journalist who started the fancy-looking journal Racquet) was on the Second Captains podcast today and brought up something I wasn't aware of--for the Grand Slam events, the tournament organizers give credentials to a ton of journalists, many of whom don't cover tennis at all any other time of the year, and some who are just there to try to ask provocative questions to get a rise out of the players. She drew a comparison to the Super Bowl, where there are reporters that are there for the event more than to ask anything relevant to the game.

[lambers]

Is there anything in their contracts to stop the players taking the Marshawn Lynch approach?

[ursus arctos]

I'm not sure, but I do know that players (particularly women) who have given perfunctory answers have been roundly criticized for same

[Janik]

Is there anything in their contracts to stop the players taking the Marshawn Lynch approach?

I can't see how that would help. In fact taking a combative approach like that could make her feel even worse. It's being asked (edit - not asked, ordered!) to sit there in front of a bunch of people in the first place that is the problem, not the actual answering questions part.

[Janik]

Oh, and hello. I've been super-busy with Sports admin due to COVID so have stepped off Planet Tennis for the moment. I've not seen anything of the warm-up events, so really don't feel informed enough to comment. I did watch Coco Gauff vs Alexsandra Krunic yesterday though, which reminded me of what I'm missing. :-)