ATP
Wimbledon: Game, Set and Chatbot (without Andy)
WIMBLEDON has been in the news this last week – for all the wrong reasons.
And they only have themselves to blame.
First up, they sparked a backlash after leaving an image if Andy Murray out of their promotional campaign for this year’s Championships.
OK, so Andy is a ‘former’ winner – and some may argue ‘yesterday’s hero’, but hell, he’s the only Brit to win the event since before World War 2 – fred Perry in 1936.
The two prominent characters this year are Carlos Alcaraz and, wait for it … Jannik Sinner.
Serena and Venus Williams, who have twelve Wimbledon singles titles between them, are even pushed to the background.
To leave out arguably Britain’s greatest player is a disgrace.
Next up, AI generated commentary of some matches. Is this for real?
Apparently it is.
According to the Guardian newspaper, it’s Game, Set and Chatbot!
Wimbledon has teamed up with IBM to introduce AI-generated audio commentary and captions in its online highlights videos.
IBM’s watsonx AI platform has been trained in the “unique language of tennis”, and will also offer so-called expert analysis of player performance.
Both male and female-sounding commentators will be used, although the voices will have no human input.
Tradition out of the window, in favour of a very dangerous trend.
As one commentator put it, “You cannot replace John McEnroe doing commentary, that human element always needs to be there.”
What’s next – of course, AI generated images of players – no need for humans. Replacing humans with machines is a dangerous option.
AI stands for Artificial Intelligence, or is it Artificial Intervention?
SECURITY at Wimbledon will need to be at its very best in a couple of weeks as reports surface that this eco terrorists Just Stop Oil are planning a protest or two at the event.
The ragtag mob of idiots, who have been disrupting British life for a while, threw orange powder across the table at the World Snooker Championships recently.
The Sun newspaper, Britain’s biggest circulation daily, reported last week that this group may glue themselves to Centre Court, or to the umpire’s chair.
AND talking of the umpire’s chair, Wimbledon’s courts will have a different look this year with Barclays Bank branding on each of the eighteen umpires’ chairs as part of a new £20 million per year sponsorship.
Sadly, the traditional Slazenger and Robinsons barley water signage is no more, in favour of yet another globalist corporate entity taking over sport.
Barclays will host a clubhouse and fanzone during the tournament, and have signed up American Frances Tiafoe to star in a TV advert.
TENNIS legend John McEnroe made an extraordinary statement last week when he said ‘winning isn’t everything’.
At Stanford University’s commencement ceremony, McEnroe told students that the lasting memory for most sports fans wasn’t always the result of the game they had watched but the intensity and thrill they had experienced during it.
McEnroe, in cap and gown, reminded students of his epic match against Bjorn Borg in 1980.
“The truth is most people don’t remember who won that match,” he said.
“The lesson here is you don’t have to win to be part of something that is truly magical.
“In sports, you often hear the phrase, ‘Winning is everything.’ But in reality, it’s not … After you succeed at something, you expect the skies to open and happiness to rain down on you.
“But that rarely happens. The truth is victory can be isolating.”
Victory also brings untold riches and open doors to a life outside sport most of us could only dream of.
If a J. McEnroe had been nothing more than a journeyman tennis player 40-odd years would any of us remember him? Of course not.
In sport winning IS everything – losers are quickly forgotten.
Winners take the prizes, attract the big endorsements and sponsorships. Losers don’t.
In terms of life, maybe winning isn’t ‘everything’ – but it helps. It helps big time.
OF all the wildcard entries to be named for Wimbledon last week, one name stands out … Venus Williams.
The older of the siblings, Venus will make her 24th appearance in the singles draw after the 43-year-old was given a wildcard entry on Wednesday.
A five-time Wimbledon singles champion who reached the final in 2017, she is now ranked 697th in the world.
BREAK Point is back – with its fly on the wall look at the world of tennis with the new season showing world No.1 Iga Swiatek getting her haircut.
All good so far, until, wait for it, her psychologist jumps in and suggesting how her hair should be cut.
Swiatek has often credited her sports psychologist Daria Abramowicz for helping her, but ruining over a hair cut?
Abramowicz :”We just have to make sure that she is able to tie it back up.”
Swiatek: “I refuse to sacrifice my hair for the sport when everything else is.”
Tne scene prompted a big response with one comment asking why a psychologist should be present for a haircut.
“Why is your sports psychologist at your hair appointment????”
Why indeed.
EMMA Raducanu made a surprising, yet refreshing, admission last week that sometimes she wishes she had never won the 2021 US Open.
“Since then I’ve had a lot of setbacks, one after the other. I am resilient, and my tolerance is high, but it’s not easy, she told the London Times.
“Sometimes I think to myself I wish I’d never won the US Open, I wish that didn’t happen. I was under so much pressure to perform, people had no idea what was going on and I had to have this facade, to keep everything inside. It has been really hard.”
Injuries and the lack of stability in her coaching team has been a major drawback for the young Brit – five coaches since that win in New York.
But she’s not giving up, battling back from surgery and looking to play a number WTA-1000 events before the US Open in September.
ONE player who has sadly decided to call it a day is Estonian Anett Kontaveit.
The former world No. 2, still only 27, will retire from professional tennis after Wimbledon after a series of injuries.
Kontaveit won six titles in her career after turning professional in 2010 and reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in 2020.
AND FINALLY…
Britain’s Princess of Wales played a winner last week as she beat tennis legend Roger Federer.
Kate, 41, beat the eight-times champion when they had a quick game at Wimbledon as they were filming a training video for ball boys and girls ahead of this year’s Wimbledon.
The Princess had nothing but praise for the ball boys and girls: “The amount of work it takes, it is incredible to see,” she said.
Watch below…
Alexander Zverev on Thursday made a long-sought after return to the Shanghai Masters semi-finals, booking his first final four at the event since 2019, defeating Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4.
The 2027 year-end No. 1 last got this far as the Covid pandemic began to surface in China in 2019. The event was not played 2020-2022, with the German making modest progress here over the past three editions since resumption.
After winning his 62nd match of the season, the 29-year-old was pleased with his performance.
“I think it was a huge step up. From just being on the court I felt both of us were playing really well.
“I was, a lot of the time, outhitting Alex, which is difficult to do from the baseline because he is so fast and he loves this kind of court speed here.
“I felt good and I’m happy with the step up from the past couple of matches.”
Zverev advanced in 78 minutes, sending over 10 aces as he defeated the Australian for the ninth time in their 13 matches.
Added the reigning Roland Garros and Flushing Meadows Grand Slam champion: “I’ve been handling pressure quite okay this year. In a way you play a bit more relaxed.
“Once Jannik (SInner) unfortunately announced he won’t play for the rest of the year, I’m 4,000 points ahead of everyone else, so I trust myself enough that I’m going to win [enough matches].
Zverev will play for the final to wrap up the Asian swing as he takes on Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who advanced when Arthur Gea quit their quarter-final with injury.
Alexander Zverev marked his new status as sure-thing year-end No. 1 by reaching the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters on Tuesday by posting a fighting 7-6 (6), 4-6, 7-6 (1) victory over Alexander Bublik..
The 29-year-old German whose two Grand Slam titles this season and the absence of injured Jannik Sinner helped him into the top spot for the first time, needed to save four early set points and deal with an ank;e issue on his journey into the last eight.
Zverev moved through in just under two and three-quarter hours to set up a match with last week’s Beijing finalist Alex de Minaur, The Australian booked his spot over Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-4.
Zverev will be playing in his 40th quarter-final in a Masters 1000 and is on the hunt for an eighth trophy this season.
He said his ankle was giving problems – but not enough to affect the match outcome.”It was kind of understandable because I have been playing a lot of tennis, which is kind of a good sign because I have been playing well.
“I’m starting to feel my body more and more but happy to get through. It was a difficult match because he has been playing amazing tennis,” he said after coming from a break down in the deciding set.
De Minaur has bounced back nicely in Shanghai after quitting the Tokyo final against Carlos Alcaraz with an adductor muscle injury.
Stefanos Tsitsipas willed himself to a 401st Tour win on Monday, with the Greek advancing to the Shanghai Masters 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, over world No. 12 Taylor Fritz to reach the fourth round.
The win leaves the Greek with a 5-2 record against the American in a series dating back nine years.
The cerebral Tsitsipas credited the victory to some simple mental gymnastics.
“I was manifesting today’s match and trying to put myself in a victorious situation,” he said.
“I’ve always had big fights against him. Some of my biggest matches were played facing him on the other side of the court. I had to up my level.
“Once I started doing that, a lot of doors were open and I was really able to unleash my biggest potential out there.”
The match ended on an unusual note as the ball twice fell from the pocket of Fritz, causing each of the points in question to be replayed.
Tsitsipas missed on three match points in the mistake-marred game but secured the fightback victory a game later after two and a quarter hours.
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