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 took a further step towards a defence of his 2025 title at the ATP Munich event with a comfortable 6-1, 6-2 hammering of Canada’s Gabriel Diallo on Thursday.
The German who won his only title of 2025 in his home nation faced an opponent carrying an injury in the 73-minute loss.
“I think he had some issues with his back and wasn’t serving fully in the second set anymore. Very unfortunate,” the 28-year-old world No. 3 said.
“Of course I am happy with the win and getting an easier match today.”
After days of cold weather, the spring sun finally made an appearance in the Bavarian capital.
Zverev advanced the the last eight with five breaks of serve and will bid fro a return to the semi-finals against fifth seed Francisco Cerundolo, a winner over Botic van de Zandschulp 6-3, 6-0.
“I played well from the baseline. I probably didn’t serve well in the first set, but it got better in the second. I am trying to improve every day,” the winner said as he reached a second straight quarter-final here..
Zverev has won their last four meetings.
“I’ve never beaten him on clay, which is his favourite surface, but I am definitely looking forward to the challenge,” Zverev said.
“I’m very happy to be at this stage, facing a tough opponent. That’s what it’s going to be tomorrow.”
Main photo:- Alexander Zverev with his 2025 Munich trophy
Roland Garros will continue to buck the trend of electronic linecalling, with Grand Slam tournament boss Amelie Mauresmo laying down the law on Thursday in Paris.
Unlike the other three majors which have sent teams of line judges into early retirement, the clay major will stick with the tried and true for another edition beginning on May 24.
In addition to tradition, the skid marks left on the dirt by ball makes determining in or out subjective enough to often require a keen eye.
“They are not 100% reliable,” Mauresmo said of the electronic systems currently in use.“Our decision was to stick to our way.”
But the former WTA No. 1 suddenly flipped the script when it comes to the controversial suggestion that women should play best-of-five-sets at the four majors just like the men.
The idea has drawn scorn from top women, but that does not dissuade Mauresmo.
“You can’t change a format overnight to go from best of three to best of five. But if we think about it, would it be only the semifinal, the final, or for all matches?” the former Wimbledon champion said.
“This could be a win-win situation but we have to talk about this with the women players.”
The Wimbledon winner admitted that she had often yearned during her playing days for longer contests.
“When I did the Masters (season-ending) final ( 2005) I would have wanted to do the final in best of five. So maybe one day, you never know.”
The former player would not be drawns out on the dreaded night matches at Roland Garros, formerly a fully daytinem event.
“We will talk about scheduling when the time comes,” she said.“Nothing is closed and nothing is set in stone, it depends on the draws and the lineups.”
Also on the table are likely to be the distribution of night matches, with women barely registering in the night-tiem hours during the 2025 edition.
On the final Saturday there has been one change: The men’s doubles final will be played before the women’s singles final and not afterward.
“We will talk about scheduling when the time comes,” the TD said. “Nothing is closed and nothing is set in stone, it depends on the draws and the lineups.”
In the continuing prize money arms race among the four Grand Slams, Roland Garros announced a rise to a global USD 72 million in player payouts, a rise of USD 6.25 million.
Carlos Alcaraz quit the Barcelona Open with a wrist injury and cast serious doubt on his fitness and availability for run-up events prior to next month’s French Open.
The Spaniard who lost his No. 1 ranking to Jannik Sinner through Sunday’s loss to the Italian in the Monte Carlo Casters final was unable to carry on at his home event in Barcelona.
Alcaraz quit the clay event prior to his second-round match against Tomas Machac. The Spaniard injured his wrist in a first-round win over Finn Otto Virtanen and warned that he could make no solid commitment yet to furue play due to his injury.
“It’s with great sadness I have to go back home to start my recovery as soon as possible with my team, with the doctors, with the physio, and try to be as healthy as possible as soon as possible for (future) tournaments,” he said.
“Let’s hope, that you can see me back on a tennis court as soon as possible.”
Alcaraz is now touch and go for the Madrid Masters oddly starting in a week next Wednesday as the ATP stretches out the Masters events in an unpopular money-spinning exercise.
Alcarraz could face a serious hit to his ranking if he cannot front up in the Spanish capital and next month in Rome, with titles to defend in both venues.
“But I’ve seen today’s tests, and it’s a slightly more serious injury than we all expected.
“In the end I have to listen to my body, what won’t affect me later on: That’s why I have to withdraw from this tournament.
“I never like to withdraw from any tournament, but especially from this one,”
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