Money ball and players
The first Grand Slam of the year rolled off in Melbourne Australia, with delightful exhibition of Tennis by the seeded players and exciting new faces sending fancied names home. However, the global spotlight also fell on the questionable ethics of Tennis players. This week in an unprecedented scale the news media spelled out that Tennis has accommodated scandalous ‘match fixing’ over the years? The betting industry has been seen as wrong-doers for these developments. The matter has attracted media interest worldwide.
Match fixing and drug abuse have in the recent times undermined traditionally esteemed arenas of sport. Most of it came to being after sports became a professional event and player endorsements became a valuable commodity to earn money. Most of the players are not guilty on these counts but who, what and how can the few in it be controlled, is the issue sports faces today.
Novak Djokovic was firm and stated that the best players are not involved but admitted that he was indirectly offered money nearly 10 years ago. In recent times he has heard nothing. Now speculation is that there are eight players with bad record in the 2016 Australian-Open draw and even Wimbledon is not a safe haven. Roger Federer is reported to have said it is been ‘over stated and it is not that big’. Betting companies have come into sponsorship of Tennis events now. I am curious to know what route Tennis will take to clean up this mess.
Tennis galore – Verdasco classic
Even with this, the Australian-Open up to now has come out with inspiring Tennis. Up to this point of my writing, Nadal and Fernando Verdasco produced Tennis that will be remembered. Nadal has never before lost in the very first round and I have never seen Tennis so good as the fifth set like that of Verdasco. At one stage Nadal was leading two sets to one and it looked like the match will be over with the fourth set. When the match went to the fifth set, Verdasco lost the opening serve. Nadal took a commanding two love lead with his service game. That is all Nadal was able to get in that match. Verdasco won six games in a row beating Rafael Nadal! Verdasco served over 220kmph and with deadly accuracy. He totaled over ten aces in the fifth set alone. He returned Nadal’s services in the final game even faster than the serve. At match point Verdasco’s return did not give Nadal any time even to take one step after his serve. His power behind his ground strokes and lethal volley caught Nadal often two strides short by the fourth shot of the rally in the fourth and fifth sets. After his defeat, Nadal confessed I did all what I could do.
China’s Zhang Shui
She beat Simona Halep second seeded and world’s number two in straight sets. Zhang Shui’s father is a Football player and her mother is Basketball player. There is nothing missing in her game to be good Tennis player. She is competent in every department. At 25 she is tall well built and matured performer. This is her maiden big match win against a big name. In recent times she dropped down to 130 in the ranking from 30 and had to come through qualifying rounds to enter the Australian-Open main draw. Shui’s career has been not upwards at all. In fact she wanted to drop off and grow fruits and vegetables in China and go flower picking with friends for relaxation. Unable to control her emotion she broke down after the match.
Halep had no chance what so ever to turn the match around. The most striking part of Shui’s personality in this match was that she was a good front runner; like Pete Sampras and Roger Federer. Many players choke and play safe when they lead. In other words make the fatal mistake of changing the winning game. Halep’s Tennis has not been impressive in the 18 months.
Marvelous venue
The Australian-Open complex in Melbourne is a fine venue now. They have four indoor stadiums with the names of four of Australia’s legendary players. These take the ill effects of the summer heat and will enable to conclude the tournament on time. These contribute a lot to the good performances of the players. Tennis is high intensity interval sport. Scorching sun and freezing temperatures will reduce the good reaction of players in Tennis. In Australia no matches will be played outdoors if the heat hits 40 Celsius. The playing surface has been developed further and looks very good to play. It produced long ground stroke rallies and rewarded the serve and volley game equally.
Sports & correction course
In surprisingly stunning move world athletic body not only suspended participation of suspected athletes but a few nations guilty of it. It takes a few moments to sink this in. In this situation one has to stand and hail the players who on their own have stuck to the ‘code of good conduct’ voluntarily. In the Australian-Open there are dozens of them and will come out with fascinating Tennis in the next few days left in the event. Player’s alliance must be singularly to the skills of Tennis and nothing else. This is the code.
George Paldano, Former int. player; Accredited Coach of Germany; National, Davis-Cup, Federation Cup coach–. georgepaldano@yahoo.com