Tennis !

[The binman chronicles]

Utterly bonkers. Adam Peaty has something like the 25 fastest times ever seen in his event. It's a level of dominance in his sport that I don't think any British sportsperson has ever achieved. Here is a guy who has won 3 Olympic golds, 8 World Championship golds, 16 European Championship golds, and 3 Commonwealth golds, yet he's beaten by someone who has won 1 major and has been largely phoning it in ever since.

Or you have Sarah Storey, winning 5 Olympic golds in swimming before switching to cycling and winning 12 more in that. I guess she's not photogenic and competing in a sport beloved of the chattering classes though. What a country we are. This is up there with Zara Phillips winning it.

Adam Peaty is a fine athlete but swimming just doesn't catch the attention that Tennis does. There is also the fact that there have been several olympic gold medalists for the UK in the pool in recent times. How many female Tennis grand slam victories can you remember in your lifetime? I think we are the same age so I'm pretty confident that is a big fat zero.

If Peaty was a Phelps/Spitz dominating all disciplines then fair enough he might deserve the top gong, but he is in his own little niche.

And just on the last line "This is up there with Zara Phillips winning it", Radacanu is the only person male or female to have ever won a grand slam whilst being a qualifier having to play all those extra games. And then didn't drop a set while doing it, in just her second slam, another record.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Adam Peaty is a fine athlete but swimming just doesn't catch the attention that Tennis does. There is also the fact that there have been several olympic gold medalists for the UK in the pool in recent times. How many female Tennis grand slam victories can you remember in your lifetime? I think we are the same age so I'm pretty confident that is a big fat zero.

If Peaty was a Phelps/Spitz dominating all disciplines then fair enough he might deserve the top gong, but he is in his own little niche.

And just on the last line "This is up there with Zara Phillips winning it", Radacanu is the only person male or female to have ever won a grand slam whilst being a qualifier having to play all those extra games. And then didn't drop a set while doing it, in just her second slam, another record.

Fine athlete is an incredible understatement. As I said, he has the 20 fastest times in history. In other words, his 20th best time would still be a world record. That's an utterly absurd level of domination and places him up there with the likes of Bradman, Bolt, and Merckx in my opinion in terms of just how much better he is than every other competitor in their chosen discipline. To suggest he needs to win other strokes suggests a misunderstanding of the sport itself. Would you say because Radacanu didn't win the doubles and the badminton that she's no good with a racquet? That's silly.

I don't doubt that winning the US open is a fine achievement, but I'm also mindful that Leylah Fernandez was also unseeded as she made it to the final so it's quite possible that it was just a fluke up there with Leicester winning the PL. By contrast, Peaty hasn't lost a competitive race in the 100m breaststroke for 7 years!

 

[duncs pigeon]

Utterly bonkers. Adam Peaty has something like the 25 fastest times ever seen in his event. It's a level of dominance in his sport that I don't think any British sportsperson has ever achieved. Here is a guy who has won 3 Olympic golds, 8 World Championship golds, 16 European Championship golds, and 3 Commonwealth golds, yet he's beaten by someone who has won 1 major and has been largely phoning it in ever since.

Or you have Sarah Storey, winning 5 Olympic golds in swimming before switching to cycling and winning 12 more in that. I guess she's not photogenic and competing in a sport beloved of the chattering classes though. What a country we are. This is up there with Zara Phillips winning it.

Its over 12 months mate, not 3 or 4 years. Great achievement by all the atheletes imo. My vote went to Raheem Sterling, hes had a great 12mnth, again imo.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Its over 12 months mate, not 3 or 4 years. Great achievement by all the atheletes imo. My vote went to Raheem Sterling, hes had a great 12mnth, again imo.

Peaty won 4 European Championship and 2 Olympic gold medals this year, in the process became the first British swimmer to ever defend an Olympic title.

It's great that Radacanu won the US Open, but we have to remember that the highest ranked player she beat en route was 12th in the world, and she only defeated two seeded players in her 10 matches. She's never beaten any player ranked in the top 10 in the world. It's a bit like lauding England's progress in the Euros and World Cup, when they didn't beat a single team ranked higher than them in the world.

Maybe Radacanu will kick on next year, but she's got a way to go before she can show that her run wasn't just extremely lucky.

 

[ToffeeTim]

I think she deserved to win it. It was the best achievement during the year since it was completely unexpected, in a major tournament, where not British player has won in decades.

I get that Peaty is probably the better sportsperson because he is so consistently good and has been for so long. But in terms of a single achievement, then the US open in those circumstances is greater than Peaty's gold medal, although that's probably partly due to the fact he's so good that everyone knew he would win.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I think she deserved to win it. It was the best achievement during the year since it was completely unexpected, in a major tournament, where not British player has won in decades.

I get that Peaty is probably the better sportsperson because he is so consistently good and has been for so long. But in terms of a single achievement, then the US open in those circumstances is greater than Peaty's gold medal, although that's probably partly due to the fact he's so good that everyone knew he would win.

Firstly, Murray won the US Open in 2012. Secondly, as I said, she beat 2 seeded players and no one from the top 10. The jury remains out if she will be a multiple slam winner because she hasn't beaten a single top 10 player all year. It seems the British public likes luck rather than real talent.

 

[The binman chronicles]

Firstly, Murray won the US Open in 2012. Secondly, as I said, she beat 2 seeded players and no one from the top 10. The jury remains out if she will be a multiple slam winner because she hasn't beaten a single top 10 player all year. It seems the British public likes luck rather than real talent.

I think you are a bit out of whack with the public on this Bruce, did someone hit you with a tennis racket when you were younger?

Her US open win was watched by 10 million people, the 100m Olympic final only got 5m, Peaty probably got less than half of that figure. It's what captures the imagination and as good as he is he's going to rely on everyone else having a poor year to take sonething like SPOTY. Don't forget her Wimbledon run was amazing too and she doesn't need to win anything else for the rest of her life, because she did what Durie, Croft, Baltacha, Smith, Konta and the rest couldn't do throughout their entire careers and as the adage goes you can only beat who's in front of you.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I think you are a bit out of whack with the public on this Bruce, did someone hit you with a tennis racket when you were younger?

Her US open win was watched by 10 million people, the 100m Olympic final only got 5m, Peaty probably got less than half of that figure. It's what captures the imagination and as good as he is he's going to rely on everyone else having a poor year to take sonething like SPOTY. Don't forget her Wimbledon run was amazing too and she doesn't need to win anything else for the rest of her life, because she did what Durie, Croft, Baltacha, Smith, Konta and the rest couldn't do throughout their entire careers and as the adage goes you can only beat who's in front of you.

Oh for sure, I get that it's a popularity contest, I just don't agree with that. I mean it's great that Tom Daley was there, but he won his gold medal as part of a team with Matty Lee, but Daley is nominated because he's a media personality and no one would be able to recognise Lee if they passed him in the street. SPOTY has become a media love-in for "celebrities" who are created by the media. That's why Peaty chose to do Strictly this year, to raise his celebrity level. Radacanu is a darling of the Tatler class, and all who wish they were in the Tatler class.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

It's a good job she hasn't been hugely hyped up and the country has kept her feet on the ground

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Since the US Open she's played 6 matches, winning 2 of them, with the highest rank opponent she's beaten being 106th and only one of those 6 opponents being ranked inside the top 50. She played a decent enough player today and got utterly trounced.

 

[LocalNative]

Since the US Open she's played 6 matches, winning 2 of them, with the highest rank opponent she's beaten being 106th and only one of those 6 opponents being ranked inside the top 50. She played a decent enough player today and got utterly trounced.

Women's tennis is mental and has been for years. Nobody is able to dominate it and everyone is so inconsistent.

Raducanu, without wanting to undermine her achievement too much, had a fairly easy run to the trophy. Only one of her opponents had ever got beyond a QF. It's almost criminal how much she's been hyped up, terrible amount of pressure including giving her an MBE which is absolutely absurd.

 

[The binman chronicles]

Since the US Open she's played 6 matches, winning 2 of them, with the highest rank opponent she's beaten being 106th and only one of those 6 opponents being ranked inside the top 50. She played a decent enough player today and got utterly trounced.

Didn't she have covid less than a month ago? Perhaps that has something to do with it.

You are saying the country has hyped her up but you seem very keen on knocking her down Bruce? Let her just get on with it, whether she goes on to be a brilliant player or not doesn't matter she won a GS that lifted British women's tennis. Had a virtually unknown rider won the Tour de France before Wiggins, they would have got the MBE, Sports Personality of the Year and so on and they could have disappeared shortly afterwards without another win but they would have deservedly taken those awards for doing something that no other had/for so long.

 

[wandyr79]

Since the US Open she's played 6 matches, winning 2 of them, with the highest rank opponent she's beaten being 106th and only one of those 6 opponents being ranked inside the top 50. She played a decent enough player today and got utterly trounced.

Only read this page but man, you really don't like her do you

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Didn't she have covid less than a month ago? Perhaps that has something to do with it.

You are saying the country has hyped her up but you seem very keen on knocking her down Bruce? Let her just get on with it, whether she goes on to be a brilliant player or not doesn't matter she won a GS that lifted British women's tennis. Had a virtually unknown rider won the Tour de France before Wiggins, they would have got the MBE, Sports Personality of the Year and so on and they could have disappeared shortly afterwards without another win but they would have deservedly taken those awards for doing something that no other had/for so long.

Like Geoghan Hart winning the Giro last year, you mean? You doubtless won't have heard of him both because he's not in a Tory-friendly sport and, like Radacanu, has not been able to replicate what was largely a fluke victory.

Only read this page but man, you really don't like her do you

It's not so much her that I don't like as the people who have bigged her up to be something incredible. My first foray into this thread was to suggest that Peaty was more deserving as he has not only dominated his sport for years but set the 20 odd quickest times ever seen, which is a level of dominance no other British athlete has ever achieved in their sport. By contrast, Radacanu still has some way to go to prove that her US Open win wasn't just extremely lucky. Hopefully she'll do that and will win many majors, but she's had the kind of plaudits heaped on her that would have been warranted at the end of her career after a fortnight. It's absurd.

 

[The binman chronicles]

Like Geoghan Hart winning the Giro last year, you mean? You doubtless won't have heard of him both because he's not in a Tory-friendly sport and, like Radacanu, has not been able to replicate what was largely a fluke victory.

It's a bit different as Froome had already won that a couple of years before Hart and to be truthful in the imagination of the public the other grand tours are never going to be the same as 'The Tour'.

Had Virginia Wade won her last slam in 2019 then it would be a case of Radacanwho? too. It's the number of years in between, 2 whole generations without seeing a British Woman win a slam, just like it was for Murray, just as it was for Wiggins and Thomas - as you know first Welsh winner - had Froome been Welsh then Thomas wouldn't have got a look in the year he won SPOTY.