Grew up watching Connors Lendl Borg McEnroe Navratilova Evert Graf Edberg Sampras Agassi Loved that era
My favourite player was Stan Smith and after him, Pete Sampras. I had a soft spot for Jimmy Connors as well. His was the cohort that started the two handed backhand and it was strange to watch then, not so much now as lots of players do it. I have to admit to liking Nadal. I think his, what you might call 'cheating' is based on his extreme OCD. I always thought it was amazing that a right handed person plays tennis left handed. I've never seen that before. As for the toilet breaks, it's obvious some use them to disrupt, like Djokovic did yesterday. I wondered why he needed to take his bag with him. It's usually the player who is losing that needs the break. Funny that.
Liverpool new pitch installed. https://www.thisisanfield.com/2023/07/liverpools-new-pitch-installed-and-a-glance-inside-anfield/
I'm a massive nadal fan. While Henman got me into Wimbledon, Nadal turned me into a hard-core tennis fan. I get why people like Federer more than him and I acknowledge that Djokovic is more successful, but I feel like Nadal has had to change his game more than the other two to stay successful - especially his serve.
Haven't watched much tenis since the 90s... Not that I watched a lot of it then. With only Internet TV, I haven't seen MUCH live in over a decade now. That said, I love playing tennis, but don't particularly enjoy watching it. I liked Boris Becker as a kid. And Chang. Becker obviously from my German side, Chang because... Not sure why... Lol... Maybe because he was a novelty, not many Asians in the sport at the time so as a kid wanted him to do well.
I prefer watching the men. The women's is too tippy tappy for me and their final this year was a complete let down. It's a game where there is nowhere to hide, just the player's power, skills and wits. I detest the grunting so I have to watch on mute.
As I said yesterday, the grunting put me right off tennis. Watching on mute takes away so much of the atmosphere though. I dislike most football commentators, but muting them destroys it. You need the ambient noise, imo.
It's a strange one. Watching the footie with sound with no fans in the ground was awful. Watching with a full house on mute is different. I happily give up the ambient noise to not have to hear the inane ramblings.
I will say that if I watch the footie with someone else, I always have the sound on. Couldn't imagine watching it on mute with a lot of (or a few) others around me.
Football more fun to play than watch too... Although don't do that anymore after it buggered my ankles too many times. Tennis... Definitely. Baseball/rounders: 100% more fun to play than watch. Cricket: nah, that's still boring to play. Always hated cricket days back in school! Competitive sex: more fun to play. Cycling... Absolutely better to do than to watch. Martial Arts... Yup Darts... Ok, not a sport... But yeah better. Snooker/pool .. Much better to play Kabaddi... Looks stupid watching it, but lots of fun to play. Ice Hockey... Ok, finally found one I'd rather watch than play.
Ronaldo is such an arrogant little twat... He now claims that people are going to Saudi Arabia because of him. Says (probably correctly, I don't know) S.A. league is more competitive than MLS where Messi is... And indicates that he wouldn't go back to Europe because European leagues have gone down hill and not good enough for him. (As if S.A. league is higher tier than England, or Spanish leagues just because he's there).
Commentary only really grates on me when we’re not winning They can rattle on all they like as long as we’re 2-0 up!
I don't know why exactly, but I find the majority of commentators really irritating. This has gone on for decades - for me, the best commentators are the ones I don't really notice. I never really got the eulogies over John Motson when he passed away. I've nothing against the man personally, but as a commentator he got on my tits as much as any and I'd be a hypocrite if I said anything else. I want a commentator to do no more than give a commentary - I'm not really interested in their opinions and side chat and endless statistics. I've watched games where it's almost five minutes into the match before they even start to talk about the actual game (unless there's some serious goal-mouth action). It's probably me, but it's just not my thing. I don't get a commentator at a game, and I don't really need one on the telly, apart from identifying players I don't know or can't make out clearly.
A small point maybe but there will be families with a member who is blind or visually impaired who needs the commentary. I like Solid's comment about Amazon having an on/off commentary function.
If i may offer a comment here. radio is far better for football. We used to turn off tv commentary and play radio before they put the delays in. Incidentally anyone wanting a radio option can go to LFC TV but they have to put up with one of the absolute worst experiences imaginable John Aldridge giving spoiler alerts before the plays are being called and then him sniffing and sniffing and sniffing whenever he is not talking. Its a great advertisement globally for the club.
Exactly why I think commentators should stick to describing the play rather than offering their opinions on everything and indulging in chit-chat with their co-hosts.
