Anyone who thinks it is easy to return a serve coming at 140mph is just a complete idiot! We would not even be able to react at that speed let alone return the ball so how anyone can criticise the special talents of being a pro Tennis player is beyond me! The same as with a top class batsmen in Cricket who has to react to a hard leather ball coming at him at 100mph off a 22 yard wicket. These guys have incredible skill and talent and should be recognised as such where ever they are placed in their sports world rankings.
not enough respect shown to so many sports and sports people in this country and probably too much respect shown to football and footballers
Agree with Munky, Henman was as good as anyone on the day.If the rain hadn't come to Ivanivich's(?) aid in the semi final in 2001, there is a good chance Henman could have gone on to win that year.
Agree 100% Supers. The really skillfull games IMO are Golf,Cricket,and Tennis. You can't hide in any of these sports. Football I agree is shown far to much respect by media and fans alike. Average Footballers being paid more in a week than most people earn in a year.
murray is a completely different beast to henman. 'tiger tim' was always punching above his weight at wimbledon really. the crowd often drove him through a round further than his ability probably warranted but there's no denying he was very good, just not quite good enough to win a major. don't think he even reached a major final - lots of semis though! unfortunately, as vectis says, his year should have been 2001 but alas the british weather helped put paid to his hopes.
don't get me wrong, football is a great sport and can be inspirational at times but so can cricket, so can athletics, so can tennis so can so many others. there is so much wrong with football these days though that although i love it, it's become difficult to love.
Unfortunately for Henman he played at the same time as arguably the greatest grass court champion of all time in Pete Sampras. Fifteen years ago Tennis was a much different game when baseline rallys were very rare with serve and volley being the name of the game. Thankfully Tennis has evolved since then into 20 or 30 shot rallys being the norm these days. Henman didn't have the serve to compete with the big guns from his era whereas Murray is well equiped in all facets of the current game. He will go on to dominate Mens Tennis for the next 2 or 3 years alongside Novak.
Slightly O/T Cricket is and always will be my first sport.Test match 1st day tomorrow awaits me at Trent Bridge. There is something really gut wrenching about that !st day of a new series, if you don't get it,I commiserate 'cause it really is special. Football is tainted by too much money.
I couldn't agree more Yarco Cricket is one of my true sporting passions a great game played by true gentlemen.
3-1 england is my ashes prediction. got an inkling the aussies may spring a surprise victory at some point but i just don't see anything in their attack to scare us
potentially this summer could be just as majestic as last summer (euro 2012 excluded). i'm sure there's others but we've already had murray win wimbledon, the lions produced a stunning tour victory against the aussies, justin rose won the US open, chris froome is a serious contender for the tour de france, and with the ashes beginning tomorrow, it's all looking set for another memorable summer of sport!
Doesn't it make you feel so proud to be British when you consider that for such a small Island we have produced some great sports men and women over the last few years! It is ironic that at the time of our greatest sporting era our national sport of football is at it's nadir!
I've seen that lots of people are predicting 3-1 mate, I however cannot see how they are going to win any of them so I'm going for a 4-0 with one test lost to the weather Oh, but how nice would a 5-0 be?
"Small island"? Well, small is a relative term. However, by population we are the 22nd largest nation in the world so the real question is whether we punch above or below our weight in sporting success per head of population from a world-wide perspective. The table of Olympic medals per head of population at the 2012 Olympics had us in 23rd place, i.e. much where one would expect (discounting the fact that we were the host country, which usually brings benefits in terms of medals gained). The success of individual sportsmen and sportswomen is something to be applauded and admired wherever in the world "standings" their home nation comes. But from a national perspective the report reads "As good but no better than should be expected". That said, since in so many other fields we cannot even say that of our country, I guess we are entitled to feel some satisfaction; the report could after all be a lot worse .......
We are also the 8th largest Island in geographic terms! Just thought I would throw this in as we are indulging in statistics! On a more politically sensitive subject if you discounted all the illegal immigrants and asylum seekers we would probably be around the 40th mark in terms of population.
You are skating on thin ice there Robbie. That is not what the happy clappy brigade want to hear - statistics trying to prove you are wrong and personal abuse will undoubtedly follow!!
Sorry fella, but the only personal abuse I can see on this thread is either directed at Andy Murray, Alex Salmond or Dave Cameron - that is of course unless you want to consider your labelling or me or those others who took enjoyment from Muzza's monumental victory a "happy clapper" as abuse, though I'm quite happy to take it on the chin myself
