Nicked this idea from another forum: what will you do when your tennis favourite(s) retire?

I have always liked watching ATP more because of the type of tennis so after Federer retires (which will be along way away by the sounds of it :D ), I will find another favourite(s) even though he will remain my number 1 hero.

There's certainly lots of talented up and comers in the line anyway.

As for WTA I only really support the WS as they were the best players in my childhood and I like their games alot better than any of the rest. I think after they go I will follow the women's game only from a distance.

At the moment I watch any damn tennis that comes on TV however. Whether it is a GrandSlam or the Centre Parks U10's championship that seem's to come on Sky once in a while. But maybe when I am a little older I will cut down to probably just GrandSlams and Masters Series.

Your thoughts on what you will do? I will possibly drink the day away when Fed retires to get over it though.

:hide: :cheers: :hide:

I'm not entirely surprised but it seems a little disappointing that you only follow a couple of players on the WTA tour. There are some really fine players on tour right now and the depth is increasing all the time... :shrug:

I'll say that my favourite, even if he is 40, would still beat the cr@p out of this then weak era! ;)

More seriously, what I like in tennis is watching different styles, see how champions can hold their nerves...or lose them, see new styles emerge from new personailities but also technologies. And see those games styles and personalities match up. I however will miss Roger's beautiful game and i am sure we won't see someone like him for a while. I'd be very surprised. Gasquet, even if he were to be more consistent and deliver, hasn't Fed's grace sadly. Grace is so rare!

That's a good point. I used to watch every match from Borg to Edberg times and then my interest dropped in the late 90s. Goran's Wimby win was a great isolated moment in that less interesting period for me. Federer definetely raised the interest of the game again, when everybody expected Roddick Philippoussis in the final, came a talented player but unlike many others talented players, Federer could deliver under pressure. That is priceless!

Oh I know about the state of the WTA for sure and all the players basically, but I only support WS. Why weren't you surprised?

It's just something about the style of WTA tennis that I don't like as much as ATP, apart from said players.

I hope I will be able to say that when Federer is 40 but without a new GOAT contender and with just a host of very good players who are great to watch. :ok:

Nice idea for a thread FW :ok:

When Becker faded my real intense interest in tennis faded as well. I've never really found someone to follow quite as well. I've admired the games of Sampras and Federer, to some extent Nadal but I have never really supported them like I did with Becker. The aggressiveness that Nalbandian every now and again interests me....but nothing has come close to catching my imagination as seeing Boris boom onto the scene with the big serve and the booming groundstrokes and the fantastic diving volleying (not quite Edberg-esque volleys but stunning nevertheless).......

So I guess the question you could put to me would be... What DID I do when my favourite retired?
Well, I lost interest a little but still followed the beautiful game that is tennis...just with a little less passion :cheers:

Well i've followed a lot of players for a long time now eg Venus, Serena, Pierce, Lindsay etc. I'll be particulary gutted when Venus retires :( :(

It's hard to know who i'll support when they've all gone. I mean i like players like Peer, Safarova, Li etc, but i dont know if i'll have that strong sense of support like i did for the others. Look at me getting all forlorn and sentimental roflmao

roflmao

Well my favourites retired in the 1990s so I have been miserable for years! roflmao

I like Safarova too. I have a feeling i will support Maria when Linds and Mary finally retire. I never used to bother about her at all but i like her more and more as time goes by

That's often the way. I have a confession to mak eand I hate sayign it, but i never liked Martina Nav at first, then she grew on me. Really is one of my idols, and not just in sport but in all idols. What a woman :bow: Ditto Steffi, then she grew on me but Nav is my fave. :D And all that trouble she had over defecting, her sexuality etc and she still managed to be the best. Amazing :bow: :bow: :bow: I like other female players but i don't think I'll ever idolise anyoen like her ever again in my lifetime.

Well my favorites are long gone (Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Gabrielle Sabatini, Boris Becker). I'll probably try to find a replacement when my current faves leave. But as we all know some folks can't be replaced :(

ASV my fave player ever :bow: I loved her even more than Mary :wub: :wub:

[QUOTE]
exactly..we like a player just by instinct there are certain things we like about a player and we just cannot pick up anybody from the existing players ..it just has to come naturally. When Justine retires( which I hope wil not take place atleast for the next 5 years) I'll probably watch all the matces with perfect neutrality :D until then Justine for all the matches :P

[QUOTE]

Have dealt with this many times over last 20 years or so. You generally find another fave but they're never held in quite the same esteem as the previous one :halo:

When Federer retires i'll pack in work, buy a house on a deserted island off the Scottish coast and live out my life in solitude, with only the melancholy sound of the ocean to keep me company as i live out the remainder of my worthless existence.

:lmaao: :lmaao: :lmaao:

I will join you and we'll have a violinist in the background, and plan our suicide pact to it's maudlin drone

Seems appropriate that you should at least keep a Goat... ;)

Indeed i will Al,
i shall name her Rogelena and she will be my only source of comfort on cold lonely nights. :blink:

aren't there laws against that sort of thing? :yikes:

:yikes: Lets hope Roger doesnt retire until he's 60 ...

My original favourite was Amanda Coetzer, so when she retired in 2004, my second favourite Elena Dementieva took the top spot in my heart...and my obsession with Russian tennis was born :wacko:

If there are there shouldn't be. Nothing wrong with goats. They are nice and warm and don't mind if you fall asleep straight after they've been milked. ;)

There's a movie being made about this story - no kidding!

(don't read if you're easily shocked......)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/loca...8_horse15m.html

:yikes:

It makes me wonder how you came across this stuff..... :hmm: :D

P.S. "No Kidding".... very good :ok: :D

i didn't even do that on purpose - i'm just naturally funny! :blush:

and i *noticed* (your phrasing makes me feel uneasy) a little article about it in Empire magazine relating to the film so searched for the original news story :unsure:

oh my!! :surprised: I'm guessing he died when the horse kicked him?
Also I hope that when my favorite players retire they mean it-there's just something odd about retiring & then coming out of it several years later.

Judging by the fact that the article didn't specify how he sustained the injuries, I got the impression they were a little, erm, "deeper" than just a kicking? :halo: That might just be me having a sick and twisted mind though.

On a slightly more pleasant topic, when Ana retires I'll probably drool over her till she's no longer good looking then look for another Eastern European brunette to support. And when Gasquet retires, I'll no doubt be saying good riddance, you choking clown.

No idea what you're talking about Wise :halo: ;)

and what you gonna do when you're all-time fave Federer retires then? :P

As for me, I've only really become a tennis fan in the last few years, and the players who are my favourites are not ones I've been following for a long time or really religiously either. I always find new players I like, so start following their progress too. And i know, i know, there's always Mr Safin - and obviously when he retires to go climb more mountains I'll miss him being on the tour, but there will always be other players......oh, and the mountains of pictures I have stored of him :P

:yep: very true. My fave retired this year and I dont think even Blake will fill his shoes... PV from the old beebs board said as much to me - he was a big McEnroe fan if I remember correctly and he said he never liked anyone quite as much after he went.

Still, I shall probably join Jo in looking at pics of Safin to keep me happy :)

:blink:

Yeah, there's always that!! :whistle:

I cried for a dozen of minutes after Timmy's retirement, and ever since then, he's never really come into my mind very often tbh, although I must admit that currently, I don't support anyone like I supported him. My favourite player atm is Murray, but I doubt that he'll fill Timmy's shoes for me :rolleyes:

It'll take a miracle for me to find someone who will do so.

well seeing as my favourite retired :P i cried lol

well i still support mr murray and i've found myself following anna fitzpatrick for a few months, and the other brits due to my patriotism, but on the wta i'll just be a neutral really, although i'll probably like dementieva the most

Mine retired too :cry:

But I decided to stick with "S" countries and am now cheering on the Serbian girls (esp. Ana) - but will always cheer on the US in team competition, even if I don't really like Serena.

Well I think my favourite's days are numbered now.

Let's go back to when I started watching tennis.

1990. My favourites then, and up until now:

Women:
Monica Seles.
Jennifer Capriati.
Lindsay Davenport.
Martina Hingis.
Kim Clijsters.
Serena Wiiliams.
Mary Pierce.
Alicia Molik.
Amanda Coetzer.

Men:
Andre Agassi.
Lleyton Hewitt.
Mark Philippoussis.

the last time I "added" a favourite to my list was Serena in 2002. Apart from these 12 players, I have really never had any interest in tennis. But it's the quality, not the quantity. These players that I do like, I support like anything. I even ran away today when lindsay was losing!

Take a look at my list though.

Currently Playing:
Lindsay Davenport.
Serena Williams.
Alicia Molik.
Lleyton Hewitt.

That's 4 players! No one apart from Andre, Kim and Martina (although I do think the latter two MAY come back) are actually retired, I think we've seen the last of the others. the four I have are all above 25 years old.
Basically I'll only be watching tennis for a few more years, it's a shame, but reality.

It's funny, in 1990, when I disciovered the increible Monica Seles, I thought I would be watching this game until I died. it was Monica who got me interested in tennis, and I started playing competively. I considered becoming pro, but chose against it. Now, sadly, I'll be ewatching tennis for about five more years maximum.

I just noticed this post, and agree with it. I LIKE some players, eg Ivanovic, Golovin and Jankovic, but they'll never come anywhere near close to my faves. We same to have some similarities in who we like as well. Of the four you mentioned, I am a huge fan of three.

Have faith SF Mary has planned her comeback for Indian Wells so you can put her back on your list of current players!!

Are you serious?! That would be great! Monica has planned Miami as a come back, just imagine if they both came back!

I was just looking at my list, and realised something. First of all, I forgot to include Anna Kournikova. Secondly of all, of these 13, I have really ever gone on about 3, Monica, Jennifer and Lindsay. People probably don't know that I am a huge fan of the others as well. For the life of me, I don't know why6 I never posted may threads about them. If I had to rate my faves, it would be something like this.

Monica, Jennifer and Andre all get 10/10.
Lindsay and Lleyton get 9.8/10.
Martina, Serena, Kim and Mark all get 9/10.
Alicia and Mary get 8.5/10.
Amanda and Anna get 8/10.

By the way Liam, sorry for beiong ignorant, but who are your faves besides ASV, Mary and Lindsay? I think I heard you mentioning Vaidisova before?

Also, my thougts on ASV:
No, she's not on my list, but if yyou did have to add another on to my list, it would probably be her. What a player. She had pretty much zero "physical" weapons, eg forehand. What she did have though, was a huge heart and a never say die attitude. I could be generalizing here, but I think most of us, and maybe even she, knew that when she was playing against the likes of Monica, Graf and Mary, of they were playiong their best, her chances were slim. But did she care? Not at all. She fought to the end, and the match was never until it was over. She had great self-belief in any match she played.

This is something that Mary and Lindsay. It's harsh, but true. When Mary was down inm matches, sometimes she pretty much gave up. Same with lindsay, ad the past few times she's played Henin, I really don't honestly believe that she belived she had any chance to win.

Ps, remeber Mary's 1995 Australian open final. Absolutely superb tennis, she knocked ASV off the court. And One match I'll cherish forever, and which I ahve on tape is the 2005 U.S Open Qaurter-final between Mary and Henin. I remember the commentators saying how Henin would outclass Mary like she did in the 2005 French Oepn final.

When Mary served for the match at 6-3, 5-4, 15-30, one commentator said, "Henin-Hardenne's going to win this 6-2 in the third". Mary didn't lose another point after he said that! HA! Just another match where Mary played unbelievable, and her oppnent could do nothing.

This may sound incredibly biased, but I honestly believe that of you got any of the players from the last 10 years on tour)I'm not counting before that because of the bad comparison between technology) at their peaks, Mary and Monica would win against everyone.