Friday, 31 May 2013

ATP Uncovered - Roland Garros Ice Bath Edition + Poll

Social media often allows us a unique glimpse into the life of tennis players. Whether it's Sara Errani and Serena Williams discussing Candy Crush Saga, or Andy Murray being bored while not competing - we'd never find out about it without twitter.

The ATP players, meanwhile, seem to be on some kind of dare which involves them posting semi-naked pictures and videos of them in the Roland Garros locker-room ice bath. Warning: NESFW! (Not Entirely Safe For Work)

The trend started with Blaz Kavcic, after his 6-2 6-2 6-2 win over James Duckworth in the first round of the French Open.



It continued with - how not - Fabio Fognini, after his 6-2 7-6(3) 2-6 6-1 win over Lukas Rosol (denying a possible Nadal-Rosol rematch). The pic was posted by Marc Boada, Fognini's physio.



The best bromance on the ATP tour wasn't far behind - Benoit Paire and Stanislas Wawrinka posted ice bath pics of one another (though much more covered, to the chagrin of many).




And finally, the cherry on top - a video! For his Eurosport segment "Tipsy Time", Janko Tipsarevic filmed Viktor Troicki getting into the ice bath, with a guest appearance by Novak Djokovic.


The only question left to ask... who's next?

June 3 UPDATE: Well, apparently the next one is Nicolas Mahut! He gives us two photos for our consideration.





And now, for the poll - whose ice bath did you like the best?


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Tuesday, 28 May 2013

Grand Slam Matches Formats



"Are they playing best of five in doubles here?"
"Wait, and is it a tiebreak in the final set?"
"But wasn't it different in qualifying?"

Those questions come up in every Grand Slam, and no wonder - the individual Slams are free to choose their own play format for every one of the events they're running (Men/Women, Singles/Doubles/Mixed, Main Draw/Qualifying). The only fixed rule is that Men's Singles must be best of five (5) sets. All other events can be best of five or best of three, can end in a tiebreak or an advantage set. Confusing? Maybe, but not for long. Here are all the common rules and formats, with a short glossary for all the tennis terms you're not sure about.

ATP/WTA tennis tournaments
Singles - best of 3 sets, all 3 are tiebreak sets, ad scoring.
Doubles - best of 3 sets - 2 tiebreak sets & 3rd supertiebreak, no-ad scoring.

ITF Grand Slams
(All matches are ad scoring unless noted otherwise)

Australian Open/ Roland Garros Wimbledon US Open
Men's Singles Best of 5
4 tiebreak sets, 5th advantage set 		Best of 5
4 tiebreak sets, 5th advantage set 		Best of 5
5 tiebreak sets
Women's Singles Best of 3
2 tiebreak sets, 3rd advantage set 		Best of 3
2 tiebreak sets, 3rd advantage set 		Best of 3
3 tiebreak sets
Men's Doubles Best of 3
3 tiebreak sets 		Best of 5
4 tiebreak sets, 5th advantage set 		Best of 3
3 tiebreak sets
Women's Doubles Best of 3
3 tiebreak sets 		Best of 3
2 tiebreak sets, 3rd advantage set 		Best of 3
3 tiebreak sets
Mixed Doubles Best of 3
2 tiebreak sets, 3rd supertiebreak
No-ad scoring		Best of 3
2 tiebreak sets, 3rd advantage set 		Best of 3
2 tiebreak sets, 3rd supertiebreak
No-ad scoring
Men's Singles Qualifying Best of 3
2 tiebreak sets, 3rd advantage set 		First rounds-Best of 3
Final round-Best of 5
2/4 tiebreak sets, 3rd/5th advantage set 		Best of 3
3 tiebreak sets
Women's Singles Qualifying Best of 3
2 tiebreak sets, 3rd advantage set 		Best of 3
2 tiebreak sets, 3rd advantage set 		Best of 3
3 tiebreak sets
Men's Doubles Qualifying -- Best of 3
2 tiebreak sets, 3rd advantage set 		--
Women's Doubles Qualifying -- Best of 3
2 tiebreak sets, 3rd advantage set 		--

Tennis Glossary

  • Tiebreak set - The set is played until a player reaches 6 or 7 games, with a 2-game margin. A tiebreak is played when the score is 6-6. To win a tiebreak, a player needs to win at least 7 points, with a 2-point margin (7-5, 8-6, etc).
  • Advantage set - no tiebreaks are played, and the set continues until one of the players has a 2-game margin (8-6, 9-7, etc). Today, only the last and deciding set of the match (the 5th or the 3rd) can be played as an advantage set, while all the other sets are tiebreak sets.
  • Supertiebreak - A set that consists of a tiebreak, in which a player has to win at least 10 points with a 2-point advantage.
  • No-ad scoring - A scoring method in which the 40-40 point is a deciding point - whoever wins it, wins the game. This scoring is employed in ATP/WTA doubles matches, and in Grand Slam Mixed Doubles (except in Wimbledon). 
  • Ad scoring - after getting to 40-40, the player/team must win two points to win the game (the first of those is the "advantage" point). This is the usual method of scoring in tennis tournaments.

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Friday, 24 May 2013

The Roland Garros Drinking Game

The players are in Paris, the men's and women's draws have come out, and tennis' long time foe - the weather - is already wreaking havoc during the qualifying matches and players' practices. Yes, the French Open is upon us at last!

For fans, every Grand Slam invokes a certain routine. At first, it's the draw ceremony. You spend days counting the minutes, you moan about the coverage of the draw being absolutely useless, and then you spend hours lamenting your favourites' difficult paths to the elusive titles. At this point (this is now, in case you're wondering), you realize that the tournament is going to start before the weekend's even over, and you must stock up on all the necessary equipment - food (you won't have time to leave the house for two weeks now), tissues (for that moment when you start breaking down in the middle of a sleepless night), and a fair amount of alcohol. While urging everyone to vamos (or ajde or allez or davai, or all of them if you're a Putintseva fan) responsibly, here's a drinking game to pass you through the two weeks of the 2013 edition of the Roland Garros.


Ready? Let's go!

Take a swig every time a commentator proclaims Rafael Nadal or Serena Williams the heavy title favourites.
Down a shot if there's a discussion of the alleged unfairness of Rafael Nadal's #4 seed or its effect on the Djokovic-Nadal predicted semifinal.
Take a sip if anybody calls Maria Sharapova 'Cow on ice'.
Drink if Benoit Paire, Jerzy Janowicz or Ernests Gulbis hits an unnecessarily ridiculous dropshot. Finish your drink if it wins them the point. Pour yourself another drink if they lose the point and go on a youtube-worthy meltdown.
Take a shot on every single rain delay.
Finish your drink when grunting comes up. 
Take a swig when Petra Kvitova botches an easy shot. Take two swigs when Tomas Berdych does the same. Hospitalize yourself if they're both playing at the same time. 
Take a shot if the scheduling for the next day makes no sense. Make that two shots if it's quarterfinals day and the matches are all at the same time.
Sip every time the French crowd starts booing a player. Finish your drink when they begin whistling.
Take a swig each time you have to use the Roland Garros mobile app (Android or iPhone, but you really don't want to install it).
Drink deep into the night when matches are cancelled or called off due to darkness (get some floodlights, Paris!)
Finish your bottle if Rafa and Serena actually win both titles. Drink enough to completely pass out if you're FFT president Jean Gachassin, since a French player didn't win.


Enjoy the action, everybody guys! (And feel free adding your own drinking scenarios in the comments)
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