Brad Gilbert seems to share Whisper's view on relative prestige of slams

[SliceAndDice]

https://twitter.com/bgtennisnation/status/874453908763979776
Not even close @usopen is very close to @Wimbledon + the most physical event to win French nowhere near as prestigious

[bob]

i think most players and tennis folks agree with this. even rafa.

bob

[calim...@gmx.de]

On Tuesday, June 13, 2017 at 4:37:32 AM UTC+2, SliceAndDice wrote:
> https://twitter.com/bgtennisnation/status/874453908763979776
> Not even close @usopen is very close to @Wimbledon + the most physical event to win French nowhere near as prestigious

Let me guess - Gilbert is American?
Maybe even from New York?

Wonder how a Frenchman from Paris would look at things ....


Max


BTW, did you know that Navratilova, McEnroe, Evert, Trump, Davenport, BJ King think that Serena is GOAT? yes, really!!

[*skriptis]

bob <b...@nospam.net> Wrote in message:

Historically. But AO is becoming more and more prestigious, due to
proximity of giant Asia market primarily, all the players playing
it and AO effectively being the pinnacle of hardcourt season,
that starts in July and ends in March.

I think '3' in 7543 will be the first one to go.


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[bob]

On Mon, 12 Jun 2017 22:47:06 -0700 (PDT), calim...@gmx.de wrote:

>On Tuesday, June 13, 2017 at 4:37:32 AM UTC+2, SliceAndDice wrote:
>> https://twitter.com/bgtennisnation/status/874453908763979776
>> Not even close @usopen is very close to @Wimbledon + the most physical event to win French nowhere near as prestigious
>
>Let me guess - Gilbert is American?
>Maybe even from New York?

San Francisco bay area.

>Wonder how a Frenchman from Paris would look at things ....

bob

[nani3...@hotmail.com]

On Tuesday, June 13, 2017 , *skriptis wrote:
>
> Historically. But AO is becoming more and more prestigious, due to
> proximity of giant Asia market primarily, all the players playing
> it and AO effectively being the pinnacle of hardcourt season,
> that starts in July and ends in March.
>

Many players take Nov-Dec off, and AO is hardly the pinnacle of any cycle. It was too early altogether for Borg and Connors in 1970s. Actually AO suffers from not having a long-enough tune-up period. And in 1990s there were constant complaints of AO being played under grueling hot conditions. I don't know how it is now but every succeeding year is hotter than the previous year, whatever be the reasons for it. I even remember some talk of postponing AO to March to allow for longer tune-up and cooler temps.

Wimbledon also had a very short tune-up. And that was eventually rectified when it was pushed back by a week 3-4 years ago. Until then Wimbledon's start was set for 'the sixth Monday before the first Monday of August', as per the official verbiage. Now the start-date is the fifth Monday before the first Monday of August.

Wimbledon used to start on Monday between 20-June and June 26, whichever day in that stretch was Monday in any given year. The corresponding men's final has been played on a Sunday between 3-July to 9-July since 1982. Until then the men's final was played on a Saturday. And 1972 was the first time ever that men's final was played on a Sunday due to a rain delay. Before that, perhaps any rain on Saturday would push the men's final to Monday, since Sunday was the traditional day off from sports in UK.

In 1950s, men's final used to be played on Friday, which would occur between July 1 to July 7 during Wimbledon. Suffice it to say that since 1946, every June and every July has seen Wimbledon play in the main draw. Until this year. Now 2017 is slated to be the first year since Wimbledon resumed play post WW-II when the month of June does not feature action at Wimbledon.

[nani3...@hotmail.com]

>
> Many players take Nov-Dec off, and AO is hardly the pinnacle of any cycle. It was too early altogether for Borg and Connors in 1970s.

> - - - -

Too late after it was pushed to December in 1977. And before that, too early. Connors won AO in 1974, lost the final in 1975, and never went back there again for AO. Borg played AO only once, in 1974, when he was just 17.

[*skriptis]

nani3...@hotmail.com Wrote in message:

Some nice trivia. Tnx. So that's why the middle Sunday in
Wimbledon a day off. A way of keeping up with the tradition, at
least partially.


As for AO, schedule wise, it is in better position that USO. For
many reasons.

[nani3...@hotmail.com]

On Saturday, June 17, 2017 at 9:01:03 AM UTC-7, *skriptis wrote:
> >>
> >
> >
> > Wimbledon used to start on Monday between 20-June and June 26, whichever day in that stretch was Monday in any given year. The corresponding men's final has been played on a Sunday between 3-July to 9-July since 1982. Until then the men's final was played on a Saturday. And 1972 was the first time ever that men's final was played on a Sunday due to a rain delay. Before that, perhaps any rain on Saturday would push the men's final to Monday, since Sunday was the traditional day off from sports in UK.
> >
> > In 1950s, men's final used to be played on Friday, which would occur between July 1 to July 7 during Wimbledon. Suffice it to say that since 1946, every June and every July has seen Wimbledon play in the main draw. Until this year. Now 2017 is slated to be the first year since Wimbledon resumed play post WW-II when the month of June does not feature action at Wimbledon.
> >
> >
>
>
> Some nice trivia. Tnx. So that's why the middle Sunday in
> Wimbledon a day off. A way of keeping up with the tradition, at
> least partially.
>

That's my guess, too, that the middle Sunday is a day off at Wimbledon to partially keep up with the tradition. Plus, it is said that the grass courts need to be tended for a day after one week's action on them. In 1992 or thereabouts, rain ravaged the first week's schedule at Wilmbledon; and for the first time ever, matches were scheduled on the middle Sunday. It was a huge hit. Since Sunday sport has become increasingly more common due to TV sponsors and spectators preferring it, they could designate the second Monday as the rest day. It (the second Monday) is one of the most action-packed days at Wimbledon with the last 16 men AND the last 16 women in action. The commercial windfall would be huge if that action was scheduled for Sunday.

British parliament had passed a law in 1786 (or so) marking Sunday as the Lord's day and forbidding sports on it. Apparently that law is still in the books but is now ignored in practice. When Test Cricket was played over 3 days in 1902, a match would start on Thursday. When its duration was increased to 4 days (the famous Bradman series in 1930 had tests played over 4 days), a Test would start on Friday, and end on Tuesday, with Sunday the rest day. When the duration was increased to 5 days, Thursday became the first day of Tests. The famous Botham's Ashes series in 1981, to the best of my knowledge, was the first series to omit rest day and schedule play on Sunday. In mid-1980s, Sunday was again the rest day of tests in England.

Even the world cup football final between England and West Germany was played on a Saturday in London in 1966. The story goes that England's coach Alf Ramsey visited FA's offices next day to pick up something he had left behind in his office. Presumably there was paparazzi in 1966 as well, who stopped Ramsey, hoping to get a good story out of him. "Come tomorrow", he brushed them off, adding, "I'm sorry but Sunday is my holiday". No letting down hair for him. Winning or losing a world cup final was trivial. Rules were rules.

FA Cup final is played on a Saturday even today, but European Cup final and the Epsom Derby have been switched from Wednesday to Saturday. The two Borg-McEnroe finals in 1980 and 1981 were the last two men's finals to be played on Saturday at Wimbledon.