Total lack of respect

Here we go again. Laura Robson was a nailed on cert to beat Li Na according to Annabelle Croft. It was as if Robson was the no. 6 player in the world and Li Na the no.30 (or whatever Robson is). This was based round the fact that Laura beat her this time last year and that her game must have really improved. No importance at all was attached to the fact that she's only played twice since Wimbledon and was recovering from a wrist injury. Also with a guy like Carlos Rodriguez in her team wasn't it obvious to everyone else that Li Na would not be take by surprise this time round?

This time therefore Li Na was simply too good having worked out how to negate Laura's strengths and expose her difficulties when taken out of her comfort zone. Deep returns and keeping it largely on the Robson backhand together with a fine serving display meant she imposed herself on Laura who admittedly looked less than 100% most of the match. Having said that Laura did live up to her seeding and didn't go out without a fight.

Afterwards Croft did sound somewhat contrite although the lack of respect then shown to the Chinese player was staggering. If Laura had won they would never cut away from the on court interview and relished every second of Laura's success. Why on earth then couldn't they afford the same level of courtesy to li Na. Who knows we may even have been given some more insight into how she'd beaten Laura. Croft, for one, would have learned something from listening.

If that's the best Annabelle can do she should stick to making money out of her south west London tennis academy.

newballs wrote:Here we go again. Laura Robson was a nailed on cert to beat Li Na according to Annabelle Croft. It was as if Robson was the no. 6 player in the world and Li Na the no.30 (or whatever Robson is). This was based round the fact that Laura beat her this time last year and that her game must have really improved. No importance at all was attached to the fact that she's only played twice since Wimbledon and was recovering from a wrist injury. Also with a guy like Carlos Rodriguez in her team wasn't it obvious to everyone else that Li Na would not be take by surprise this time round?

This time therefore Li Na was simply too good having worked out how to negate Laura's strengths and expose her difficulties when taken out of her comfort zone. Deep returns and keeping it largely on the Robson backhand together with a fine serving display meant she imposed herself on Laura who admittedly looked less than 100% most of the match. Having said that Laura did live up to her seeding and didn't go out without a fight.

Afterwards Croft did sound somewhat contrite although the lack of respect then shown to the Chinese player was staggering. If Laura had won they would never cut away from the on court interview and relished every second of Laura's success. Why on earth then couldn't they afford the same level of courtesy to li Na. Who knows we may even have been given some more insight into how she'd beaten Laura. Croft, for one, would have learned something from listening.

If that's the best Annabelle can do she should stick to making money out of her south west London tennis academy.  

Just on the point of going away from the on-court post-match interviews I have a sneaky feeling Sky don't have copyright to play them. I have yet to see one throughout the tournament live but I may be wrong. As for the rest of the post I'd just put it down to boisterous over-enthusiasm and optimism for Laura rather than disrespect or disregard for Li Na. After al they were pretty fullsome of their praise of her throughout the match.

My hunch is that CC could well be correct as far as post-match interviews are concerned. The broadcast rights for these are treated separately from the actual match rights and there have been many occasions when I have been frustrated by a channel "cutting away" in the way newballs describes. No channel likes to advertise the fact that they have been unable/unwilling to secure these rights in full, so they generally just talk over the interview as a way of hiding this. (It was only when a broadcaster did once deem it worth explaining things that I appreciated the reason behind what initially seemed pure discourtesy)

On the wider point re Annabel Croft : it's apparent from sundry past threads that she is not to everyone's liking but personally I happen to find her pretty fair & balanced - and generally a LOT more professional and better prepared than Ms. Barker, who I feel rarely if ever adds anything of any value.

Didn't see the match in question so can't comment on that specifically, but disappointed by Laura's exit.

I was incredulous at the coverage! When Li Na won her 2nd round match she was interviewed on court by Sam Smith. She asked her if she was feeling old. Typical of Li Na she said "Not when talking to you"  But Sam Smith continued saying but won't you feel old when you face Robson  Then a few times in the pre match coverage they showed Li Na going through her usual pre-match practice. They were all incredulous that she hadn't altered it and focused on hitting with a left hander in anticipation of playing Robson. As if she didn't know what she was doing.

Everyone said they expected Robson to win. I wondered what they knew that I didn't. But the match turned out to be just what would be expected given their ranking and recent form.

My thoughts are with Robson. She gives the impression of being mentally very fragile and several times I've seen her in tears on court when she has lost a match. If that is the case this sort of above ability expectation by the media will do her no good at all.

I get annoyed that they don't always show on court interviews. They must be able to because I've seen a few. I also like to see the players come on and warm up but that appears to be cut out too. Instead we get talking heads. Why not talking heads with the players warming up in the background?

lags72. I like Annabel Croft too but I reckon on this like others she was just following direction.

I am pretty sure it must be a copyright issue as when Evans beat Tomic and the on court interview was about to start - the presenter cut in to see Dan would be joining them in the Sky studios shortly for an interview. Same with Murray last night -no on-court interview but minutes later Sky ran an interview with Leif Sheiras just before Murray left court.

They have showed the on court interviews of both Rafa and Roger  But maybe that's because they didn't give exclusive interviews to Sky. Same with other players including Li Na that I've already mentioned.

But did they show them live? Or perhaps they only show live ones depending on if it is night session on Ashe. Must be some copyright issues though.

Yes they showed them live. Federer and Li Na in the day sessions and Nadal at night.

Hmm very strange but would say there is copyright issues there. Probably something to do with the host broadcasters.

Li Na is quite popular thou, indeed way bigger star globally than Laura is, may be its just UK media didn't cover enough of Li Na due to Robson's failure, but most media all over the world would have covered Li Na for sure.

Li Na's fan base is huge, her global image is huge, there is a reason why she is the 2nd highest in the list of top WTA grosser behind Masha, thankfully In Canada the coverage is much better than over hyped UK coverage.

While I am a Robson fan, Li Na can never be counted out, after all she is a GS champ, we saw what a GS of 10 years back did to World No.5, champions know how to win and thats why they are champions, unless Robson wins one she will struggle a lot like how Murray did before winning one.

^ Li Na is listed as number 85 in the Forbes list of 100 highest paid athletes for 2012. Murray doesn't feature on that list.

Ha ha! maybe this should be on socals sexist thread

hawkeye wrote:^ Li Na is listed as number 85 in the Forbes list of 100 highest paid athletes for 2012. Murray doesn't feature on that list.

Ha ha! maybe this should be on socals sexist thread

Any need for the Murray mention?

Li Na is the biggest tennis star in China... Stands to reason.... Love her in any case. Beautiful persona inside and out it seems.

Zou Shiming has two wins in professional boxing, and will in all likelihood make his bow in the Forbes 100 for 2013, Marketability > talent financially

I don't agree Marketability > talent , Fed continues to earn more than what many prime stars do right now, its coz of his talent and not marketability.

While Marketability is very important aspect, talent forms the base, if there is no talent then you cannot Market a person, to be frank Marketability itself is a talent. 

Surely Fed continues to earn more now based on his marketability? That marketability has been based largely on his talent which has made him the most recognisable tennis player on the planet. He retains that marketability now even when his ability is starting to fade. Look at Beckham for a more extreme example.

Federer is back up at number 2 in the latest edition of Forbes highest paid athletes list (he had slipped to 5), with only his mate Tiger Woods above him.

Tennis-wise, next on the chart are Sharapova (22), Djokovic (28) and Nadal is at number 30.

Zou Shiming is about to get a multi million dollar fight in his third fight, in a weight division which not even God cares about. I highly doubt he is being paid because he is his talent > his marletability.

Same with David Beckham, who while very good, was not earning in direct correlation to his talent. As an aside, are Federer and Woods still mates? Would have thought Mirka would ban him from hanging with such given that Woods' inderscretions occured a few months after Federer tied the not

You could well be right there kingraf.

Tiger's extra-curricular activity and predilection for horizontal jogging is unlikely to chime well with Federer the devoted family man, and it would be no surprise if Fed has chosen to distance himself in recent times.