What the WTA is really like

A fellow tennis commentator once said:

"The WTA is like the lesbian vampire tour always looking for converts"

This powerful and enlightening metaphor immediatly struck me with its undeniable trueness.

What do you think the author really meant and have you ever thought something similar about this topic?

polished man more like a vampire that sucks the life blood of all that watch as yet another no.1 makes loads of money not actually winning anything worthwhile.

Whether or not there are lots of same sex lovers on either the WTA or ATP is frankly irrelevant. What the average punter wants is interesting matches between players with some charisma. How attractive or what colour knickers she's wearing aren't really important in the scheme of thins.

Funny though how lots of rumours fly round concerning the sexual orientation of the lady players but our male friends seem immune to any such gossip.

Any thoughts out there?

Dear friends,

I can see clearly in Newballs the true man of sport who is genuinely perplexed by of a show designed more to entrance the senses of the male audience rather than to uphold the values associated with sport, and in you NITB the fan of a literary and romantic idea of tennis which I share in my deepest recesses.

Still, it would be a pointless struggle to deny the saddening conditions in which the WTA is at the moment.

A circus more than a tennis circuit where the most extravagant display of odd characters and behaviours is perpetrated on a daily basis as a norm.

Where the actual N1 in the world is not even considered a serious candidate for the majors. (And furthermore seems to be painting her finger nails and toe nails in very dark colours).

Where the two best players, who used to turn up exclusively for the Grand Slams, have now decided to focus only on their favourite slams.

Where one of the top players is very determined to make out of professional tennis....her favourite hobby, and has clearly misinterpreted centre court for the ideal playground for babies.

Where the number 3 no one knows who she really is.

And how would you reasonably explain former world number 1s who get lost in top 100 while still in the middle of their careers?

Or players who keep on bouncing like kangaroos from the moment they get into the court? Or others emitting ultra sonic screams that put at risk your own glasses? Or those who insist to have members of the public ousted from the stadium, who turn up to be their own fathers, or other who instead insist to have their own fathers sitting with them at the changing events......

NITB, you have a pm from me.

polished_man wrote:Dear friends,

I can see clearly in Newballs the true man of sport who is genuinely perplexed by of a show designed more to entrance the senses of the male audience rather than to uphold the values associated with sport, and in you NITB the fan of a literary and romantic idea of tennis which I share in my deepest recesses.

Still, it would be a pointless struggle to deny the saddening conditions in which the WTA is at the moment.

A circus more than a tennis circuit where the most extravagant display of odd characters and behaviours is perpetrated on a daily basis as a norm.

Where the actual N1 in the world is not even considered a serious candidate for the majors. (And furthermore seems to be painting her finger nails and toe nails in very dark colours).

Where the two best players, who used to turn up exclusively for the Grand Slams, have now decided to focus only on their favourite slams.

Where one of the top players is very determined to make out of professional tennis....her favourite hobby, and has clearly misinterpreted centre court for the ideal playground for babies.

Where the number 3 no one knows who she really is.

And how would you reasonably explain former world number 1s who get lost in top 100 while still in the middle of their careers?

Or players who keep on bouncing like kangaroos from the moment they get into the court? Or others emitting ultra sonic screams that put at risk your own glasses? Or those who insist to have members of the public ousted from the stadium, who turn up to be their own fathers, or other who instead insist to have their own fathers sitting with them at the changing events......

Sex has always been an important part of the WTA; going back to the days of Teddy Tinling and frilly knickers. Chrissie Evert had a profound effect on the teenage bogbrush, and a healthy one it was too! Indeed the thing that surprises me most is that todays players seem to overlook their underwear as a key part of the package, instead going for hideous lycra shorts which frankly do nothing for the seasoned viewer.

I don't even see the problem with this; ladies tennis can only ever be some awful shadow of the mens game; it's the same, but much less. In some pursuits women excel in quite different sports but in this one - especially in Slams - the difference is there to see, or in the case at most Slams, there to take a break in the tents between mens matches. That isn't sexist or awful, it's just a fact.

Yes, the tour as a sporting event is a complete joke and you've illustrated that in a number of ways that it would be redundant to repeat. But it has it's place as eye candy. Not sure if it's worth equal prize money at the Slams, but that's another subject.

bogbrush wrote: Indeed the thing that surprises me most is that todays players seem to overlook their underwear as a key part of the package, instead going for hideous lycra shorts which frankly do nothing for the seasoned viewer.

Too true! I hate the hypocrisy of wearing those mini dress, while actually there are shorts instead of panties underneath.

I also wholeheartedly agree that the erotic factor add a premium to the WTA as a show, at least before it had degenerated into the actual parade of fancy dress, catwalk entairtenment, with a strong taste for fetish as well as gothic fashion styles.

WTA is a shambles, I agree, and that's partly because it tries to promote the players as 'sex symbols', but I don't think there's any need to refer to lesbianism which is nothing to the point as far as I am concerned.

I know how you're feeling "lads"....ever since Marat left the show...

barrystar wrote:LTA is a shambles, I agree, and that's partly because it tries to promote the players as 'sex symbols', but I don't think there's any need to refer to lesbianism which is nothing to the point as far as I am concerned.

Congrats polished man for instigating what often fails to happen on these boards i.e. reasoned debate.

I just wonder whether previously less enlightened moderators would have allowed such debate but, quite frankly, it does go the core of women's tennis.

Eye candy indeed as bogbrush wrote. Problem is all that superficial nonsense devalues the product itself. What costume a player wears and her decibel count shouldn't actually be that important but I guess its what gets the publicity. It should be more than some kind of pantomime with its leading ladies and ugly sisters (and no I'm not referring to two Americans here either!).