Tennis

Disappointment for fans and Nine’s accountants.

4 Likes

Well, i was going to say that for Sydney - the Australian matches against Spain on Jan 2 (night match) is practically sold out (or close to it). It was due to Kyrgios and Nadal playing. Apart from that match, the rest have many many tickets still available. I think there’s now even a deal for the matches for this Thursday, Friday and Saturday with tickets being sold 2 for the price of 1 for the day matches.

With Kyrgios out now, the casual tennis fans might not go now?

1 Like

Needs to be fit for the Aus Open

Or just do everyone a favour and stay away.

1 Like

Yesterday i bought a 2nd row ticket to see iga świątek play on Saturday. If 2nd row tickets are available to see the world no 1 four days out, there’s a major issue with ticket sales

2 Likes

Aijla Tomljanovic now out tonight, arguably our next best player to Kyrgios and future Barty-esque rising star (also citing injury protection/concerns). That’s how crucial the lead-up is to a Grand Slam, even though fans (including venue ticket holders) and broadcasters alike might be disappointed with the lead-ups.

Also, Dominic Thiem back after a long hiatus with injury, became another fan favourite in Australia a few years back and from Federer and Wawrinka’s camp so to speak. Had a memorable midnight 5 setter with Kyrgios at the severely covid-affected 2021 Aus Open against Kyrgios on a Friday night, a Djokovic match followed and was infamously abruptly suspended as snap lockdown/curfue restrictions were in force that night!

1 Like

Clickbait or is the Australian Open at risk?

China attempts to pinch Aussie Open:

https://www.news.com.au/sport/tennis/tennis-australia-boss-says-australian-open-is-severely-cash-strapped/news-story/db01e6813d81ff97da9dfc541fd232a2

Clickbait, the article itself says it is locked in until 2046.

It’s just that time of year again :roll_eyes:. Craig tiley wants more government money.

Also a poorly researched article;

“Victoria had some of the tightest Covid restrictions in the world for the 2020 and 2021 editions of the event.”.

That’s not true, there were no restrictions in January 2020, that year that Wimbledon was cancelled altogether, the French and US open had no crowds and China was closed to the world. In 2021 Victoria was one of the only places in the world that had international sports with crowds. Every other state cancelled the warm up events.

Hopefully Tilleys bluff is called. Haven’t even started on the geopolitics of moving the event to China.

3 Likes

Agree with other MS members and comments from the Vic Government today, it’ll be rubbish and it’s surely a watertight long term contract.

It also however seemed rather ‘twisted’ by the News Corp journalist, not entirely sure everything Tiley said in that “exclusive” was in context and how he meant it. Remember News Corp’s snowball Djokovic / wider Aus Open agenda a year ago (and a year before that with the delayed Feb start) and the covid angle both years. Not to mention News Corp’s allegiance with Cricket Australia via Foxtel.

1 Like

It did suck in the networks this morning.


2 Likes

Now that’s just a straight up lie.

What would you expect from the network that had rights for 40+ straight years and lost them, also desperately wanting them back and not being able to get them back recently? I’m sure they’d rather run with “all smiles and happy faces in Aus Open land, it all starts Jan 16, tune-in to Channel 9 folks for all the action” :wink: :joy:

1 Like

Well, the call by Tilley appears to be bringing doubt into the equation.

1 Like

Yeah but this headline makes it sound like it might not be happening this year.

You can’t trust any headlines on any medium anymore. You have to watch or read to find the truth.

1 Like

It doesnt help that the Victorian Government have basically given into TAs previous requests for greater investment either - they could call TA’s bluff and tell them to sling their hook, but I suspect that would end up in the tournament moving

1 Like

To be fair to Craig Tilley, he’s doing his job, it’s the government and media’s job to be more skeptical.

3 Likes

Australia young rising star Alexi Popyrin, wow, watched the last 45min of the match, amazing clutch effort! A boilover upset, defeating young megastar Felix Auger-Alissime from Canada (Adelaide Int’l seed No. 2 and ATP world No. 6) :clap:

Thanasi Kokkinakis (Adelaide boy and reigning 2022 champion) is up at 8:30pm aedt tonight.

Meanwhile, in the United Cup (on Nine’s main channel tonight too), Nadal is facing Australia with De Minaur (replacing Kyrgios) in Sydney, followed by Zoe Hives (replacing Ajla Tomljanovic). While In Perth at the moment, it’s Tsitsipas.

2 Likes

“Martina noticed an enlarged lymph node in her neck during the WTA finals in Fort Worth,” Navratilova’s representative Mary Greenham said.

"When it didn’t go down, a biopsy was performed, the results came back as stage 1 throat cancer.

"At the same time as Martina was undergoing the tests for the throat, a suspicious form was found in her breast, which was subsequently diagnosed as cancer, completely unrelated to the throat cancer.

“Both of these cancers are in their early stages with great outcomes.”

1 Like

How bloody annoying is that noise coming from Trevisan anytime she touches the ball :roll_eyes: Not to mention the over the top carry on anytime she wins a point.

1 Like