Thursday 2 July 2009

Gallimaufry, bitches!

I find blogging interesting, in the sense that sometimes I have literally nothing to write about. During those moments, I'll go a day or two without posting anything, or I might just put some rubbish about Ana Ivanovic. Other times, I have loads of stuff I want to write about, and I feel I'm in one of those phases at the moment. So be primed for a few blog posts over the next few days.

It's a beautiful day today, but I've just put down Wisden Cricketer magazine and popped back indoors to catch up on some comments that people have left me recently. I read all of them, of course, but rarely comment on them myself. So, let's see what we have here:

Many thanks to Rich for his excellent comment about the state of British tennis. Just to pick one passage from it:

'In my mind, what's needed is sustained investment in tennis coaching and academies, much like money is being put into grassroots football.'

Absolutely agreed, but I wonder whether it will ever happen. Football will always be the dominant sport in Britian, with cricket and rugby behind it. It feels weird saying this right now, as Wimbledon reaches it's climax, but tennis is bordering on being a minority sport over here. As long as that is the case, would it get the sustained investment?

Interest comment by The Plashing Vole about classical musicians dying young. It's not an area I know anything about - my interest in that subject was swiftly ended by our music teacher forcing us to watch the film Amadeus, the 3rd worst movie of all time. Still, Mozart was mental, and he died young as well didn't he? So it's an interesting pattern.

Many thanks to all who offered suggestions on sleeping in this hot weather. To Demented Demon - not sure I would want caffeine before attempting to sleep. To Voley - I tend to go to bed about 2am, think my parents might get a bit freaked out if I took a cold shower at about 1am. But you are so right about Diane Keaton - she worked so well with Allen. And she was gorgeous, which always helps. To Cynical Ben - not boring at all, very interesting actually. I let my mind wander and I slept very well last night, so who knows. Thanks to all.

Finally, in this mixed bag of a post, a quick stat-porn note. Someone from Macedonia visited the other day. Now, I only know two people from Macedonia. One of them died about 2000 years ago, and the other is Artim Sakiri. You might remember Sakiri after he scored this goal, but he also played for West Brom for a brief spell. Even though Macedonia has a population of over 2m, I'm just going to presume it's him who visited. Flawless logic, I think you'll agree.

Artim, I hate to disappoint you but Ana Ivanovic has not done a 'porno' yet, but it can only be a matter of time before Adam Scott corrupts her. The way her tennis career is going, a move into that industry might be imminent. So, keep your eye on Google, buddy.

Back outside now to finish my magazine. Did you know Adam Gilchrist once hit a century against England in only 57 balls? Insane!

2 comments:

  1. I complete disagree about more investment being needed in tennis coaching and academies. The facilities we already have in Roehampton is much better than anything in Serbia or Russia and yet British success is minimal. The problem is lottery funding, poor players are provided with a comfortable living and have therefore no hunger to break into the top 100.

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  2. I think you're probably closer to the mark than I was when you say that tennis is bordering on becoming a minority sport. I read an interview last night on the BBC Sport website with a guy from the LTA (I forget his name), where he mentioned that tennis just isn't as popular over here as it is in Spain, France or Russia. Certainly, it is very much perceived as a middle class sport - one only has to look at Wimbledon to have that perception reinforced (Pimms, strawberries & cream, etc).

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