Archive for the ‘Tennis’ Category »
Athletes are sometimes vain, narcissistic, definitely have a high opinion of themselves, usually arrogant, and in the twilight of their careers they make stupid calls, often embarrassing themselves and others when things don’t go according to [their] plan.
The way I see it, if a hockey, football, baseball, tennis, or soccer (really, just pick a sport) player can no longer cut the mustard because their talent and skill is diminished through injury and/or age, and it is obvious to the professional athlete, never mind sports fans like myself, than he or she should just suck it up and exit gracefully instead of not admitting that they are just not good enough anymore.
Why stick around and embarrass oneself when one no longer has the right stuff to play at an elite level? There’s nothing like exiting a career gracefully rather than being embarrassed out of [that] career.
Tennis pro Lleyton Hewitt should be asking himself that question instead of living in the lalaland that makes him think he can still compete at an elite level.
Not even thirty years of age yet, and as far as his tennis career goes, it has all but bottomed out, whether he is ranked inside the top 100 or not. Injuries have taken their toll on Hewitt during the past couple of years, and a result of the those injuries he is no longer able to compete with his peers at the best of times, but don’t tell him that.
Not that Hewitt was as good a tennis player as he was hyped to be to begin with, but for 75 weeks beginning in November 2001, he was ranked number one at just 20 years of age, and expectations were high for him. Of course he hasn’t lived up to those expectations in my opinion.
He has been able to play some good tennis over the years, but 8 years after being number one he is ranked no higher than 59, and I’m of the opinion that he’ll be lucky if he manages to make it in the top 30 in what is left of his career. Honesty, I don’t see him breaking into the top 50 now that he has recovered from hip surgery. I definitely don’t see any more championships in his future either.
Other than the early part of his career, the guy really hasn’t amounted to too much. Sure he has been a part of or has Australia’s Davis Cup team, who last won that championship 5 years ago, and while he is still a member of the team, the way it is looking for Australia’s Davis Cup team these days, they are a long way from bringing home another championship.
Thinking about it, Hewitt hasn’t been able to accomplish much since Australia’s last Davis Cup championship. That’s 5 long years of nothing for Hewitt.
In the past 5 years Hewitt has managed to win 9 tournaments, none of which were Grand Slam events, the last one being in Las Vegas 2 years ago. He has managed to win a fair amount of cash during those 5 years, but since 2006 his earning capacity on hard, clay and grass courts has diminished, and I really doubt future tournament winnings are going to amount to too much.
I really don’t see why Hewitt feels he needs to stay in the game anymore, he has nothing more to prove, and realistically speaking he has nothing more to gain.
He just doesn’t have [it] in him anymore and he is to self-absorbed and high on himself to admit that.
He should seriously consider packing away his tennis gear for good and choose another career path because the longer he stays in tennis in the form that he is, the more embarrassing it is going to be for him when he is FORCED to retire by some of the younger guns coming up through the ranks. Like I said, injury and age have taken it’s toll on Hewitt.
The way DSOS sees it, right now and the way it has been for the past couple of years (Las Vegas win in 2006 being the exception) Hewitt doesn’t have what it takes to continue competing with the best of the best coming up through the ATP, and those at the top.
It’s too bad Hewitt is too vain to see that for himself.
And what about his coach Tony Roche, if he was any kind of a friend to Hewitt, he would take Hewitt aside and talk some sense into him instead of living vicariously through Hewitt. Roche himself knows that Hewitt can no longer compete at the level that saw him win one U.S Open and Wimbledon Championship, and he certainly knows that he is no longer capable of competing at a level that will allow him to maintain a top 50 ranking, never mind top 10 one.
Roche knows that after 10 years on the pro circuit Hewitt doesn’t have what it is going to take to take on and defeat the cream of the crop anymore and the only reason Roche isn’t doing anything to help Hewitt see the light is because he needs the pay check. He doesn’t care one way or the other if Hewitt is embarrassed out of the sport or exits gracefully just as long as Hewitt continues to pay him for his coaching services, which when it comes right down to his coaching, amounts to very little.
Hewitt needs to get out of the game, and he knows that, but his pride is getting in the way.
Sphere: Related ContentSphere: Related ContentUnlike past years I haven’t been following the action at this year’s Wimbledon, but only because nothing much has changed when it comes to whom is expected to win on both the men’s and women’s side. From Grand Slam to Grand Slam, it’s always Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer who is expected to win, and rightfully so given that there really isn’t much competition for them, especially when it comes to Lleyton Hewitt, who I think should pack it in and move on from tennis instead of hanging around and embarrassing himself.
Hewitt just doesn’t have “it” anymore, and with the exception of one win last year in what I would consider a “Mean Nothing” tournament. He is starting to remind of Mark Philippoussis who just didn’t know when to quit, and eventually embarrassed himself out of the sport.
I hear Philippoussis has since taken up surfing, a sport that almost cost him his life the other day when he was carried out to sea by a rogue wave, but luckily he was able to swim back to shore and he only suffered hypothermia. It could have been worse; he could have ended up being the main course for a Great White shark. Lucky him.
When it comes to who will be this year’s men’ champion it’s a toss up, and depending on how they do in their semi-final matches, they could be battling in out for the honour against one another on center court.
One the women’s side however there are plenty of players to choose from when it comes to picking winners in Grand Slam events, but at the end of the day it boils down to the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena. Other than those two, who between them have won Wimbledon a total of seven Wimbledon championships between them, they really hasn’t been much competition for them on the grass courts of Wimbledon this year. That’s evident by the fact that both women didn’t lose a set on their way to Saturday’s showdown.
Venus, who is seeded seventh in the tournament, and Serena who is seeded sixth, have pretty much had an easy go of it at Wimbledon. The top four seeds can’t say the same however, as neither of them managed to make past the preliminary matches, the first time that has happened at Wimbledon.
While I haven’t watched very much of Wimbledon on television this year, I have watched enough to conclude that neither of the top four seeds put in an effort worthy of their seeding, and that Williams sisters deserved a lot more consideration when it came to seeding them.
Wimbledon officials obviously haven’t got a clue who the top women players are in tennis these days, and it showed when they made Maria Sharapova the top seed, followed by Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic, and Svetlana Kuznetsova. If they aren’t embarrassed by their selections, they should be, they are laughing stock of Wimbledon this year and they should hang their heads in shame and embarrassment. They’ve been made out to look like bloody fools.
That said; the women’s final is set to go, and sibling rivalry will take center court. May the best Williams sister win. There is no doubt in my mind that it is going to be a helluva battle.
