Hi everyone. The qualifying rounds for the Monte Carlo Masters are under way, Jelena Jankovic has reached her first final of 2009 in Marbella (where she will play Carla Suarez Navarro for the title tomorrow), Florent Serra is the first finalist to be determined in Casablanca, and back in the United States semifinals will be played later today in Houston and Ponte Vedra Beach at the WTA and ATP tournaments there respectively. Lleyton Hewitt is among the semifinalists, and is hoping to reach his first tour final in two years.
Please use this post to discuss the ongoing tennis, and for any other tennis-related discussions.
Meanwhile I'm posing a question of the day to get the conversational ball rolling here. It struck me earlier this week while watching a repeat of a British 1970s/1980s TV series, "The Professionals", whose key characters were involved in law enforcement, dealing with serious or espionage-related crimes. Like many such series of the time - a contemporaneous parallel in the United States would be "Starsky and Hutch" - however violent or improbable the action became, the main characters always survived - maybe wounded, but always alive and ready to go in the next episode. It was a very different approach compared to a 2000s crime drama like HBO's "The Wire". In "The Professionals", viewers didn't know the plot, but always knew the ultimate outcome, and the key characters were more or less painted as heroes in spite of the methods they were forced to use, which often weren't much different to those used by the villains.
My related question is directed at TW's various kinds of tennis fans, particularly those of us dedicated to following one or more players in detail. Would you prefer to see "your guy" or "your girl" come through a match any way at all, even if he/she plays poorly by normal standards (i.e. is the opponent always in the role of "the villain") , or would you rather see a heart-stopping dramatic encounter, with no certainty of outcome even if your favourite plays as well as he/she can?
In my own case, while I'd like to claim that the latter is true (and it certain is true if I don't have a favourite in the match), I have to admit that while I'd rather watch a well-fought match, and want to feel respect for the opponent, I'm always hoping for my preferred players to triumph, even if they aren't playing well. There's always the hope that as any draw progresses, their level of play can improve, if they seem to be having an off day. That said, some of my favourite matches in retrospect are the tightest of all - there's nothing like looking back at five match points saved and a final-set bagel delivered to make a fan feel good about a particular encounter, perhaps because the highs experienced more than compensate for those low points of near-despair. In the end, I hope it's true that I'd prefer to see my favourites play as well as they can against opponents of the highest mettle, even though defeat seems to hurt a lot more if they lose on those occasions.
- Rosangel Valenti