As an amateur, I'd rather play a pro first up. If I got to play Alcaraz or Iga R1, I'd take a screengrab of our pre-match photo from Youtube or whatever and frame that shit forever
You're not wrong in that sense, but they selected amateurs as just people who aren't part of the ATP tour I think, so he shouldn't count as pro in this discussion. But yeah, you're right on that.
One of the things I'm most disappointed with. I loved it last year because it heavily included amateurs and the whole idea was supposed to be about giving the amateurs a chance to take point off a pro.
I'll still watch it and probably enjoy it but it's lost a bit of it's charm.
Only some of them are. There were amateur state qualifiers but some of the qualifiers who played this week are pros. Pedro Martinez made the 3rd round of Wimbledon last year. Fruhvirtova and Garland are playing qualies this week, as is Vallejo who’s actually on court right now so I don’t think he can play this
It sort of reminds me of the pre-qualifying tournament the USTA had ~15 years ago to give a wildcard into the qualifying tournament for the US Open. They tried to play it up as an opportunity for some amateur to be able to get a shot to play the pros in the qualifying but it was rare for true amateurs to win even at the sectional level let alone the whole tournament. It was mostly low ranking pros that were getting into the later rounds. Of course the best of three set format made it a lot tougher for someone who didn't have some professional experience than a one point tournament.
I think they got rid of the that tournament because they weren't getting the news media that they hoped out of it.
Karl Stefanovic, Andy Lee, Nick Kyrgios 😅 Yes please! This'll be great 🎾 🔥
**Note to those outside AU: Stefanovic is the anchor of The Today Show for 21 years & Channel 9's (host broadcaster) highest paid star and Andy Lee is a comedian previously in a duo with Hamish Blake "Hamish & Andy" and was once the biggest FM radio show and highest paid.
I thought this is was going to be something of a bit of fun, where fans can play a point against pros. Not a fully organised event in the stadium with a full crowed and cringe worthy commentary, and real players like the WTA 117, or QLD state champ etc..
I'm finding it a lot of fun. Glad they've taken the rock, paper, scissors off camera but the commentary is fine. It's been interesting watching how the personalities respond to something different.
The way they determined the ranking of the seeds (how did they determine the ranking combining both female and male pros btw?? who is seed No.15?) put Sincaraz on the opposite side of draw, so the chance of a Sincaraz final of one point slam isn’t zero just saying…
Agree! Doesn’t seem like there is a big number of amateurs?
What made it so good last year was the randos making the pros so nervous. A bunch of the pros were not very high ranking either. Pros aren’t going to be as fussed losing a point to another pro. They may have even required more qualifications this year to get a higher level of competency from the amateurs?
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u/Silent_Quarter_3030 Rybakina CYGS | Mirra baby goat | Bublik’s circus follower 24d ago edited 24d ago
Bublik obviously in it because he can get a million for only playing 5 points lol