Women's Tennis -- The Tennis or The Fashion? (Part II)

It would seem that Maria Sharapova is not the only female tennis star running up against the fashion police. Venus Williams wore a revealing little yellow number in her most recent match. And, in a distinct difference to Ms. Sharapova, the dress did not affect her performance as she ran out a comfortable winner.

It appears that the [mini] dress was a little more revealing than some people had hoped for, and probably not revealing enough for others, and sparked a bit of debate as to whether she was wearing any underwear, knickers, panties, or whatever the undergarments are called in sport.

The photos do not leave much to the imagination. Venus is clearly wearing underwear. She is most definitely not going commando.

I guess if you win your matches easily then the press needs to drum up interest in other parts of the performance.

Women's Tennis -- The Tennis or The Fashion?

It would seem that Maria Sharapova's choice of tennis attire gained as much, if not more, attention than the quality of her loss.

I wonder what is more important, what women wear when they play tennis or the quality of tennis that they play?

No one seems to be saying that Sharapova lost her first round match because of a wardrobe malfunction or because her outfit was inappropriate for tennis. The majority just seem to think her fashion sense is poor. Maybe it is time that the focus returns to more substantive matters such as whether the quality of her play justifies the huge endorsement contracts that she has. Or, even more simply, to issues like congratulating the solid play of the young woman who beat her, Maria Kirilenko.

But, a Maria Sharapova post lends itself to some pictures.

Enjoy!

Tennis -- Australian Open

Maybe I am a little bit peeved at this story because I am a proud Australian.

However, the idea of changing the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament into the Asia-Pacific Grand Slam event is interesting as I wonder whether people would consider the French Open and Wimbledon being combined into the European Open and the US Open being changed to the Continental American Open, and then to ensure that there remained "four grand slam events", the introduction of the African Open.

The idea of having an Asia-Pacific Open that rotates around from places such as Doha to Suva instead of having a single grand slam event in Australia is flying in the face of history.

With a bit of luck we will see a similar piece from the author of the story linked above for each of the remaining three grand slam events of the year. The pros and cons of each and the need to share around the spoils.

Indonesian Tennis

Tennis in Indonesia has not generated as many stars as the other racquet game that Indonesia excels at, badminton! However, after a considerable interval between the last grand slam tournament champion, Indonesia may now claim another. Christopher Rungkat has partnered with a Finn, Henri Kontinen, to take out the French Open Junior Boys Doubles title.

Indonesia's last grand slam champion was Angelique Wijaja, who unfortunately after taking out a couple of grand slam junior titles has been ravaged by injury and has not translated her junior success into success at the senior level.

So, congratulations are in order for both Christopher and Henri on their success. May this be the start of a revival in interest in tennis in Indonesia. It is strange that in a country with such a large population that Indonesia has not been able to produce more champions and more players capable of competing with the best of the best on the world stage. Nah, if Switzerland with their small population can produce a Roger Federer, then the question is why cannot Indonesia produce a player of a similar caliber?

Just a thought!