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Tennis
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 30-07-2015 11:33
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I've been developing an idea to write a (short) book/story and it involves the life of a tennis player. The problem is, besides occasionally seeing a match on the television, I don't know that much about tennis.
I know a bit about the actual game itself; serving, switching sides, points, deuces, advantage play, backhand, forehand...
But before writing the story, I want to get into the world of tennis and know a lot more about it. Problem is, don't want to read the full wikipedia page because that's just boring and sterile.
So, anyone has any nice tips on how to learn more? Is there a PC or ps3 game, for example, that shows the world of tennis perfectly, for example. Or maybe someone who can answer a few questions here?
I'm mostly interested on how a career of a top player is. How many tournaments does he play per year, what tournaments does he do? How do you get into the US Open, what ranking do you need? How do you reach that ranking? That sort of stuff.
Thanks in advance! |
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 30-07-2015 11:38
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Not sure if it's what you want, as it's quite a but longer than the Wikipedia page, but a biography of one of the top players (Federer, Djockovic, Nadal, Murray, etc.) Would be a very good way to find out how the career of a top player works.
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| Lachi |
Posted on 30-07-2015 12:33
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You could contact a local tennis player and ask him for an interview. |
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| dark_x2012 |
Posted on 30-07-2015 13:07
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Ian Butler wrote:
How many tournaments does he play per year, what tournaments does he do?
Well it depends from the tennis player. The top guns usually play between 15 and 20 tournaments in singles and during some of them play doubles. Some tennis players play in the Davis cup, some prefer not to. Novak Djokovic last year played in 15 singles tournaments and some Davis Cup matches, while Rafa Nadal played in 18 tournaments in singles but not in Davis Cup. Roger Federer was with 19 and Davis Cup.
How do you get into the US Open, what ranking do you need?
In a grand slam there are 8 wild-cards given by the organizers, 16 spots given by qualifications and the top 104 in the ranklist who can participate in the tournament. In the ATP1000 series there are 96 players as the top 32 start from second round. There are 5 wild cards and 12 qualification spots.
These are the tournaments in which every top 32 member must participate unless he's got an injury. Also you have to be in at least 4 ATP500 tournaments.
How do you reach that ranking?
Each tournament gives an amount of points in a ranklist. Here's where you can find more about it.
https://www.atpworldtour.com/en/rankin...nkings-faq |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 30-07-2015 13:11
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Thanks guys, some useful tips & info here!
Just to get it right, can I presume there are no national or world championships in tennis? Just the tournaments + Davis Cup (which is country based, right?) and then at the end of the year the Master Tournament. Which is only for the top 8 players? So ranking 1 - 8 in the ATP Ranking? |
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| dark_x2012 |
Posted on 30-07-2015 13:17
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Ian Butler wrote:
Thanks guys, some useful tips & info here!
Just to get it right, can I presume there are no national or world championships in tennis? Just the tournaments + Davis Cup (which is country based, right?) and then at the end of the year the Master Tournament.
Yes, there aren't world championships and nationals among the professionals. But there are junior European championships.
Which is only for the top 8 players? So ranking 1 - 8 in the ATP Ranking?
Yes, that's right. |
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 30-07-2015 13:46
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In general the tournament structure is:
- Grand Slam
- Masters (1000)
- ATP 500
- ATP 250
- Challengers
- Futures
With there being various levels of Challenger and Futures events. Tour level is considered to be ATP 250 and above. Strength of those tournaments vary through the year depending on location and proximity to other tournaments.
A new player will generally start off at the Futures level and work their way up as they earn enough ranking points to gain entry and be competitive at the higher level. Sometimes there's crossover. A player ~100th could enter ATP 250 or Challengers events. More likely to win Challengers, but will opt for the higher level for the experience, and knowing that a breakthrough tournament could push them upwards.
Wild cards can give a main draw opportunity in a tournament in which they wouldn't be good enough to get a direct entry to, but these tend to have a heavy national bias.
dark_x2012 wrote:
How do you get into the US Open, what ranking do you need?
In a grand slam there are 8 wild-cards given by the organizers, 16 spots given by qualifications and the top 104 in the ranklist who can participate in the tournament. In the ATP1000 series there are 96 players as the top 32 start from second round. There are 5 wild cards and 12 qualification spots.
These are the tournaments in which every top 32 member must participate unless he's got an injury. Also you have to be in at least 4 ATP500 tournaments.
Worth noting that the cut off for tournament entry is a few weeks in advance - for example the automatic qualifiers for the US open were the Top 104 as of a couple of weeks ago.
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| 547984 |
Posted on 30-07-2015 17:15
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Well, there is a game, called Tennis Elbow, that we did discuss a bit back. I guess single player career mode does "take you through" the process from zero to hero, going through all the different tournaments and moving up in ranking etc. Quite a lacking game graphically (as it is an indie game) but by far some great physics and realism, and the pace of it is more like real tennis. But mostly we play online, would be great if someone would join us  It is $25 on steam, but I think I bought it while on sale for $15. Even if you do not want to buy it, DLing the demo and playing with the stats page for the players could be a good part of your story.
As for getting into tennis itself, I think it'd be good for you to pick up on the different "styles" of the top players, i.e. powerful server, baseliner, defender, what court(s) he is good at, etc.. that way you have an idea of what your fictional character is like.
Expanding on what dark_x2012 wrote, a player in the top 30 MUST participate in 8 out of 9 masters 1000 tournaments, as well as 4 ATP 500 tournaments. As the player becomes older he can gain a few "exceptions" to play fewer, but I wouldn't worry about that.
Much like cycling, you can go as deep into historical players as you like. For this it is better to skim wikipedia pages of individual players or "[year] tennis season".
Of course it would be a good idea to watch a bit of the US Open in a month or so, if you can wait that long 
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar! |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 30-07-2015 19:20
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Tour de France Champion
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Thanks again, guys.
@SN: Okay, I think I understand the classifications, now. I'll probably find a list of the full calendar somewhere.
@547984: Wow, actually looks like a great game. Watched a review on youtube. The problem will be finding time to actually get around to playing it. Though the review already tought me quite a bit about tennis itself.
I'm very interesting in the different playing styles, though.
The character in the book will become an absolute tennis legend, while his personal life goes another way. Legend both in victories (I'm thinking Grand Slam record or something) but also in other historics. Though I need to know more about tennis to describe the entire career.
I'll definitely try to follow real tennis more to get in the spirit and learn more. US Open next month sounds great. Want this book/story to be detailed so no rush!
I've already received a pm from someone who coaches tennis who wants to help out with some questions. So that's great to get to know more about tennis.
However, if there is anyone interested to help me with the more fictional side of the story, let me know and I'll be forever grateful. This would mainly be helping me decide the character's playing style & palmares & some statistics. Make sure the fictional character's palmares is impressive but realistic.
For example, if I'd do this for someone in cycling, I'd make a palmares with 5 Tour de France victories, 3 Giro d'Italia victories, 4 LBL victories, 154 victories in total... Something like that.
Contact me if you're interested! Thanks a lot  |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 13:08
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 14-09-2015 10:46
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Tour de France Champion
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Joined: 01-05-2012
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Djokovic with a nice victory over Federer for the US Open trophy.
Having said that, the coverage of the trophy was abysmal here in Belgium. You only heard about the Belgians and when Williams beat her sister. Didn't hear much else.
No streams made available, nothing.
Wasn't easy to follow that way. Also the time difference makes it harder. |
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| OZrocker |
Posted on 14-09-2015 16:15
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Very happy for Flavia Pennetta, such a solid doubles player for over a decade now who could never quite break into the top of the singles ranks and goes out with a Grand Slam victory. A bit lucky that Vinci took out Serena in the semis but you often need a bit of luck to get through the two weeks.
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| matt17br |
Posted on 14-09-2015 19:06
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Well Flavia has also been constantly in the top 50 of the wta rankings as a single, besides being an awesome double player.
If I remember correctly in 2009 (or 2010?) she got in the top 10 even, and last year she even won Indian Wells, she's just a bit inconsistent but boy is she a pure talent!
Also a bit OT but she is basically what got me into tennis several years ago, as I had heard she was born in my very same city
Roberta Vinci on the other hand had a really good day when she beat Serena, while the American really was visibly struggling to move even. I found her more overweight than what I was used to remember but I could be wrong.
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| 547984 |
Posted on 14-09-2015 23:31
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Novak 19/23 on saving BPs. Jeez
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar! |
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 15-09-2015 00:25
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World Champion
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Federer.. 4/23..I know the feeling bro..
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| OZrocker |
Posted on 15-09-2015 09:02
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matt17br wrote:
Well Flavia has also been constantly in the top 50 of the wta rankings as a single, besides being an awesome double player.
If I remember correctly in 2009 (or 2010?) she got in the top 10 even, and last year she even won Indian Wells, she's just a bit inconsistent but boy is she a pure talent!
Also a bit OT but she is basically what got me into tennis several years ago, as I had heard she was born in my very same city
Roberta Vinci on the other hand had a really good day when she beat Serena, while the American really was visibly struggling to move even. I found her more overweight than what I was used to remember but I could be wrong.
I knew Flavia had been consistently in the top 50 and even top 20, but never thought she'd done quite that well. The main criticism of Serena for the last decade has been that she is overweight, but these past couple of years she is really slowing down so it could be that she's just getting old. It makes it all the more amazing that she also won the Grand Slam this year.
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| ringo182 |
Posted on 27-11-2015 12:44
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Davis Cup Final this weekend. Come on GB  |
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| emre99 |
Posted on 27-11-2015 13:02
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Classics Specialist
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Gotta be exciting
*Players
Goffin > Edmund
Befelmans < A.Murray
Belgian Doubles < Murray Doubles
Goffin < A.Murray
Befelmans > Edmund
*Crowd
Belgium > England
*Surface: Surface: Clay (Red Clay), Indoor
???
#FREELANDA #FREELIA MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
emre99's stages
Thread of the Week : Tour of California 2014
-Official PCM World Cup 2016, 10th best keirin player in the world 
PCM.daily Awards : 2 Nominee 0 Award
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1 like 1 girlfriend
''I call you the stage god. You are the stage god.'' -baseballover312, 15.07.2016
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 27-11-2015 13:11
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Edmund is humilitating Goffin at the moment though.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| emre99 |
Posted on 27-11-2015 14:04
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On the statistical base it shouldn't be!
But here is the play!!!!
GO
#FREELANDA #FREELIA MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
emre99's stages
Thread of the Week : Tour of California 2014
-Official PCM World Cup 2016, 10th best keirin player in the world
PCM.daily Awards : 2 Nominee 0 Award
Daily Song Contest WINNER! With Foals - Mountain at my Gates with Greece!
1 like 1 girlfriend
''I call you the stage god. You are the stage god.'' -baseballover312, 15.07.2016
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 27-11-2015 15:22
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Tour de France Champion
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Goffin fighting back and should take it now here's hoping!
Go  Belgium. At least give the world something nice to say about us, too |
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