racket sports, a speciality. Otherwise, anything quirky! Former real tennis champ and tennis tournament player. London based.
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OPINION: A huge number of fans, (in particular, Americans, since she is, of course virtually royalty there), seem to agree with Serena Williams that the game docked from her in the US Open Final was about sexism.
Nice to get this from a reader:Hi, I really enjoy reading Languedoc Living every day. I especially appreciate Katrina Allen’s updates on the major tennis tournaments and I totally endorse her article about Serena’s behaviour in the US Open’s Ladies Final.
I would like to point out that Serena screams racism; doesn’t screaming abuse at a Portuguese umpire constitute racism? I would have thought so.
This article appeared in Languedocliving.com
The US Open was filled with controversy this year, making the whole thing rather interesting for reasons other than just the tennis.
For British viewers, the tournament was being aired, for the first time, on Amazon Prime. The whole user experience was dreadful. At one point Amazon was so overwhelmed with complaints that the system crashed and reviews were suspended. Read More
“Participation, Inclusion and Personal Best”
by Katrina Allen
The Gay Games, a huge sporting event, is held, like the Olympics, every four years.
It first took place in San Francisco in 1982, featuring 17 sports, 12 nations and 1,350 participants. It was a huge success and it was clear that this LGBT+ sporting celebration would continue.
Since then, the event has been held in cities such as Vancouver, New York, Amsterdam, Sydney and Cologne. Each time the numbers have increased. By 2006 there were 30 sports and cultural events, 70 nations and 11,700 participants.
This year, the sporting extravaganza is to be held in Paris from 4th -11th August.
The Gay Games was initially known as the Gay Olympics but objections were raised by the Olympic Committee and the name was changed. It was a reasonable request since the whole ethos of the Gay Games is about inclusion, not just within the community but also across various standards, which go from beginner to expert. The Olympics, of course, is all about excellence, world-class athletes within their sport.
From synchronised swimming to pétanque to wrestling – you name it … The full list of sports can be found at https://www.paris2018.com/sports-list/ Read More
This article appeared in Languedoc Living
Much of Wimbledon was rather flat this year due to World Cup frenzy coinciding with the Championships.
Even some of the players appeared to want to cheer on their teams rather than play their own matches.
At this point, the commentator said “and that’s her girlfriend and coach”. I have never heard that from a commentator before.
Good on them all for normalising it…
And it was replayed on match of the day – Navratilova raised her eyebrows, grinned and gave an approving nod in Becker’s direction. Clare Balding said nothing – she should have done but maybe she was worried about her job – wouldn’t surprise me.
Visibility matters. Coincidentally, it's also #Pride weekend in London, isn't it? #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/hJIra8FfDg
— René Denfeld (@Renestance) July 7, 2018
So, Andy Murray has withdrawn from Wimbledon. It’s sad for him and it’s also sad for those of us who were rubbing our hands in anticipation of what would have been a fascinating match against the Frenchman Benoit Paire in the first round. Paire would have been a tricky opponent, having had two match points in a hugely tense final set tie break against Roger Federer in Halle.
Read More
🎾We have an exclusive court-Side snippet with @katrinaallen21 from the @QueensTennis 🎾#FeverTreeChampionships #QueensTennis #courtside #tennis #Exclusive pic.twitter.com/DVKG89Jtq0
— WDH Tennis Tickets (@WDH_Tennis) June 22, 2018
This article appeared in Diva Magazine in June 2018
Back in 2014, I wrote an article for Diva Magazine about Amélie Mauresmo, a former World No 1 tennis player. She had just been appointed coach to Andy Murray, which rocked the tennis world since it was the first time a woman, let alone a lesbian, had coached a top ten male player. Read More
This article appears on the Wimbledon Debentures website
https://www.wimbledondebentureholders.com/
Murray vs Krygios at The Queen’s Club Fever Tree Championships, Tuesday 19 June.
This article appeared in Givemesport.com
It’s the scandal that shocked the cricket world and two months on, it is still a hot topic of debate.
This article appeared in Givemesport.com
Rafael Nadal has just won his 11th Roland Garros title at the age of 32.
Roger Federer, at the age of 36, is favourite to win this year’s Wimbledon.
These two players have won all the Grand Slam titles between them since Melbourne last year and appear to be unbeatable.
So, who might be future contenders for those Slam titles?
This article appeared in LanguedocLiving.com
by Katrina Allen
There were two big questions at the start of the tournament this year. Could Novak Djokovic regain his form and test Rafael Nadal, the “King of Clay”? And could Serena Williams possibly come back after having had her first child in September and having played only a handful of matches since then?
But the tournament turned out to be far more exciting than that, with some nail-biting matches.
Camden Riviere was here to defend his title! Fahey was very much the underdog, mostly due to the considerable age difference. You can train as much as you like but giving away nearly 20 years is a pretty tall order. Read More
photo : wikimedia commons
For the first day’s report go to Day One
What an extraordinary day’s play! Rob looked finished at the end of day one where he managed to win the first set and then appeared to run out of steam.
Today, he came out looking fresh and squeezed the first set in a tight 6-5. He then managed to take the second with a real nail-biting 6-4 which made them level at three sets all.