Crikey readers on why kids should play tennis, and Biden’s legacy
Roger Richards writes: I am of an age when I recall the Davis Cup and Wimbledon players were amateurs. Lew Hoad and Ken Rosewall under the guidance of Harry Hopman were world-beaters and an inspiration to us all. Today, as I approach 85, we octogenarians are allowed to let the ball bounce twice before hitting it as a local club rule. We “vets” love the game and are disappointed that the young are not taking it up.
Money earned is irrelevant for a sport that gives so many physical and mental benefits. Our tennis friends are the most caring in the world.
John M writes: Nice piece of analysis. Many pro tennis players are precious little people who cannot handle a bit of noise while they serve or a bit of movement in the crowd. They fly off the handle, behaving atrociously — and the powers that be let them do it. I prefer not to watch it these days.
Linda Rogers writes: Interesting. Most kids can access local, free tennis courts, and rackets don’t cost fortunes. Plus, I played tennis from the time I was about five until 75. It is also very social and people play tennis all over the world — so shame on you for only viewing sport as a money-making opportunity. A very clickbait article that I’m cross I fell for!
Mark F writes: I’m assuming this is written in the same sort of entertainment mode and low intellectual competence as say… tennis. The reason most people play tennis or most sports is for exercise and as a social outlet. Making more than a modest income from sport is a fairly recent change and a decidedly retrograde one.
Tennis is a good choice for many as it mostly causes few injuries, suits ordinary body sizes and, most importantly, can be played for a lot of your life. It’s similar to golf in this regard. By contrast, rugby and Aussie Rules footy are high-risk, low-duration sports, with cricket and baseball somewhere in between. I enjoy watching footy but was smart enough to stop playing at the end of primary school.
Definitely don’t encourage your children to chase so-called professional sport, which is at the lower end of the entertainment world. Encourage in them a mentality of doing something productive and useful with their lives. This especially includes the long-derided trades, which we’re now paying the price for deriding. As for the role model nonsense, the best role model for your child is a good, balanced and honest parent — not some knuckle-dragging sportsperson.
Daniel Dennis writes: In the present unhinged political climate, what recognition and reward goes to a US president who models restraint, moderation and commitment to long-term policy formation? It’s like giving lessons in healthy eating to a gang of first-graders who have just stormed a sweet shop.
Trump’s normalisation of industrial strength hate speech, totally fabricated claims and bread-and-circuses posturing, in an electorate governed by gut reactions, make a man of substance and consultative, methodical government like Biden a total anomaly, an unloved orphan who even the head of his own party’s ticket didn’t want to claim.
Frank Dee: Sad but true. Biden was a decent man, outside of his support for the Netanyahu regime. Great plans, good starts, but America is not a country with a population that examines deeply, and their media — at least most of the right-leaning media — discourage thinking as being “elitist” and lacking good ol’ Christian faith.
How did Biden go on for so long without someone in the Democrats saying that it was time to appoint a successor? They must have seen his decline. They must have worked out it would only worsen. They must have seen polls saying that Ma and Pa Kettle didn’t understand the policies and intentions of some of what was being done for the country… but no one tried to explain, and no one pointed out that the emperor was shambling around the White House with no clothes.
Maria Hawthorne writes: My baby brother (aged 56 years old) reminded me this week that as a teen obsessed with the fairly ordinary English band Racey, I sent Simon Townsend a ransom note with cut-out letters from magazines threatening harm to Woodrow if he didn’t play Racey. He read the note out on air, giggled, and played “Some Girls”. I can only apologise to everyone.
