BS: Our Emma (Raducanu) - Tennis

Subject: BS: Our Emma
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 10 Sep 21 - 07:47 PM

Don't give a flying fart about PC, and I'm not even a tennis fan. But I wish to say that Emma is bright, Emma is beautiful, Emma is the most smiley sporty person I've seen for years, Emma has true guts and Emma is going to do our country a ton of good in these dark times. I mean, wow. Go, Emma, and never let capitalism grind you down!

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 02:59 AM

‘Our’ Emma?? Oh, you mean the girl born in Canada of Romanian and Chinese parents? Not even as ‘British’ as Greg Rusedski who, although born in Montreal QC, did at least have one British parent.

Not trying to detract from her rising star - a beautiful, graceful, talented young athlete she most certainly is, an absolute joy to watch on and off the courts, and an inspiration to other aspiring young sportsmen and women, but hardly ‘home-grown’! Under the circumstances, ‘our’ really does stretch it a bit, don’cha fink?

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 03:55 AM

To me, BWM, that makes her the perfect British citizen! Bit of everything :-) If only other people would realise that the keep Britain Britsh thing fell by the wayside when the first people crossed the land bridge from Europe. We have been accepting other people ever since and since the Raducanu family were welcomed into this country they are as British as you and I.

Maybe they should be sent home? Damned foreigners coming here, driving lorries, picking fruit, winning sporting trophies...

:-D

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Senoufou
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 04:04 AM

Hee hee Dave, not to mention blooming West Africans marrying our white women! :)
I think Emma is fabulous and an excellent role model for the youth of today. So upbeat, stalwart, cheery, and of course, an excellent tennis player. I love her to bits!

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 04:43 AM

Good grief, she's been here since she was TWO, John!

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: gillymor
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 04:45 AM

It's been a joy to watch these two teenagers fight their way through to today's final, they both possess such fun, aggressive styles with Raducanu being the first qualifier ever to make it to the semis in the Open era.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 07:20 AM

Ha! Come on Dave, you know me better than that - I’m a true believer in Free Movement and I love the diversification of our U.K. population that we’ve seen in our recent history and despite the racism of Brexit and its supporters. I’m taking huge pleasure in Emma Raducanu’s success, and I’ll be screaming at the TV in support of her during the match tonight - exactly as I have done throughout this competition and during this year’s Wimbledon.

But I don’t see her as uniquely ‘ours’ - three other nations are entitled to make a claim, however slight, on her being ‘theirs’ too, her country of birth first and foremost, but to a lesser degree the countries of her parents’ births.

And, TBH, I’d take the same pleasure in watching her play even if she declared any other country than the UK as her nationality. She’s a major-talent-in-the-making, an absolute delight to watch and follow her success, and calling her ‘ours’ makes no difference whatsoever to that IMHO.

A Flag-Shagger I am not.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 07:37 AM

I don't recall anyone saying she is uniquely ours or complaining about anyone else associating with her, John. Bit of a straw man you are putting up there.

Putting it simply, she is as British as any of us and as we are all members of this wonderful inclusive club I feel quite entitled to call her ours:-)

I dread the moment when she first stumbles though and wonder what the rabid Daily Mailers will turn her into then :-(

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 07:54 AM

Hmmm…nowhere have I said she’s not entitled to call herself British. Read the thread title Dave, and think carefully about your own Straw Man! ;-)

I watched her through the rounds at Wimbledon, and I was heartbroken for her when she had to retire in the semis. Heartbroken, not because she didn’t win - as a former not-especially-good-but-very-keen sportsman in several disciplines I’m well-versed in the art of losing well - but because of the manner of her exit. I can’t claim to know what was going on but, to this non-expert in psychology/physiology, it looked very much like a panic attack. Whatever, it was very sad, and it’s amazing to see how she appears to have recovered, and come out of it all the stronger for the experience.

I’ll be raring to go at 9pm tonight, fired-up, and willing Emma on. And who knows, I might even allow myself the luxury of a little bit of national pride!

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 08:34 AM

It's on Channel 4, folks!

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 08:48 AM

Or Amazon Prime… ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 08:51 AM

Yes but it's free to air on Channel 4. A good scoop in m'humble.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 08:54 AM

Bloody tennis.. my wife is obsessed and can get quite aggressive
if I merely suggest watching something different on another TV channel...

So I try to be patient, and put up with the never ending

"shush !!!.. it's nearly finished..."

4 hours later.. "shush !!!.. it's nearly finished..."........


Regarding sporting nationalism..

Britain is so desperate for a winning tennis champion
Daily Mail Readers will reluctantly accept putting up with anyone from anywhere
if they can beat all the other foreigners on our behalf...

I'd love to see the look on their gammon faces
if tennis loving brexiteers were told Emma Raducanu has Romanian Gypsy blood in her heritage...

Please god, let that be so...

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 09:11 AM

It clashes with the second half of the Last Night Of The Proms. Grr... Maybe Emma will win it just in time for us to sing Land Of Hope And Glory. How fitting that would be! ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 09:13 AM

I did read the title, John, which is why I said I feel quite entitled to call her ours. I suspect we are at cross purposes and not wishing to get any further involved in pointless semantics I shall gracefully withdraw :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 09:34 AM

She was a toddler here, she went to primary school here, she went to secondary school here, she learned her tennis here. One of us!

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Charmion
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 10:02 AM

Is young Emma a UK citizen yet? If so, she's yours and you're stuck with her however she performs. Since she was born in Toronto, she was already a subject of Her Maj when she arrived, although the Canadian passport doesn't say so any more.

I have been following the adventures of "our" Leylah Fernandez in the same tournament. Born in Montreal of Ecuadoran refugee parents and currently a resident of Boynton Beach, Florida, she is a typical successful Canadian. Her Dad is all over the papers being over the moon.

Incidentally, these two young athletes are working out yet another phase of the age-old Montreal v Toronto rivalry that formed eastern Canada as we know it.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 10:29 AM

I find it interesting that the news headlines are just as keen on talking about her as talking about the 20th anniversary of the twin towers attack.
The second thought is that niether of the contestants in the tennis match had been born when that happened. So, this is news as opposed to the "olds" that we get so much of.

Good luck to both of them (but with a bias to "Our Emma").

Robin

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Charmion
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 10:38 AM

Yeah, well, Robin, the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon did not happen in Britain, now, did it? Or, indeed, Canada, although airspace in this country was also closed and our airfields had to catch most of the flights that were diverted from American destinations.

The navel of the world may have relocated to the United States, but we don't have to spend *all* our time gazing into it.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 11:02 AM

I dunno if she is a UK citizen, Charmion, but as she has been here since she was 2, has been educated here and trained here in her chosen field, I don't think it matters much :-) As the son of a Polish immigrant who was proud to be accepted as a British citizen I like to think that the British people, for all their faults, do welcome others with open arms.

What tickled me not long ago though was our press reaction to another tennis start - Andy Murray. When he was winning he was British but whenever he lost he regained his native Scottish nationality :-D

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 12:55 PM

”I did read the title, John, which is why I said I feel quite entitled to call her ours. I suspect we are at cross purposes and not wishing to get any further involved in pointless semantics I shall gracefully withdraw :-) “

No problem Dave, it’s very interesting to hear different sides in a discussion, especially when the other person has your kind of personal experience.

I almost completely agree with you, my only difference seems to be that I strongly believe that, when representing a country, a sportsman/woman should be a native of that country, born there.

Perhaps I’m out of step with others here - it doesn’t bother me one jot, I’ve spent the past 24 years being the guy who’s out of step, I’m very well accustomed to it! ;-) :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 01:03 PM

24 years? If only! That 2 should be a 7! :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 03:17 PM

Anyway.. two traditional British fingers up to the nationalists...!!!

Tennis players doing it for their country...???

Bollocks.. they do it for themselves and their own personal fortunes...

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 03:25 PM

I don't mind anyone being out of step as long as it doesn't affect the whole platoon:-) In this day and age I think it unreasonable to expect an accident of birth to dictate who people represent in their chosen field. Globalisation, migration and even asylum moves people in ways that have never occurred before. In the worst case, would you expect an Afghan child, taken to safety by their parents 20 years ago, to return to that country to represent them at anything? Of course not.

People should be able to, within reason, chose their own nationality and where they live rather than be forced to an identity that was none of their own doing.

But, hey,that's just this child of the universe talking :-D

Anyway, she's on court in half an hour. COME ON EMMA!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 04:29 PM

Good points Dave. I just fear that your approach to the issue will result in the dilution and debasement of the system of national representation and, ultimately, render it meaningless.

But hey, we disagree - I’m fine with that, let’s leave it there, there’s a game of tennis to watch! ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 04:31 PM

For ‘debasement’ please read ‘diminution’ - I thought of one word but typed a different one!

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 04:37 PM

The match has now started, after much preamble. So, Emma’s opponent is Canadian: and to keep BWM happy, she was born in Montreal. But she has a Hispanic-sounding name but looks Asian: her father is from Ecuador and her mother is described as Filipino Canadian. I don’t have a problem with any of that, given that the world is getting smaller and more multi-racial all the time: in the words of the song “It’s a great big melting pot”. Now excuse me while I watch the match, and COME ON EMMA!

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 06:13 PM

Just...

WOW

:-D

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Charmion
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 06:15 PM

I see that Toronto has clobbered Montreal; Leylah Fernandez is out of the tournament and Emma Radcanu carries on.

Still very interesting! But the Canadian journos will all be in tears tomorrow.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 06:18 PM

Very well done “Our Emma”!

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: gillymor
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 06:19 PM

Radu is fun to watch, she just hits out and keeps the pedal to the metal. 18 year old qualifier wins the whole shebang and doesn't drop a set. Amazing!

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 06:54 PM

Well (and excuse me...) bugger me sideways! I can judge a football match for quality but I'm not too good with tennis, but that was intense, it was ferocious, it was evenly matched, it was seat of pants, it was QUALITY (I thought so anyway). I honestly didn't want either of them to lose. They were both beautifully smiley, they love each other, etc., but forget all that, above all they are both bloody good tennis players. A lovely shaft of unalloyed sunlight after eighteen months of misery. Go Emma! Go Leylah!

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 12 Sep 21 - 12:56 AM

A great performance by both players, but the best woman won, IMHO. ‘Best’ in that she handled the pressure with amazing maturity and, unlike her opponent, Emma didn’t allow herself to be distracted by the unfortunate injury. Otherwise, both were immensely powerful hitters, playing with intensity and determination and, in truth, neither deserved to lose. In the end, maturity held out.

Surely Emma Raducanu’s rise is one of the most astonishing stories of our time in sport, a real breath of fresh air. But, until now, she’s almost had the proverbial ‘nothing to lose’ - let’s hope that the intense physicality of her game, and the pressure that her astronomic rise will inevitably bring, don’t take their toll and she can continue to grace the courts in the top flight of tennis for many years to come.

Well done Emma! You won with power, skill, grace, and personality - you did the game of tennis proud…

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: The Sandman
Date: 12 Sep 21 - 02:30 AM

Emma Raducanu's extraordinary run at the US Open finished in glorious fashion in New York as the 18-year-old became Britain's first female singles Grand Slam champion for 44 years.Raducanu was born on 13 November 2002 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to Ian and Renee, who originate from Bucharest, Romania, and Shenyang, Liaoning, China, respectively. The original spelling of her family name in Romanian is Raducanu (pronounced [r?du'kanu]) Another example of a positive that an immigrant has brought to the UK.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 12 Sep 21 - 03:43 AM

I must admit that I am no big sports fan but if every match was like that I'd become a tennis fan tomorrow. My heart was racing, I cheered. I gasped and, most important to this grasshopper mind, it wasn't too long :-) No tantrums and the stress only showed slightly on Laylah when, after pulling back two match points, she had to wait for Emma's injury to be treated. If that injury had been on the professional football field (Sorry Steve) I suspect the injured party would have been carried off!

Some minor things away from the match. I thought the rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" was particularly horrendous. Why do they have to do that strange warbling? I know I am shallow for this but I took an instant dislike to Laylah's sulky looking little sister and wish they hadn't kept panning the camera to her. I thought it was a bit crass to mention the prize money and have the bank present it to her. And, finally, when did "Sweet Caroline" become the anthem for all English sports?

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: gillymor
Date: 12 Sep 21 - 04:52 AM

There wasn't a lot of defensive tennis going on there, both girls seem to go for winners at any opportunity, just the kind of play I like to see. When Osaka gets it together again the three of them could form an interesting triumvirate for some time to come a la the now fading Federer, Nadal and Djokovic one on the men's side.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 12 Sep 21 - 05:01 AM

It’s the ‘Murkan way, Dave - where we excel at ‘Pomp & Circumstance’, the ‘Murkans do ‘No Bizness Like Show Bizness’. And, of course, whilst they all loudly proclaim their faith in ‘Aawl-maa-a-aah-tee Gaa-a-ad’, their true god is money.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 12 Sep 21 - 05:14 AM

Emma lives about 5 miles from us !! Very well done to her, an exemplar to her generation, and note that she speaks properly too!!

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Sep 21 - 05:22 AM

People who live or lived within five miles of me: John Nettles, Tori Amos, Thom Yorke...

But it's not fair. I live in the middle of nowhere whereas you live right in t'middle of t'smoke!

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 12 Sep 21 - 05:31 AM

No we don't, we live 2 minutes drive from "enclosed" open fields - ie "the country"!!!!!!!

I must add that I cannot stand tennis, a sport with the most ludicrous scoring!!

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Sep 21 - 05:51 AM

I've never been a fan myself. I think it became boring when rackets became super-powerful. I loved watching Rod Laver when I was a lad. And I can't bear those bloody yahoos in the crowd at Wimbledon who want to be the last to shut up before the next serve. Another aspect I dislike is the seeding system, a ham-fisted way of "saving the best 'til last." What's great about Emma and Leylah's triumph is that they both smashed their way, gloriously unseeded, through all that nonsense.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Sep 21 - 06:03 AM

I looked up the official Grand Slam rule on a bleeding injury:

"If a player is bleeding, the Chair Umpire must stop play as soon as possible, and the Sports Physiotherapist must be called to the court by the Chair Umpire for evaluation and treatment. The Sports Physiotherapist, in conjunction with the Tournament Doctor if appropriate, will evaluate the source of the bleeding, and will request a Medical Time-Out for treatment if necessary.
If requested by the Sports Physiotherapist and/or Tournament Doctor, the Referee in consultation with the Grand Slam Supervisor or Chair Umpire may allow up to a total of five (5) minutes to assure control of the bleeding.
If blood has spilled onto the court or its immediate vicinity, play must not resume until the blood spill has been cleaned appropriately."

Leylah needed to have been a bit calmer and more philosophical about it. After all, the interruption disrupted the flow of both players equally, there was clearly no jiggerypokery going on and the correct procedure was being followed.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 12 Sep 21 - 06:12 AM

Newstead Wood Grammar School must be very proud!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Sep 21 - 06:13 AM

And in football, FIFA's rules state that a player who is bleeding must leave the field and can't return until the bleeding has stopped. If there's blood on the shirt, shorts or socks, they must be replaced with clean apparel.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: BobL
Date: 12 Sep 21 - 07:59 AM

In my rapper sword dancing (look it up) days, we wouldn't put the swords back in the box unless blood had been drawn at some point.

Sorry, I drift.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 12 Sep 21 - 08:03 AM

Competitive Morris. The next national pastime:-) Who remembers "The Cloggies" by Bill Tidy?

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 12 Sep 21 - 08:47 AM

My wife woke me up from my 'oh no, not tennis again' slumber,
to say

"she won...!!!"..


Note to Nationalists:.. not "we won...!!!"...



[.. though this is the same wife who is a defiantly pround nationalist
whenever Welsh teams or individuals are competing in any sport...]

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 12 Sep 21 - 09:31 AM

In my view the reaction to Emma Raducann's success does have a bearing on discussion on UK politics, and highlights the hierocracy of a government which on one hand is committed to anti-immigration policy and on the other jumps on the bandwagon on praising her success - and the likes of fagarse who has also jumped on the bandwagon while having a history of and Romanian rhetoric and shit-stirring.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma (Raducanu) - Tennis
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Sep 21 - 02:11 PM

Grrr...who changed my title...grrr...

Subject: RE: BS: Our Emma (Raducanu) - Tennis
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 12 Sep 21 - 03:23 PM

Those colonials just don't understand, Steve ;-)