The Sports-India Community

As it should be.

This happened in the 80's at a WTA tournament in which the players ranked 93 & 172 in the world were involved in a improbable feat for the longest rally ever in history of Tennis .
A mindboggling 643 shots rally lasting almost half hour , 29 minutes to be precise.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/sport ... ennis.html

Astonishing story. Thanks, Rajiv!

An older discussion on "What might be the root cause of cramps"

It was a horrible way for Bolt to end his career, suffering a muscle cramp as he attempted to chase down the two men in front of him.

Do you guys think he was too nervous which resulted in him going down with cramps?

- Varma

Absolutely, Verma. It was due to nerves, nothing else. I have always believed that the largest reason for cramping in sports (certainly in tennis) was nerves. Now, I am sure I have defended some Indian players in the past, saying "ah, cramps can happen", but I have always felt that it was nerves. A lot of Indian players have had cramps at crucial points, out of nerves.

Here is an article that sheds some light into this: What causes leg cramps? I am quoting from that article parts that may support your conjectures.

Traditionally, such cramping was believed to arise from dehydration, electrolyte imbalances (including magnesium, potassium and sodium), accumulation of lactic acid, or low cellular energy levels. These proposals, however, have been shown to have minimal scientific value. More recent developments indicate that the cause of cramps most likely involves hyperactivity of the nerve-muscle reflex arc. In this scheme, some of the normal inhibitory activity of the central nervous system (CNS) reflexes is lost as a result of CNS fatigue or overuse of feedback communication with muscles.

More in a somewhat old article: Muscle Cramps

Anyone who knows more about it, please chime in.

I had an issue with cramping of my calf muscles during half marathon races. No amount of salt/electrolytes made a difference. Finally, one of my friends suggested that it could be a strength issue and asked me to work strengthening. That has made a big difference and I no longer cramp. The point is that not all cramps may be caused for the same reason.

suresh wrote: ↑Wed Sep 27, 2017 8:40 am I had an issue with cramping of my calf muscles during half marathon races. No amount of salt/electrolytes made a difference. Finally, one of my friends suggested that it could be a strength issue and asked me to work strengthening. That has made a big difference and I no longer cramp. The point is that not all cramps may be caused for the same reason.

How did you strengthen your calves, Suresh? Did you do the standard gym calf excercises?

Laporta wrote: ↑Mon Dec 04, 2017 2:06 pm How did you strengthen your calves, Suresh? Did you do the standard gym calf excercises?

I didn't do something specific to my calves. I started doing core strengthening exercises (google "7 minute workout") which involves my own body weight. By the way, I cramped again at the 30K mark during my first full marathon and again last weekend during the last 3K of a half marathon. But I am cramping less often and much later, if it happens.

John Alexander, the Davis Cupper of the 1970s and 1980s, was in the news for political reasons this week. He lost his seat in the Aus parliament because he was found to be a dual citizen (through his British father). He then renounced his claim to British citizenship and fought a by-election to retain his seat — and won, thus saving Malcolm Turnbull’s one-seat governing majority in parliament!

I found the full ATP Calendar for 2018 (also in CSV format).

http://www.tennisfans.tv/atp-tour/

Guess what? Total prize money for 2018, only for men, is $331,000,000 (including Grand Slams).

ITF has published the qualification criteria for 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Here

Very nice interview of Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf by Vijay Amritraj.

Did not know where else to post it, so I posted it here. Mods - please move if you think it belongs elsewhere.

I apologize if someone has already posted it.

It is in 3 parts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9c7AIpsxzE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ROeOb4DZjs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nTJSi47R2g

sampam wrote: ↑Sat Dec 30, 2017 9:37 pm I found the full ATP Calendar for 2018 (also in CSV format).

http://www.tennisfans.tv/atp-tour/

Guess what? Total prize money for 2018, only for men, is $331,000,000 (including Grand Slams).

That's quite a bit of change! Is this the record amount of prize money btw?

This years annual year end ClearWater Bay Invitational tournament in Hong Kong at the end of Dec, seems to be star studded affair. In the past barring 1 or two top players the line up mainly comprised of players from Philippines , Indonesia .
This year the Winners pocket US$25k from a pool of only 5 Teams fighting for a total prize money of USD100k and this in turn has attracted the Top Doubles players.

Rohan Bopanna / Mahesh Bhuphati
Divij Sharan / Artem Sitak
Jonny Omara / Joe Salisbury
Jonathan Marray / Andrew Whittington
Plus 1 local HK pair.

The playing format is also very simple, 2 sets of maximum 4 games per set and all the teams play each other in Round Robin format with the top 4 advancing to the semi's, and in this shorter and favourable version , even Mahesh along with Rohan has a good chance to win the tournament .