Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

[Rajiv]

Whoa … whenever Ram loses , comments flow thick and fast , just like when he lost to higher Fredrico Silva a higher ranked and a man in form , at least 6 guys bombarded him with a new stick "serve and volley" (now that the BH is gone) , and just a few days later when he won & decimated # 95 Gombos 3 & 1, only couple of responses wrote about that superb win.

[RohitG]

Yeah I feel bad for RamK too. Maybe he shouldn't have brought it up at the net, but Bublik could have been more graceful in victory too. He was clearly up a break in the second set.. after winning the first that too.. could have just sealed the win and moved on.
Of course there's nothing illegal in what both players did.. but if he can shush up, play an underarm serve.. nothing wrong with RamK then, heis within his rights for saying come on or grunting on his drop shots.

Another duck move on his part was to rub it in on his opponent in the post victory q&a. He had another opportunity to play it down but decided to give his version of the truth while we never got to hear his opponent's version of the story.

[Rajiv]

And Bublik as in looks like a Russian Thug Mafia, his outlook and behaviour towards the game is also befitting that of a Mafia.

His Wiki page states.

He has said he hates tennis and only plays for the money: "If there was no money, I would stop playing tennis instantly

Never heard any Sportsman/woman , comment in such a manner .

[jayakris]

Whoa … whenever Ram loses , comments flow thick and fast , just like when he lost to higher Fredrico Silva a higher ranked and a man in form , at least 6 guys bombarded him with a new stick "serve and volley" (now that the BH is gone)

That is not a new stick, Rajiv. We have been complaining about it for at least 3-4 years, if not more! Just a constant complaint. He does seem to blindly run up to the net and rarely shows instincts in deciding when to do it. I think everybody here is a RamK supporter. It is just frustration in feeling that he has a lot more talent (and tools) than the win-loss record would indicate, that brings out the negative comments.

My complaints have always been about whoever has been coaching him, from way back in Spain when he was a teenager. We rarely see indication that they are improving him. But RamK is a good guy who takes his tennis seriously, plays a lot, keeps in shape. It is also fun to see him play, so we all like him. No question on that.

[prasen9]

Absolutely. And he PG and SN are all we have in the men's side (at a high level). So, we demand more. We want more. When they win, we sort of take it for granted. When he does not, we complain. I suspect it is about the same for others too but with RK, we perhaps had higher expectations from him because of his serve, etc. So, maybe we complain more. His win before this was indeed a very good win.

He got annoyed by this guy. I think he phrased the question badly after losing. But, that happens because it is spur of the moment. The real question is why he does not respect the game as opposed to respecting the opponent. Basic respect for an opponent is required as in respecting a human, respecting him or her on the court as a fellow tennis player but we do not need to respect their game. Respect is earned. RK should not ask for respect for his game after he lost. It is fine for people not to respect the play of an opponent.

Anyway, this guy is a thug. Why engage even after the match with this guy? I know he was upset by his antics and so thought he would ask. But, it is best if they just moved on and we just moved on from this idiot. I am sure he already has.

[jayakris]

Anyway, this guy is a thug. Why engage even after the match with this guy? I know he was upset by his antics and so thought he would ask. But, it is best if they just moved on and we just moved on from this idiot. I am sure he already has.

Yeah, that is the point. RamK should've just moved on. That dude is known as a thug and RamK certainly knows it. Why get into this. Sometimes, engaging with lowlives will only make you look bad.

[sameerph]

Whoa … whenever Ram loses , comments flow thick and fast , just like when he lost to higher Fredrico Silva a higher ranked and a man in form , at least 6 guys bombarded him with a new stick "serve and volley" (now that the BH is gone)

That is not a new stick, Rajiv. We have been complaining about it for at least 3-4 years, if not more! Just a constant complaint. He does seem to blindly run up to the net and rarely shows instincts in deciding when to do it. I think everybody here is a RamK supporter. It is just frustration in feeling that he has a lot more talent (and tools) than the win-loss record would indicate, that brings out the negative comments.

True, Jay. Last year in a challenger in Europe where he reached the final, i watched 2-3 of his matches and he was playing almost perfect tennis. Coming to the net mostly behind his strong first serves, staying back on his second serve and attack in his return games. He showed that he can do it successfully but then next tournament again went back to the tactics of rushing to the net on every serve and only slicing his service returns.

I have not seen a player lose as many matches only due to shot selection as RamK does. That is why it is frustrating. Is he so stubborn not to listen to his coaches? Or his coaches do not tell him these things which are so obvious to some of us who are just armchair critics.

[prasen9]

I am going to be an armchair surmiser. Maybe in those cases where he is playing a top-class player, he knows that he cannot stay at the baseline and win. He knows he has a small chance if he plays serve and volley. In the sense, that he would lose the point anyway if it was a baseline duel and so he goes up and loses the point. We, armchair critics, criticize him because he lost a point. But, if he stayed back and lost 90% of he second serve points, we would not even bat an eye. I try to criticize when I think the other guy is not that good based on rankings, etc. But, maybe even low-ranked guys play well on a given day and if I have not watched the match, I do not know that. So, I rely on someone watching the match complaining about his shot selection/strategy, think that person must have watched the match carefully and knows what he is saying and then pile on. Maybe I should refrain.

Anyway, everyone here supports RK and thinks highly of him (within the Indian context) while being realistic. Maybe too highly and that is why we get disappointed by reasonable losses and even expect him to win against top-tier players.

[Sanjay]

Found a better video of the exchange.

[Atithee]

Thanks for posting this, Sanjay. It seems RR is known in the tour for his celebrations. I am not sure if Bublik is in the wrong here. Demanding respect almost never works.

[Sanjay]

Thanks for posting this, Sanjay. It seems RR is known in the tour for his celebrations. I am not sure if Bublik is in the wrong here. Demanding respect almost never works.

I wasn't aware that RR was known in the tour for his celebrations, I have seen almost every player celebrate points or victories. It could also be that some players are okay with a white player celebrates but gets all butt-hurt if a brown/black player celebrates and cries foul about that.

We saw it in cricket with Australia and England sledging without any restrictions, but when India, Sri Lanka, West Indies gave it back to them, they began to squeal like piglets.

This is could be a case of racism within the tennis world.

[arjun2761]

Thanks for posting this, Sanjay. It seems RR is known in the tour for his celebrations. I am not sure if Bublik is in the wrong here. Demanding respect almost never works.

Fully agree! Respect is earned...

[jayakris]

Thanks for posting this, Sanjay. It seems RR is known in the tour for his celebrations.

Not sure that it is well-known on the tour. That may be just a line that Bublik said for effect, to get one-up on RamK in that argument. I doubt RamK is at the level where people talk much about him, for Bublik to have known. Bublik might've just guessed that RamK does it often and so must have heard the complaint before from other opponents. That may be all.

[Sin Hombre]

I wouldn't throw racism around lightly.

Ram has a history of being annoying and Bublik might well be right in that he has earned that reputation. Obviously, Bublik doesn't come off well here either.

[jayakris]

... And in any event, ramK should cut that out and make a good effort to stop saying "come on" and fist-pumping when the other guy makes a mistake. In reality, it is often not celebrating the mistake, but acknowledging the other guy's mistake-free play - like, "phew; I got one point! This guy never misses one and I got lucky" (in fact, many top players know this; and don't mind when the other guy, whom you are dominating, celebrates a mistake from you). In any case, one should never do this when one is on top in a match and the other guy who is struggling makes a mistake. That is a big no-no. That seems to not be the case in this match; and Bublik was being a punk, trying to do "shush" to ramK when he was beating RamK anyway. And he is a worse ass, for that underarm BS at the end.