Tennis

[Stan]

7 hours ago, JoshBRFC said:

Did anyone hear Medvedev refer to a fifa celebration ? Hahah he said only legends will understand. I knew what he meant straight away 

Yeah the dead fish one

 

[JoshBRFC+]

52 minutes ago, Stan said:

Yeah the dead fish one

 

. What a way to celebrate. I felt like he was talking to me directly when he said only legends will understand this  

 

Still buzzing for Radacanu, what an achievement at such a young age.

She’s now like 1/10 for SPOTY and deservedly so. 

Edited September 13, 2021 by JoshBRFC

[RandoEFC+]

Horrible story developing in China as Chinese player Shuai Peng appears to have gone off the grid. She accused a top Chinese official of sexually assaulting her, has since deleted the social media post with the allegation and hasn't been heard of since November 2nd. Chinese state media have released an email supposedly from Shuai Peng to the WTA claiming that everything is fine. Hopefully she's alright but it doesn't sound good.

[Tommy]

32 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

Horrible story developing in China as Chinese player Shuai Peng appears to have gone off the grid. She accused a top Chinese official of sexually assaulting her, has since deleted the social media post with the allegation and hasn't been heard of since November 2nd. Chinese state media have released an email supposedly from Shuai Peng to the WTA claiming that everything is fine. Hopefully she's alright but it doesn't sound good.

Yea, I've been following that story for a few days now. That E-Mail that is supposed to be from her reads comically bad.  

[Stan]

Deeply concerning what could be happening with this case. I fear the worst for her  

[nudge]

I fully expect her to resurface in weeks or months, and read a "personal statement" publicly, citing her poor mental health and apologising to the former vice PM and the whole community for her "false accusations". 

[Batard]

2 hours ago, nudge said:

I fully expect her to resurface in weeks or months, and read a "personal statement" publicly, citing her poor mental health and apologising to the former vice PM and the whole community for her "false accusations". 

I half expect we'll never hear from her again, she'll certainly never be allowed to leave the country to play Tennis again.

[nudge]

5 minutes ago, Batard said:

I half expect we'll never hear from her again, she'll certainly never be allowed to leave the country to play Tennis again.

Yeah, ruined her career and probably her life with a single social media post. I am by no means trying to justify Chinese officials doing shit like that, because it shouldn't be happening anywehere in civilised world, but why oh why did she think it was a good idea to post any of it, knowing the people she's accusing and the political system of the country she's living in 

The whole situation kinda reminds me of Jack Ma disappearing a while ago after publicly criticising China's financial sector and policies; he resurfaced some three months later (and his businesses were hit with a lot of fines and license removals), but then he has a lot of money and also powerful friends, most likely, which probably made it easier for him.

[Machado]

She should have left China before speaking out.

You have to be naive to accuse a Chinese government official of littering, let alone sexual assault. She is probably going to be subjected to some unpleasant *cough cough* "rehabilitation."

[Guest]

This is terrible what has happened. China will deny it of course but we all know what likely happened. 

[nudge]

 

 

[Tommy]

Also this. 

It just seems so staged. I don't understand Chinese, but apparently the guy conveniently drops the date out of the blue. 

[nudge]

22 minutes ago, Tommy said:

Also this. 

It just seems so staged. I don't understand Chinese, but apparently the guy conveniently drops the date out of the blue. 

The guy is her coach. It's most likely staged, and her media presence will be controlled for sure, but it also shows her alive and fine, so that's something.

The videos from the tennis event:

 

[DeadLinesman]

1 hour ago, Tommy said:

Also this. 

It just seems so staged. I don't understand Chinese, but apparently the guy conveniently drops the date out of the blue. 

Saw this. He hadn’t tweeted since 2017 either.

[Tommy]

1 minute ago, DeadLinesman said:

Saw this. He hadn’t tweeted since 2017 either.

Probably didn't even remember his password, but the government helped him out. 

[Batard]

Until she's allowed to freely speak for herself outside of China, anything presented as evidence should be prudently considered fabricated.

[nudge]

1 hour ago, DeadLinesman said:

Saw this. He hadn’t tweeted since 2017 either.

That's not true though? He's the editor-in-chief of Global Times and tweets regularly...

[DeadLinesman]

2 hours ago, nudge said:

That's not true though? He's the editor-in-chief of Global Times and tweets regularly...

Must be a different account? Sure I’d seen something that was 2017 and then a tweet with her?

[nudge]

Just now, DeadLinesman said:

Must be a different account? Sure I’d seen something that was 2017 and then a tweet with her?

Yeah, must be. The original one that @Tommy posted is a legit Twitter account.

[Tommy]

[Azeem]

Chinese state media handles are so bad at doing propaganda "They are dancing.....is this oppression ? "

[nudge]

 

As expected.

[Tommy]

So Djokovic traveling to the Australian Open despite being unvaccinated with a "medical exemption". 

[RandoEFC+]

55 minutes ago, Tommy said:

So Djokovic traveling to the Australian Open despite being unvaccinated with a "medical exemption". 

Apparently they're allowing 'have had Covid in the last 6 months' as a medical exemption for some players. ATP have confirmed that 95 of the top 100 players are fully vaccinated and that a handful of players have been granted said exemption due to having a positive Covid test in recent months, although the tournament spokesman wouldn't comment on individual cases with Djokovic obviously being the high-profile one they were quizzed about.

It seems really dodgy to me though and has quite rightly led to some outrage. Australia have had one of the most strict and oppressive approaches towards managing the pandemic out of the countries that are big enough and popular enough as travel destinations to garner any attention. I would be interested to hear the thoughts of @Toinho, @Spike and @Devil-Dick Willie on this as I'd be pretty fucked off if I was Australian with the restrictions on travel that have been in place for the last two years, and what people like Spike have been put through in trying to get home to see family, seeing Djokovic being allowed through a loop-hole to come and compete at the Australian Open despite being pretty openly a "vaccine sceptic" if we want to take the generous route of not calling him a full on anti-vaxxer.

Whatever you think of vaccine rules, surely rules are rules and it would grate on me to see an elite athlete granted this special treatment if I was told I had to jump through hoops every which way to be allowed back into my home country to attend a family funeral, for example.

[nudge]

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others".

I couldn't care less about his vaccination status, but it's a slap in the face for all those who weren't allowed in or out of the country to see their partners, parents and families in the past two years. But it's not exactly surprising, is it? If you have enough money and status, there are always ways to circumvent the rules.