Tennis as a hobby

sananthan

Potential questions, please?
Here's what I could think of-
Major Indian players, major foreign players, major tournaments, all technical rules, different events, reigning champions of each category, dimensions of the court/ ball/ racquet, diff types of courts, how seeding is done, why Indian players seem to excel at mixed doubles but not singles, tennis as an alternative to cricket/ football, health benefits of tennis, history of tennis, diff types of service, diff. shots (drop shot/ top spin/ smash etc.), what skills are common to both a good tennis player and good administrator, best tennis game you have ever seen, films based on tennis. People with tennis as their sport, please contribute?

Jamz

@sananthan I have mentioned 'following tennis' as my hobby. Should I expect them to go into the nitty-grity technical details?

sananthan

@sananthan I have mentioned 'following tennis' as my hobby. Should I expect them to go into the nitty-grity technical details?

I haven't given a UPSC interview before so I don't know. Typically, they don't go into deeply technical details but stick to general information any tennis player should know eg. what is a deuce, top seeds men/ women, why is tennis not as popular as it should be etc. But in some interview transcripts I read, they asked one guy-" why is there fuzz on a tennis ball?" They asked another guy, who played squash, the dimensions of a standard squash racquet. So one can't be too well prepared.

sananthan

@RS86- thanks, these are some interesting and offbeat questions.

SuperSaiyan

Prize money controversy in grand slams. ( men vs women)

Rafa grunting raised by Fed in Aus open.

Doping in tennis + Agassi

Yuki Bhambri breaking into top 150.

PoliceWala

One question that intrigues me is the concept of non-playing captains. India often seems to have them when I read in the papers.

SuperSaiyan

@RS86

I don't think Davis Cup matches take place simultaneously , so your first argument isn't right.
Coaching is allowed only in the Davis cup when a game is in progress. In all other tournaments coaching isn't allowed in between a match. In any case , you could have a coach to coach the players. It doesn't have to be the captain.

About pairing up, the captain would generally choose a combination that helps the team win. I don't think he would choose a strong player to play with him for personal interests.

In most other countries, the captain does play. Eg: Djokovic for Serbia

I think in India's case , its more about experience(Amritraj ) . We currently have a young team. @PoliceWala Have we always had a non playing captain? Even during Paes - Bhupathi era?

sananthan

Also toss in the debate on whether men and women should play matches of equal sets

SuperSaiyan

@sananthan That's related to the prize money debate. Men argue that since they play 5 set matches in grand slams , they need to be paid more than the women ( or women should play 5 sets).
If women play 5 set matches, only one player can win it - Serena.

sananthan

@sananthan That's related to the prize money debate. Men argue that since they play 5 set matches in grand slams , they need to be paid more than the women ( or women should play 5 sets).
If women play 5 set matches, only one player can win it - Serena.

Oh yeah, so it is
(%)

sananthan

Why is zero called 'love' in tennis? As in 30-love, etc. (From a non-UPSC interview)