The Gays and Tennis, Part 5

Now that The Gays and Tennis, Part 4 is full, we'll need a new one...

• Continuing... The surprising thing about this video is Schiavone's reaction to the man shouting "I [we?] love you Nole!". She smirks at Djokovic and touches her ear a couple of times - an Italian gesture that basically means "queer"/"fag" (I think the nonverbal exchange is basically Schiavone telling Djokovic, "Hear that? There's a fag interested in you"). This certainly wasn't lost on Djokovic (who's spent loads of time in Italy and is fluent in Italian, including the sometimes impenetrable hand gestures), who starts prissing about and blows the guy a kiss. Honestly, Schiavone is a weird one...

  http%3A//www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DznyFyQ-Xrpc%26feature%3Dyoutu.be

• [R1] So does this gesture have + or - connotation? =p Anyway, good news! Tomic would have to face Federer to get past R3 of AO. That means mostly likely no hype after the first week.

  Aar.

• Hope you'll all be watching ESPN to catch my Australian Open Pammentating! I'll share all the DIRT on the top players, and throw in some great BITS about life on the tour in the early DAYS when Billie Jean ruled the ROOST! Boy, did that Billie like to play GRABASS in the shower after a tough three TITTER. Oops, did I say three titter? I meant three SETTER! I can't imagine why a straight GAL like me would be talking about three tits - in all my years strolling the locker room, I never saw a DAME with three tits. Well, except Turnbull, of course.

  Pam%20Shriver%2C%20world%27s%20LOUDEST%20commentator

• Love you, Pammie!

• I'm pretty sure he is a homophobe, R2. The guy is Serbian, and that tells you all you need to know.

• Is that who I think it is? =p Anyway, I don't know. He's done a lot of things that could be seen as gay (underwear modelling, cross-dressing etc.) so whatevs. I don't know. Also, if that gesture Schiavone did had a negative connotation then she's a hypocrite. She very much carries herself like a man and is very butch. She could easily be seen as gay herself.

  Aar.

• The gesture is negative, most certainly, as is the term associated with it ("recchione"/"ricchione"). But the idea of political correctness is so beyond unevolved in Italy, that most people have no conception of the offence it might cause. What surprised me about Schiavone's use of the gesture is that she came across as an insensitive tool, and I'd always assumed she was anything but.

  R1

• For R599 in previous thread: Nicest guys I've dealt with would include: Nieminen, Simon, Monfils, Baghdatis, Tsonga, Isner and Becker. They are all really positive, friendly and helpful. It's often difficult to get players to do things but these guys never let you down. The top guys are generally easy to work with too, although they like to change their minds a lot after you've made arrangements based on what's been agreed with them.

• So you've interacted with Fed, Rafa, Nole, Murray, R8? Any further info or stories? At that level, and not to 'defend' them unnecessarily, I wonder if it's their teams who are changing their minds and plans rather than the individual player. Sometimes I wonder how much life the really top guys even live, with teams of people constantly surrounding them, the expectation to remain at the top, branding, endorsements. It just sounds like such a grind. Not that they aren't well-compensated, of course.

• R7, I'm admittedly not well-versed in these gestures, this is all new to me (and interesting). Is it possible that Fran did that gesture tongue in cheek? Everyone knows that she is gay herself, so maybe she was playfully 'telling' Novak 'hey, looks like you've got a male admirer.' Is that even possible given its connotation? I really doubt that she of all people meant it in a derogatory, 'look at that fag' way. R5, R6 is right that Novak himself has done a lot of stuff that a homophobe traditionally would not do: prancing around a catwalk in first a speedo and then tight underwear (with another guy), cross-dressing for laughs, inviting a boy who called out that he loved him at a US Open practice session to hit with him on the court. I don't know what his views are but he certainly does not act like one despite his nationality.

• (R9), mostly the changing comes from the players themselves who've decided they would now rather practise at this time rather than that time, or they would prefer head back to the hotel early, etc. etc. All the top guys are easy to work with but they do expect to get what they want which partly explains the amount of mollycoddling they get from their entourages. In that respect, Rafa's and Nole's teams are probably the worst. And like all players, they like getting free stuff. One of my favorites was with Mrs Fed: he was supposed to meet some sponsors (mobile phone company) in their suite and they wanted to present him with a new phone. Mrs Fed was explaining to us that Fed really didn't feel like doing it at the moment, he wanted to rest, blah, blah, blah. We kept pushing and finally, her response was, "Can we get two?" "Yes, I'm sure we can get two." "OK."

• R10, yes it's very possible she thought she was being funny, perhaps even clever. And that's my point - there's a lack of sensitivity there that I wasn't expecting. And almost everyone seems to be assuming she's gay, but if she is then it's very much under wraps, unlike, e.g., Tathiana Garbin, who never officially came out but who was always spotted out and about with various girlfriends, at least when she was overseas (I remember flying back to Italy from Sydney about five years ago, and we were both on the same flight - right up until we landed in Vienna she was obviously with her girlfriend, and not bothering to hide anything; the minute we changed planes for the Vienna-Venice leg, she and her girlfriend parted ways and sat very much separately, with little or no overt contact). Having said that, though, there's also this strange footage that a satirical Italian TV programme picked up and broadcast in November 2005 (and that made its way onto Youtube after Schiavone's FO victory in 2010). There are some weird gestures here, too, and while the voiceover seems to be implying she's setting up a one-on-one session with the man in the stands, I actually suspect she's trying to set up a FFM threesome (!). Am looking forward to your opinion... :-)

  http%3A//www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DRV34aGv11UA

• That's interesting, R11, thanks for all your informative posts. The Mirka story is funny. She seems like a no nonsense woman. One last thing, do you have any idea if the top guys take advantage of their status and popularity with women and/or men who want to sleep with them or are they too insulated by their teams to even do that? I am surprised we rarely hear of any scandals surrounding top tennis players when it is a sport that demands one lives on the road. It is hard for me to imagine men not wanting to take advantage.

• It seems to me that she's implying to have a 3way. Lol

• "I'm pretty sure he [Djokovic] is a homophobe, [R2]. The guy is Serbian, and that tells you all you need to know." Makes as much sense as all Catholics and Germans are anti-Jewish. Hasn't Djokovic gone way out of his way to show those Serbian stereotypes are not true?

• We JUST did the 'are all Serbians homophobes?' thing near the end of the other thread. Do we HAVE to do it again already?

• (R13), no I've never seen the current top guys take advantage in that way. I have only once been requested to organize girls for one of that group, and then was asked to cancel them at the last minute.

• R17, want to clue us in on/hint who that one was? It's finally getting juicy in here. My guess is Djokovic, who always seems like he's hiding a wilder side.

• R12, it looks like she is indeed trying to set up a FFM 3some. I guess she is no stranger to these hand gestures. I wouldn't have guessed her of all people.

• Damn...I'm saying so fervently that Dimitrov is better than Tomic, and then the little shit goes and wins Sydney. Guess I can't say that anymore, at least for the moment =p Really though, Grigor better win a title soon! =)

  Aar.

• If Tomic had played Murray in the final he wouldn't have a title either.

• So I've made my PICKS for this years Aussie Open... Get a load of these. I am going way out on a LEDGE here by picking Novak and Serena. What can I say? As a RED-BLOODED, SINGLE lady, how can I ignore Novak's MILKSHAKE. Am I using that term correctly? Sometimes it's hard to stay HIP. As for Serena, my pick is because she's such a great player. It has nothing to do with her BODACIOUS tatas and rounded BUTTOCKS. Why, I hardly notice her CURVES. Well, sometimes I notice them in the Women's locker room, when I'm CAMPED out there with a smartphone... for JOURNALISTIC reasons, of course. Hope you watch me DOWN UNDER, and be sure to keep your finger on the remote control VOLUME button. Sometimes a gal just has to start SHOUTING for no apparent reason!

  http%3A//espn.go.com/sports/tennis/picks/_/tournament/12

  Pammie%20Shriver%2C%20one%20of%20the%20STRAIGHT%20former%20players

• How close are we, in 2013, to having an ACTIVE openly "gay/bi" player on the men's tour?? Any prospects yet?? ACTIVE.

• More over Rafa. Who knew there are several sites dedicated to photos of Richard Gasquet's ass. Here are about 100 photos alone.

  https://sites.google.com/site/brflines/tennis/gasquet

• [ R17 ] - I'm also curious about which of the top guys wanted you to organize girls for them.

• Pam, when are you going to stop pretending that you are straight? FFS just come out of that closet already. You're not fooling ANYONE with the fake marriage to someone who claims to have been James Bond once. We all understand that you've wanted to get into Martina's pants for decades now and always failed because Martina likes 'em straight and blond but there are other gals you can settle down with. Ok, Serena is way out of our league and so are Masha and Gabby Sabatini but you could try your luck with someone more at your level like Lisa Raymond. Or Billie Jean. Or Zina Garrison. Or maybe even Judy Nelson to get back at Martina.

• I wonder if Pammie and her very heterosexual self have any dirt to tell about certain players which have been lez "suspects" through the years.

• Maybe the male gay/bi player will turn out to be Tomic. He was recently caught play wrestling naked with a male friend in a hot tub in the early hours.

• Can this please be the year when Sabatini comes out? Enough already. She'll be 43, was never married, and is hotter as well. Maybe Pammy can even do the interview.

• Did the power lezzies like Billie Jean and Martina seduce the younger players in the locker room?

• R28--maybe that would explain the endless drama, stunts and shenanigans surrounding this kid. If true, it would be cool if he comes out. It would be interesting to see who the old guard Aussies who have been quite critical of him recently (eg. Rafter)would react.

• FYI, I started an Australian Open thread.

  http%3A//www.datalounge.com/cgi-bin/iowa/ajax.html%23page%3AshowDirty%2C12348949%2C842

• Maybe we should just keep the tennis talk in this thread instead? There hasn't been an overwhelming amount of tennis posts lately. Murray and Federer playing tonight. I can't stand Murray; I hope Fed can eliminate him in the semis.

• I agree, why did we need another tennis thread with so few post here? Silly, but I guess the damage has been done.

• Who is everyone's picks for AO?

• I love Sam Stosur's arms!!!

• Poor Randy Harrison, no chance against Nole.