Same as the old balls.
Looking “distraught and tearful” at her press conference after the match, the Danish former world number one seemed to be playing the part of the weak, spurned woman – nursing a broken heart while her ex-fiancée was hitting the form of his life.
McIlory’s subsequent golfing achievements have been well recorded, but at this year’s US Open at Flushing Meadows, Wozniacki has been showing that hell hath no fury like a top tennis player scorned.
Wozniacki shows hell hath no fury like a tennis player scorned (Brian Boyd, Irish Times)
Chris Coffey writes:
“Good to see the Irish Independent and Niamh Horan haven’t completely cornered the ludicrous reporting of womens’ sport market. I might be wrong, but I haven’t seen too many reports of Rory McIlroy’s achievements mentioning who his new ‘best friend forever’ is. There’s also this delightful typo: ‘After a double-bagel in the first round…’ Mmmm bagels…”
FIGHT!
Thanks Sinabhfuil
Their private relationship was a large part of their respective public personas. It would be difficult to not discuss the psychology of people in individual sports like tennis and golf. Whether it is appropriate to describe her as “scorned” is up to the individual reader.
I think you’re missing the point.
The gender based narrative is the issue not the sports people, their psychology or the public nature of their relationship.
Rory narrative: 1) Bit of a cad, 2) is the breakup bothering him? 3) No the breakup isn’t bothering him. 4) Rory is the greatest.
Caroline narrative: 1) Poor woman, 2) she lost because her engagement broke up and she is woman who cant handle her emotions. 3) She is using her fury to win because she is a woman who is able to focus her out of control emotions.
Rory wins, Rory loses its down to poor play. Rory wins and its down to his prowess, fine play and mentality.
Caroline loses its her woman emotions, Caroline wins its her woman emotions.
When you think about it its outrageous sexism.
But when Rory was playing badly the gutter press were blaming his relationship and the constant tweeting of its various milestones. Rory narrative: can’t keep his personal life separate from his game?
I think these ‘journalists’ will pick on anyone and any personal business for a ‘sleb’ story.
Which stopped when he started playing well.
Plus if the narrative being his relationship and tweeting is distracting him is different from “he can’t play because he is over come by his woman emotions” which is literally what Mr Boyd is doing here. And when he starts winning, its because he is awesome, not because he is redirecting his out of control emotions.
This isn’t a stretch. The language he is using is drenched in it.
Fair enough. At the moment though, it seems like the breakup isn’t bothering him and Rory is the greatest (at this point in time). I see your point about the sexism, definitely, but emotions in tennis and golf are displayed differently, for different types of players. Tennis in particular often has a narrative of “losing one’s cool” leading to failure, and “passionate play” leading to victory.
You can lose your cool in golf too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nHa-9jGi8k
You’re over-analysing it.
Two 6-0 6-0 sets is known as a double-bagel. Google is your friend Chris.
ah, sorry about that one…
Chris, you have been pwned.
Aaaarrrgh! Chris’ comment from 12.18 wasn’t on the page when I commented.
A crappy article to be sure, but the term “double bagel” isn’t a typo. It’s a tennis term that refers to win 2 sets without losing a game
There were actually plenty of mentions of the breakup for McIlroy’s first few competitive outings afterwards, although I don’t think they were quite so condescending.
McIlroy was lucky in a sense that he won his first tournament post-split which played into the “it’s not bothering him” narrative. The reality is though, he’s an extremely talented golfer who is prone to peaks and throughs in terms of form regardless of the state of his private life.
Wozniaki on the other hand is a good, not great tennis player. When she exited the French Open in the early rounds it played into the narrative that she was finding it tough. Again, the reality is that she has often lost in the early rounds of Grand Slam events regardless of what’s going on in her private life.
For balance, Lewis Hamilton was faced with a similar narrative to Wozniaki when Nicole Sherzinger broke up with him.
No one spot the incorrect usage of fiancee? McIlroy is her ex-fiance, ie a man to whom a woman is engaged – or not, as is the case here. Fiancee is the feminine. What is the point of all this self-righteous finger-pointing at the failings of journalists if the eejit pointing the finger can’t fekn spot an obvious lack of a decent vocabulary which, in turn, reveals their own failings? I know the whole meeja game is as bitchy as fupp but it’s getting beyond fekn joke these days…
This is so similar to the Niamh Horan article it makes one wonder whether they went with such an article with the aim of creating another storm. Any press is good press.
Niamh Horan should get a full page asking Wozniaki what make-up she wears while playing. Also if it is tough to stay ladylike when playing sports. Also if she should really give this tennis lark a rest now and start thinking about having children.
Jeez that Rory McIllroy was some ball and chain around her neck. She’s free of him now.. its suits them both, he doesn’t have to travel to her tournaments and she doesn’t have to spend 4 days watching golf. They both get more time to practice..