Tennis Australia have copped a lot of flak lately for #ShameGate2015. But there are plenty of perfectly rational reasons for the notorious email that said Bernard Tomic was playing in the ‘Hall of Shame’ Championships.
1. An Ancient Curse
For the record, here is Tennis Australia’s 100% feasible explanation for the email.
“Tennis Australia sincerely apologises for the typo in the daily results service today… the result listing before the Hall of Fame Championships, the Sharm El Sheikh event in Egypt, won by Astra Sharma, should provide some explanation as to how this error occurred.”
But of course! Can’t you see, sheeple? It was the Sheikh the whole time! The Sheikh I tell you!
The devilish fiend’s dark and mysterious powers hoodwinked Tennis Australia’s poor, helpless staff writer with his cunning alliterative ploys.
As the ancient prophecy dictates:
“He who writes the Sheik’s true name in a result listing is destined to accidentally pen a crappy, childish slander of one of its players in the very next section”
Spooky.
2. An actual typo
Hey idiots, is it that inconceivable that maybe a person pressed the wrong buttons on a keyboard? Is that really such a preposterous proposition?
Can you not wrap your tiny, cynical, narrow-minded brains around the fact that maybe, just maybe the writer went to hit the ‘F’ button and had a sudden-onset hand spasm that caused the muscles in their palm and forearm to contract in such a way that he or she lost complete control of their fine motor functions and then, as a result, hit the wrong buttons on the keyboard in such a way that it coincidentally spelt out a sweet burn on a player who has recently been badmouthing the very organisation that the writer works for?
Is that so hard to believe?
Here’s a handy infographic showing how plausible it truly is.
3. Someone hacked into their computer.
We’ve all been there. You leave your computer open for one second at the office and then your mischievous colleague Martin comes in and opens up an incognito window with over 20 tabs of of depraved and disturbing pornographic material in accounts under your name that you definitely weren’t perusing last night and forgot about in the morning and then you go to open up your internet browser and they all pop up, loudly, and Martin does that hilarious thing where he pretends that he didn’t do it and says he literally only just got into the office.
Hahahahahahaha. Great joke Martin.
Maybe this was exactly like that. I for one, would expect everyone to give me the benefit of the doubt and stop calling me “gimp-boy”, so maybe we should afford the writer the same privilege.
4. Tennis Australia is run by an insular bunch of career bureaucrats and ex-players who have, over many years, exhibited a culture of systemic immaturity, petulance and incompetence and this latest gaffe is very much in line with this pattern of behaviour
Nahh, that couldn’t be it.
DD
Guest
It's hard to do anything in tennis in this country if you are not in good with TA! You and your child are on your own. They make life hell for our junior players and show clear favourites at all times, that's why never get involved with them in any possible way otherwise they compleatly dishearten and discourage up and coming juniors complete joke TA!
DD
Guest
Well said!
kevin dustby
Guest
half his winnings is still a huge amount of money
kevin dustby
Guest
really? way to have a go with point number 4, how well do you know the organisation, or are just taking an uniformed pot shot from the cheap seats. its so easy to criticize the organisation, what have you done for tennis in this country?
Jim
Guest
The sad thing is that the Newport Hall of Fame tournament is a great event. An Aussie wheelchair tennis champ is being inducted for his great service. This has now been overshadowed by TA with their garbage however that garbage occurred. Incidentally could TA tell us how many players have walked out of its programs.
The Lazy Phoenix
Guest
Slipped through the net - I get it, a tennis joke !!
Nick
Guest
That is fine however why is a multi millionaire tennis player who has received millions from Tennis Australia complaining and making a big issue about possibly $100-$200 for court hire and balls. I play regularly and have to pay for court hire and balls and guess what I earn what he would get for showing up. The rest I agree with.
Nick
Guest
Bit wrong there. Tomic had millions thrown at him from a young age (12 I think) During this time many talented male juniors were overlooked and due to lack of funds stopped trying for the circuit. (Travelling to Nationals and tournaments around the country is expensive unless you have some subsidies) Tomic was basically the only male junior receiving this subsidy (All the eggs in one basket) At this time the TA decided that the only female junior worth funding was Barty (who gave it up after a year) So you have two players receiving most of the funding and all the others knowing this and thinking why do they not share the money so we can all have a go. Eventually their parents who unless they were well off found that working two jobs so their child could try to reach their dream was getting too much for them and why bother when Tennis Australia thought there was only 1 child of each sex worth throwing money at. Then to appease the Tomics because they needed a Professional player to have come through the system they then threw money at his sister. Which once again has worked out successfully!!!! So when Tomic rants about no support from TA he is in denial in regards to monetary support which was denied so many but is probably correct in regards to personal support. Pat Rafter is not the right person to be Public Relations spruiker as it has been obvious over the past 2 years he has issues with Tomic and now Kyrgios. If he is Development Manager stick to the next group of juniors and leave the older ones to Wally and Lleyton.
Muppets
Guest
This is a bit of a storm in a teacup. Tomic and Kyrgios are quite plainly Muppets of the first order, they haven't backed up the attitude with results. Unfortunately it just makes Tennis more irrelevant - I'd rather not watch these muppets at all. Tomic talks about being respected but hes just not a respectable person. Just another couple of australian tennis "prodigies" that don't reach their potential. Seen it all before. Yawn.
zulutimegmt
Guest
This is simply an reiteration of what was discussed in the Guardian site – most were critical of Pat Rafter. Appear to incite chaos rather than promoting appeasement between parties. Rafter should have resolved this behind closed doors not airing it out in public. This is what any professional administrator would have done. Willing to throw Kygrios and Tomic under the bus so to speak to be torn apart by the media and like minded individuals to consolidate his position in TA. More concerned as coming off as the nice guy and yet is vengefully combative to ‘teach’ Tomic a lesson by humiliating him for payment on the practice court. No one from Tennis Australia had informed Tomic of their withdrawn financial support before hand. Any person with Rafter’s higher moral status would have at least done this. Speaks of entitlement and yet have lived in an entitled manner in Bermuda and avoiding paying tax. Donates 50% of earnings from two US open wins. This would have been marvellous if it was donated after tax. But unfortunately it was paid from tax free earnings and his financial ‘sacrifice’ is still better off than had he resided in Australia and paid tax like the rest of us. Doesn’t appear to have to have the skill or ability to bring out the best in players but is excellent in bringing out the worst from them. Envisions a simple path that could only be categorised as black or white and yet his own actions have failed his own lofty code of conduct. From a commercial perspective this is a nightmare that can only be resolved via mutual agreement (give a little to take a little). But I fear the chasm is too wide for any bridge to gap. On one corner we have two guys (with flaws) who put bums on seats at the AO and increases Tv rights; and the other corner we have Mr nice guy Pat Rafter – If the situation worsens guess who’s position becomes more precarious in the coming months.
trigger
Guest
Question ,wwwwhere does all the money go that TA gets from the Aussie geand slam.. Why are Tomic and Kyrios the only top 30 players for years ,and have been trained independently from TA and refused to come under TAs control. Why do all the TA admin fly around with their wives business class and how much do they earn Why are there less and less tennis players and juniors coming through than ever before . Maybe just maybe ,there is something in what Tomic was trying to say in his rant about TA even if it wasn't said that eloquently
RBBAnonymous
Guest
Well there goes Tennis Australia's credibility. Simply amazing that this email got out. What the hell are they thinking.
josh
Roar Rookie
Agree. This gives some credence to the Tomic's gripes with TA. I don't think it was a deliberate attempt the TA hierarchy to destabilise the Tomic camp. More than likely, a low level employee thought it'd be funny and it slipped through the net. Regardless of the intent it is still a poor look for TA. I'd suspect Twitter privileges for the TA account have been wound back.
Kaks
Roar Guru
I never thought i'd say this, but im backing Tomic in this 100%. No matter how petulant Tomic and his father are, there is no reason for TA to act as unprofessionally as they did and mock one of our own as harshly as they did. And to use a 'typo' excuse is just awful.