The MRT is the bane of my existence.
written: 10:38 p.m. on Monday, Jun. 15, 2009

Tennis body mulls grunting penalties

International tennis officials are considering whether to make unseemly on-court grunting an offense serious enough to warrant match-altering penalties.

The Sunday Times of London reported that some say persistent grunters are hurting the sport.

Already, officials can award a point against grunting players if they are deemed to have hindered an opponent.

Now the International Tennis Federation is considering whether to make "noise hindrance" part of its code of conduct.

If the federation moves ahead with its plan, persistent grunters would forfeit points first, then a whole game and ultimately perhaps a whole match, the newspaper reported.

"I have lost count of the number of people who have written to me saying grunting spoils their enjoyment of a match," said Sue Barker, a former French Open champion. "It's unattractive; it's distracting. I would like to see it ultimately done away with. But while they should tighten up the rules, you cannot expect a player to stop immediately.

Um. No doubt I prefer my tennis players not to grunt (like Roger), and no doubt I find it annoying, but I honestly think there are more important questionable behaviour in tennis to worry about than grunting. Like, you know, players who take way longer than the allowed time between points, even between first and second serves. I cannot begin to express how damn annoyed I get when I'm watching a non-Roger match and both players take FOREVER to serve the next point, thereby dragging out the match way longer than necessary. The Nadal/Djokovic Madrid semi wouldn't have taken so long if they hadn't taken so long between points.

Not to mention - such abuses of the time limit sometimes take away momentum from the opponent. Nadal does it on a regular basis; I remember one match the commentators put a timer on screen to measure the time he takes between points, and it was way over the allowed time. I think it's about time players are penalised for their nonsense. Abusing the injury time-out, too, is absolutely reprehensible, and I think it's a more serious issue than on-court grunting.

Tennis is a gentleman's sport, right? It's an English sport, and we all know how anal the English are about their manners and P's and Q's. Unsportsmanlike behaviour on a tennis court is therefore more disgusting, at least to me, than unsportsmanlike behaviour anywhere else. And abusing the time limit is one of the most unsportsmanlike thing a tennis player can ever, EVER do.

Lastly, if this grunting penalty thing goes through...boy, Nadal would be totally screwed.

*

On another note, I had a really good lunch today with Mag and Jolie. The food itself - some shit grilled mushrooms sandwich from Cedele - sucked, but the company was excellent. We should have lunches like this every day.

I'm still totally enjoying the free breakfast every morning haha. Wonder when it's gonna get old, but before that happens, I shall enjoy it to the best of my ability. (Not that it's hard. Who can actually object to free breakfast?)

My indigestion problem hasn't gone away. Today was especially bad. I think it's time to stop drinking the coffee at the Coffee and Toast kiosk at the MRT station. The coffee is seriously potent, and I realise the instances in which I get weird stomach problems are the instances in which I drink kopi c kosong peng from that stall. It's cheap though. So. It's quite sad.

Oh wait, there's coffee at the courtyard. Why do I need to pay for coffee, even if it's just $1.60? Hahaha.

I don't like the machine coffee. I'll just settle for the courtyard coffee.

I bought a Starbucks tumbler on Saturday, and I'm therefore Tumbler Twins with Rui. So exciting right? I know!

On the MRT this morning, when I was forced to get on a middle carriage because I was rushing for the Pasir Ris (I typed Paris. Oh god, how I wish it's really Paris) train as I couldn't be arsed changing trains at Jurong East, I stood next to this scary tattooed couple who was PDA-ing like there was no tomorrow. Lovely, wasn't it? I usually go to the front and get on the first carriage because it's less packed. If there's anything I've learned from taking MRT for, like, ever, it's that people are too bloody lazy to walk to the end of the platform to board the train. As a result, the first and last carriages are less packed than the others. And it also depends on where the escalator is - at Bukit Batok there's only one up escalator, so the end of the platform where there escalator ending isn't is the end that you should walk to to board the train, because that's the end that will be less crowded.

Still, I complain every day about the fucking MRT because I cannot stand the fact that I have to take the fucking MRT with everyone else. Sorry, I enjoy acting like a spoiled princess - but then, I don't even have to act. I am one. And I hate it when people push past me on BOTH sides in an effort to get off the train, because it's like, so where the fuck am I supposed to stand then? And people also inadvertently stink because they lack self-awareness, and people are inherently gross, so...yeah. I hate taking the freaking MRT. If only I had a rich chauffer-boyfriend.

Okay, it's 11. I was gonna sleep at 11 but I haven't even showered, so I guess that plan has failed. Going to post this, shower, and sleep. I'm so tired.

(PS. Murray won Queens. First British man to win in Queens in the last...70-odd years? Dunno if I misread. But fuck, he's Scottish, not even English, so just get over the stupid hype. Djokovic lost Halle to Tommy Haas. Haha, I feel better about Roger going down two sets to love against Haas in Roland Garros now!)

(PPS. Had dinner with Mel today. She bought me Pepperidge Farm cookies! I love Mel. <3)

before sunrise // before sunset

Previously:
- - Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017
I'm moving. - Sunday, Jul. 11, 2010
In all honesty - Tuesday, Jul. 06, 2010
What I want for my birthday... - Sunday, Jul. 04, 2010
On Roger's behalf. - Friday, Jul. 02, 2010