Henin a Gem - 網球

寫得很好阿 Henin這次表現如寶石般閃耀
美國媒體的確在過去是毫不重視Henin...
總算這次的美網讓很多人跳出來幫Henin講話了 真開心
阿原來Sharapova要唸成SaRAPova? Henin的發音又再次被討論啦....
http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/ts/ts070913henin_a_gem
Henin a Gem
THU SEP 13, 2007

This is Diana Nyad for KCRW, and this is The Score.

Justine Henin is not only the best woman tennis player in the world at the
moment. She may play one of the most well-rounded games of any champion in
the sport's history. Before we go any further, however, I can't help but say
that it makes me beyond crazy that none of the myriad of tennis announcers
can pronounce her name correctly. They go to great lengths to get the Serbian
names right--and they're not easy. Djokovic. Ivanovic. I was going to say
that they do well with the Russian names as well, but the truth is they've
got many of those wrong, too. They say KuznetSOVA, instead of the proper
KuNETSova. They've got it SharaPOVA, instead of the correct SaRAPova. But we
Americans are big on the OVA sound for Russians and even the Russians have
given in to our malaprops when it comes to their names. But the butchering of
Henin's name grates like fingernails down a blackboard to my ears. If you
knew you were going to say the Number One player in the world's name for two
weeks at a time at the US Open, and you were spending dozens of hours on all
kinds of research to be on top of every reportorial detail, wouldn't you
consult a French native to get this simple name Henin right?

But no, they ALL say it wrong. They put the emphasis on the first syllable
and then just trail off into a vague, indistinguishable vowel. "Hene. Hene
hasn't lost a set the entire tournament. Hene hits a sublime one-handed
backhand." Listen up, you tennis experts. It's Henin. Emphasis on the second
syllable. And the "nin" is pronounced as in cousin, voisin, tartartin. It's
Henin, for God's sake.

But I do digress. Back to the tennis this 25 year-old Belgian is playing.
Billie Jean King said during Saturday night's final at the US Open that Henin
may be the greatest woman athlete she's ever seen. The cold, shy, dry,
self-congratulatory, un-engaging personality Henin has displayed while
winning seven major titles has kept fans from rising from their seats to
cheer her on. Point blank, we haven't been drawn to her much and that lack of
popularity has detracted from us noticing just how very impressive she is
with a racquet. It's the Ivan Lendl story 30 years later. I admit it's taken
me a few years, but this US Open pushed me to a state of heartfelt Justine
Henin appreciation.

Height and power are de rigeur at the upper echelons of today's game. The
5'6" Martina Hingis has been applauded for her comeback, after three years in
retirement, but the analysts agree that Hingis is simply too small to handle
the big bruising serves of the Williams sisters. 5'10" is no longer
considered tall on tour. 5'6" is a serious disability. And truth be told,
Henin doesn't quite measure 5'6". She's technically 5' 5-3/4". But she has
classic, powerful ground strokes, a serve that doesn't match pace with the
big boomers but is effective, and foot speed that makes hitting a winner
against her a rare occasion. Henin is even starting to smile occasionally and
a big posse of us are at last warming up to the diminutive Belgian.

We have been soaking up the genius of World Number One Roger Federer every
step of the way toward his twelve Grand Slam titles. Federer once again
elegantly took the US Open and I now retract my assertion that we can't
totally embrace a champion unless he has a worthy rival to push the limits of
his performance. Except for the few occasions on clay against Rafael Nadal,
Federer's position is analogous to Tiger's on the golf tour. If you're a
golfer in this era, you walk in Tiger's shadow. If you're a top tennis
player, you are experiencing the misfortune of peaking simultaneously with
the finest player who has ever stepped up to the base line. But for us fans,
the players' misfortune is our privilege.

This is Diana Nyad for KCRW, and that's The Score.

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