Tennis, anyone...?
September 28, 2005 10:17 AM   Subscribe

Tennis, anyone...?
posted by forallmankind (42 comments total)
 
Wasn't that like 6 months ago?
posted by JeffK at 10:22 AM on September 28, 2005


I think we had the link to the photos of Tiger Woods shagging balls from the same sort of helipad.
posted by xmutex at 10:24 AM on September 28, 2005


Is it just me, or is the "Dubai Duty Free Men's Open" the worst name for a sporting event?

Wait, maybe it is the best name.
posted by tpl1212 at 10:26 AM on September 28, 2005


Doubles could be very difficult.

"I got it! I got it!.... Yours!"
posted by Ynoxas at 10:28 AM on September 28, 2005


I think it's both odd and kind of cool that Dubai is using all of their oil wealth on really extravagant, sort of impractical things. They're the ones that are doing those man-made islands in the shapes of pinetrees and crescents and stuff, right?

Also, check out this guy's funny hat! Man, that's a funny hat.
posted by billysumday at 10:29 AM on September 28, 2005


XQUZYPHYR, it's right over the sea, IIRC.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 10:30 AM on September 28, 2005


Here's a better perspective.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 10:31 AM on September 28, 2005


Dubai's got a good sense of humor and alot of money to have fun with.

This would scare the crap out of me though. Unless I was playing tennis while hooked into a bungee system or something.
posted by fenriq at 10:33 AM on September 28, 2005


A google images search for Dubai Tennis provides more pictures of this terrifiying platform.
posted by Laen at 10:40 AM on September 28, 2005


...on the world's most unique tennis court...
'Unique' is not a synonym for 'unusual'! Stop the madness!
posted by Lord Kinbote at 10:45 AM on September 28, 2005


Wasn't that like 6 months ago?

Yup, over at the rockin' SportsFilter
and a similar link here about Tiger Woods
posted by jmd82 at 10:49 AM on September 28, 2005


Bring in the llamas!

Really, I've got nothing.
posted by Ber at 10:53 AM on September 28, 2005


I hear the authorities, in the spirit of free-market competition, are considering adding a shuffleboard court to this terrifying platform.
posted by soyjoy at 10:58 AM on September 28, 2005


Not very much room to hit around on the court for these baseliners. This will force them to play the net more. Good idea.

At first I thought that a tennis court on a helipad was the most ridiculous thing ever built. Then I flipped to the last picture of the building it's actually connected to. I stand corrected.
posted by quadog at 11:06 AM on September 28, 2005


Any Tennyson?
posted by Joey Michaels at 11:30 AM on September 28, 2005


Is it not the most unique of all unique courts, though?

Something can't be more or less unique. It's either unique or it isn't. Unique means one of a kind. Something can't be more one of a kind than something else.
posted by dobbs at 11:30 AM on September 28, 2005


Dubai's got a good sense of humor and alot of money to have fun with.

If Dubai also happens to like candlelit dinners and long walks on the beach, I'm totally available this Friday.
posted by afroblanca at 11:34 AM on September 28, 2005


How about a bowling alley in this one?
posted by pitchblende at 11:36 AM on September 28, 2005


I would think a single errant ball could crush the roof of a car if it fell from that height.

Nah, the terminal velocity of a tennis ball isn't going to be terribly high. It'd probably be hand-catchable.
posted by I Love Tacos at 11:40 AM on September 28, 2005


Discs of Tron, anyone?
posted by CG at 11:42 AM on September 28, 2005


Something can't be more or less unique.

That's true, if you're really, really strict about things. But English is a living language, and the word "unique" has grown to also mean "worthy of being considered in a class by itself," which means that modifying it with adverbs is now acceptable.

Deal with it.
posted by cerebus19 at 12:11 PM on September 28, 2005


Cerebus19: In general I agree. I'm down with the whole descriptive rather than prescriptive thing and phrases like "completely surrounded" no longer bother me. But for some reason I just can't stand modifiers to "unique." I'm with Dobbs on this one (and I think odinsdream was just having a little fun with it.)

Deal with it.
posted by The Bellman at 12:38 PM on September 28, 2005


Look - thought experiment - I have a collection of hundreds of pencils. All of them are yellow #2's - except one, which is a blue grease pencil. That pencil can properly be called "unique" among all my pencils, no?

In the world at large, however, there's a pencil that's 120 feet long, made entirely out of faberge eggs and chocolate caramel. Is not that pencil "more unique" than my grease pencil?

Todd Lokk Deal with it.
posted by soyjoy at 12:52 PM on September 28, 2005


They're the ones that are doing those man-made islands in the shapes of pinetrees and crescents and stuff, right?

Palm trees and the world, to be specific. : )
posted by SisterHavana at 12:54 PM on September 28, 2005


I think it's both odd and kind of cool that Dubai is using all of their oil wealth on really extravagant, sort of impractical things.

Dubai is the M.C. Hammer of arab emirates.
posted by wabashbdw at 1:14 PM on September 28, 2005


I have images in my head of starving UAE orphans fishing tennis and golf balls out of the Persian Gulf to sell for food.

Then again, there probably aren't any starving orphans in Dubai. (Not out where anyone can see them, anyway.)

And when uber-rich oil monkeys can flush $1.8 billion on man-made islands, I don't want to hear anyone carping about how we spend too much on the space program. Really.
posted by ToasT at 1:20 PM on September 28, 2005


"oil monkeys"?
posted by soyjoy at 1:24 PM on September 28, 2005


I'd hit it off the roof. Tom Dokken.
posted by dial-tone at 1:27 PM on September 28, 2005


Image hosted by Photobucket.com
posted by stenseng at 1:44 PM on September 28, 2005


"oil monkeys"?

A mild invective. Aimed at rich knuckleheads who build enormous monuments to their own greatness while denying their citizens basic human rights and, in some cases, funding terrorism.

Related: war monkeys, Bible monkeys
posted by ToasT at 1:46 PM on September 28, 2005


I'm down with the whole descriptive rather than prescriptive thing and phrases like "completely surrounded" no longer bother me.

I'm still working on "The Boston Celtics".
posted by goethean at 1:46 PM on September 28, 2005


What's that ridiculous building it's attached to? It looks like a giant room freshener.
posted by maryh at 2:08 PM on September 28, 2005


Like drink monkeys, those who wave and "ooh ooh ahh ahh" trying to get the bartender's attention for their next drink.
posted by CG at 2:40 PM on September 28, 2005


I really like that building. It reminds me of a sail... far more interesting than a big tall rectangle.
posted by I Love Tacos at 2:52 PM on September 28, 2005


Yon net insane.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 5:21 PM on September 28, 2005


In fact, ILT,

> It was built to resemble the sail of a dhow (a type of Arabian vessel) and intentionally placed in such a way that its shadow does not cover the beach.

Square skyscrapers are passé nowadays unless the site demands it. But the US has missed out on the great period of global skyscraper building that's profoundly transformed Asian cities, which is one reason they look alien to us. It's an unsettling reminder of America's position in an interdependent era.
posted by dhartung at 11:02 PM on September 28, 2005


Wow, I never thought I'd see the day MeFi was behind the curve...this is so old news.

The building it's attached to is some sort of hotel, IIRC. At any rate, the players took an elevator to get to the top.

You wouldn't actually play a tennis match on that court, just like you'd never actually play a match on the floating courts the Netherlands are so fond of. It was all about the photo op.
posted by somethingotherthan at 12:14 AM on September 29, 2005


stenseng - needs more umlauts.
posted by longbaugh at 1:03 AM on September 29, 2005


dhartung: Huh? Not-just-a-big-box skyscrapers don't look "alien" so much as "like Chicago." Or even "like Dallas."
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:42 AM on September 29, 2005


This building is *so* ripe for a Jackie Chan movie...
posted by gren at 8:39 AM on September 29, 2005


Tennis in the sky? Yeah, it's all fun and games until the Hawkmen show up and the tilting floor and alternating spikes begin. Go Flash Go!
posted by bartleby at 12:21 PM on September 29, 2005


I see where you're going with that, bartleby.
But I was thinking that darkness, some blacklight floods, and a half-dozen white frisbees would make for the IRL 'Discs of Tron' experience I've dreamed of for years.

p.s. I am not Jay Maynard. But I challenge him!
posted by penciltopper at 12:28 PM on September 29, 2005


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