You are here: Home / Social Media Studies: Tennis Twitter Thanksgiving

Social Media Studies: Tennis Twitter Thanksgiving

By Juan José on November 23, 2012

As we all in the US continue our slow digestion of the many lovely treats from Thanksgiving dinner, I thought it would be interesting to see what tennis players had to say during this very American holiday. Our Changeover Twitter account follows many pros, so here is a chronological look at what they decided to share with us on Thanksgiving Day:

1:07 AM

OK, Vesnina didn’t really wish anybody a happy Thanksgiving, and that idyllic photo does not say “Thanksgiving” in any way, but I do think her subconscious knew it was a good idea to wish people well on November 22nd.

1:36 AM

When I read this, I had no idea who Shingo Kunieda was. Wikipedia to the rescue! Turns out, Kuneida is a very impressive Japenese wheelchair tennis player, who brought his most recent gold medal from the Paralympic games to show to Nishikori. Here’s the pic:

And that’s a really neat picture, with a very goofy pose by Nishikori.

1:58 AM

Our first “Happy Thanksgiving” comes from…the Birmingham WTA tournament. Glad they broke out the mad Photoshop skillz for the tweet.

2:40 AM

Mahesh Bupathi = cranberry hater.

2:54 AM

Rafael Nadal makes an appearance – letting us know that he’s adapting himself to the court. He also drops a funny picture of his hitting partner, who seems to be thinking “Awkkkkkwaaaardddd” as Nadal and Uncle Toni engage in some sort of tense debate:

4:24 AM

Martina Navratilova was up early somewhere:

Good advice from one of tennis’ GOATs. Sadly, I didn’t follow any of it. The most I “exercised” on Thanksgiving was the half hour I spent carving the turkey after everyone was done eating. Martina would not be impressed. Oh wait – I played a lot of Mario Kart. Does that count?

5:32 AM

Same to you, Gajdosova. She was watching the football later, and is apparently a Cowboys fan. Not a good choice.

5:32 AM

All the way from Germany! Nice touch, Lisicki.

6:00 AM

Lisa Raymond, hashtagging like a seasoned Twitter pro:

6:13 AM

Translation: “Yesterday I shared a beautiful day with my friend Franco, we had an amazing time. Look how well my clothes fit him! He’s a genius!!”

When I read this tweet, I had no idea what DelPo was talking about. Who is Franco? Why is Franco wearing DelPo’s clothes? Well, here are our answers:

A picture says more than a thousand words, no? DelPo: the giant with a ton of feelings.

6:05 AM

OK, Raonic!

6:15 AM

At the other end of the DelPo spectrum…

Here’s the picture she’s linking to:

The full text of the “tweet” is: Yesterday ,I did a photo shoot for Christmas edition of an unnamed newspaper, and today, I am flying out – destination Florida. Let the hard training begin.

There you go. Good for you, Cibulkova. Also, she might be one of the only tennis players on Whosay. Weird.

6:35 AM

What would Thanksgiving be without one of Gael Monfils’ weird tweets?

Notice from the time stamp that it apparently took Monfils 5 minutes to get that tweet in. Anyway…

6:36 AM

You can’t win them all, Delic.

11:27 AM

Man, the pros seem to have picked Thanksgiving to have some sort of competition of who tweets the cutest picture:

I still think DelPo wins. But kudos, Watson.

11:41 AM

Someone is going to have to explain to me what a “food baby” is.

12:48 PM

This might not be a food baby, but a baby it is:

Christina McHale: tennis activist.

1:10 PM

Finally, the Charles Barkley of tennis appears:

Apparently, Boris Becker and Billie Jean King share a birthday, and it was on Thanksgiving this year. Here’s the link to the video Boris was linking to. Weird lighting, but cute, nonetheless. Kudos, Boris.

1:26 PM

Kerber apparently won German sportswoman of the year, and she’s quite thankful to everybody who voted for her. Appropriate.

1:34 PM

A very heartfelt message from Kudryavtseva, who lest we forget, is Russian and lives in Moscow. I’ve always insisted that Thanksgiving, without the historical context, could very well become a global thing. Who doesn’t like to get together with family to share a meal and be thankful for the good things in life? Also – there’s pie. Lots of pie.

2:04 PM

The cute picture competition continues:

2:06 PM

As the afternoon starts in the Eastern part of the US, the food tweets start popping up:

Mmmmmmm….homemade butternut squash soup with spiced apple cider. That sounds pretty great to me.

2:48 PM

#TeamVika

3:16 PM

Another tennis great with very sound…advice?

3:27 PM

That’s a whole lot of hashtags, Azarenka. I wag my finger in your general direction.

3:29 PM

More food tweets! From…the UK?

That’s a nice spread. Particularly the pies. Mmmmmm….pie.

3:55 PM

I’m pretty sure there’s a small fortune in that oven. Also…Kobe steaks for Thanksgiving? Andre Agassi: going over the top since 1988.

3:55 PM

Someone else shares a birthday with Boris and Billie Jean King!

4:22 PM

This tweet >

4:33 PM

Yep, a natural consequence of the earlier tweet from Robson.

4:47 PM

That’s the saddest food tweet of the day. I feel bad for Bupathi, who surely had to pay a large amount of money for that microscopic omelet.

6:02 PM

Either the Vandeweghes are a large family, or they bought a very small turkey. Still, I agree with the spirit of the tweet.

6:13 PM

Happy birthday, indeed.

6:32 PM

The cute pictures keep coming:

7:23 PM

Right.

Here’s hoping that everybody had a fun Thanksgiving! Or at least an interesting November 22nd.


Juan José loves a well struck backhand down the line, statistics that tell a story, a nice lob winner, and competent returns of serve.

Posted in | Tagged , , , , , ,
css.php