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
Wishing everyone good day from SochiЖелаю всем прекрасного настроения и хорошего дня из СочиУ нас сейчас вот так☺ twitter.com/EVesnina001/st…
— Elena Vesnina (@EVesnina001) November 22, 2012
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
How cool is this….Shingo Kunieda brought his Gold Medal.I am already excited about the next Olympics in Rio, Brazil. fb.me/wpjFT0rr
— Kei Nishikori (@keinishikori) November 22, 2012
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.
Happy Thanksgiving from our AEGON Classic Champion @melanie_oudin twitter.com/AEGONClassic/s…
— AEGON Classic (@AEGONClassic) November 22, 2012
2:40 AM
Happy Thanksgiving to all.. Gonna miss dinner but send me some pictures of the turkey avec cranberry 🙂
— Mahesh Bhupathi (@Maheshbhupathi) November 22, 2012
Mahesh Bupathi = cranberry hater.
2:54 AM
Seguimos entrenando en pista! Hoy con Tomeu Salva Vidal. Paso a paso voy adaptándome.We’re continuing practice… fb.me/LPi9ZSSH
— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) November 22, 2012
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:
Happy thanksgiving everyone- before eating too much, go outside and get some exercise, walk your dog, throw a football or something:)
— Martina Navratilova (@Martina) November 22, 2012
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
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
— Jarmila Gajdosova (@Jarka_Tennis) November 22, 2012
Same to you, Gajdosova. She was watching the football later, and is apparently a Cowboys fan. Not a good choice.
5:32 AM
Happy Thanksgiving to all my US fans!! Have a great time with your family and close friends
— Sabine Lisicki (@sabinelisicki) November 22, 2012
All the way from Germany! Nice touch, Lisicki.
6:00 AM
Lisa Raymond, hashtagging like a seasoned Twitter pro:
Happy Turkey Day everyone! So much to be thankful for… #dietstartstomorrow
— Lisa Raymond (@lisaraymond73) November 22, 2012
6:13 AM
Ayer compartí un hermoso dia con mi amigo Franco, la pasamos increíble. Miren que bien le queda mi ropa. Un genio!! on.fb.me/Y6crem
— juan del potro(@delpotrojuan) November 22, 2012
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
Barcelona!
— Milos Raonic (@milosraonic) November 22, 2012
OK, Raonic!
6:15 AM
At the other end of the DelPo spectrum…
Yesterday ,I did a photo shoot for Christmas edition of an unnamed newspaper, and today, I amflying out - destinatio… say.ly/Tbt4Dis
— Dominika Cibulkova (@Cibulkova) November 22, 2012
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?
15h30 🙂
— Gael Monfils (@Gael_Monfils) November 22, 2012
Notice from the time stamp that it apparently took Monfils 5 minutes to get that tweet in. Anyway…
6:36 AM
Update: Good news - finished my half-marathon. Official time should be just under 1:40. Bad news: got passed by a mom with a stroller.
— Amer Delic (@AmerDelic) November 22, 2012
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:
“Winners never quit, and quitters never win” #throwback twitter.com/HeatherWatson9…
— Heather Watson (@HeatherWatson92) November 22, 2012
I still think DelPo wins. But kudos, Watson.
11:41 AM
Happy Thanksgiving all you Yanks! Food babies and food comas are welcome today.
— Vania King (@queen_v21) November 22, 2012
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:
Getting my baby cousin into tennis early 🙂 twitter.com/ChristinaMcHal…
— Christina McHale (@ChristinaMcHale) November 22, 2012
Christina McHale: tennis activist.
1:10 PM
Finally, the Charles Barkley of tennis appears:
This is all that really matters. Happy Thanksgiving to all!!on.fb.me/Ut0Gd2
— Boris Becker (@Becker_Boris) November 22, 2012
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
Heute zu Kiels Sportlerin des Jahres gekürt worden. Vielen Dank an alle, die gevotet haben. Das bedeutet mir sehr viel!
— Angelique Kerber (@AngeliqueKerber) November 22, 2012
Kerber apparently won German sportswoman of the year, and she’s quite thankful to everybody who voted for her. Appropriate.
1:34 PM
I’m thankful for the fans,friends and opportunities tennis gave me! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
— Alla Kudryavtseva(@AllaK11) November 22, 2012
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:
Show!!!RT @_liiima: gente olha que fofo o mini guga *-* jogo com o @gugakuerten e tudo, deixou a promessa ein kkkkkk twitter.com/_liiima/status…
— Gustavo Kuerten (@gugakuerten) November 22, 2012
2:06 PM
As the afternoon starts in the Eastern part of the US, the food tweets start popping up:
Just made homemade Butternut Squash soup w/ spiced apple cider. Yum! What’s on everyone else’s plate?? #LoveFood #Thanksgiving
— Bethanie MattekSands (@BMATTEK) November 22, 2012
Mmmmmmm….homemade butternut squash soup with spiced apple cider. That sounds pretty great to me.
2:48 PM
happy thanksgiving everyone!!! #TeamVika
— victoria azarenka (@vika7) November 22, 2012
#TeamVika
3:16 PM
Exercise— if it doesn’t kill ya, it will cure ya. Just had my workout— now back to the kitchen. Happy turkey day to all.
— Jimmy Connors (@JimmyConnors) November 22, 2012
Another tennis great with very sound…advice?
3:27 PM
Hoops… We killed it today…#basketball #winning #team #friends #fun #TeamVika instagr.am/p/SWaacAjLYC/
— victoria azarenka (@vika7) November 22, 2012
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?
Team Thanksgiving dinner. #notmybeer instagr.am/p/SWaxAQtAEr/
— Laura Robson (@laurarobson5) November 22, 2012
That’s a nice spread. Particularly the pies. Mmmmmm….pie.
3:55 PM
Thanksgiving dinner @andreagassi house w/ family & friends. Kobe beef steaks in a wood fire oven. Happy Thanksgiving! twitter.com/darren_cahill/…
— Darren Cahill (@darren_cahill) November 22, 2012
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
Happy Birthday Mom! Love you twitter.com/sloanetweets/s…
— Sloane Stephens (@sloanetweets) November 22, 2012
Someone else shares a birthday with Boris and Billie Jean King!
4:22 PM
Pumpkin pie >
— Genie Bouchard (@geniebouchard) November 23, 2012
This tweet >
4:33 PM
Food coma.
— Laura Robson (@laurarobson5) November 23, 2012
Yep, a natural consequence of the earlier tweet from Robson.
4:47 PM
Eating the Worlds smallest Omelet.. twitter.com/Maheshbhupathi…
— Mahesh Bhupathi (@Maheshbhupathi) November 23, 2012
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
“@notsleeeping: @cocovandey Because you work hard, you have to play hard. That includes the last piece of turkey…” Couldn’t agree more!
— CoCo Vandeweghe (@CoCoVandey) November 23, 2012
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
Thanks for all the wonderful birthday messages. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!
— Billie Jean King (@BillieJKing) November 23, 2012
Happy birthday, indeed.
6:32 PM
The cute pictures keep coming:
My sweetheart niece, Siena, at Thanksgiving dinner. She is so sweet… twitter.com/ChrissieEvert/…
— Chris Evert (@ChrissieEvert) November 23, 2012
7:23 PM
I admit it- I married a great cook. That’s not all— but I will leave it at that. My turn for the dishes.
— Jimmy Connors (@JimmyConnors) November 23, 2012
Right.
Here’s hoping that everybody had a fun Thanksgiving! Or at least an interesting November 22nd.
