The commencement of Tennis’ most prestigious championship, Wimbledon, has set Twitter abuzz with news of players’ chances and possible match results.
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As with any major sporting event you can be certain that for the next two weeks, the duration of The Championship, Twitter’s trending topics will be bombarded with the names of players wowing Twitter users on the court.
Memeburn has put together a little list of tennis pros that will keep their Twitter fanbase entertained on and off the court with their updates.
Serena Williams
Though the current rankings don’t show it, arguably the best female tennis player at the moment is Serena Williams. Williams boasts a staggering Twitter following of two million after just two years on the platform. She’s achieved this by following three basic principles of good tweeting — interacting with followers, being genuine and being humorous.
Novak Djokovic
Tweeting under the handle of @DjokerNole — a play on his reputation as court jester — Novak Djokovic has not been on Twitter for long. In his five-month long Twitter presence, Djokovic has done very well for himself gaining 150 000 followers with just 300 tweets. Though he mainly tweets in English, expect a few tweets in his native Serbian tongue or the occasional burst of Italian words (we’re not sure what they mean).
Andy Murray
He who carries the hopes of an entire nation. The infamous Andy Murray, who is often not loved by fans for his somewhat less than sunny disposition on court, is surprisingly agreeable on Twitter. His bio simply states: “I play tennis”. In his three years on Twitter, the Scotsman has gained more than 400 000 followers. If only more of “Twitter Murray” were to shine through on court, perhaps the first three autocomplete results when you Google “Andy Murray is a” wouldn’t be “prick”, “jerk”, or “knob”.
John Isner
American John Isner is less famous for his prowess on the court, and more for his epic three-day long match at last year’s championship against the Frenchman, Nicholas Mahut. Isner was immortalised in a Guardian liveblog which went viral. Isner has a respectable following of more than 50 000 from his two years of tweeting. Whilst fellow tennis tweeter Murray tweeted about his rematch with Mahut set for the first round, Isner remained mum on the topic.
Tennis’ biggest names Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are nowhere near as active on Twitter as these three. They do however have an impressive Facebook presence and use the platform effectively.
Venus Williams
Of course, you can’t discuss one Williams sister without discussing the other. Just as on the court, on Twitter, Venus is that one step behind her younger sister. However, with 700 000 followers she can hold her own with her legion of Twitter supporters. Be warned, watching the interaction between the two Williams’ sisters (and their other sisters) can be nauseatingly cute.
Kim Clijsters
The comeback kid of women’s tennis, Kim Clijsters, was seeded second in the women’s draw. Clijsters was, however, forced by an ankle injury to withdraw from The Championship. She may be the comeback kid of the draw but on Twitter she’s not. Remaining active on the site throughout her two year retirement, Clijsters has a (lowly for a tennis superstar) following of 103 000 fans. Perhaps, like we saw when injury prevented Serena Williams from playing in last year’s US Open, we can hope to get regular updates from Clijsters as she watches The Championship from the sidelines.
Andy Roddick
Andy Roddick, like his Scottish namesake, Andy Murray, is a far nicer person on Twitter than on court. Though his form on court may have slumped recently — along with his ranking — after four years of tweeting, in terms of followers, he’s as strong as ever boasting more than 600 000. However, just as with the other Andy, Memeburn advises this Andy to bring more of his Twitter persona onto the court so that when you Google “Andy Roddick is a” the first autocomplete isn’t, “jerk”.
