Talk:2015 Rafael Nadal tennis season

Use of flag icons

I refer you to WP:WORDPRECEDENCE, the first line of which states, most pertinently to the use of flag icons in articles as it is in the Nadal article: "Flag icons may be relevant in some subject areas, where the subject actually represents that country, government, or nationality – such as military units, government officials, or national sports teams. In lists or tables, flag icons may be relevant when such representation of different subjects is pertinent to the purpose of the list or table itself." A tennis player does not represent his or her home country, government or nationality in any way whatsoever in the way in which it is stated in this policy. It also does not reference use of flag icons in a table in the way it is used in the same articles, UNLESS the play is as a member of a Davis Cup or on a national Olympic team. I'm afraid you are wrong to reverse my removal. Lizabetha (talk) 12:55, 1 June 2015 (UTC)

There is long standing consensus, and recent RfC confirmation, that tell us the players may have flags when their sports use them on a usual basis. MoS tells us "They are useful in articles about international sporting events, to show the representative nationality of players" It is even written in MoS "infobox may contain the national flag icon of an athlete who competes in competitions where national flags are commonly used as representations of sporting nationality in the particular sport." Tennis is a sport that uses flags at almost every competition as do the sources reporting on it. Players MUST register with a nationality or they may not play in an event. I hope that helps. Fyunck(click) (talk) 18:28, 1 June 2015 (UTC)

Insofar as tennis players are concerned, the only pertinent comments you've made above which would convince me are 1) a written source confirming that every competition - including Grand Slam events - uses a national flag including sources reporting on it, without it being a matter of publicity or choice; and most importantly 2) that players MUST register with a nationality or they may not play at an event, including Grand Slam events. Lizabetha (talk) 16:22, 2 June 2015 (UTC)

And at least we have mouseovers or words that tells us what the flag means. I'm reading the French Open draws today and they have the flags with nothing else...Novak Djokovic Draw. And Wimbledon, and the Australian Open, and the ATP, and the ITF. Plop French Open into google search and what pops up right at the top.... today's draw with all the flags next to the names. You can even pull up a tiny ATP 250 tournament like the Chennai Open and see them plastered everywhere. These were easy to find and it's why MoS:Icons is written they way it is, and consensus is the way it is. Fyunck(click) (talk) 18:32, 2 June 2015 (UTC)