The Sport That Cannot Avoid Controversy

Bill Simons

THE SPORT THAT CANNOT AVOID CONTROVERSY: The late ITF chief Philippe Chatrier once said, “Tennis is in a healthy mess.” Then again, at least to some extent, aren’t we all?

Tennis is an individual sport that brings out the best, and, sometimes, the worst in us. Tennis puts our character on full display. Long an elite country club sport, it went on its own kind of consciousness-raising journey that addressed a wide range of issues, including gender, race, sexual preference, elitism, equality – you name it.

Almost seamlessly, one pioneer after another advanced the conversation. French diva Suzanne Lenglen wore a shockingly short calf-length tennis dress. Gussy Moran sported lace on her panties at Wimbledon. Alice Marble wrote a courageous “Have you no shame?” letter on race. Bold Althea Gibson broke the color ban. Arthur Ashe helped bring down apartheid in South Africa and inspired hope everywhere. Billie Jean King, the Original 9, Venus and Serena changed the landscape. Renee Richards was a transexual trailblazer. Li Na transcended the Great Wall of China. Shahar Pe’er, Sania Mirza and Ons Jabeur led in the Middle East and Asia. Naomi Osaka cannot help leading, and Judy Murray’s son Sir Andy has become the ATP’s sage-in-residence.

Long ago, tennis burst through the comfortable confines of leafy country clubs. No other sport has come so far. All the while, tennis has danced on the edge of many a volcano. The sport’s first major rebel without a cause, Illie Nastase, called Ashe a “Negroni.” Dive-bombing propriety was his signature. We thought John McEnroe was kidding when he continually suggested that it was written into his contracts that he was expected to explode at events. But we’re not sure. Before Roger and Rafa, Jimmy “You’re an abortion!” Connors drew hordes of plumbers and middle managers to arenas. Tennis adores its enfants terribles – just ask Nick Kyrgios.

Some wonder, “If tennis is such a refined game, why at times does it seem that havoc is the mother’s milk of the game?” Over the years tennis folk have pulled down their shorts, slapped umpires, kicked signs, stormed off courts, taunted their foes and raised hell. In this racket-smashing, ball-bashing, camera-shoving, saliva-spitting, chair-tossing, match-tanking world, anything goes.

Of course, the US Open has long been the epicenter of tennis storms. A riot almost broke out in 1979 when a Nastase-McEnroe match went off the rails. More recently, the 2018 women’s final between Serena and Osaka was a dysfunctional misadventure – its ghosts still linger. The next year, midway through the Open, Daniil Medvedev incensed the crowds on Louis Armstrong Stadium. The fans taunted the Russian; the Russian taunted the fans. But Daniil promptly morphed into a crowd pleaser as he bravely battled to derail Rafa in the final.

At last year’s Open we saw the emergence of both idealism and demons. Osaka wore seven different masks to honor victims of racial violence, while tournament favorite Novak Djokovic inadvertently felled a lineswoman and was ejected. This summer, Olympian Novak hurled one racket into the stands and smashed another into a net post. The second of two articles by Ben Rothenberg emerged, in which Alexander Zverev’s former girlfriend accuses the world No. 4 of assaulting her three times. He has vehemently denied the claims.

In Cincinnati, the vastly appealing Stefanos Tsitsipas went off court for eight minutes and Zverev accused him of being coached by his texting father. Tsitsipas denied the claim. Monday the Greek became entwined in a similar controversy when he again went off court, this time for about nine minutes. His fuming foe, Andy Murray, didn’t accuse him of cheating per se, but said that Stefan’s long departure was rubbish and nonsense, that it had influenced the match, that the rules should be changed. Andy said, “he’s a brilliant player, he’s great for the game. But I have zero time for that stuff…I lost respect for him.”

But the night was not done. The still-volatile-after-all-these-years Nick Kyrgios descended into a kindergarten-worthy meltdown about placing his towel in the proper bin. Nick seemed to have been growing up. He has one of the best attitudes toward COVID of any of the players. Still, this was infantile behavior that he may have been using to insulate himself from the harsh fact that Roberto Bautista Agut was giving him a beatdown.

As for COVID, it’s been an ongoing controversy. From the outset, Djokovic was critical of vaccines. He hosted an exhibition that turned into a COVID spreader, and just the other day said, “We all wish that we have every single tournament full capacity…[but vaccines] should always be a personal decision…I hope that it stays that way.” Tsitsipas offered some misinformation: “I don’t see any reason for someone of my age to do it – it hasn’t been tested enough and it has side effects.”

Controversies continued to rage today. In just one press conference Zverev addressed two. When Inside Tennis asked him about Tsitsipas going off the court for so long against Murray, he noted that Stefanos had done the same thing at the French Open finals, in Hamburg, and “Cincinnati was ridiculous…Players are catching up on that. He’s the No. 3 player in the world…I do not believe that he needs to do that…These kinds of things happen at junior events, at futures, at challengers maybe.

“You’re allowed to do that, but it’s like an unwritten rule between players…He’s gone for 10-plus minutes. His dad is texting on the phone. He comes out, and all of a sudden his tactic completely changed…Everybody saw it…I’m like, ‘Either it’s a very magical place he goes to, or there’s communication there.’…Andy [Murray] said it – there is some level of respect that everybody needs to have between players.”

On Friday, Zverev stated that a German court had backed him in his claim that he’d been defamed by Ben Rothenberg. But the New York Times suggested that it was more of a technical ruling relating to German law. Zverev responded, “I’ve said everything…My statement was very, very clear, and I think the German court system is also very clear. Just because we’re not in Germany right now doesn’t mean that the court system is not great…There are going to be further proceedings from my side because I will not let that sit on me…I’ve been dealing with it for a long time now, and you guys need to be fair to me as well, because we’re talking about mental health…and this is not healthy for me, either.”

Recently Inside Tennis published a cover story on Djokovic with the headline, “The Man Who Cannot Avoid Controversy.” After just two rollicking days at the Open, it’s still clear that tennis is the sport that cannot avoid controversy.

A BRIEF THREAT OF RUNE: For a brief moment, when 18-year-old Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune took a set off of Djokovic, it seemed that the great young Dane just might “Rune” on Novak’s parade. But tennis sensibility prevailed, and the No. 1 continued his quest for the Grand Slam.

THAT’S PRETTY HIP: Murray lost his opening round 4:49 marathon to Tsitsipas, but that’s pretty hip for a 34-year-old with a metal hip.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Zverev said, “Stefanos can play well if he doesn’t go to the moon and back for a toilet break.” 

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Broadcaster Tony Kornheiser asked, “What are you doing, Tsitsipas, trying on wedding clothes? Either he has a medical problem or he is cheating.”

FACT OF THE DAY: Murray tweeted, “Fact of the day. It takes Stefanos Tsitsipas twice as long to go to the bathroom as it takes Jeff Bezos to fly into space. Interesting.”

MORE BRUIN MAGIC IN THE BIG APPLE: Last year UCLA’s Jen Brady reached the semifinal. Today, former Bruins Mackie McDonald and Marcos Giron advanced to the second round, and Maxime Cressy scored a thrilling, come-from-behind 5-7, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 victory over No. 9 seed Pablo Carreno Busta. The former Bruin, who was a qualifier, saved four match points. 

QUOTEBOOK

“It’s painful to see these old veterans running out of gas.” – John McEnroe on Richard Gasquet

“Da-doot da-doot! Coming forward!” – Brad Gilbert on serve and volleyer Maxime Cressy

GO FIGURE: On Monday Alycia Parks tied Venus’ record for fastest women’s serve at the US Open: 129 mph…Brad Gilbert said he once saw the tightly wired Brit get into a fight with his shirt…San Diegan Brandon Nakashima, 20, beat John Isner for the second time this summer. James Blake said Brandon has top 20, top 30 potential for sure…When Chris McKendry asked Djokovic how confident he was, on a scale of 1-10, that he’ll make history, he replied, “Eleven. Wait. No, 21.”…Sacramento’s summer sensation Jenson Brooksby beat Swede Mikael Ymer. He’ll next meet San Diego’s Taylor Fritz …Seb Korda suffered food poisoning and is out of the Open.

SPANISH SUNRISE, SPANISH SUNSET: On Monday, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, who some imagine to be the next Rafa, beat No. 26 seed Cameron Norrie. In contrast, the 34-year-old Spaniard and cancer survivor Carla Suarez-Navarro, who Darren Cahill said was the most popular player in the women’s locker room, lost to the rising Floridian Danielle Collins, in what Suarez-Navarro says will be her last circuit tournament. 

MOST GRAMMATICAL NAME: ​​Valentini Grammatikopoulou, the pride of Kilkis, Greece, beat Anna Blinkova Monday, who has one of the best names in the game.