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TENNIS: SPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCTI’m writing this Tennis Tip just days before Christmas. I hope you all are in the Christmas Spirit. You could say this edition of Weekly Tennis Tips has to do with that. Or, to be more precise; it has to do with 'sportsmanlike conduct'.
I'm in favor of sportsmanlike conduct or decent behavior, whatever you want to call it.However I think there is some room for trying to 'influence' your opponent. Let me give you some examples and anecdotes to try and determine where 'winning ugly' (= a great book by Brad Gilbert) becomes really ugly. Calling a perfectly good shot by your opponent 'out' has nothing to do with gamesmanship.It's cheating. Don't do it! But... ;-) Years ago in my hometown a 35 year old local hero played a young and upcoming young star from the big city. This was a match without an umpire which is not uncommon on national level tournaments. This was a very interesting and close match. The older guy played very consistently and was still a very good athlete who could retrieve balls most of us wouldn't even have touched anymore. The younger guy showed flashes of absolute brilliance, but also made more mistakes. About 200 people were watching the match.The younger guy had made some doubtful calls (to say the least) when on a 7-6; 3-2 / 40-30 score (The younger guy leading) the older one hit a ball on the baseline. This match was played on clay court and the sound of the ball touching the (plastic) line was very clear. The younger guy said: "Out!" The crowd actually started laughing; it was such a ridiculous call. The older guy just raised his eyebrows. The score was now 6-7; 2-4 seen from his perspective. In the next game on a 15-15 score a long rally was played and the young guy hit the ball on the T. (The place where the service line connects with the middle line.) The old guy caught the ball after the first bounce and said: "Out!" Obviously the younger guy totally erupted. "What???" "What do you mean out?" "The ball was in the middle of the court. Are you blind????!!!" In his calm and deep voice the older guy responded: "Listen, you didn't hear me object when you made a 'mistake', now did you? Play on!” And he took his position to play the next point. At this point the older guy received a standing ovation from the entire crowd. The younger guy gave in and basically gave up. He didn't make another game. I doubt if a less charismatic player than the older guy could have pulled this off, but this wasn't cheating, this was making a statement with good educational value.... wasn't it?
How about this one: Indoor match on carpet. Again the sound of a ball on the line is different than that from a ball inside the court. Player A hits the ball on the line. Player B calls it out. Player A responds: "What? You can hear the line tick!" Player B drops to his knees, lays his ear on the line and says: "Hmm, I don't hear a thing!" Crowd laughing. A let was played, but Player A had lost his concentration and lost the game. If this was an honest mistake (that is Player B really thought the ball was out) I think it was acceptable especially because a let was played. If the ball was called out on purpose it's plain old cheatin'! One from my own collection: I was playing a guy from whom I had never lost. This was the first time we played on a fast carpet court. I was trailing 0-6 and 0-3 (!) This guy was hitting every thing full force and made me run from one corner to the other. Sincerely I told the guy at the change-over that he was playing brilliantly. He admitted it was going 'pretty good'. I won the next 6 games, because he started to think about 'how' he was playing so good. The third set was close. I won it 6-4. I'm convinced that if I hadn't paid him the compliment I would have lost in two sets. Since I made him a sincere compliment I think this is proper behavior. What do you think if I had done it on purpose? Would it still have been okay? Roland Garros anecdote of a player taking it a bit to far... This is a story from the early days on Roland Garros. Two female players battling it out. At a change-over one of the players asks if she can borrow her opponent’s towel, because hers is all dirty. The other player looks at the first persons towel and indeed it is covered in clay. So she hands over the towel. (It would have been 'bad form' not to have done that.) The first player then proceeds to blow her nose in the towel and gives it back to player number two... who is totally baffled and loses the next two games. I think this was taking it too far. Way too far! Of course nowadays players can get as many clean towels as they want, so it will probably never happen again. Nastase using an ''innocent' little trick to catch his breath Sometimes when he got really tired Ilie Nastase, the great Rumanian player, would take position to serve and then 'accidentally' bounce the ball on his front foot. By the time he got the ball back he would have had 10 seconds of extra rest and up to 30 if he made a joke about it to the crowd. I feel that if this kind of creative 'solutions' are used sparingly they are okay. Especially if there is an umpire present to make sure it doesn't get out of hand. In conclusion I think a player should be able to deal with an opponent who uses 'tricks' to win and I think a victory is most valuable when it has been achieved without any gamesmanship. In addition I feel you should never ever cheat so you can feel good about yourself. © Mark Luyk 2003; All Rights Reserved |
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