Bing-bong

[poliphilo]

Naomi Osaka withdrew because she was being bullied over her refusal to show up for the meaningless post-match press conferences. Roger Federer withdrew because he no longer has the stamina. A young Italian whose combination of sweatband and top-knot made it look like he was wearing a biretta took two sets off Djokovic then strained his groin and folded...

I've watched an awful lot of tennis down the years and I'm beginning to ask myself what I ever found so enthralling about two people knocking a ball across a net, bing-bong, bing-bong.

Why let myself get pulled into taking sides because one player has an honest face and the other has a sneery one? Why care which multi-millionaire gets to lift the silverware? How is it of interest to any but their nearest and dearest?

And then there are the ads; in particular the one from our sponsor which shows a bearded man listening to the tennis in his car. The commentator gives an ecstatic roar, the man lifts his eyebrow and starts to drive down the ramp of the multi-storey car park. The sky is grey. They show it every ten minutes or so and it's doing my head in...

Comments

[sovay]

I've watched an awful lot of tennis down the years and I'm beginning to ask myself what I ever found so enthralling about two people knocking a ball across a net, bing-bong, bing-bong.

Personally, I liked watching Pete Sampras because of the way he moved.

[poliphilo]

I never warmed to Sampras. No-one of his generation had a way of countering his serve- and that made his matches a little predictable.

[basefinder]

The Osaka story caught my attention because in NASCAR (the only "sport" I follow) drivers are contractually required to do interviews. Occasionally a driver will storm away from the track in a bad mood and blow off the obligation, and they get fined pretty heavily for it. A reminder that professional athletes of any genre are entertainers first, skilled performers second.

[poliphilo]

That's a fair point. On the other hand post-event interviews generally consist of an exchange of banalities and are rarely illuminating.

[basefinder]

So true! In racing it gets the sponsors' names and logos on screen for a few seconds, and the driver always takes a sip of his sponsoring beverage, but in most sports that isn't even a factor. Statements of the obvious victory or defeat, etc.