Page 82 - Tennis Magazine April 2019

Parting
Shot
No Sweat
b y
S T E P H E N T I G N O R
Last summer Tennis Channel re-ran
several classic Wimbledon finals.
Among the best was the 1977 title
match between Bjorn Borg and Jimmy
Connors. As entertaining as their rallies
were, though, it was what the Swede
and the American did between points
that was more amazing: whenever they
were thirsty, they walked over to a
water cooler, picked up a cup, poured a
drink and drank it.
Hard to imagine these days, isn’t
it? Tennis has evolved, or devolved,
to the point where players walk on
court, plant themselves in a chair and
demand all manner of accoutrements
—bananas, water bottles, ice packs,
restrung racquets, new shoes—that
the ballpersons nearby feel duty-
bound to deliver to them.
For too long, the sport has allowed
the relationship between players and
ballpersons to go unregulated. At this
point, it’s an unwritten rule that the
8 0 T E N N I S . C O M M A R / A P R 2 0 1 9
It’s time for
the pros to fetch
eir own towels
ballpersons must do whatever the
pros tell them. The most obvious—and
gross—example is towel-fetching.
It begins when a player makes a
face-wiping motion or jabs a finger in
a ballperson’s direction. The kid, or
sometimes adult, is obliged to pick up
the player’s sweaty towel, convey it to
him immediately—and then, after the
player has made it even sweatier, have
it flung back in his or her face. Despite
the ick factor, and the unpleasant opt-
ics of pro-athlete privilege that come
with it, the process is widely accepted.
Or it was, until Fernando Verdasco
took it too far last fall when he berated
a ball boy in Shenzhen for not arriving
with his towel fast enough. Video of
the moment went viral, and Verdasco
faced widespread condemnation.
The Spaniard wasn’t the first pro
to treat a ballperson like a disobedi-
ent servant. Players from the top of
the rankings on down have growled
“Towel!” at them; tossed empty water
bottles on court for them to pick up;
and hit balls back at them when they’ve
tossed them too soon.
Granted, competition makes athletes
do angry, even crazy things. But the
more important fact is this: ballpersons
aren’t paid to be there, and they don’t
work for the players. While they may
not mind doing the pros’ bidding, no
SHUTTERSTOCK
tised by a celebrity in public.
What can be done? Here are a few
suggestions: (1) Hand out a code viola-
tion whenever a player disrespects or
abuses a ballperson, the same way
umpires do when a player cracks a
racquet. (2) Make players get their
own towels. These days, it’s standard
procedure for players to demand the
towel after they lose a point; it’s a
way of refocusing. But if they have to
retrieve the towel themselves, they’ll
think twice about doing it when it’s not
essential. At the Next Gen ATP Finals in
2018, the players fetched their towels
courtside; after a few grumbles, the
system worked fine. (3) Reiterate to
the players that the ballpersons aren’t
obligated to do whatever they ask.
That doesn’t mean the kids won’t want
to help, but it shouldn’t feel like an
employer-employee relationship.
When tennis players walk on court,
they carry their own bags. This ritual
has been celebrated as a throwback
to a pre-celebrity age in sports. But if
they can haul their own gear before a
match, they should be able to get their
own towels—and bananas, and water
bottles and whatever else they need—
during it, too. If it was good enough for
Borg and Connors, it’s good enough for
today’s players, too.