We all have our pet peeves. And if you play and watch tennis, you will surely have yours.
Billie Jean King, the ultimate trailblazer, who crusaded to improve our sport since she was 11, has long targeted Wimbledon’s strict all-white dress code. “Nothing is worse in sports than when you turn on the television and two players are wearing the same uniform or same outfits,” she told CNN last year. “It’s horrible. No one knows who’s who. I’ve been yelling for years that this is one of my pet peeves. Have you ever seen any sport where opponents wear the same outfit?”
‘Wasted time’ tops Patrick McEnroe’s list of pet peeves. “In no other sport do players have as much control to determine when they want to start play as in tennis,” said ESPN analyst McEnroe, a former world-class competitor, during the 2018 US Open. “Imagine getting ready to start an NFL game, a tee time at the Masters, or a World Cup soccer game, and the player says, ‘Hold on! I need to go to the bathroom!’”
Time is of the essence in a sport where ‘action time’ — when the ball is in play — constitutes only about 15% of the ‘total match time’ compared to about 40% in soccer, basketball, ice hockey, and football. Rightly annoyed by lackadaisical, dawdling players, McEnroe lauded the adoption of a 25-second ‘serve clock’ and escalating penalties for violations. “I am so happy that the US Open is employing the shot clock on court in the main draw,” P-Mac said. “This is great for the fans. We have to keep things moving, change with the times.”
As one of the world’s most popular sports, tennis has plenty to brag about. But it should adopt and enforce rules — both written and unwritten—that promote fairness for players and entertainment for fans.
Towards this end, I’ve listed some pet peeves about what tennis can and should do without.
Ground reality: The primary responsibility of ball boys and girls is to efficiently remove balls from the playing area and then quickly return to their stationary positions. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
The wacko warmup — One of Australian pro Daria Saville’s pet peeves is opponents hitting winners during the pre-match warmup. I can’t conceive of that on the pro tour. At Forest Park in Springfield, Massachusetts, where I practice, a colourful character used to whack winners during the warmup, and when it was over, he’d crow, “I won the warmup!” At a senior tournament warmup, my opponent kept blasting balls in the corners. To add insult to injury, when I hit a weak return, he’d hit a drop shot.
Ball kids older than 14 years of age — Towering, older teenagers, and even young adults with beards, perform this important but routine job when much younger ball kids can do it just as well. The primary responsibility of ball boys and girls is to efficiently remove balls from the playing area and then quickly return to their stationary positions. However, I believe a secondary goal should be to inspire and educate young players from 10 to 14, the formative ages, about the many facets of tournament tennis they witness up close.
Backward scores — Want to know the score of the only Grand Slam match Novak Djokovic lost this year? Go to his ‘Player Activity’ section on the ATP website. There you will find the score for the Wimbledon final that he lost to Carlos Alcaraz shown as: 6-1, 6-7 (6), 1-6, 6-3, 4-6. Try to unravel that monstrosity. The score should appear as the far more readable and understandable 1-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. Just as NBA teams don’t lose games 108-115 or La Liga teams don’t lose contests 2-4, tennis players at every level don’t lose matches 4-6, 5-7. The proper score — whether written or spoken — is 6-4, 7-5.
Lack of detail in scoreboards — BJ Miller, an astute tennis observer from Oakland, California, contributed this pet peeve along with the remedy. “Major League Baseball and National Football League’s on-screen scoreboards show a multitude of relevant stats and facts. In sharp contrast, tennis’ on-screen scoreboards sometimes don’t even give the players’ last names, only the first three letters. They should show serve speeds, seeding, nationality [not with flags], and, ideally, number of winners, forced errors, aces, and unforced errors. The information that occasionally shows up on screen now is too complicated — 3D charts where viewers must sort out whether a player’s data is by line or column before being able to compare between players, all in too short a time to even follow the announcer’s explanation. The on-screen scoreboard should be in the upper left, not the lower left corner where it obscures important features of the match.”
Scoring a point: Just as NBA teams don’t lose games 108-115 or La Liga teams lose contests 2-4, tennis players at every level don’t lose matches 4-6, 5-7. The proper score—whether written or spoken—is 6-4, 7-5. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
Incomplete scores — TV networks that do not put the entire score during a match on the screen. Instead, they display the number of sets won by each player and the game score of only the set in progress. Viewers need to know the full score to understand the course and context of the match.
Caps or visors indoors — Besides looking silly indoors, caps and visors provide no function. Mats Wilander also pointed out that baseball caps partly hide the faces of players, citing four-time major champion Iga Swiatek. Part of the appeal of tennis is that we can clearly see the players’ emotions, something much harder to do in ice hockey and American football.
Obsession with player boxes — Is it necessary or desirable for ESPN, Tennis Channel, and other TV networks to turn their cameras on player boxes during matches so often? We see the player’s family and friends cringe or cheer after points, especially big points, and their coaches, psychologists, and trainers shout advice. But when coach Brad Gilbert talked too much during the US Open, champion Coco Gauff mildly criticised him afterwards. Occasionally, members of ‘the team’ even argue with each other, as have the parents of Stefanos Tsitsipas. This soap opera stuff is interesting up to a point, but too much gets distracting and annoying.
Overweight players — I lose interest in and respect for players who don’t get into and stay in tip-top shape. Criticism of overweight professional athletes is not ‘body shaming,’ as some apologists like Zina Garrison claim. It’s justified, and TV tennis commentators should do it more often with neither fear nor favour.
Tennis commentator’s use of ‘underrated’ to describe a player or a player’s stroke — There is a modicum of plausibility to this overused adjective when players are low-ranked, but otherwise, it’s seldom justified. Also, the clear implication is that the commentator is the smartest guy in the room, and other analysts just haven’t quite figured out how excellent this player or stroke actually is. When ESPN analyst Pam Shriver once countered this ‘overrated’ assertion with “Who is underrating him?” she received no answer from her offending colleague, and I had to say “Hooray!” Shriver was saying what I had been thinking for years.
Sore losers — They never give their winning opponent credit for their good or even excellent performance. Instead, it’s all about them. These sore losers come up with all manner of excuses, from the nasty to the absurd. Serena Williams used to say she played only 20 percent of her ability and that the real Serena didn’t show up. We should look at how 24-time major winner, Novak Djokovic, one of the most emotional champions in tennis history, graciously handles defeat, no matter how big the upset or how prestigious the tournament.
Distracting chatter by TV tennis commentators — Tennis Channel Plus, the worst culprit, uses a split screen with one half showing a live match and the other one showing commentators talking about all sorts of tennis trivia, players, and events—anything but the match going on, which is hard to view anyway because it is on a half-screen.
Other channels have ‘talking heads’ who blabber ad nauseam about themselves even when it doesn’t relate to the match and the players they’re broadcasting. Early in the TV career of the late Vitas Gerulaitis, he memorably said, “No one cares what I did 15 years ago.” A bit of an overstatement, but the 1977 Australian Open champion had a valid point.
Players who celebrate after an opponent hits an unforced error — Like him or loathe him, the charismatic Jimmy Connors started fist-pumping 50 years ago, and today it’s more popular than ever. Often this celebratory gesture is accompanied by a shout of “Yeah!”
Spaniard Rafael Nadal’s “Vamos!” after a dazzling shot added to his mystique as a fierce but sporting fighter.
However, fist pumps and yells after an unforced error — regardless of the score — are uncalled for and boorish.
Not the real deal: Players who fake injuries to break their opponent’s momentum, unlike Zverev (in pic, on the ground) infuriate opponents, test the goodwill of ATP and WTA physiotherapists, and disappoint tournament directors, TV networks, and spectators. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
Pre-match mini-interviews — Perfunctory, boring, and uninformative. That describes the two-minute interviews with players just before they enter Center Court for matches at Grand Slam tournaments. In their futile quest to elicit something interesting, TV interviewers sometimes ask absurd questions like “What is your strategy today?” Even the most inexperienced player won’t answer that question.
Players who say “I have nothing to lose” — I’m not a psychologist, but these world-class athletes may be trying to lessen the pressure they feel as big underdogs. Whatever the reason, this pre-match expression defies logic. Upsets — major and minor — occur every day at every level in tennis. But a player must embrace the underdog status — as 18-year-old qualifier Emma Raducanu did when she won the 2021 US Open — and not prepare for defeat with the nonsense that they have nothing to lose. Memo: we all have a winnable match to lose. So don’t say it or even think it.
The ‘house money’ line — A corollary to the previous rationalisation is the equally nonsensical claim by TV commentators: “He’s playing on house money now.” Wiktionary defines this expression as “To be in a situation where little or no personal risk can be incurred” and “To act as though little or no risk can be incurred.” Commentators trot out this logical fallacy when an unheralded player or a heavy underdog pulls two or more upsets and then faces a much higher-ranked opponent. But, in fact, these underdogs who have increasing momentum and confidence not only have much to gain in the coming match but also much to lose—typically a berth in the semifinals or final.
Faking injuries — Players who fake injuries to break their opponent’s momentum and to get rest when they are exhausted and then defend it by saying — “Everyone does it” — when everyone obviously doesn’t. These bad guys infuriate opponents, test the goodwill of ATP and WTA physiotherapists, and disappoint tournament directors, TV networks, and spectators. While these rascals sometimes get away with it and win the match, they end up losing the respect of their colleagues.
Pointless replays and challenges — Asking for a replay or challenging a line call that was obviously very far in or out. In 2025, the ATP Tour will use Electronic Line Calling Live — known as ELC Live — for all ‘out’ calls in all matches. Until then, umpires will indulge players who exploit the current Player Challenge rule and delay play for no good reason.
Hypersensitive players — These babies can deal with the roar of the crowd during high-pressure points but get bent out of shape and refuse to play following a changeover because a couple of spectators way up on Row 37 in the stadium are unobtrusively returning to their seats. You cannot be serious!
Lost cause: Tanking is one of the worst sins—if not the worst—a tournament tennis player can commit. It also shortchanges and angers spectators, tournament directors, opponents, the media, and sponsors. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
Tanking — What Nick Kyrgios, Bernard Tomic, and Benoit Paire have done in this era and what Marat Safin did 15 years ago produces more than peeved reactions. Tanking is defined as intentionally losing a match by not trying. Typically, that means either not running hard or at all to return shots, or hitting extremely low-percentage shots to get the match over with as fast as possible. Tanking is one of the worst sins — if not the worst — a tournament tennis player can commit. It also shortchanges and angers spectators, tournament directors, opponents, the media, and sponsors.
ITF sexism — On its website, The International Tennis Federation, the world governing body of the sport for its 213 member nations, proudly declares, “The International Tennis Federation is fighting bias and discrimination against women in sport.” If so, it should have a Board of Directors that reflects its diverse membership.
Denouncing the longtime and worsening leadership sexism within ITF leadership, Judy Murray, the eminent coach and mother of Andy and Jamie, recently said: “It’s 14 men again.
It was 14 men when I first noticed it back in 2010. And in between time, because of certain people campaigning, there were 12 men and two women. And the two women who were on it were both former players, great players. And this is a global board, and they came off it because they weren’t being listened to.”
Look no further than Pam Shriver, Amelie Mauresmo, Mary Carillo, Leslie Allen, Stacey Allaster, Caroline Wozniacki, and Murray herself. These super seven are more than qualified to serve on the ITF Board of Directors, and their expertise, experience, and judiciousness would make a profound difference.
Now that I’ve gotten my peeves about all these human failures and foibles off my chest, I look forward to happier days in 2024.
Then establishment bigwigs everywhere will show us how open-minded and smart they are as they reform our beautiful, but imperfect sport.
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