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Yawn Tennis


Tennis is a great sport - but the British press is ruining it with their obsessive need for a British winner at Wimbledon.  IS THIS MURRAY'S YEAR? blare the headlines.  Truth is, probably not, since at least three better players, a few the greatest ever to play on grass, are also competing.  Murray could win, if he was lucky and at the top of his game plus some, but he may not.  And, actually, who cares?  Why the need for a British winner?  This constant jingoistic urge ruins all the sporting events reported on here - rather than just focusing on sporting excellence from whichever nation it may hail from.  I say balls to Murray-obsessed tennis reporting.  Let the best men and women on the day win and well done to them.
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Anonymous said…
You criticise patriotism after posting about the 'greatest Canadian'. You just seem to have a problem with Britain not patriotism.
Wed Jun 22, 11:34:00 am 2011
EYEWEAR said…
I am not against all forms of benign patriotism (though we won't solve the world's problems until we imagine ourselves beyond countries) - and my McLuhan reference was somewhat paradoxical, since he of course called for a global consciousness - but demanding and expecting all one's players to win is not patriotic. The British media rubbishes its talented athletes unless they win - patriotism would celebrate them regardless. As for "having a problem with Britain" - well - Britain is problematic as an idea - that's what makes it so fascinating and important a place to live in and discuss.
Wed Jun 22, 02:12:00 pm 2011
Ben Wilkinson said…
Ah come off it Todd. Of course in the build-up to a British sporting tournament that is the home of said sport & the one every player wants to win, the media focus is gonna be on whether a player seeded 4th in the world, who hails from these isles, can deliver a men's singles title we haven't seen in 75 years. Now things are underway this stuff has largely fallen by the wayside - as much if not more interest in and coverage of Nadal, Federer, Djokovic, Berdych etc, not to mention the womens' (just watched the absolutely gripping and first-rate encounter between Venus Williams & K. Date-Krumm, which will get plenty of news coverage I'm sure) and youth players breaking thru (BBC1 coverage of Heather Watson's first round match was just on). You're setting up a straw man to bat down, but sorry to say, I for one ain't buying it. best, B
Wed Jun 22, 04:57:00 pm 2011
Sheenagh Pugh said…
It's guilt. Last time they did have a male Brit winner, Fred Perry, the Wimbledon worthies snubbed him because he wasn't upper-class enough for their liking - he was a grammar-school boy whose dad was a Co-Operative Party MP. No doubt they thought they'd soon have another chinless toff of their own kind holding the trophy, but alas it was not to be...
Wed Jun 22, 07:39:00 pm 2011
Poetry Pleases! said…
Dear Todd

I confidently predict that Murray will go out in the semi-finals as per usual. In the extraordinary event that he does win, I suppose I'll have to buy you a pint!

Best wishes from Simon
Thu Jun 23, 10:44:00 am 2011
EYEWEAR said…
Ben, yes, you make sense. I do think the reporting of the losing British players should be less defeatist though - they still gave their best.
Thu Jun 23, 11:39:00 am 2011
Niall O'Sullivan said…
I enjoyed my two summers at the Wimbledon Championships, but I never enjoyed the jingoism of Murraymania. I can imagine Henmania was the same. The patriots that turn up at Wimbledon are truly a different breed to the real tennis fans that show up. Most of the reporters I worked with and the people I met from the BBC and elsewhere weren't huge fans of Murray, the guy that interviewed me on Henman Hill couldn't stand the place himself. I watched one Murray match on Henman Hill and to tell the truth the atmosphere wasn't particularly carnivalesque. Whenever Murray's form dipped I could hear quite a few nasty catcalls being made by the very people that were cheering him the next moment. The same applies to the atmosphere within the courts whenever the Brits played, with shouts ringing out when the ball was still in play, and one bright young thing having constant coaching instructions shouted by her mother to the seeming indifference of the umpire.

To be fair to Murray, he actually seemed to be quite annoyed by some of this whenever asked about some of the wackier heckles from his fans while playing. In one of his press conferences I remember him dryly dismissing a wedding proposal that was shouted at him during a game, "They often shout things during the game, I don't know why..."

The exit of Murray from the Championships would also be followed by a lightening of mood about the grounds, a feeling that we could now enjoy some quality tennis with all the noise and insanity out of the way. While some tribes still remained, red and white Federer fans or Nadal's Spanish aficionados, they always seemed like they were simply there to have a good time and were barely noticeable among the many neutral tennis fans that made up their crowds.The party atmospheres that they brought to the Championships really revealed the stark contrast of the Murray fans, who seemed in turn aggressive and masochistic in comparison.

Ben could have a point that this could be more of a "home nation" thing than a Brit/Murray thing, and having not been to Roland Garros or any of the other Grand Slams, I can't say for sure, but I do know how I felt about most of the Murray fans came across when I was at Wimbledon, and to be quite honest, I thought they were idiots.
Thu Jun 23, 01:28:00 pm 2011
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