While Gael Monfils was doing his best Federer/Nadal impression by turning back the clock to win in Rotterdam last week, 21 year old American, Reilly Opelka, won his first career ATP Tour title at the New York Open. I’ve had a chance to see the New York Open live the past two years. Following its move from Memphis to Long Island in 2018, could there be a more poorly marketed sporting event? New Yorkers were offered a rare glimpse into the post-Djokovic future of tennis and at times throughout the week it looked like there were more officials and ball runners on court than people in the stands. Talking to New York City tennis players on a daily basis, I find a majority still don’t know the event exists or that it takes place at the refurbished Nassau Coliseum. It’s a terrific venue with great potential and those unique black courts (which seemed faster this year). At least the tournament ball people remain committed to throwing the ball. The rolling of balls at tournaments everywhere has eroded the quality of ball runners (not to mention the balls themselves) while adding dead air to tennis broadcasts.
In college tennis, #2 ranked Ohio State edged defending champion, Wake Forest, in Chicago on Monday to win the ITA Men’s Indoor National Championship and take over the #1 ranking. ITA Indoors is Division 1 college tennis’ preseason championship, the culmination of the ITA Kickoff events held across the country in January to start the spring semester tennis season. While the season-ending NCAA Tournament in May is looked on as the true national championship, ITA Indoors is a better tournament. Beginning with its fascinating draft where teams, in order of ranking, get to pick which top 15 host site they want to visit, ITA Kickoff/Indoors is comprised exclusively of the nation’s top-ranked teams. While NCAA must honor the automatic bids of each member conference champion (adding lower-ranked teams to the NCAA field), ITA Indoors is never watered down. The result is more competitive early rounds during Kickoff Weekend. The winners at the 15 Kickoff sites then join a 16th team, which hosts an indoor gathering of the 16 best, often at the height of their powers, before the season’s inevitable injuries reshape the landscape. Some “purists,” believing tennis should be played outdoors, like to dismiss the results at Indoors. However, there is no significant difference in win proportion based on indoor vs outdoor venues. The champion in February often finishes as the champion in May. With weather at recent southern host sites predictably wet in May, large portions of the NCAA tournament are played indoors anyway, including two of the last three team finals and individual finals.
College Tennis seems to have it backwards. The ITA tournament should culminate in a warm climate like Florida, Arizona, SoCal or South Texas in February and NCAAs should be played far away from the Southeast in May. California and New York are beautiful in May and far less rainy than Georgia, Florida, North Carolina or the Oklahoma tornado season. Indoor backup should always be included in the plan and officials shouldn’t be afraid to use it.
Next up, I submit for your disapproval the closing moments of an ACC women’s dual match between Clemson and Notre Dame. Did you see that? At the end of the match, the vanquished ND player goes to pick up her towel instead of directly to the net to shake her opponent’s hand. This lame move happens way too often at the end of matches. Lose the match? Turn your back and go get your towel. This obnoxious practice, seen throughout USTA junior tournaments for several years, has now made its way into the college game. Players, especially losing players, have started taking long walks to pick up their towel as a final act of disrespect for their opponent, the game, and themselves, before finally sauntering to the net for the mandatory handshake. This has to end. It is completely within USTA’s power to make it end in junior tournaments, where it starts. A simple loss of ranking points for a less than speedy handshake will quickly reestablish the norms. Kids will be running to the net to shake hands before the ball has stopped rolling. Can you imagine a pro going to retrieve their towel before shaking hands with an opponent and umpire? In the case of Notre Dame, their players seem to do it even when they win.
Of course, extenuating circumstances may prevent a player from making a beeline to the net for a handshake. We’ve seen collapsing from exhaustion, collapsing from elation, hobbled competitors barely able to stand, and in college tennis there’s storming the court on the clinching point of a dual match. That said, storming the court is getting a bit out of hand lately. I mean, c’mon people! Pretend you’ve won a match before. Really, UCLA? You’ve never beaten Grand Canyon? Obviously, major upsets, tournament wins and championships deserve the ebullience of college sport. However, the frequency of court storming is starting to cross the same line as the towel walk at the end of matches. Here’s a link featuring both infractions in the same match! Here’s a link to a more appropriate match point.
According to the USTA Code: “Shaking hands at the end of a match is an acknowledgment by the players that the match is over.” Certainly, a failure to shake hands is a code violation. A failure to do so promptly should be viewed much the same as an in-match time violation. At least the Notre Dame players got around to shaking hands. The same cannot be said for the pros in Budapest, the site of an epic breakdown in sportsmanship (and officiating) on the WTA Tour. The incident began with a Spanish doubles team failing to own up to knocking a ball over the net with a head. Tennis balls, by rule, must be struck with a racquet. Incredible that the chair umpire missed this, in a deciding tiebreaker!! It’s even more incredible that a professional would not own up to it. If not for the honor of the game itself or for your own dignity, at least realize the match is being recorded and you’re going to be forever known as a cheater. The Australian opponents, who ended up losing the match, were not impressed on court or on Instagram. Though I’m sure it has happened before, this is the first instance of publicly shaming opponents that I can recall on the pro tour. In college, public shaming over line calls is now a common affair.
Following the match in Budapest, neither Aussie was having any part of a handshake. They did choose to shake the umpire’s hand, despite his epic failure. Just another lame tournament where umpires continue to make the case for their replacement by AI, ball runners wear jeans and, you guesses it, they roll the ball. 👎
Jeff Menaker
Play The Let 