Anti-vaxx Djokovic (and other points of ignorance)

Update: At the start of the Adria Tour last week, I wrote the post below about Novak Djokovic expressing anti-vaccine sentiments and hosting a multi-city tennis event without a semblance of public health safety or precaution. Doubling down on hubris, Novak then:

-Declared water can be purified with positive emotions.

-Posted Instagrams of himself and other players playing soccer, basketball, dancing in a club, all in perpetual physical contact- without masks or social distancing.

-Encouraged 5,000 fans to pack a small tennis stadium to watch Adria Tour matches without any health safety protocols.

-Held a kids day event with large crowds and no social distancing.

-Left Croatia and crossed borders without a COVID test, fully aware that players and coaches he brought together had just tested positive.

-Tested positive for COVID (along with his wife) back in Serbia.

The Adria Tour was a super spreader event for Europe. In addition to the tennis players, coaches, staff and an untold number of fans who now have COVID, NBA star Nikola Jokic, who played a little basketball with Djokovic’s posse, also tested positive for COVID. Viktor Troiki and his pregnant wife tested positive. WTA insider, Courtney Nguyen, may have summarized the “irresponsible,” “weird” Adria Tour best: “This isn’t a seat belt issue. This is a drunk driving issue… Family, friends, innocent strangers, kids, hotel workers, food service, transportation workers. I don’t care if YOU get sick. I care if the people around you get sick and the people around them and the people around them.”

There is a movement afoot among ATP players to have Djokovic removed from the ATP Players Council of which he is the current president. When Nick Kyrgios has taken the moral high ground over your behavior, there’s a strong argument you do not belong in a position of leadership.

Here’s my post from last week:

One of the greatest disappointments of tennis’ COVID-induced hiatus is the revelation last month that World #1, Novak Djokovic, is an anti-vaxxer. “Personally, I am opposed to vaccination, and I wouldn’t want to be forced by someone to take a vaccine in order to be able to travel.” Could there be a more cringe-worthy statement during a public health crisis?

This shocked many across the world as Djokovic has shown himself to be a generally enlightened kind of person. He is a leader on the ATP Players Council and joined with fellow superstars Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer to implement a plan assisting lower-ranked ATP competitors who are struggling financially during suspension of the tour. Through tiered donations from the world’s highest paid players, Djokovic demonstrated the kind of leadership, compassion and foresight needed in this moment. Still, Djokovic is among the ever-growing, ignorant minority on the subject of vaccination.

Djokovic never attended college. In an interview for NDTV in 2012, he lamented his lack of formal education: “I never went to university. Well, if I can say, that’s one wish I have in life, one regret, that I would like to go in some university, because I really like the idea of educating yourself and being part of a group of students.” As a Tour leader, he may want to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Public Health before undermining global health officials on a matter of such extreme seriousness… or organizing a stadium full of fans amidst a global pandemic.

Many pro tennis players lack a college education. Not that attending college enlightens all minds. In the case of former University of Tennessee standout, Tennys Sandgren, that includes homophobic and anti-abortion comments, supportive online exchanges with white supremacists and his endorsement of “pizzagate”, the b@tsh:t crazy conspiracy theory claiming that Hillary Clinton was linked to a child sex-trafficking ring.

John Isner, who graduated from the University of Georgia as the #1 player in the NCAA, found himself being savaged on Twitter last week over a series of tweets and replies that seemed more concerned about law and order than black lives. Isner, who has expressed admiration for President Trump in the past, repeated the President’s view that violent protesters were members of Antifa and should be branded terrorists. He had also “liked” several tweets from accounts that mocked protesters while focusing on opportunists looting stores during the civil unrest. If Isner had ever had an African American teammate at Georgia, perhaps he would have a different take on current events.

Tennis has a long history of bigotry and biased thinking. The most glaring stain on the sport currently resides Down Under. Women’s tennis legend Margaret Court is an unabashed, vocal homophobe. Her steady antagonism of lesbian players on tour and her history of supporting apartheid in South Africa have led people across the sport to call for renaming Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne Park. Even so, it boggles the mind that there is not a single member of the ATP Tour who is openly gay. Recognizing the statistical impossibility, what is it about the ATP that has prevented gay male athletes from feeling safe in 2020?

There is hope for the future. Coco Gauff, who isn’t old enough to attend college, who had wins over Venus Williams and Naomi Osaka before she turned 16, has shown an enlightened outlook. Gauff has put the stars of the men’s tour to shame, showing precisely how a platform can be utilized for good. When the top men’s player is amplifying vaccine conspiracy theories and flouting social distancing guidelines, it’s nice to know there is a better future for the sport. In Gauff’s case, it is widely agreed, the quality of parenting makes a real difference in the kind of person one grows up to be. To quote Steven Sondheim, “Children may not obey, but, children will listen.”

– Jeffrey Menaker

Tennis Hygiene and COVID-19

The COVID-19 public health crisis and the suspension of the NCAA, ATP and WTA tennis seasons bring to mind a long-simmering hygiene problem in professional tennis.

As the Governor of New York announced his quarantine order yesterday, closing non-essential businesses and asking citizens to stay in their homes, a wave of relief came over me. Somebody in government has finally taken a bold step to thwart the scourge of COVID-19 and to mitigate its effects, flatten the curve, until our best and brightest scientists and doctors can get ahead of this predicted global pandemic. With tennis lessons on hiatus, a porch bench sanded and painted, and no Miami Open to watch on TV, the post I’ve been meaning to write since February is finally on the screen before me. Play The Let, Quarantine Edition: Tennis has a hygiene problem and there couldn’t be a better time to discuss it and hopefully make a lasting change.

I was reminded of this hygiene issue while sitting courtside at the New York ATP 250 event at Nassau Coliseum last month. The #4 seed was ill. He had received a bye in the first round and had beaten Marcos Giron handily to set up a quarterfinal with upcoming Serbian, Miomir Kecmanovic. As the match with Kecmanovic wore on, it was clear the #4 was ailing. His eyes were glassy. He was walking slowly between points, clearing his throat repeatedly on changeovers. He was the higher seed, but he was on his way to losing in 3 sets and he did not look or sound well. His nose was running. Then I saw it. The player called for his towel with the universal hand to face gesture. A ball person, a young lady from Queens College who had volunteered to assist the players at this tournament, ran the towel out from the corner. The player proceeded to blow his nose right into the towel and hand it back to the girl. Disgusted, the ballgirl held as little of the towel as possible, returning it to a hook in the corner of the court. The match continued. Not a word from the chair umpire. No acknowledgement whatsoever from the player.

This may seem like an extreme circumstance of unsanitary behavior from a barely adult touring tennis pro. However, as a supposed first-ballot member of the Ball Person Hall of Fame, I can attest that mucus is par for the course when it comes to tour players and their towels. Tennis players wipe sweat, blood and who knows what else onto their towels. At some stage in the late ’90s, something that was considered taboo in society somehow became the norm on the tennis court; expecting somebody else (ball people specifically) to carry a used towel.

Ball people used to just manage the balls. They were never asked to hand players their towels. This changed during the decade that I worked at the U.S. Open. I was in college and working one of my final U.S. Opens as a ball person. Tennis fashion was changing. The utilitarian headband and sweatbands made popular during the ’70s and ’80s had given way to more “stylish” bandannas and hats in the ’90s. These new accessories, while selling like hotcakes at the concession stand, did not get the job done in managing sweat. By the late ’90s, I observed more and more players bringing towels out on court.

At first, players would bring the towel out and hang it on the fence or throw it on the ground near the fence. They would visit the towel intermittently, when needed. Visiting the towel, whether necessary or not, became a tool to help players refocus, to take a breath and consider their plan for the next point. Though I’m sure he is not the first, Greg Rusedski is the player who comes to mind when I think of ball people being asked to run the towel from the fence to the player. I worked a U.S. Open semifinal of his and I probably ran his towel a greater distance than he ran the entire match. Of course, visiting the towel also became a ploy to throw off the rhythm of an opponent. So use of the towel gradually fell under the hawkish eyes of chair umpires concerned about pace of play. Somewhere between efficiency and expedience, the task of speeding towel usage fell to ball people.

Why not?  The player has to be ready for the next point. Ball people, who spend most of their time standing at attention, are talented enough to handle two jobs simultaneously; moving the balls around the court and delivering player towels. After all, ball people are somehow now responsible for drying wet courts, garbage disposal, serving players drinks, peeling their bananas, delivering coffee, and putting on pointless showy displays for the crowd.

With the onus on ball people, players now use the towel incessantly. The result is longer matches. When umpires enforce pace of play rules, players blame the ball people who can’t deliver fast enough. The ATP considered the pace of play aspect serious enough in 2018 to test new towel rules, forcing players to manage their own towels. However, what is missing from consideration is the matter of hygiene.

In the early days of this public health crisis (last week), a New York City tennis club sent out an email reminder that it was still open for business and that tennis already features the social distancing of a 78 foot court. Of course, it’s difficult for players to avoid holding the ball. I would be interested to see a study on how a virus fares in the felt of a ball being struck repeatedly, experiencing the abrasion of court surface and strings, while repeatedly losing and returning to shape. I’ll never forget the man who got himself banned from a tennis club for wiping his sweaty brow with the ball before each serve. He considered it a sort of legal spitball, a competitive advantage for the sweaty. His partners and opponents considered it disgusting and complained enough that club management ultimately had to send him on his way. What professional tennis players do to ball people with towels is actually more disgusting, unsanitary and despicable and it’s time the tours put a stop to it:

COVID-19 provides an opportunity to return tennis to sanitary sanity. Indeed, before they canceled the event entirely, Indian Wells banned players from giving their towels to ball people. The ball people would also wear gloves. In a global pandemic, these measures make sense. Even in normal times, players don’t know what ball people have on their hands and vice versa. Players travel all over the world and are probably more likely to be carriers of exotic pathogens than a volunteer 14 year old from Cincinnati. Hence, professional tennis should permanently adopt the rule that players handle their own towels. Put hooks at the back of the court where they can access towels quickly. Let the ball people focus on moving balls around the court and running for no reason. Pace of play will improve and so will hygiene.

Jeff Menaker

2 match points…

This has been bugging me all week. Apparently it’s been bugging others as well.

Listen, I’m no GOAT 🐐. I know hindsight is 2020, but: If I had the chance to win Wimbledon at 8-7 in the 5th set, and I can do it by beating Nadal and Djokovic back-to-back, and I’m 37 years old, and I have 2 match points, nay, CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS to close out the final, on my serve, and I’ve been serving great all match, and I often struggle to close out Nadal/Djokovic, and my name is FEDERER… I am taking the opportunity right then and there to try FOUR (4) first serves, all out, no holds barred, up the “T” for an ace, four straight times.

Tell me Roger couldn’t convert one out of four.

There’s a time for analytics and repeatable patterns and serve +1 forehands, but, when it comes to closing out a match, that’s a moment for killer instinct and letting the chips fall where they may.

Go Big or Go Home!

Jeff Menaker

“This is America.” Throw the Ball!

On June 21, ahead of the 2018 US Open ballperson tryouts, the USTA made the surprise announcement that US Open ball people will no longer throw, but, rather, roll the balls from end to end of the tennis court. Having spent 11 years as a ballperson at the US Open and several other tournaments, from Madison Square Garden to Central Park, the announcement came as a bit of a shock. With a teenage daughter trying out for one of 300 coveted ballperson jobs, I took the opportunity to visit tryouts this year. Seeing old friends, talking about the announcement, taking the temperature of the veteran ballperson corps, I found folks having none of it.

The USTA and Open staff have always boasted the best ballperson crew in the world. Much of the excellence and efficiency that ATP and WTA Tour players have come to appreciate in US Open ball people stems from the ability to zip balls around the court, providing players an extra beat (and one less distraction) to focus on the next point. Having attended the first two days of qualifying at Flushing Meadows this week, the difference is stark. Even a well-managed Court 11 ballperson crew with athletic veterans and standout rookies could not hide the limitations of rolling the ball from end to end. On Court 17, the new serve clock, ticking at each end of the court, does the rolling process no favors. What’s funny about ball people rolling the balls, 1-2-3, to a middleman at the net, who then turns and rolls them the rest of the way; one is hard-pressed to imagine a less efficient, more unimpressive way of moving balls around a court. Not only does rolling wear out the balls faster and add more dirt to the felt, the process takes eons.

If you watch these things carefully, as I am conditioned to do, the most common television image between points at Wimbledon is that of a player standing, watching the ballkid pick balls off the ground, waiting for a ball to use in the next point. This happens repeatedly, even on the premiere courts. It’s no different at the French Open. It simply takes more time for players to be served when ballkids have to field rolling grounders. This has to rub the veteran ball-ninjas in Flushing the wrong way; to take such pride in their swift delivery, only to be told we’re going to conform to the European standard. Are we not living in Trump’s America?! We’re supposed to be winning, not succumbing to the French. We throw the ball 120 feet, not two 18.288 meter legs, on a roll.

Previously, the US Open was the only grand slam tennis tournament where ball people threw the ball. Video of the first US Open, 50 years ago, on grass, shows the ball people (looking pretty chill) throwing perfect strikes on one hop and then waiting for the players (Ashe and Okker), not the other way around. Quick hands, a strong and accurate arm, alert eyes, and the ability to not attract attention have always been the hallmarks of a great US Open ballperson. Like today, the ball people who swept the net of errant serves in 1968 were fleet and agile. As the 2018 main draw kicks off on Monday, the USTA has unwittingly introduced an agent of inefficiency to the flow of matches. Why?

In a statement released by the USTA, longtime Director of Ballpersons, Tina Taps, said, “By rolling between positions, we are putting less emphasis on a single skill-set, in this case throwing, and instead looking at the importance of slotting more well-rounded athletes at the positions.” This is, of course, a well-crafted piece of PR malarkey because throwing and catching is exactly why the US Open ball people have always needed to be well-rounded athletes. To be fair to Ms. Taps, she can be found all over the internet, over decades, extolling the virtues of throwing the ball and correctly pointing out the baseball skill set as key to the US Open’s (now lost) ballperson supremacy. “This is America,” she once said of throwing the ball.

While those who get a regular check from USTA are towing the line, it doesn’t take much to figure out what is going on here. USTA wants more female ball people for their showcase matches at the end of the tournament. It’s about appearances (which isn’t necessarily a terrible thing). Leave aside having the best ball people on court for the biggest matches. That’s another story, for another blog entry.

Plenty of women can wing the ball the length of a tennis court with accuracy. I’ve seen a few who can zip the ball as fast as the young men. While there have been scores of female ball people over the years, the timing of the US Open is such that many of the best ballkids have already returned to college or high school classes during the second week of the tournament. There are fewer needed, but, also fewer available during the quarters, semis and finals. The lower percentage of women and girls in the ballperson corps from day 1 means there are even fewer excellent and deserving ballgirls available for the final rounds. Instead of addressing the actual source of the problem, not carrying enough adult women who are available to work when school is in session, USTA has shown an odd sexism by assuming women are so across-the-board inferior at throwing that a change to how the ball moves around the court is needed, just to attract more girls to tryouts. I can imagine the boardroom conversation:

Executive 1: We need more female ball people on the show courts. Billie Jean King is killing us on inclusion. We need to do something.

Executive 2: I spoke to the people who run the ballpersons. They say they lose too many of their most talented kids during the second week due to school starting. They don’t have enough women who can make the throw from the back. They can only put them at the net posts.

Executive 1: Damn it! The net kids are never in the camera frame when they show the players’ faces on TV. We need girls at the back. Pretty ones, too!

Executive 3: Why do they need to throw the ball? They don’t throw the ball at Wimbledon.

Everyone: Great idea! Let’s stop throwing the ball, torpedo the reason US Open ball people are most efficient and slow down matches, just like Wimbledon!

Okay. I’m sure the last line didn’t happen. But everything up to “Great idea!” almost certainly did.

It’s a surprising decision, since the powers that be are intent on speeding up the game for millennial viewership. They’ve added the serve clock, eliminated sit-down changeovers after the first game of each set and bastardized the scoring (in doubles especially). I’ve already written about eliminating the lets on net cords. If tennis wants to speed the pace of play, eliminate ball people rolling the ball. It’s too slow. New York crowds are about to notice (and say something).

I’m a fan of progress. In a few short years, there will be no more line judges on professional courts. Ball people remain necessary and can play a role in reducing dead time in matches. Though it’s certainly better than rolling, throwing the ball is not the only efficient way to move balls across the court. With more players using ball people as towel stewards, it often makes sense for a ballperson to run a handful of balls from one end of the court to the other when the serve changes ends. We see this a bit at the French Open when a ballperson is too occupied with a player towel to receive rolls. Running the balls already happens at the US Open when ballperson crews are stretched thin with junior events and doubles matches in the second week. When you have one ballperson running balls to the other end between games, the balls get to the other side quickly, without much drama or risk.

Ultimately, the USTA should still seek the most well-rounded athletes in their ballperson tryouts. Just don’t pretend rolling the ball requires anything more than lowering the standards. Instead, keep the standards high, throw the balls and let those who can’t throw accurately display their athleticism by running the balls. Then, do a better job encouraging girls, especially adult women, to join the team.

---

The new Louis Armstrong Stadium is absolutely incredible. In fact, it’s so beautiful the USTA will eventually have to demolish Arthur Ashe Stadium to build something architecturally worthy of Armstrong next door.

It has been brought to my attention that I didn’t cover the Australian Open ball people. They also roll the ball and wear funny hats. I had a good joke about rolling wombats, but, it didn’t make the final cut.  Follow me on Twitter: @Jeff_Menaker

 

– Jeffrey Menaker

Serena is wrong about drug testing. That actually strengthens her legacy!

With Serena Williams’ notable post-baby run to the Wimbledon final today, it will be fascinating to see if she can return to the top of the game against the very formidable Angelique Kerber. While most of the big names on the women’s side were checking out of their London hotels before Middle Sunday, Serena’s gutsy run may be flying a bit under the radar. The drama of the men’s quarterfinals followed by Friday’s epic men’s semifinals is certainly part of the story. Yet, as Serena navigates the Wimbledon draw like a veteran sea captain steering a trawler to harbor, much of her press coverage has focused on the tennis playing future of her infant daughter.

Watching her answer questions (with full awareness of the absurdity) on whether sister Venus would be willing to travel to coach Alexis Olympia (still 10 months old) when she inevitably joins the tour, it struck me that Serena Williams may have turned a corner in our collective consciousness. Crip-walking, line-judge threatening, controversial Serena has become an adult; a parent, a working mother struggling with missing one of her daughter’s milestones. Though she’ll never be Saint Serena, my view of her seemed to evolve with her pre-Wimbledon press conference. Strangely, her blindness on the subject of drug testing raised her in my esteem. Her reaction to a Deadspin article revealing she is drug tested four times more than other top American tennis players made instant headlines.

“Serena Williams is drug tested more than other athletes and she wants to know why.” The Twittersphere had gone into full conspiracy theory mode by the time I read the story or watched video from Serena’s press conference. Accusations of racism against the US Anti-Doping Agency were piling up. Apparently, Serena was not at home on June 14th when a USADA agent arrived 12 hours earlier than the daily timeframe USADA established with her for surprise drug tests. The fact that the agent was sitting around her house with her family, refusing to leave for several hours, clearly irked Serena (rightfully so). But, Serena was also complaining about having been tested five times thus far in 2018 while other top American players have not been tested nearly as much, if at all. “Just test everybody equally” she said. That’s where she lost me. Though she may have a point about the infrequency of drug tests across the sport, her response to being tested more often seemed completely wrong. Nevertheless, a sense of comfort came over me about Serena’s legacy. If Serena is a cheater, she would have thought this complaint through a little better.

Of course, there may be no athlete in modern times who has suffered racism and sexism to the degree that Serena Williams has had to endure. Still, when I read the headline that Serena was tested more than others, my initial reaction was to check which news outlet had published such obvious non-news. If the goal of drug testing is to maintain the integrity of the sport, then the sport’s champions and top players should be subjected to more testing than those struggling to make a living at it. If Serena thought much about drug testing, she would know this. Doping cheaters tend to have a pretty good handle on process. So it is encouraging to me that Serena, an intelligent person, hasn’t given it enough thought to realize why she is tested more.

Among the factors that USADA considers in allocating tests are “available resources, performance information, ranking data, sport and athlete specific analysis, biological and longitudinal analysis, injury information, training periods, the competition calendar, intelligence received concerning possible doping practices and research on doping trends.” With that many factors, it’s difficult to draw any conclusions based on testing frequency. However, it is not exactly news that a woman’s body goes through physiological changes during and after a pregnancy. Is it not possible that the USADA is simply conducting biological analysis of Serena’s body chemistry post-pregnancy so they can establish a baseline from which future tests can be compared?

According to the USADA database, defending U.S. Open champ Sloane Stephens was tested once so far in 2018; Venus Williams was tested twice; Madison Keys was tested once; Coco Vandeweghe was tested twice; Danielle Collins, Alison Riske and Taylor Townsend were tested zero times. Serena was also tested more than any of the top five American men. Guess what all of these players not named Serena have in common? None of them have had a baby in the last year!

After the Serena press conference, Roger Federer was asked about drug testing and revealed he had been tested seven times in the last month alone. In a strange aside, it turns out he receives regular visits when he is staying at his home in Switzerland because the tester lives nearby.

I have real empathy for the complications Serena suffered during and after her pregnancy and I admire her for returning to the top of tennis as a working mother. And good for her for keeping an open mind while not wanting her daughter to play tennis professionally. In a sport that has as many villains as it has saints, Serena Williams is more nuanced. However, where Maria Sharapova let down the sport, Serena has never failed a drug test. That must be included in her glorious tennis legacy; right up there with a potential 8th Wimbledon and 24th Grand Slam singles title, if she wins today.

Update: Angelique Kerber won the Wimbledon final 6-3, 6-3. Kerber has now won 3 Grand Slams and 2 of the last 8. In an emotional press conference, Serena declared, “I’m literally just getting started.” Many people have called the story of Serena and her sister, Venus, the greatest American sports story of all time. This Wimbledon seemed to be the start of something new for Serena. A turn of the page on and off the court. Looking forward to Flushing Meadows! – Jeff Menaker