Although the Australian Open has the reputation of being immensely successful each and every year, I get the feeling that it’s the same people and the same families that are its biggest supporters.
Their annual seats at Rod Laver Arena are eagerly and happily filled, their couches often occupied and remotes ignored as their television stays locked on Channel Seven.
This peaceful picture is one that tennis is happily and intentionally central to during these often hot and painfully long January weeks. And while it’s been proven that targeting this audience is more than viable, I can’t help but notice the stubbornness of people who haven’t been brought up with this delightfully content home setting.
There are many – I think too many – of my friends who will never watch tennis, citing how boring and predictable it is for their stigma. You could mount many an argument against that point of view, but their passionate ignorance of the game is a sign of perhaps just how monotonous tennis can seem.
What tennis could do with is a new breed of players – or at least a player – that goes against the norm of toeing the party line. After every match on Rod Laver Arena you’ll hear the winner say all the right things in his or her interview with Jim Courier or Sam Smith. And this is part of the problem.
The correlation between a player’s ranking and their ability to delight the crowd with their vague, generic but somehow refreshing wit appears strong. Roger Federer – deservedly known as the master for his on-court prowess – has also served as the benchmark for post-match interview schmoozing. Federer’s knack for over-complimenting the lowly opponent he just triple-bageled has driven me – as an avid tennis watcher at this time of year – completely nuts over the years.
This kind of maddening politeness is a typical weapon in the armoury of talents that top tennis players must possess. Federer and company make every crowd they play in front of fall in love with them by thanking them for ‘making this my favourite tournament’, and go on to charm thousands by being respectful of their next opponent – ‘it’ll be a really tough match’ is a stalwart of any professional player’s bank of clichés.
What I’d like to see is a player bring genuine, unwavering confidence that borders on offensive arrogance to the court. It would almost certainly encourage a portion of the tennis-haters to tune in and barrack for this player to win because of the displeasure it would bring to tennis-lovers. And you wouldn’t lose that traditional audience either, because they would applaud keenly for the player representing the dreariness we’ve become accustomed to.
Tennis players aren’t meant to be supported like clubs are. Barracking in the stands comes from patriotism, as it would with any Olympic sport. But with a new wave of tennis players that offend the traditionalist majority of the crowd and ignite encouragement from the minority, tennis crowds could take on a completely different dynamic.
Imagine a player with the nerve to respond to Jim Courier’s friendly warning about the ‘dangerous’ next opponent by not only dismissing that player’s ability, form and credibility, but refusing to answer any more questions until Courier apologises for implying the possibility of a loss.
In a Anthony Mundine-like act, this player would hold so much self-belief that he would go in to every match expecting not only a win but the tennis equivalent of a first-round knockout. In opposition to the usual praise for the upcoming opponent’s game, he would deliver a stinging backhanded compliment, like ‘his strength is unquestionably his second serve returns, but that doesn’t matter because I’ll just serve aces’.
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