My former student Samarth Goyal inspired me to write this! A fan of Rafael Nadal, Samarth is distraught about the fact that Nadal lost. I, for one, think Nadal is a bore. And not just Nadal, most players, with the exception of Federer, play the game like they are programmed.
Sometime in the late 1980s when STAR TV made its entry into India, it created quite a stir – at least in my home. All of a sudden I was watching stuff that Doordarshan would never dream of carrying, for reasons best known to them. A few years earlier they had started showing the iconic Yes Prime Minister, but after a few episodes it was abruptly yanked off, probably because they thought it demeaned the office of the prime minister and showed the bureaucracy to be conniving little devils! It also showed the PM to be a complete dullard and Rajiv Gandhi in those days was floundering with the Bofors scandal having erupted. By the time STAR TV came into India (at least into Pune) Rajiv Gandhi had lost the election and VP Singh was the prime minister.
There was the kind of entertainment on STAR which I would often only read about. M*A*S*H* was one such serial about American doctors in Korea. It was and still the best sitcom I have seen. STAR also showed us sports, but initially, except for tennis there wasn’t too much of interest, unless you liked baseball, American football and basketball – which I did not. So I concentrated on watching tennis.
I remember the first time I watched the entire US Open it was on STAR and I was completely in awe. There was the legendary Jimmy Connors, all of 40, still playing, still clowning around and still swearing. He wagged his finger and screamed at a linesman for what he believed was a bad call. He was wrong, but it did not matter because just the fun of Jimbo blowing his top was entertaining enough! The thing is STAR brought it all into our living rooms. Every word he said to the linesman could be heard through the courtside microphones and, trust me, Connors wasn’t enquiring about the man’s health!
But even before STAR beamed tennis live there were the characters – Borg, Vijay Amrithraj, McEnroe, Vitas Gerulaitis, Guilermo Vilas, Ilie Nastase, and Roscoe Tanner who made tennis so exciting to watch. They played hard and enjoyed the game as much as they gave viewers a chance to enjoy the game. I remember during that particular US Open beamed live by STAR TV for the first time. In the midst of the drama involving a screaming Connors, a lone female voice cried out “I love you Jimmy!” The whole stadium erupted in laughter. And Connors turned around, anger forgotten, and blew a kiss! It was all an act but that is what made tennis so much fun to watch then.
Today, unfortunately, such characters have left the game. Today, except for the occasional Djokovic caper on the court, it is just another day at the office. Everything is about winning, winning and more winnings. Enjoyment is secondary. The game has become boring. Actually it became boring from the time players like Lendl, Courier and Sampras entered the scene – great tennis players, but lousy entertainers. Jim Courier was one of the most boring players I have ever watched. So what if he won a few grand slams? The only exceptions then were Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg, Andre Agassi and Goran Ivanesevic and a few others, who had fun while they played. Not too many of them around. Roger Federer comes closest. The rest, including Rafael Nadal, I wouldn’t go to watch – not even on TV.
And the same goes for the women. I don’t see even one player who comes close to Steffi Graf, Chris Evert, Martina Hingis, Gabriela Sabatini, Aranxta Sanchez Vicario, Martina Navratilova, to name just four. The standard of women’s tennis is pathetic and boring. And they actually want equal pay? So thank God, at least one bore has been knocked out in the first round of Wimbledon this year.
It is time tennis brought back its characters.
Been There Done That 