Tennis: respect in competition
Isaac Carmitchel, Contributing Writer
Whack! The concussions of rackets bounced across the courts as a day of fierce competition boiled down to the final match of the singles round at the North Greenville University Tennis Complex. The players, drenched with sweat and exhausted, played the last point, and with the final bounce of the tennis ball, the NGU Men’s Tennis team won the match. Juan Arbalez, a senior at NGU, walked over to his competitor, looked him in the eyes and shook his hand without an unkind word spoken between them.
Tennis has always been a gentleman’s sport, but as the decades have worn on, tennis has stood as a bastion of what it means to be a sportsman, from love to match point.
This kind of sportsmanship is what Tennis.com frames as one of the foundations of tennis, not just an add-on. They explain that the sport is used as a vehicle to teach young people to compete honorably.
While crowd support is greatly appreciated, cheering, jeering and excessive noise is generally frowned upon at tennis matches, as the sport requires immense concentration and mental fortitude. In fact, if a bystander is disturbing the environment of the match, officials have the authority to remove them from the tennis complex entirely without warning.
Ross Tease, an Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) official, said that he appreciates the rules the ITA has in place regarding etiquette.
“I do believe that having that (verbiage rules) directly addressed in the rulebook makes tennis a more respectful sport,” Tease said.
Tease says that these rules aren’t just written, they’re lived out by the coaches and the players alike. He said that Coach Michelle Tease, NGU’s tennis coach, will report her players to officials if they are being disruptive or cursing.
“She’ll literally go to one of the officials and be like, ‘Hey, I told him, but he swore, so he’s getting a point deduction,’” said Tease
Tease said that players operate by the same standards. College tennis players are often expected to call out inbound calls in lieu of a present official, and players are trained to accept them without frequent challenges.
Senior men’s tennis player Max Bobo recounted a time in which that was made very apparent in his teammate Dean Kingsley.
“Dean is… the fairest player we have. If it’s so close Dean isn’t 100% sure, he always calls it in,” said Bobo.
Bobo said that Tennis is not only about fair play. It’s about honor. He said that on the NGU tennis team, the players do what is right even when their opponents don’t. They use the actions of others to fuel their performance.
This culture of respect and sportsmanship leads to truly spectacular moments according to Tease. When I asked him of any moments that really stuck with him as emblematic of the culture around tennis, he recounted a match he recently officiated that was decided by the last game being played.
“The court that I was watching over became the longest match and was the last match on the court… once it gets down to the last court, there’s an unspoken rule that everyone shuts up… everybody is watching every bounce of that ball.“
But players aren’t just an island. The spectators only watch one player at a time, but Bobo says that the energy that each individual brings to a match affects the outcomes of the others.
“If you’re having a bad day or if you have bad energy and you transfer it to the player next to you, it impacts their match,” Bobo said.
From serve to match point, Tennis is steeped in a tradition of honor. From players to spectators to officials, the rules are appreciated and adhered to, so there can be competition with respect.
