Sport loves contests where fans’ cheers add to the atmosphere. Those from a previous generation will recall growing up watching John McEnroe rant, rave and win matches. The left-hander’s skills were magical, but the four-letter expletives he let slip were often unparliamentary, and earned the ire of the chair umpires.
This year at the French Open, Johnny Mac is there as usual in his TV role. He loves to stir up controversy, so when Rafael Nadal went into the second Grand Slam of the year unseeded with a “protected ranking”, it led to a furore. For all the fire and flash which Nadal produced in patches before going down to Alexander Zverev in a hard match on Tuesday night, there was shock.
McEnroe set the cat among the pigeons by calling out the French Open 2024 organisers. Yes, to not show respect to the winner of 14 French Open titles was shameful, to say the least. If just computers are needed to bring out rankings and prepare the draw, there is no need for humans out there.
Nadal losing was expected, given his fitness woes. He delivered what was almost a farewell speech on Monday night, as he perhaps knew a return to the site he owned for so long could prove traumatic. The Olympics at the same venue in July-August are a different matter.
Seedings were not the only issue at a venue where the crowd is considered to be knowledgeable and decent. For three days in a row, one has seen lousy behaviour from the fans on site. Be it the marquee courts at Roland Garros like Suzanne Lenglen, Philippe-Chatrier or Simonne-Mathieu, there is a both history and class associated with them.
The kind of crowds turning up these days are mixed. You will have the chic fans as well as those whose behaviour is boorish, like football’s lager louts. Two men had faced their wrath, so to speak, in Paris in the last three days. David Goffin, a seasoned old gent, did not mince words when he said tennis fandom had taken a turn for the worse.
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“It’s becoming football, soon there will be smoke bombs, hooligans and fights in the stands,” he said. “It’s starting to become ridiculous. Some people are there more to cause trouble than create an atmosphere.” His angst was understandable, as a few spat gum at him.
Tennis fans are not always on their best behaviour, but when champions are not respected, that’s sad. Go back to Novak Djokovic’s first round match against unknown French wild card Pierre-Hugues Herbert, and the winner of 24 Grand Slam titles struggled. No surprises there, for the Serbian has been off-colour this year, losing to players he would have trounced on a normal day.
Djokovic doesn’t complain. He has faced hostility and abuse, especially in Melbourne at the Australian Open, when he returned in 2023 after the Covid-vaccine drama was over. At one stage against Herbert, Djokovic slipped. The normal reaction from fans would have been to egg him on. Instead, they booed him.
“C’est normal, l’ambiance [It’s normal, the atmosphere],” he said while addressing the crowd afterwards, refusing to be baited. But worse was to follow. Iga Swiatek was taken for a crazy spin by Naomi Osaka on Wednesday evening, and was unhappy with the crowd. The Polish star faced tough moments during her three-set win, but the response from fans was more worrying.
“I am sorry to bring this up, I know we are playing for you,” she said. “This is entertainment and we are earning money because of you. But sometimes under a lot of pressure when you scream something during the rally or right before the return, it’s really, really hard to be focused.
“I usually don’t bring this up because I want to be the kind of player that is in the zone and really focused. This is serious for us, we are fighting for our whole lives to be better. Sometimes it’s hard to accept that.”
The real debate centres on whether a newer generation of tennis fan is just more ignorant of the sport and its intricacies, or whether boorish behaviour and abuse is now mainstream.
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