The Game of
Tennis in the Land of the Free
By Khalid B. Sayeed
Professor Emeritus
Queen's University
Kingston, Ontario
Canada
Many people and particularly
American chauvinists or super patriots do not seem
to understand that thousands of people, sometimes
as many as thirty or forty thousand who turn up
in New York to watch the US Open, seem to think
that they have almost an unquestionable right to
support their American player.
Tennis unlike many sports is a game of skill. It
is a highly civilized game where in my opinion the
ball often produces music unlike many other games
where the player who hits hard and vigorously wins
or is the champion. Before the final in the US Open
starts the American national anthem with its moving
terms "America the land of the free and beautiful"
is played. And the American Air Force fly their
jets to honor the occasion. I have no quarrel with
all this. My only concern is that if Americans think
that their land is the land of the free and beautiful
and thirty or forty thousand spectators in overwhelming
numbers support their own player and if the result
of this vociferous and one-sided support makes the
non-American player to play his game extremely difficult
if not impossible. I have noticed that in a few
cases where perhaps the world's best tennis player,
Roger Federer, was playing against his American
rivals, the thirty or forty thousand Americans in
their overwhelming numbers and through deafening
shouting supported their own player.
In all these cases, Federer won his match and in
one particular case, he even complained about the
one-sided nature of the crowd support. Tennis, unlike
many other games, involves concentration and strategy
where there is a duel between two agile minds who
know how to hit varying shots from side to side
and sometimes in complicated angles. If, as a result
of this overwhelming one-sided support of thirty
or forty thousand people, disables one of the players
from playing his best game and if the slightly inferior
American player wins the match, how can United States
become the land of the free and beautiful? In other
words, audiences in tennis have to display a considerable
sense of appreciation of how skillfully the game
is played. As a great majority of American spectators
only support their own player, it becomes very difficult
for the non-American player to be at his best in
strategy and skill. The outcomes in several instances
have favored the American player even though his
non American opponent, given a fair chance and even
handed support on the part of the spectators, could
have won his match.
It is disturbing and often times painful to see
American spectators display such one-sided or chauvinistic
attitudes. Maybe if these problems continue, important
tournaments like the US Open should be held on a
neutral territory. Perhaps places like Toronto or
Montreal which are fairly close to the American
mainland should hold the US Open. What I am suggesting
is that in a game like tennis where a sense of appreciation
of the skills and strategies that are involved,
the audiences have to develop a better sense of
their judgment and responsibility.
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