WHO WATCHING?

Martin insists tennis stands alone as spectator sport

By Sandra Harwitt
tennisreporters.net

MASON, OHIO, AUG. 8 – If you ask Todd Martin, he’ll be glad to tell you that tennis and not personalities should be the name of the game.

The 31-year-old Martin, a former Australian and U.S. Open finalist, is obviously a purist at heart – tennis is such a great game it should stand on its own as a spectacular spectator sport.

“I think every single sport predominantly is about what happens on the playing field,” said Martin, who lost a tough 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 second round battle against Nicolas Kiefer of Germany at the Tennis Masters Series-Cincinnati tournament on Wednesday.

“I watch a football game and I would just as soon never see somebody dance around after they made a tackle. I would just as soon see the skill of their performance. I know who made the sack. I don’t need to be reminded by him doing a 360 degree cartwheel or whatever.”

Martin took pains of presenting two of the best in the game, today, as examples of tennis should dominate over personalities – Andre Agassi and Gustavo Kuerten. Interestingly, tennisreporters.net has been of the opinion that the world No. 1 Kuerten and No. 2 Agassi were considered personality pluses by the general public, but Martin argues otherwise.

“I think it’s enjoyable to watch people play tennis, and I don’t think we need these lavish personalities,” Martin insisted. “Andre Agassi, granted, early in his career probably showed a little more pizzazz on the court. But geez, you watch him now and he’s a businessman. He’s walking out there, he does his business and gets the heck off the court, and he does it better than anybody else.

“Gustavo Kuerten, as soon as he’s on the tennis court, you don’t see him dancing around and doing Brazilian sambas or whatever else. He’s playing tennis, and it’s just an amazing concept that our sport is attacked in this regard.”

Basically, Martin likened tennis to all walks of life, saying that “duds and some really personable, interesting guys” exist in whatever field you decide to follow, but insisting having a certain charm doesn’t enhance a match.

The truth is tennisreporters.net can agree with Martin to some degree – tennis when it is at its highest form should be able to captivate fans on its own and not need to live off of the personality of the players. But that is a purity that will never exist in the game and we’re not so sure it should.

Take for instance the recent men’s final at Wimbledon.

The tennis was special – no doubt about it. After all, Goran Ivanisevic and Patrick Rafter played to 9-7 in the fifth set, making it the longest fifth set in Wimbledon history, until Ivanisevic amazingly captured his first Grand Slam trophy. But anyone who would deny that the outrageous personality of Goran, and the friendly you’re my mate attitude of Pat’s didn’t make the moment even more special, would be ignoring an important aspect of that classic encounter.

Truth be told – Everybody can’t be a personality and the frequent efforts by tour officials on both the ATP tour and Sanex WTA Tour to sell some players as having infectious personalities when they simply don’t is futile and unfortunate. But tennisreporters.net believes that while tennis is a great sport, having exciting people play the game makes it even better.