Sports, once the pinnacle of dreams and aspirations for every young man and many young women, need heroes and heroines, need some good news, and need concern for individuals to become a priority.
Tennis has been particularly unpleasant in recent weeks, with first Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 US Open Champion, flying into a rage when his opponent, Benjamin Bonzi, was allowed by the umpire to replay a point due to a photographer encroaching on the fringes of the court. Medvedev flew into a six-and-a-half-minute vitriol-laden tirade at the umpire and his opponent, before resuming play. Bonzi would go on and win the match, before Medvedev smashed his racquet into pieces courtside in another fit of temper.
Then, just a couple of days later, as Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, having lost her second-round match in straight sets, at its conclusion, accused her opponent, America’s Taylor Townsend, of having “no education and no class", in an extraordinary courtside rant, interpreted by many onlookers as a racist attack. Whether it was or not, it was ugly, and reaffirmed the writer’s opinion of tennis, at the highest level, as a selfish and indulgent sport more than any other.
Petulance in tennis, or any sport, is unpalatable, and even though the caricature ‘MacEnroe style', of berating, and ‘ganging up’ on umpires and referees in the way that is commonplace in football, is bullying, and there is no other word for it. Such bullying reflects badly upon the sports that appear to condone it by not acting against it. Bans, suspensions, financial penalties and (in-play) penalty points are rarely used due to controlling bodies not wanting to upset or antagonise their sports superstars. However, they have responsibilities beyond their sports, to families and societies, to get their sports in order.
The common denominator in both incidents is that the antagonists, Medvedev and Ostapenko, have extended histories of intemperate behaviour, volatile and unpleasant, yet rarely penalised. In any other environment, be it work or in society, such behaviour would be interpreted as bullying and harassment, and subject to punitive consequences, which no other sport tolerates to the same extent.
Rugby union is fighting a very different battle currently, with former players of both codes seeking redress for long-standing and repeated concussion issues, with tackling collisions proving akin to knockout punches from heavyweight boxers. In 2018, popular New Zealand Maori halfback, Billy Guyton, retired, citing adverse reactions to multiple concussions, which culminated in a diagnosis of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a neurodegenerative condition that severely affects behaviour, mood and cognition, often resulting in early-onset dementia. During 2023, at only 28 years of age, Guyton passed away, having taken his own life.
Shane Christie, a successful and highly respected Highlanders loose forward, also retired with multiple concussions, reporting frequent headaches and memory loss, saying, “It feels like a bruise in your head, and when you’re walking, it hurts. So, when you’re thinking it hurts, when you’re trying to exercise, the pressure hurts.” Now, Christie too has taken his own life, and at only 39, this marks the loudest call yet to this game’s administrators for greater action.
Former All Black prop Carl Hayman has led campaigning around CTE awareness, and this has resulted in law changes penalising head contact, and the provision of ‘smart’ mouthguards that report head injury impacts (HIA’s) during matches, with HIA assessments determining the player’s continued participation, or otherwise, and recovery protocols. However, Christie’s tragic demise surely signals a watershed for the game, with some form of protective helmets perhaps being essential to its future appeal, and indeed, its future.
Boxing has had a long-standing refusal to respond to the consequences of combat, currently hiding behind the rapid growth in popularity of the UFC and MMA, which appear even more brutal. But that’s a childish defence of its combatant’s well-being. The NFL in America, too, has a history of responding to its players’ health and well-being during and after their playing careers. However, their commitment does seem minuscule, and their progress glacial.
Bullying and harassment, the mental and physical consequences of sports at the elite level may be inescapable, and may be at the heart of individual choice, but let’s do what we can to protect the participants of all sports, from themselves, and others, where we can.
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