Social media is a wonderful place for sports fans to interact, but fans have become increasingly difficult over the years. Tennis fans are no exception to that rule.
While the Internet has brought fans closer together in dialogue, it has further separated them from reality. It makes tennis fans forget that players are human.
Tennis Fans: Obscenities are Unacceptable but Forgivable
In 2016, when something big happens on court, the player can never really get away from it. Part of that reason is that when a player does or says something controversial on court, somebody captures the moment. Right on cue, they post it on social media and the whole world sees.
This point was illustrated beautifully when Coco Vandeweghe defeated top seeded Agnieszka Radwanska in the first round of Birmingham two days back. After claiming victory, the American mouthed a verbal obscenity, seemingly directed at her opponent. This caused a rather big stir among circles of Tennis Twitter as seen right here:
Vandeweghe clearly said “fuck her” in an aggressive way after match point against Aga. Such a hideous person. #AegonClassic
— WTAAddict (@WTAAddict) June 16, 2016
While this behavior is definitely inexcusable, calling a player a “hideous person” after one remark is ridiculously over the top. Not only that but it asserts that a player cannot go an entire match without saying something remotely controversial without people calling them “horrible.”
The language Vandeweghe used is identical to the one adults use in their every day life towards the people they do not like. People let out verbal obscenities under their breath towards a particular boss or coworker at work plenty of times.
But because nobody captured their words on video and posted on the internet, they are not labeled as a “hideous person,” as @WTAAddict stated. This is nonsense. All professionals are human, they all make mistakes. Would Vandeweghe say the same thing about Radwanska if they were walking past each other in the street? Probably not.
Tennis Forums: Fun but Frustrating
Forums such as tennisforum.com and menstennisforum.com are exciting ways to connect with the fans of the sport from across the globe. They are in fact where many commentators have gathered news and facts from.
Unfortunately, giving the wide range of backgrounds and players involved in the sport, many posters do not get along.
The incident where Federico Delbonis hit a cat with a tennis ball spurned 180+ posts in one thread. One of the reactions was the following:
This is another example of somebody overreacting to a player doing something in the heat of the moment. Delbonis would likely never hit a cat with a tennis ball outside the competitive sphere.
It is this sort of overreacting that causes so many fights between people on tennis fan sites like tennisforum and menstennisforums; people say over-the-top and rude things about players spurning a series of fights. Fact of the matter is that fans do not sympathize with the players enough which is the root cause of this.
Again, Tennis Fans: Top Players Don’t Always Win
Another reason that social media sports fans lose touch with reality is overreacting when certain players lose. Yes, top players losing should be shocking but it is not the end of the world. Upsets simply happen and the world goes on.
Top players that have suffered early round exits include Radwanska, Wawrinka, and recently crowned Roland Garros winner Garbiñe Muguruza.
There is no need to slander these players for losing. Kirsten Flipkens, who took out Muguruza, is a former Wimbledon semifinalist. Additionally, Vandeweghe came off winning a title, and Fernando Verdasco is a former top 10 player and incredibly dangerous when he’s on.
Subsequent reactions to early losses like these usually draw ideas that said players are on a downward spiral. People said the same about Muguruza earlier this year and look what happened two weeks ago.
In addition, this is another post from menstennisforums.com following Wawrinka’s loss to Frederico Delbonis in Geneva prior to Roland Garros last year:
Two weeks later, Wawrinka lifted the trophy in Paris. Not only are these forums the origin of slang words such as “mug,” but tennis fans have tended to associate players with robots rather than humans beings who can learn from their mistakes and grow.
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