This Just In – A new generation of professional tennis players snuck up on us and took over the proceedings at the U.S. Open as John McEnroe squealed with delight.
In the late 1970’s (just after the earth cooled), I lived in East Hartford, Connecticut and my then-fiancée was a member of the town’s indoor tennis club. As was often the case, the professional players had practice sessions at our club prior to playing in the United Technologies tournament in Hartford. For this reason, we got to watch (for free) the brash young John McEnroe hit some tennis balls.
McEnroe arrived at the club wearing his then signature red headband that kept his unruly mop of hair out of his face. He checked in at the desk and went downstairs to the courts. No arguments. No complaints.
We watched him hit for a few minutes and easily concluded that this kid was not playing the game of tennis that the rest of us were. It’s important to realize that Johnny Mac was playing with a Dunlop MaxPly racket – a stick of lumber that was the racket of choice for Rod Laver and others. McEnroe switched to a graphite racket years later, but first he won a bunch of majors with this 2×4.
McEnroe became famous for his temper, especially in contrast to the silent Swedish assassin, Bjorn Borg. His famous “you cannot be serious” screaming match with an umpire at Wimbledon was a dispute over a line call. McEnroe hit a service ace up the middle and the linesperson called it out. McEnroe’s outburst had merit. “That ball was ON THE LINE,” he said. “Chalk flew up!” For the record, he was right. We all saw it.
Which brings us to the delightful events of this year’s open. Serena Williams received a well-deserved sendoff so grand, it’s clear that she’s reconsidering retirement. (See: Tom Brady, also 40) Once that was out of the way, we saw a procession of thrilling matches on both the men’s and women’s side of the tournament, often keeping my husband and me up to the wee hours of the morning for the wrap-up of five-setters.
What we did not see was tantrums about line calls. There are no longer humans calling balls in or out. Technology (previously the last word on appeals) does this for all lines in tennis on hard courts. Instead of a human calling “out!”, the computer generates a sound … that’s the sound of a human calling “out!”.
Thanks to some new rules in the game, we also saw almost no delays in play. Tennis has a shot clock, effectively, demanding that the server move things along. There are still time outs allowed for injuries and bathroom breaks, but overall, it’s just tennis that we’re watching.
The tournament produced a 19-year-old men’s champion, Carlos Alcarez of Spain, who is the same age McEnroe was when we encountered him so many years ago. Alcarez won his championship in a four set match that took over four hours to play. That was after multiple five-set matches back-to-back leading up to the final. This is an unheard-of level of physical fitness and sheer enthusiasm for the game. He’s a well-mannered person and a joy to watch.
Alcarez’s opponent, Norwegian Casper Ruud, was a likewise extremely impressive and even-tempered person. In the awards ceremony on Sunday (September 11th) they both acknowledged the somber occasion for Americans (and New Yorkers in particular) before discussing their match and their arrival at the number one and two rankings in the world.
Very much to his credit, John McEnroe (who presented the champion with his trophy) gushed over the two players and the meaning of their arrival at the top of their game. They’re both great ambassadors for this sport we all love so much, said McEnroe.
For me, watching the two of them was much like the first time I watched McEnroe and Jimmy Connors play. A great rivalry is born – this time, displaying talent without tantrums.
Jean Bolduc is a freelance writer and the host of the Weekend Watercooler on 97.9 The Hill. She is the author of “African Americans of Durham & Orange Counties: An Oral History” (History Press, 2016) and has served on Orange County’s Human Relations Commission, The Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina, the Orange County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, and the Orange County Schools’ Equity Task Force. She was a featured columnist and reporter for the Chapel Hill Herald and the News & Observer.
Readers can reach Jean via email – jean@penandinc.com and via Twitter @JeanBolduc
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