Tennis Fans, the Answer Is Either Money or a GOAT Debate

The sport may be moving away from its country-club reputation, but some things, like owners’ power and competition, never change.

Jon,

Though I will be attempting to send this letter directly to Beemok Capital and its owner Ben Navarro, I’m hoping you might want to share some portion of this in the next mailbag. I understand sports are about money, but as a Cincinnatian (now living in Chicago), this hurts. Thanks for listening/reading:

Dear Mr. Navarro,

Please don’t move the Western and Southern Open out of Cincinnati. It belongs in Cincinnati. It’s been there more than 100 years. Thousands of people involved with this tournament would agree with me. I am 46, I grew up in Cincinnati. I was a tennis player. I spent every August as a kid being dropped off at the Linder Family Tennis Center and roamed the grounds all day until being picked up by my parents in the afternoon. I remember standing in the hospitality building next to Peter Lundgren as he called home (from a payphone) to talk to his family after beating Mats Wilander in 1987. I remember watching JJ Wolf’s father play in the qualifying tournament after being granted a wildcard into the event. I was fortunate enough to volunteer as a teenager during an Andre Agassi clinic with inner city children in Cincinnati. I remember seeing Boris Becker jogging through my neighborhood one morning. What memories. I now live in Chicago and my 14 year old son is a tennis player. The highlight of his summer is going for a few days to my hometown of Cincinnati and spending every possible minute watching tennis at the Western and Southern Open. Inevitably, we run into hundreds of midwestern tennis players that we’ve come accustomed to seeing throughout the year at regional tournaments. Similar to my son, I can tell for all those children attending the tournament that this is also the absolute highlight of their summer. The Midwest needs this tournament. This tournament belongs in the Midwest. Over the past 30 years, I’ve seen the tournament grow into a world class event. Roger Federer loved coming to Cincinnati. I think the week provides a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the larger cities that the players experience on a weekly basis. Have you seen photos of the players visiting Kings Island? Have you seen photos of players attending a Cincinnati Reds game? They look pretty happy to me. Roger Federer didn’t need a Four Seasons Hotel. Cincinnati may not have world class hotels or restaurants, but if you’ve seen how this tournament has grown in the past thirty years, you’d agree that something has been working. Mr. Navarro, before you decide to relocate what is one of the largest world class sporting events that takes place in the Midwest, I ask you to attend the tournament this summer. Meet with the volunteers. Meet with the players. Meet with the fans. Walk around the grounds and look at my son and all the other children who sit outside in the midwestern heat for 10 hours just to get a glimpse of one of their favorite players. If this doesn’t change your mind, maybe nothing will.

JDK, Chicago/Cincinnati

Federer holds the record for most men's singles titles at the Western & Southern Open, with seven wins and eight finals appearances :: Sam Greene/USA TODAY Network

• The backstory here: Last year the USTA sold the Western & Southern Open to Beemok Capital, “the family office of billionaire businessman and Sherman Financial Group chief executive Benjamin Navarro.” (In addition to owning the Charleston event, Navarro is the father of Emma Navarro, the WTA’s No. 68 player.) Then came the news last week that Charlotte approved $65 million for a new tennis complex. You need not live at 221B Baker Street to deduce that this event ain’t long for southwest Ohio and will likely be heading from one Queen City to another.

This has triggered a fair amount of disconsolation, especially among tennis fans in the Midwest. I know one ATP pro from the region is working to help stage a formal protest. I get the outrage. I get the nostalgia. (Full disclosure: The Cincy event is a few hours from my childhood home, and I have similar feelings to JDK’s. I always liked that for all the photo ops in Monte Carlo, Paris and Indian Wells, there was an event planted in real America, where players went to the amusement park, stayed in hotels off the exit ramps and ate five-way chili at Skyline.)

But … like most purchases, the owners are entitled to do with it as they like. This is a corollary to you-break-it-buy-it. You buy it, you have some autonomy here. The USTA needed the cash and was in no position to make a sale conditioned on a “you must keep it in Cincy” clause. If Navarro wants to Clay Bennett/Mark Davis this sports property and move it to a new market, that is his right. The Midwest’s loss is the Southeast’s gain. I suppose we can take some consolation in knowing that at least it isn’t leaving the U.S.

Yet.

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Hi Jon,

Re. “Rhapsody in Boo,” I used to think the ticket price or the (false) "country club" rep would filter out the hoi polloi. I rooted for the home country NYC Open crowds. Likewise, the likable Aussies. And I expected better from more cultured Euro Slam crowds. It was not to be.

Martin Burkey, Huntsville, AL

• I wish I had taken a photo. On the NYC subway last night, I saw a U.S. Open billboard featuring Nick Kyrgios in all his snarling, tattooed, electric-colored glory. I am thinking, People love him and people hate him. But he sure takes concertina wire to tennis’s image as a preppy, elitist and-she-stepped-on-the-balls country club sport.

I think booing falls under the same header. The French fans were often—at odds with reputation—ignorant in their booing. Daria Kasatkina is an avowed Vladimir Putin critic. Still, she knew that Elina Svitolina was not inclined to shake the hand of any Russian opponent. After they played a fine fourth-round match, they made eye contact and gave each other a thumbs up. It was, in fact, among the tournament’s more poignant moments. Yet moronic fans booed Kasatkina as she left the court. (So much so, she felt the need to respond.) Amid this boorish, booing ignorance, at least no one is confusing tennis with a pretentious country club diversion. 

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I wonder if the media would be as reluctant to anoint Federer as the GOAT if it was him with Novak Djokovic’s stats? Tennis Channel did a ranking in 2012 itself which put Federer atop the ranks (men and women combined), and that was almost a decade before he eventually retired. How much of the recent “GOAT discussions are futile and destructive” reticence is due to the popularity of Federer (and Rafael Nadal to some extent) and media’s fear to not upset their readership?

—VK

• I’m not sure I totally get the premise here, but did Djokovic suffer for being third? Yes, in the sense that fans already had these entrenched loyalties with Federer and Nadal. No, in the sense that he knew exactly how high he needed to jump. I described it recently as Djokovic being the home team in baseball. When the game goes to extra innings, the visitors need to score runs, indiscriminately. When the home team bats, it has the advantage of knowing exactly how many runs it needs to win and can strategize accordingly.

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Good evening, Mr. Wertheim.

I am a tennis fan who plays and watches a lot of tennis on TV. Over and over the commentators on the Tennis Channel will give a player’s age as “Sally is 20 years of age” instead of saying “Sally is 20 years old.” The use of “years of age” is grating because it is an archaic way to tell someone’s age and is terrible to hear.

Why are the commentators told to use this archaic, cumbersome way of telling an age? I’ve tried contacting the Tennis Channel and have gotten nowhere. As far as I know, no one and no other broadcast program uses this phrasing. It makes the broadcasts on the Tennis Channel sound so stilted.

Thanks, Candy Donnelly

Boca Raton, FL

• I hope this doesn’t come across as belittling. Before I entered this world, I knew so very little about the mechanics of TV. Now that I do, I propose that all sports—not just tennis—ought to offer fans a behind-the-glimpse of broadcast. An FAQ. A YouTube video. A chalk talk with a coordinating producer. It would enhance viewer interest and connection. It would douse conspiracy theories. It would clear up confusion and misperception.

Who knew that networks often take a world feed and base the match broadcasts off of those. (Why didn’t ESPN show the handshake? Why do ESPN’s cameramen show these randos in the crowd? are natural questions to ask, but ones not rooted in reality.) Who knew that broadcasters sometimes call matches off monitors? (Why don’t they describe the smell or the commotion in the stands? is a natural question to ask, but one not rooted in reality.)

As for diction and word choice, with the exception of sponsor elements (like the Gatorade halftime report), broadcasters are seldom “told” to say anything. Slang and phrasing and characterizations … broadcasters have virtually total discretion. They have their quirks and pet peeves as speakers; we have ours as listeners. (Mine: modifying unique. Very unique. Most unique. Pretty unique.) But, inasmuch as you want to devote the time and energy, your complaints should be addressed directly to the broadcasters, not the network.

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Jon,

I’m sure I’m not the only person who’s asked you this, but what’s gone wrong with Barbora Krejčíková since you gave her some (deserved) pub a couple of months ago? Does the SI jinx exist? She and Kateřina Siniaková even lost a doubles match at a major! I like her and her game, and would like to see her duel consistently with Iga Świątek, Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka at the top of the game. Is that where she should be? Is this current patch of poor results just a blip? Or are the weeks when she wins big events the blips?

Srikanth

Krejčíková reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2 in February of 2022 :: Geoff Burke/USA TODAY Sports

• You are, in fact, the only person to ask. But it’s a good question. Earlier this year, Krejčíková beat Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, and Świątek to win Dubai. Afterward, she wondered aloud (not unreasonably) why she should not be in the conversation of top players. Since then, it’s been rough going, including a first-round loss in Paris, where she won the title in 2021, her greatest singles triumph. Physically, she is a little dinged up. But she’s had some time off, and we’ll see how it goes at Wimbledon, where she is the defending doubles champ and where her full quiver of skills ought to translate well.

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Hi Jon,

Thank you for all the incredible coverage, both print and TV. Two quick ones for the mailbag…

Were you surprised that Djokovic vs. Carlos Alcaraz played first on Friday? I bought a ticket for the second semi, assuming they would play the blockbuster matchup at night. So imagine my surprise when I arrived in Paris on Thursday morning to see they were up first! (Pause here to reflect on first world problems.) Presumably all the networks (including Tennis Channel) would have preferred to see them play in the night session? And to quote Tony Kornheiser quoting Don Ohlmeyer, the answer to all your questions is money. So what were they thinking?

Secondly, one of my lasting impressions of Roland Garros will be the number of empty seats. I know it wasn’t Borg vs. McEnroe, but I think the lower bowl might have been half full on Friday night. Clearly Roland Garros wants to make ticket resale extremely challenging (they checked my passport!), but is it worth it for the terrible look?

Thank you, Andrew, Providence, RI

• In reverse order, Roland Garros has a huge empty-seats problem. And the real frustration is that the grounds are packed to the gills. When no one goes to golf’s U.S. Open, no one goes to golf’s U.S. Open. In this case, people see oceans of empty seats. Yet the upper decks and walkways and practice courts are jammed. You can’t force ticket holders to sit in their seats. Not when there are air-conditioned seats. (And not when so many of the appallingly vacant seats are in the French Federation box.) But there has to be a way to address these embarrassing optics.

And, yes, on Djokovic-Alcaraz. Many of us expected that to be the second match. Money answers a lot of questions. But so does power. If either Djokovic or Alcaraz felt strongly about his starting time, you can be sure that held more sway than the preference of Alexander Zverev–Casper Ruud.

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Hi, Jon,

How’s this for more comprehensively finalizing the “greatest of all time” in men’s tennis?

• Best tennis player of all time: Djokovic

• Best grasscourt player of all time: Federer (sorry, Pete Sampras)

• Best claycourt payer of all time: Nadal (sorry, Björn Borg)

• Best hardcourt player of all time: Djokovic (sorry, Rod Laver)

They all still get a piece of the pie!

Rob

• Fair enough. Though note: If Djokovic wins Wimbledon next month, he will be tied with Federer. Again, here’s my position on the GOAT. It’s reductive. It’s silly. It has the regrettable effect of diminishing these towering players … and it is totally expected and normal. Sports are anchored in competition. There is this binary of winners and losers and who is ranked higher than whom. The idea that we would turn off the competition valve and say, All three of these guys are awesome. Let’s leave it at that, was always disingenuous and always inconsistent with being a fan.

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Hi Jon,

Can you please explain how it is that Tommy Paul, ranked 16 as the tournament begins, had to qualify for Queens? Was he late to the party?

Thank you,

David & Sherrie

• Just hypothetically, of course … imagine a scenario in which his agent didn’t submit his entry in time.

Shots, Miscellany:

• Dan Weil on whether tennis makes like golf and avails itself to Saudi funds.