“British men's tennis is in its most perilous state for more than 20 years” – that’s the view of BBC 5 Live's Jonathan Overend.
These remarks have came in response to England’s 4-1 thrashing by a powerful Argentinean team in the Davis Cup. Without Andy Murray, who pulled out of the tournament in order to protect himself from injury, the young team went to Buenes Aires to face an unbelievable task.
Argentina finished day one with a 2-0 lead and didn’t drop a set as they took instant control against the inexperienced side. Alex Bogdanovic summed up Britain’s apparent lack of talent when he said: “I wasn't expected to win and I must move on from this and learn.” This was regarding his defeat to world number 41 Agustin Calleri.
David Nalbandian, world number nine, demolished Jamie Baker in less than two hours. Britain’s highest ranked player in the match was Bogdanovic who is ranked 203rd in the world and in comparison Argentina boasts two other top 20 players, in addition to Nalbandian, who didn’t even feature against the British hopefuls.
If Britain are to lose the next round of matches they will be relegated from the world’s elite 16 league and there was some debate as to why Britain were missing their star man Andy Murray. He told the press that he was unable to play as he didn’t wish to risk aggravating an injury by switching to clay courts to play in the matches. This was met by disbelief from his brother and fellow Great British team member, Jamie Murray who told the BBC: “It was a shock to me and for the team, very disappointing - I was not aware he had a problem. It's disappointing he chose not to come and it kind of affects the way we feel about him. If he wanted to really push himself he could have come here.”
Tim Henman, regardless of whether you classed him as a success or a failure, was the figure head of British tennis and with him around we always stood a chance in cups and tournaments. And his honesty and determination couldn’t be questioned even by his biggest critics.
However, when he quit the game he made way for billed wonderkid Andy Murray who quickly began to shoot up the rankings and become the spearhead for British tennis. Now, Andy is a respected pro who is thought of as a potential world number 1 as he matures with age and experience.
What is happening to British tennis?
When Wimbledon is in full flow the country goes mad with ‘cup fever’ but for what reason? No English playerThe tournament is classed as maybe the top prize in world tennis to many pros but maybe this is an insult to tennis when Britain continues to offer less and less (in terms of players) to the game. Strawberries and cream, the possibility of rain, the banter of John McEnroe it’s all there and sets up great tennis but what does Britain offer the world of tennis other than just strawberries and cream? Nothing.
There are ways in which we can offer reasons why there are few (if only one) top British players in the world. Is it declining interest in the sport or lack of ambition and endeavour in tennis clubs? It’s probably a combination of factors, the lack of top players (ie, celebrity status) and a winning mentality coupled with tennis clubs maybe not striving to make the kids push on. The perception of tennis is that it isn’t macho or rewarding. The back pages of newspapers tend to be saved for anything but: football, rugby, cricket and even motor-racing but very rarely do you see a headline sport story focused on tennis. You're lucky to see a tennis story.
Recently however the Lawn Tennis Association and their Clubvision plan in particular have made new, exciting plans for the sport: telling clubs to appoint trained coaches and releasing more money for equipment.
Only time will tell and we can only hope that British tennis improves from the position it’s in to producing world-class players.
Thursday 28 February 2008
Monday 25 February 2008
Monday 4 February 2008
Racism in Sport - Spanish bigots?
Alot is said about racism in sport, and in football in particular, but the main debate from last week was racism in motorsport. Lewis Hamilton, Formula Ones first ever black driver was the focus of racial abuse and taunting from Spanish racing fans during pre-season testing at Barcelona.
“In our country, where multi-culturalism is a new thing, we are in nappies dealing with these things, and have a naivety which makes the English nervous”. That quote was from AS sports writer Guillem Balague after England’s black players were at the centre of monkey chanting and other racial abuse from the Spanish supporters during a match at the Bernebau in November 2004. Is this an excuse or an apology? One thing that is for sure is that Spaniards seem behind the times when it comes to multi-culturalism. I’ll agree with him there.
Racism can be the spark and cause of any argument from the front street to international debate but never is it as highly documented as when it occurs in sport.
And when we talk about racism in sport, the Spanish (albeit a minority) seem to be the most backward in appreciation of eradicating the disgraceful taunting and chanting. Last week Lewis Hamilton was subject to racist bigots when he went to test drive his McLaren at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya. Whilst tearing round the track in his new F1 car Hamilton was at the end of abusive gestures, racial remarks and people who painted themselves black and wore shirts suggesting they were Hamilton’s family. The reasons for this appear to be obvious: Hamilton, Formula Ones first black driver, had a row with Spanish ace Fernando Alonso which has since led Alonso to leave McLaren and Lewis has become a hate figure amongst some of the Spanish public.
These acts of racial abuse could back-fire on the bigots as Spain may now lose it’s grand-prix at Barcelona and, potentially, the one at Valencia. Surely that’s a small price to pay for such inhumane activities?
In the Sun this story ticked all the boxes needed for a controversial and explosive front page and inside story. The fact that it mixed a hard news item with a celebrity and sport led it to reach the top of the newspaper and then it filled a double page spread on the inside. What was evident is the fact that the story was still more entertainment based than racism based. However, in the Independent it was different: the story was seen to lack relevance and was positioned at the back of the paper in a short article. What this shows is how hard it is to differentiate between what is hard and what is soft news.
This is far from the first time that we have seen racism from Spain. Like I’ve already mentioned there was the incident in Madrid in 2004. Also, Luis Aragones was fined after he referred to Thierry Henry as “that black shit”. Reason? Because he was trying to motivate Jose Antonio Reyes. Oh well that’s alright then. In 2005 referees had to temporarily stop matches due to bigots. Then there’s been abuse to Deportivo goalkeeper Carlo Kameni, Costa Rican striker Paulo Wanchope and Portugese right-back Miguel.
Perhaps the most well-known of recent times was in 2006 when Barcelona and Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o attempted to abandon the game, by walking off, after he was subject to monkey chants each time he received the ball. He played on and Barcelona won the match. Justice? Hardly but Zaragoza also got slapped with a 9,000 euro fine. Justice? You can’t really put a price on eradicating racism but Eto’o felt it was lenient and in his opinion punishments should go beyond fines - closing stadiums for example. But in all fairness, that’s a bit extreme due to the large percentage of honest and respectful fans.
“In our country, where multi-culturalism is a new thing, we are in nappies dealing with these things, and have a naivety which makes the English nervous”. That quote was from AS sports writer Guillem Balague after England’s black players were at the centre of monkey chanting and other racial abuse from the Spanish supporters during a match at the Bernebau in November 2004. Is this an excuse or an apology? One thing that is for sure is that Spaniards seem behind the times when it comes to multi-culturalism. I’ll agree with him there.
Racism can be the spark and cause of any argument from the front street to international debate but never is it as highly documented as when it occurs in sport.
And when we talk about racism in sport, the Spanish (albeit a minority) seem to be the most backward in appreciation of eradicating the disgraceful taunting and chanting. Last week Lewis Hamilton was subject to racist bigots when he went to test drive his McLaren at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya. Whilst tearing round the track in his new F1 car Hamilton was at the end of abusive gestures, racial remarks and people who painted themselves black and wore shirts suggesting they were Hamilton’s family. The reasons for this appear to be obvious: Hamilton, Formula Ones first black driver, had a row with Spanish ace Fernando Alonso which has since led Alonso to leave McLaren and Lewis has become a hate figure amongst some of the Spanish public.
These acts of racial abuse could back-fire on the bigots as Spain may now lose it’s grand-prix at Barcelona and, potentially, the one at Valencia. Surely that’s a small price to pay for such inhumane activities?
In the Sun this story ticked all the boxes needed for a controversial and explosive front page and inside story. The fact that it mixed a hard news item with a celebrity and sport led it to reach the top of the newspaper and then it filled a double page spread on the inside. What was evident is the fact that the story was still more entertainment based than racism based. However, in the Independent it was different: the story was seen to lack relevance and was positioned at the back of the paper in a short article. What this shows is how hard it is to differentiate between what is hard and what is soft news.
This is far from the first time that we have seen racism from Spain. Like I’ve already mentioned there was the incident in Madrid in 2004. Also, Luis Aragones was fined after he referred to Thierry Henry as “that black shit”. Reason? Because he was trying to motivate Jose Antonio Reyes. Oh well that’s alright then. In 2005 referees had to temporarily stop matches due to bigots. Then there’s been abuse to Deportivo goalkeeper Carlo Kameni, Costa Rican striker Paulo Wanchope and Portugese right-back Miguel.
Perhaps the most well-known of recent times was in 2006 when Barcelona and Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o attempted to abandon the game, by walking off, after he was subject to monkey chants each time he received the ball. He played on and Barcelona won the match. Justice? Hardly but Zaragoza also got slapped with a 9,000 euro fine. Justice? You can’t really put a price on eradicating racism but Eto’o felt it was lenient and in his opinion punishments should go beyond fines - closing stadiums for example. But in all fairness, that’s a bit extreme due to the large percentage of honest and respectful fans.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
