Michael Mewshaw - Ad In Ad Out: Collected Tennis Articles of Michael Mewshaw 1982-2015

As a longstanding critic of what I consider to be some of tenniss least attractive features , Im often challenged not just by the games apologists, but by my colleagues in the press, to explain what I like about tennis and why I continue to play it and follow it. In my defense I might point out that anyone who doesnt care to admit the sports flaws and to eliminate them is no real fan. I might cite that old 60s bromide that anybody who isnt part of the solution is part of the problem. But on this occasion I plan to restrict myself to singing the games praises and compiling a list of what I love about it.

Lets start with the court. Most sports are played on surfaces and under conditions that are roughly similar. True, some stadiums have natural grass and others Astroturf, and a few have domes, but in no sport is there the sort of variety of playing surfaces that make tennis such a pleasure to watch and such a challenge to play. You name it and hackers scurry around on it clay, grass, cement, asphalt, shale, carpet, even wood. And within these categories there exist almost endless permutations and sub- categories. Under the general rubric of clay, theres the red terre battue of Europe and the green Har-Tru found in the United States. And depending on the vagaries of weather, wind, and maintenance no two clay courts, even at the same tournament, play the same. Then too, the different between burnt sienna dirt at the Italia Open and the salmon pink surface at Roland Garros can be almost as drastic as the change from clay to grass or grass to a hard court. To add to the sheer exhilaration of this assortment of surfaces, tennis fans get to enjoy and players get to experience indoor and outdoor events, not to mention day- and night-time matches. To achieve excellence or to witness it on any kind of court is exceptional. To win on two different surfaces is extraordinary. To win the French Open and follow up with the Wimbledon crown as Borg did multiple times is stunning. To win the Grand Slam is extraterrestrial. To watch all this is a joy.

Although professional players may seem oblivious to it, the color and texture of many distinctive courts and their settings cant help but stir the most jaded spectator. What can compare to the green of Wimbledons grass on a warm summer day? Who can fully capture the beauty of le court central at Monte Carlo, especially when seen from the terrace with its view of mountains in one direction and the Mediterranean in the other? Is there a heart so hard as not to respond to the dense golden light that pours through the umbrella pines at the Foro Italico? Even the US Open with its penitentiary style construction might be said to possess the stark, haunting beauty of a Piranesi prison sketch. Of course, what transpires on court remains paramount, and it has an unmatched visual appeal. Like snowflakes, every shot, every point, the arabesque geometry of every game is unique and unpredictable.

As the yellow ball flies off a racquet face, it engages the ear as well as the eye. Tennis aficionados will recognize immediately whether a groundstroke has been struck with slice or topspin, and theyll easily distinguish between a flat serve and a twist. Then adding to the aural excitement, theres the squeak of sneakers on a hard court, the shush of a claycourter sliding into a shot, and the ghostly silence of a net rusher on grass.

Although it has often caused administrative headaches, tenniss global dimension, in my opinion, contributes immeasurable enjoyment to the sport. Only soccer rivals the circuits internationalism. Europeans, Africans, Asians, North and South Americans compete on even terms, and it takes just a couple of world class players to transform a tiny, or poor and obscure, country into a giant slayer. After Spains 2004 Davis Cup win over the USA, puckish Spanish reporters rubbed salt in American wounds by pointing out that this wasn't simply a case of a small country conquering a superpower. Since Rafael Nadal and Carlos Moya both hail from Majorca, it was actually a fly speck island walloping a hegemonic monster.

In tennis, the same fascinating possibility of upsets exists on the individual as well as the international level. Certainly one of the games most engaging characteristics is that you dont have to be a giant to play it. Sure, on both the mens and womens circuits, comp etitors are getting taller, stronger and fitter, but as Lleyton Hewitt and Michael Chang demonstrate, Goliath will always have something to fear from speedy, brave and heady Davids.

At the risk of opening myself up to general obloquy, Ill repeat what a n umber of insiders and ATP trainers have confided to me over the years. You dont need to be a great athlete to go far in the game. Significant numbers of Open era champions have had physical shortcomings that would have kept them from competing at the sa me level in any other game. While its easy to imagine Steffi Graf or Martina Navratilova excelling at different Olympic events, the same cant be said for the more modestly gifted, but lionhearted, Chris Evert and Monica Seles. John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors possessed the speed, timing and reflexes, not to mention the combativeness, to dominate tennis, but its doubtful theyd survive, much less flourish, in pro football or basketball or any other contact sport. This isnt intended as criticism. Rather its praise for tennis which provides a forum for a broad spectrum of talent ranging from weekend hackers to world-class, quick-twitch geniuses.

Tennis is also the one professional sport where men and women not only play at the same events, but compete a gainst each other in mixed doubles. While womens basketball, softball, soccer and rugby leagues exist, they dont attract remotely as many fans, nor do they receive anything resembling the same media attention. When it comes to equal pay for equal work, women in tennis may not yet have achieved absolute parity, but at least they are in the same ball park with men, and a pretty plush ball park it is at the top rungs of the ladder. There is simply no other sport that provides women the kind of prize money, endorsement contracts and celebrity that tennis offers.

Finally though, as Donald Trump might put it, the matter boils down to a single question: Whats in it for me? Not money. Not fame. Not a chance to play on hallowed courts. Not a hope of hitting with a top player. But still, still, still...in my own fashion, I can play the sport I take such pleasure in watching, and with luck I can continue to do so until deaths door. Now that Im a senior citizen and have a six-inch vertical leap, basketball, my first love, is out of the question. But as soon as I finish this piece, Im scheduled to play against a 73 -year-old friend who is as fiercely determined to win as I, and well spend an hour and half on court exhausting one another and exalting in the fact that tennis allows us to stay in the game.