Time to supply some attitude adjustments

Welcome to Open Court, the newsletter and platform space where we explore the things we need to talk about in sports and life. I'm Joanne C. Gerstner, a sports writer, author, decent tennis player who does not throw her racket, lover of dark Swiss chocolate, and questioner of poor NCAA reffing. Thanks for coming along for the ride.

Save the sticks!

Nick Kyrgios of Australia throws his racquet in his Men's Doubles Semifinals match with Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia against Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina during day eleven of the 2022 Australian Open on Jan. 27, 2022 (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

Oh the suffering, the plight of the rackets held in the dangerous hands of male pro tennis players. We have had a rash of violent smashings recently, with one common thread: the ATP doing teeny tiny slaps on wrists to our bad boys.

Let's check the busted frame count since February: Alexander Zverev lost his mind after getting bounced out of Acapulco, attacking the umpire chair with 5 violent whacks. He was fined and told to behave himself for the rest of the season. Oooooh. Scary.

(For the record, coach/pundit Patrick Mouratoglou thinks we are making much ado about Sascha's drama. Hmmm. Please remember Patrick's most famous client, Serena Williams, got thrown out of the 2018 U.S. Open final - for yes, poor behavior and a hellacious racket smash.)

Last week, Nick Kyrios went HAM on his stick while losing to Rafa Nadal at Indian Wells. His smash/bounce nearly hit a ballboy with the violent carom. Seriously not good. (The photo above is from the Australian Open, where Nick dispatched a racket. That frame looks deaded.)

The latest chapter in smash-response tennis happened last night, when rising American Jensen Brooksby hurled his racket in frustration and nearly hit a ballkid. He got a point penalty, but still went on to beat Federico Coria in three.

We don't know what the ATP is going to do - if anything - to Brooksby, but the vibe is clear from the past two months. Smash your stick, all good. Thank God nobody has been hurt - yet. But violence with a metal weapon, sheerly out of immature frustration, absolutely will lead to something bad. These guys have been lucky. This cannot be allowed to continue without real punishment.

Brooksby was legit sorry afterwards, and his apologies on social media and meeting with the ballkid was a good sign of actual contrition. The other two, well, took a sorry, not sorry vibe.

Time to put the misbehaving boys in some time out. Or maybe we need a penalty box near the court, with the chair ump giving 5 minute majors for unsportsmanlike conduct. Just an idea.

What do you think the tennis tour should do - if anything - to our angry guys? Leave me a comment.

In late breaking news, former player Andy Roddick - a reformed hothead from back in the day - is offering VERY helpful advice of how to throw a fit with your stick and not get in trouble.

This post is no longer available. It may have been removed or the privacy settings of the post may have changed.

Uh, excuse me?

So. Imagine you're a former high level skater, now a coach and an analyst, and yeah, you're hella interested the World Skating championships, which are happening in France right now.

A big hi to our main character, three-time Olympic medalist Meagan Duhamel. And a big time out love seat for ISU commentators Simon Reed and Nicky Slater, who let loose on her during a hot mic incident. Duhamel, who does commentary for the CBC, opinionated and prolific on twitter. She doesn't like the two's opinions at times, such as when the pair were openly bummed over no Russians competing at the 2022 Worlds (dudes, c'mon - really?), their lovely inability to count rotations on jumps (skating 101, people), noting when female skaters were "taller and heavier", and my fave, the lads were praising the body of a 16-year-old female skater as "sight for sore eyes".

So Duhamel was rightly lighting these tools up. But waah, they were annoyed, which led to this:

Well, surprise surprise. There is a new broadcast team for Worlds today. And the ISU has apologized to Duhamel. Reed apologized to her too.

Surely, there have to be better commentators for skating than these two. Park them in timeout for a long time.

Anyways. We have now rectified some things. Good job all.

Have a great weekend. And see you Tuesday.

Open Court publishes on Tuesdays and Fridays, bringing you the stuff we need to talk about with author and sports journalist Joanne C. Gerstner.

Time to supply some attitude adjustments

Joanne C. Gerstner

Sometimes laughter lurks where you least expect it.

Golfer Greg Norman isn't sorry. So stop asking.

I've been thinking about WNBA superstar Brittney Griner. Are you?

2 Comments