Ben Shelton thinks broadcasters are disrespecting players at the Australian Open. He went out of his way to say so after blazing his way past Lorenzo Sonego and into the semi-finals. He said he was “a little bit shocked” at the treatment.
He said it wasn’t just Tony Jones’ mockery of fans of Novak Djokovic and the circus that followed. It was, for instance, an on-court question to his friend and compatriot, Learner Tien, after he had beaten Daniil Medvedev. It was a question to himself after he had beaten Gael Monfils, and another after he had beaten Sonego. It was … oh, that’s it?
Frankly, we’re shocked that he’s shocked. There are so many other questions that he could have been asked:
Are you wearing that shirt for a bet?
Why don’t you get a haircut?
Aren’t you playing tennis only because football didn’t work out?
Or this: What do you mean by disrespectful? The questions that have come your way and others’ sometimes have been a bit naff, or awkwardly phrased, or not nearly as funny as the questioner thought. But disrespectful?
Ben Shelton thinks broadcasters are disrespecting players at the Australian Open.Credit: AP
Try this one: Don’t you know that tennis players get the easiest ride from media of all sportspeople? Even Serena Williams once remarked on her fawning treatment. Or is it too disrespectful to say so?
Yes, tennis players are obliged to do plenty of media, probably more than you care for. With respect, don’t you know that’s because the game mortgaged itself to big business a long, long time ago, and you benefit handsomely from this?
Sorry, but we had to ask.
Your father was a professional tennis player and coach, and you’ve been playing the game and pretty much doing nothing else since you were 10, so surely you know this?
Or maybe that’s why you don’t know it?
Who’s your girlfriend now? How much tax did you pay last year? Did you vote for Trump?
OK, those questions are well out of order.
But that doesn’t mean that the only acceptable question is about how good you were, to which you will always answer that your opponent was also good and that the crowd were just wonderful. Oh, and my team over there in the corner is the best in the world.
Roger Federer copped a few curly questions that in your dictionary would be defined as disrespectful and learned to cope and give a bit back and even incorporate all this into his act. So did Rafael Nadal. Neither was speaking in his birth language. But they played the game. You should try it. In fact, you did, and got a few laughs of your own. Respect.
You say that broadcasters have a responsibility to work with you to grow the sport. They do, by broadcasting it. But if you think a post-match tutorial on the weight of your forehand or your stance on second serve is going to magnetise people to the gate, you might be in for more shock than you feel now.
Roger Rasheed said to you after you beat Monfils that he was old enough to be your dad, which is true. Your answer was more inscrutable than the question. “Was that a black joke?” What did you mean, if we may be so impudent as to ask? (You later apologised for something that was “probably just a stupid comment that I shouldn’t have said but I thought it was funny in the moment … I hope the guy didn’t take it in any sort of way.”)
After you beat Sonego, another interviewer noted that in your next match, the crowd would be against you, no matter what. “I mean, it may be true, but I just don’t think the comment is respectful from a guy I’ve never met before in my life,” you said.
Shelton in action.Credit: Getty Images
So it would have been valid if John McEnroe had asked it? Bit high-handed, don’t you think (respectfully)? Rasheed is a former player and coach. You might not know him because he’s from way before your time, but he’s not a Tennis Australia intern.
Nor is John Fitzgerald. He said to Tien after he beat Medvedev: “Nineteen-year-olds are not meant to be that good”. You said this was “embarrassing and disrespectful”. It was a statement of fact, an admiring statement of fact. And “Fitzy” is a bit of an old favourite in these parts.
Really, have you looked around? You’re on stage. You live in the luminary milieu, with all that means. It’s where tennis lives. Jones’ sense of humour is not for everyone, but as the sports news anchor for a big network here, he’s bound to draw attention, good and bad. Don’t you have celebrity newsreaders in the US? That’s a rhetorical question, by the way.
Before you go, just how does a 22-year-old who has already made $US5.5 million out of tennis and will make a whole lot more get it into his head that he’s the one with the rough end of the deal?
You’re getting plenty of respect for your tennis, and even inspiring a bit of awe, and rightly so. Isn’t that enough?
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