The Spin Team
Tennis has always been a selfish sport. Decisions that are made are never in the best interests of the players, but are always in terms of how to make money. After all tennis is a business first and foremost and no one goes into business with the aim of losing money. I have no quarrel with that.
The decision by the tournament organisers to cancel the BNP Paribas Open ("Indian Wells") a day before the start of the qualifying tournament says as much about the organisers as it does about the sport itself. Indian Wells is a tournament that for some reason decided to brand itself as the Fifth Slam (not sure how that came about as Miami has always been that for many fans, but I digress). It is a tournament that has seen large structural changes and the tweets on social media about the changes to the tournament have always flooded not only my timeline but mainstream media as well.
The decision to cancel the tournament as a result of the detection of coronavirus in an individual in the Coachella Valley was met with the usual selfishness by many. While many are of the view that the tournament could have made this decision earlier, having regard to players already on site practising etc, the fact remains that the COVID-19 virus is still a moving target and many businesses are not only watching developments but putting contingency plans in place should there be an outbreak amongst staff. While some would say that it is easy to do that, it is not.
Only this week, in my own organisation, business travels are being cancelled and directives have gone out that persons should cancel non-essential personal travel. While this may be easy for individuals, sporting organisations have a much tougher task as they have to consider the various moving parts before taking action.
Consider that quite a few players on both the ATP and WTA Tours are from Italy. That whole country is now on lock down mode with many sporting events being cancelled. Consider whether players who reign from that country, have not been tested, comingle with their colleagues in the locker rooms, on the practice courts, and on the stadium courts. That is an epidemic waiting to happen.
I have seen tweets from players and coaches who are of the view that the tournament could have continued minus fans. Seriously? How about some consideration for the lines people, umpires, locker room attendants, tv people who have to be on sight to show these matches, what about them and their families?
A familiar sight whenever I watch tennis matches is the constant blowing of noses by tennis players. It is something that I hate to see as sometimes noses are blown and wiped on towels which are then handed to ball kids. Sometimes tissue is used and not every player takes that tissue and stuffs it into their racquet bags. A player with a sneeze or cough that then handles a ball with their bare hands is a walking lab of contagion. Who would want to be exposed to that?
We are being told that we need to constantly wash our hands with soap and water and where that is not available we are to use hand sanitizers. For those who believe that the Indian Wells tournament could have gone ahead, are you saying that facilities should be placed on site so that players use hand sanitizers or wash their hands before handling balls before serves etc?
As players travel from country to country and from tournament to tournament they pick up all kinds of bugs. There are those players who travel with their whole families and I am sure will not take the risk of exposing their children to a virus such as COVID-19.
*As the Tour moves to Miami (where that tournament is scheduled to begin, a fact which I doubt will happen), then the elephant in the room looms. Clay season. Already we have seen that many events are being cancelled in Spain and Italy. The virus is spreading across Europe and that puts in doubt events such as the French Open and Wimbledon. Japan is of the view that the Olympics will go ahead but no one is optimistic that it will actually go ahead and even if it does, it won't be the summer Olympics.
It is time that tennis realises, that for good or ill, at some point it will have to press the pause button rather than play.
*The Miami Open has now been cancelled
