As you might have noticed, I am a huge sports fan. I follow all kinds of sports. Quite often you see athletes who just do not understand what it means to be a good sport. Some examples are:
– Losing a match soundly and claiming that you had a plethora of injuries (Case in point: Roger Federer, after his loss to Thomas Berdych in the Wimbledon 2010 Quarterfinals. I ama huge Federer fan, but I think he was not gracious in bringing up some “injuries” during his post-match interview. Anyone who saw that match could make out that he was soundly beaten by an opponent playing very aggressive tennis)
– Statements like “I lost the match. She/He did not win it”
– Not even shaking hands with the opponent (Case in point: LeBron James, after the Cleveland Cavaliars’ loss to Orlando Magic in Eastern Conference Finals 2009. His claim was that “he hated to lose”, blah blah … Come on! Everyone hates to lose. No one
“likes to lose”. Something similar was done by Peyton Manning after his Indianapolis Colts lost to the New Orleans Saints in Super Bowl XLIV earlier this year)
No competent person, confident in his abilities, goes into a match/game wishing to lose. All the practice and preparation is intended to put one in the best position to compete and win. During the game, everything (except cheating, of course) is on. Mentally and physically, one tries to subdue the opponent. Basically, you give it your all. But once the match/game concludes and God forbid, the result is not in your favor, it is done. Game Over. Time to move on. A good sport will acknowledge that, congratulate the opponent for a good match/game and leave with his/her head held high in the understanding that the best effort was not good enough in that particular match/game.
The above is of course, my personal viewpoint.
The viewpoint above would explain why I was (and am) never a big fan of the Williams sisters (though I think Venus has a bit more class than Serena). Serena is the sorest loser I have ever seen in sports. I admire her physical capabilities, her mental strength and of course, her records. I also admire the fact that she displays interests outside the sport of Tennis. But her grace, not so much. I can recite countless Interviews and Press Conferences where she just would not admit to her losing. Every reason under the sun is pulled out of the hat, as an explanation for her loss, but never the statement “I lost to a better player today”. The Media would never highlight this, for obvious reasons. When you are trying to promote the program, the last thing you want to do is to be negative towards your biggest star. It is very easy to show grace when one has just won the match/game (like she did today after her Wimbledon 2010 win). The real benchmark is whether one shows grace after an adverse result.
This explains why Serena is several rungs below, in my mind, compared to Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, who are (generally) as gracious as they come.
I was touched by watching Kim Clijsters in Wimbledon 2010, who after a very tough loss to Vera Zvonareva in the Quarterfinals, went out of her way to hug the opponent warmly at the net and congratulate her. What grace under adverse circumstances …
So now Roger Federer is being called a liar? This guy is the most gracious person in sports and if you watched his interview after the match before he said he was injured to the press, he congratulated Tomas Berdych on his win and said he played well. Then he told the media about his injury too. Get your facts staight and listen before you say anything. Roger is not done and Roger will come back! RAFA, WATCH OUT!!!
Nadal is always complaining about injuries to explain his loses to others. He is the one that hasn’t shown sportsmanship in his matches. When he played against Petzchner at Wimbledon he kept on bringing the trainer out as the guy on the other side of the court had to wait. Not to mention, allowing his uncle to coach him from the box and then yelling at the referee for calling him out on it. If anyone doesn’t know what the word SPORTSMANSHIP means it is that butt scratching, OCD jerk Rafa.
I really enjoyed reading your article keep up the good work! I thought that this year’s wimbledon was very exciting and was happy to see Rafael Nadal take home his second title. But you have wonder if his injuries are going to catch up to him. I’m worried for how his career is going to pan out because of the injury problems considering it could be an unbelievable career rather than just very good. Also, you think you could check out my blog? I really want to know what your opinion is on my thoughts. http://chrisross91.wordpress.com/2010/07/05/nadals-last-chance/