{"id":4050,"date":"2020-10-02T12:34:46","date_gmt":"2020-10-02T12:34:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/the-edict.in\/?p=4050"},"modified":"2020-10-02T12:34:47","modified_gmt":"2020-10-02T12:34:47","slug":"game-set-fault-a-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/edictarchive.the-edict.in\/index.php\/2020\/10\/02\/game-set-fault-a-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Game, Set & Fault: A History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dhruvan Nair, Undergraduate Batch of 2021<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1932 was a landmark year for tennis. It was the first time\nthat a player replaced the traditional cricket flannels with a pair of white\nshorts and much to the awe of the then tennis associations, it was discovered\nto be much more comfortable and suitable for the sport. Perhaps it was only a\nmatter of time before someone thought of it but it was Henry Austin who\npioneered the change. A perennial conception of \u2018sports\u2019 has been that it\npossesses the ability to transcend time and space, that all one needs is to\nunderstand the way it is played and then by following these directions,\neverybody could play it. So, what of tennis?          <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A brief history of the sport quite clearly reveals that the\ncurrent version of the sport traces itself back to the \u2018noble\u2019 classes in both\nFrance and England and this precursor form is now referred to as \u2018real tennis\u2019\nor otherwise called the \u2018sport of kings.\u2019 It is inevitable that the rules and\ncustoms for the contemporary version of the sport would be devoid of any\ninfluence from its predecessor and perhaps there is not a more fitting example\nthan the English Grand Slam tournament, Wimbledon. It still remains the only\nslam which adheres to the archaic rule that the players must participate with\nan all-white attire. This includes hair bands, socks and other minor\naccessories as well. Another distinct feature of Wimbledon is its extremely\ntraditional award ceremony where even to this day, Prince Edward, The Duke of\nKent who symbolizes the royalty\u2019s or the Queen\u2019s presence in the ceremony,\npresents the trophies to the winners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These customs and rules are also accompanied with certain\nset modes and standards of both conduct and sporting style. This is much more\nprominent for women players. In her best days, Martina Navratilova enjoyed an\nincredibly successful period on the court, that includes 18 singles\ntitles, 31 doubles titles, and 10 mixed doubles titles. However, she was\nconstantly under fire for \u201cnot being feminine enough\u201d for women\u2019s tennis and\nwas often compared to the then notion of the \u2018ideal\u2019 women\u2019s player, Chris\nEvert. Navratilova\u2019s sexual orientation too was heavily criticized for\nhindering the Grand Slam champion from living up to those values. The male\nplayers are expected to portray \u2018gentlemanly\u2019 characteristics on the court.\nThis put figures such as 17-time grand slam champion, John McEnroe in a tough\nspot for his on-court antics such as complaining to the chair umpire about him\nbeing disturbed by the constant boos from the crowd or occasionally delaying\nhis serve. Coincidentally, McEnroe\u2019s rise in the sport was at a time when Bjorn\nBorg had established himself as the then undisputed king of the court. Borg was\nknown for his impeccable on-court discipline and hence, was often pitted\nagainst McEnroe as a clash of the opposites and media outlets from across the\nglobe had a feast building up an \u201cIceman vs Superbrat\u201d narrative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Martina Navratilova<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been ages since the days of Navratilova and McEnroe,\nand the world has seen drastic changes in societal norms over the last few\ndecades. There has also been a great breakdown of numerous traditionalist\nnotions with the rise in political awareness and individual activism fostered\nby the internet. One would imagine, the effects would have also inevitably\nimpacted the sport as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this year\u2019s edition of the US Open, number 1 seed Novak\nDjokovic was defaulted from his Fourth-Round match against Spaniard Pablo\nCarre\u00f1o Busta, for accidentally hitting the ball at the line judge in the\nthroat, as it was deemed as violent conduct that emerged as a reaction to dropping\na crucial game in the first set. This was not the number one seed\u2019s first\nincident to find space on the back page. However, his disqualification became\nyet another controversy to have sullied the American Grand Slam. Djokovic might\nnot be regarded as one of the most ideal personalities on the court, but it\nbegs to implore however, whether the same decision would have been awarded to\nperhaps Roger Federer, who is arguably the most gentlemanly player to have\ngraced the sport. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same tournament was the stage for yet another\ncontroversy in 2018, in the Women\u2019s Final in Serena Williams\u2019 shock loss to\nNaomi Osaka, giving the latter her first Grand Slam title. However, more than\nOsaka\u2019s maiden title, what became the talking point was the disciplinary measure\ntaken against Williams, who was handed a $17,000 fine for three code\nviolations, including coaching, breaking her racket and the \u201cverbal abuse\u201d of\nchair umpire Carlos Ramos. Williams responded by calling for action from the\ntennis community to combat and eradicate blatant sexism in the sport. Even in\nthe years preceding this incident, Williams has endured a great amount of\ncriticism from pundits and the media both for style of play and conduct. Since\nher first grand slam win at the 1999 US Open, she has been under constant fire\nfor her style of play, which critics deemed was un-feminine. Her ability to\nstick to the baseline and release powerful forehands and backhands for a large\nduration of the game, are proclaimed to have offered her an unfair advantage in\nwomen\u2019s tournaments. Her choice of sporting wear too has come under fire, with\nthe latest example being the Nike \u2018catsuit\u2019 worn at the 2018 French Open, which\nshe explained was meant to regulate body temperature after she had experienced\npost-pregnancy complications. The outfit was banned subsequently by the French\nTennis Federation following the completion of the year\u2019s edition of the slam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the midst of the media frenzy that overshadowed Osaka\u2019s\nmilestone victory, Martina Navratilova spoke on the incident in an opinion\npiece for The New York Times<\/em>. She\nexpressed that while \u201cthere is <\/em>a\nhuge double standard for women when it comes to how bad behaviour is punished,\u201d\nwhat Serena did was still wrong and pointed out that chair umpire, Carlos Ramos\nwho was just abiding by the rules was right in his reasonings for the point\ndeductions. She further argued that tennis is a democratic sport and there is\nan equal responsibility entrusted on all genders to conduct themselves\nappropriately and adhere to the rules. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In many ways, Navratilova may be right in supporting the\numpire\u2019s decisions which were taken based on the rulebook in his hands. However,\nhe is perhaps just a spectator in the grand scheme of things. Today, every\nsport to an extent, has managed to transition along with the socio-political\nvibrations of our times. Although, the fight for equal rights to be deemed for\nall genders is yet to be won, especially with respect to the pay gap. Beyond\nthis, on the fields, it is the same manner of sport which all genders play,\nwhether it be cricket, football or badminton. But when it comes to tennis,\nthere are three set matches and a large anthology of rules and customs, yet to\nbe checked for obsolescence. One wonders whether the decision to limit the\nnumber of sets played to three, for women, is based on the assumption that\nwomen\u2019s tennis requires less physical strength, compared to that of men\u2019s\ntennis. The brief history of the game from Navratilova to Williams, reveals\nthat the player still struggles to find space for the \u2018self\u2019, crammed in\nbetween lines and lines of jargoned texts under article X and section Y. Many\nquestions remain unanswered; would such a transition be possible, if so, who\nwill bring about the change, and how and when will they accomplish it? The game\nis very much yet to be won.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dhruvan Nair, Undergraduate Batch of 2021 1932 was a landmark year for tennis. It was the first time that a player replaced the traditional cricket flannels with a pair of white shorts and much to the awe of the then tennis associations, it was discovered to be much more comfortable and suitable for the sport.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,1],"tags":[210,223],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/edictarchive.the-edict.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4050"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/edictarchive.the-edict.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/edictarchive.the-edict.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/edictarchive.the-edict.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/edictarchive.the-edict.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4050"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/edictarchive.the-edict.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4057,"href":"http:\/\/edictarchive.the-edict.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4050\/revisions\/4057"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/edictarchive.the-edict.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/edictarchive.the-edict.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/edictarchive.the-edict.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/edictarchive.the-edict.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}