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2008-03-26 04:09:00
There is an aspect of tennis that we, the fans and writers, are not supposed to think about. That is the undeniable fact that tennis is a business. But it's a SPORT, say the protesters. And it is, certainly – but without the marketing goldmine that was John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors and Bjorn Borg, tennis would not be what it is today. That era has been called the golden age of tennis; people flocked to tournaments to see Borg's ice to McEnroe's fire. They loved to hate Connors, held their collective breath for the inevitable temper tantrum from Mac. In short, tennis got really interesting all of a sudden to the casual fan.
No sooner had that era waned and tennis introduced another star – a BIG star. Young, brash Andre Agassi; you either loved him or hated him, but what you couldn't do was deny that the teenager garnered attention. Jean shorts instead of tennis whites, painted finger nails, earrings, bleached hair; tennis wasn't just for the country club set anymore. He was tennis meets rock and roll (even if we know now that the rebellion was all for show), and he was a marketing dream that tennis would cash in on for twenty years.
Two years ago at the US Open, Andre Agassi bade us a tearful good-bye and we cried with him – but nobody cried as hard as the people charged with marketing the sport of tennis. Understand that I have NOTHING WHATSOEVER against Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Their rivalry will undoubtedly live in the history books as one of the most fascinating in memory, and they are both great champions who, unfortunately for them but fortunately for us, happened to peak at the same time. What they are NOT, are bad boys. They LIKE each other, for crying out loud. They compliment each other in their press conferences, act as the dual ambassadors for the sport – they have even shared a private jet on one occasion.
I'm not complaining about this – really I'm not. It's about time that we have sports stars who are...well...good sports. But there is a gaping hole in tennis right now – we need a bad boy. I was having a conversation with a marketing expert that I know, Kelli DeMario, and she suggested that just maybe Novak Djokovic would become the missing piece of the puzzle, the plug to fill the hole that has been so long vacant. He fits the profile – he has a healthy lack of respect for the players ranked above him, a good sense of humor and best of all that certain brand of irreverence that marks the best of the tennis bad boys.
If he embraces his inner bad boy and wears the mantle proudly, it would make him a star. No, let me rephrase that – it would make him a Star. One of the John McEnroe ilk (except with more muscles), because strangely enough people never end up "hating" the bad boys – they're always the most popular ones of all. So go on, Nole. Show us how bad you can be.
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