The two tennis matches played by the men's tennis team this weekend provided an interesting contrast in behavior and sportsmanship.
On Saturday, the Florida State Seminoles came to Duke Tennis Stadium. The rivalry between FSU and Duke has flared up in recent years, and this weekend's match was no exception. The battles on the court were heated, and the line judges were kept busy with allegations of cheating being levied on almost every player.
Both teams survived the doubles matches without any serious incident, but in singles matches, the frustrations on the court boiled over. Florida State's first singles player Antonio Prieto, who had blatantly miscalled several shots during his first doubles match (which Duke pulled out in a tiebreaker), was trying to do it again to Duke's Doug Root in singles play. Certain players can become known as cheaters, and Prieto certainly falls into this category. Root had the line judge watching his match from the beginning, and rightfully so, as several questionable calls were made by Prieto and corrected by the line judge.
With the score 3-3, the line judge overturned another of Prieto's decisions. Whether the ball was in or out was unclear, but the line judge had made his decision. Regardless of whether the call was correct, Prieto should have just abided by it. But, perhaps annoyed at how many calls had gone against him, Prieto simply could not accept the decision. He began protesting, costing himself a point penalty. When Prieto still refused to play, he cost himself a game, and finally the whole match was forfeited to Root.
The unsportsmanlike play continued from the Seminoles. During the fourth singles match between Duke's Jordan Wile and FSU's Yvo Niks, several Seminoles gathered on the courts behind the court on which the match was being played. There, they taunted Wile whenever he came near them. During the match, when Niks hit a winner, the FSU player proceeded to break into a dance which was more than a celebration of his good shot. It was a slap in Wile's face.
During the sixth singles match, an FSU coach and player moved back and forth on the courts behind the match in an effort to distract Duke's Sebastien Gobbi. Gobbi complained, and a shouting match ensued between Duke coach Jay Lapidus and FSU coach David Barron. At one point, a Florida State call was overturned, and one of the Seminole coaches swore loud enough to be heard in the stands. And during second singles play, FSU's Ty Braswell simply stopped playing, frustrated by a line judge's decision.
Yes, the crowd that day was loud and rowdy, a fraternity enjoying a day in the sun. Yes, the crowd had to be warned for making noise during the match. But these were spectators who may not have known the rules. The actions of the players and coaches, however, were made by those who knew that they were violating rules. FSU appeared as a classless, brutish program of egomaniacs and crybabies.
The next day, however, Duke didn't act much better. Against the Gators, the Blue Devils rang up a multitude of point penalties for infractions ranging from cursing to throwing rackets. This time, it was the Florida Gators who (save for one incident when a player yelled at the line judge) were respectful. Their players' calls were mostly upheld by the line judges. Once, when overruled, a Florida player apologized to the judge and his opponent, admitting that he missed the call.
The Florida fans were also dignified. When they cheered, it was for their players and their school. No slurs were directed against Duke. Nobody made loud noises while the points were being played.
Duke, on the other hand, came across quite differently. Upon losing his match at sixth singles, freshman Porter Jones threw his racket so hard that he created a hailstorm of papers and cups where the racket landed. It was the second such outburst from Jones. The first came during his doubles match. Having lost two consecutive games and trailing 7-6, Jones was switching sides of the court. As he passed the net, Jones began flailing his racket, smashing the net and the net post. His team was docked a point, which proved to be crucial, as the next game went to many deuces before FSU won it and the match.
Doug Root was docked a point for swearing during his match, and was then punished again after the match was over. Unable to take away a point from Root, the judges took one from second singles player Alberto Brause.
Sometimes nothing is more frustrating than screwing up in a tennis match in front of an audience. Tennis is a sport that does not allow too many mistakes, and sometimes careless points can cost matches. It is natural for a player to build up frustration during the match, and sometimes these outbursts are needed for a player to begin to concentrate. This happened in third singles, where Adam Gusky was docked a point in the midst of dropping the first ten games of the match. He picked up his concentration level and came back to win. But that does not necessarily excuse the behavior.
Duke assistant coach Dave Hagymas tried to justify the behavior.
"They get frustrated," he said. "But they weren't being derogatory to the opponents. The judge called point penalties nobody else would have called. The swearing couldn't be heard by the crowd. The players weren't being obnoxious to opponents or fans. It's stupid and it hurts us, but I can live with that."
Hagymas's comments are true, and this was one isolated incident. But this kind of poor sportsmanship taints any athletic event. Despite being frustrated, there was no reason why the tennis players could not have acted properly on the court. And it was worse for Florida State, because the actions weren't being perpetrated by the people on the court, but by the coaches and players off of it. For a coach to be moving around trying to distract the opposing team's player is pathetic. We can't expect the players to behave much better than the coaches.
It may sound trite, but these players do represent the school for which they play, and they should be keeping that more in mind when they are out on the courts. But even aside from this, a player's own dignity should be preventing the kind of outbursts witnessed this weekend. The players owe it to themselves and the fans to be more dignified in the way they play.
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