Dubai denied former Israeli soldier Shahar Peer a visa. Swedish authorities mandated that, for security reasons, the Sweden vs. Israel Davis Cup tie be played in an arena without spectators.
And once again, Venus and Serena chose to pass on the Indian Wells tournament, which they feel is racist. (In other words, for the seventh straight year, the sport’s two most charismatic women did not play in their native state in the snazziest American tournament west of the Hudson.) While some wondered, ‘Why can’t we just get along?’ few voices pleaded for truth and reconciliation.
Most of us do try to get along, to agree, to conform. But, on occasion, there are times when even the more mild among us want to shout out, “I’m mad as Hell and I’m not going to take it anymore;” moments when, as free-speech advocate Mario Savio proclaimed, “the operation of the machine becomes so odious, [that it] makes you so sick at heart…[that] you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon all the apparatus, and…make it stop.”
Tennis is a sport crowded with competing fiefdoms driven by deeply chiseled agendas. We endure imposing authorities who often prove vain, capricious or tradition-bound — who rule supreme as they try and rein in headstrong players from Serbia or the South Side; those privileged primadonnas who are perched atop a game which is desperately dependent on darlings and divas and shimmering stars — the proud peacocks of center court.
Indeed, beyond Washington and Wall Street, there are few ventures more prone to rushing off steep cliffs.
After all, aren’t dazzling dysfunction and continual confrontation the mother’s milk of this fine game? No wonder that since its inception tennis officials and players alike have often bristled, steeled their nerves and, in the immortal words of former First Lady Nancy Reagan, chosen to “just say no.” And so here is our top 40 compendium of defiance and confrontation.
1. In 1955, instead of appearing in a prim ‘n proper white dress, a Long Beach fireman’s kid showed up in makeshift shoes and home-crafted shorts sewn by her mother. Perry Jones, Southern California’s old-school czar, proceeded to ban the working-class teen from a group photo. The move aroused embers of fiery confrontation in an accidental rebel the world came to known as Billie Jean King.
2. Maybe a tad too cautionary, America’s Sweetheart Chris Evert says no to the fervent recruiting efforts of Billie Jean, who’s trying to get players to join up and back her pipedream — some outfit they call the Women’s International Tennis Association. Instead, Evert plays it safe and becomes the headliner for a hastily established, short-lived rival tour, the USTA circuit.
3. When Niki Pilic refused to play Davis Cup, he was suspended by the Yugoslavian federation. Wimbledon backed the ban and refused Pilic entry in ’73. Outraged by the move, 81 players, including 13 of the top 16 seeds, withdrew in solidarity with Pilic (who, ironically, was less than popular around the locker room) and staged men’s tennis’ most memorable boycott.
4. You would think Queen Elizabeth would be eager to grace Wimbledon with her royal presence, but she’s turned her back on her kingdom’s leading sports event in all but two of the 56 years she’s graced the throne.
5. Wimbledon brands its stuffy image. But, while there’s still no play on middle Sunday, many a Wimbledon tradition has been tweaked (start times, use of white balls, treatment of women, officiating practices and the facility itself. This year, often-soggy Centre Court will actually have a roof.) But when it comes to clothes, a certain control-freak sensibility still prevails. Most famously, Wimbledon’s fashion police stepped in when Gussie Moran and designer Ted Tinling ridiculed custom with a mocking and shocking dress that revealed lacy panties. Moran parlayed her 15 minutes of fame into a nice notoriety-based career, but Tinling was accused of introducing sin and vulgarity to the game and became a persona non grata at the AELTC. More recently, the fashionistas said no to Karol Fageros’ gold lame undies of ’58 and Anne White’s skin-tight bodysuit of ’85.
6. In one of the better poor-little-rich-girl protests in sports history, Maria Sharapova (who banks around $23 million a year) balked when asked to do a lengthy WTA photo shoot in Rome.
7. Has an athlete’s wretched behavior ever been so collectively empowered with such devastating effect as has John McEnroe’s? After all, time and again officials, promoters, fellow players, family members and many in the media just said no when it came time to crack down on his abuses. Amazingly, he was tossed out of just one official tournament in his career.
8. During his ’84 Stockholm Open semi, Mac flipped out and raged at an ump, “Answer my question — THE QUESTION, JERK!” In a triumph for Western Civilization, the ump refused to be bullied and didn’t answer.
9. Near the height of McEnroe’s popularity, Sun City, the apartheid-ridden South African vacation enclave, offered Mac $1 million to come and play Borg in a “look at us, we’re wonderful” exhibition. But John, who was then widely dismissed as just a know-nothing superbrat, told them to shove it.
10. As much of a contrarian as McEnroe was, few in the game said no as much as Jimmy Connors, who refused to join the ATP, often declined to play Davis Cup and the mainstream WCT Tour, and rarely attended tennis celebrations. Of course, Connors wasn’t the only one who regularly put his foot down. In ’74, the French Open refused to allow him to play because Jimbo had signed a World TeamTennis contract. (And, by the way, time and again Connors himself said no to Brad Gilbert’s requests to play on his senior tour.)
11. Legend has it that when, in a snit, a young Bjorn Borg heaved his racket, his parents said, “Listen up, buster!” and put his tennis gear in a closet for six months. Borg, himself, said no at other key moments. When he lost the U.S. Open to his dreaded rival McEnroe in ’81, he fled an eager press corps and refused to answer any questions. Still in his tennis clothes, he all but ran out of Flushing Meadows with the press in hot pursuit. And, at age 26, the Swede turned his back on the game as a whole in what is considered to be the most impactful retirement in tennis history. Later on, he refused for years to return to his native Sweden from his tax-haven home of convenience in Monte Carlo.
12. For decades, stuffy, stuck-in-the-Victorian-era officials refused to let players who were openly paid money (from Bill Tilden to Jack Kramer to Rod Laver) enter their zealously protected world of amateur events. Content in their dubious universe of under-the-table payments, the poohbahs of the game stalled the growth of tennis and robbed fans of many great confrontations.
13. The then overly territorial USTA said “Not in our house” when, in ’88, they refused to allow the insurgent ATP to use their press room to announce the formation of their players’ union. The ban only provided more drama for the event as reporters circled around just outside the tournament’s gates to hear the historic news of the creation of the ATP.
14. For decades, like virtually all American sports, tennis discriminated against African-Americans, and many events refused to let blacks — even budding stars like Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe — play in assorted tournaments. But a single white player came forth in protest. Writing in American Lawn Tennis Magazine, the ’39 Wimbledon champ Alice Marble wrote, “Miss Gibson is over a very cunningly wrought barrel, and I can only hope to loosen a few of its staves with one lone opinion. If tennis is a game for ladies and gentlemen, it’s also time we acted a little more like gentle people and less like sanctimonious hypocrites…If Althea Gibson represents a challenge to the present crop of women players, it’s only fair that they should meet that challenge on the courts.”
15. UCLA’s tennis team was told by a SoCal tournament that Arthur Ashe would not be allowed to play in their collegiate match. Coach Glenn Bassett, and Ashe’s teammates quickly supported their African-American player and said no way.
16. South Africa banned Ashe from playing in their apartheid nation and later in his career he was arrested in front of the White House while protesting America’s policy on Haitian immigration.
17. South Africa’s race policies drew plenty of reaction. Amidst controversy, the ITF briefly banned South Africa from Davis Cup play. India refused to play the ’74 Davis Cup final, and thus defaulted the final to South Africa. Protesters in Newport Beach, California interrupted a South Africa vs. U.S. Davis Cup tie in ’77 and tried to shut it down by pouring tar on the court (at which point American captain Tony Trabert famously began bashing the protesters with a racket).
18. Dubai’s refusal to grant Shahar Peer a visa was hardly the first time Israeli tennis has been confronted. In ’06, Indonesia pulled out of a Fed Cup match in Israel to protest a military invasion of Gaza, and Israel’s recent Davis Cup match in Malmo, Sweden was, for security reasons, played in an arena sans fans. After Dubai refused to grant Shahar Peer a visa, Scott Ostler noted that the only player to protest the move was somebody who was not a woman, not a Jew and not at all political — Andy Roddick.
Ostler joked that the Texan could be compared to Martin Luther King, Cesar Chavez, Harry Belafonte and Ashe.
19. Dubai banning Peer was a not-so-great moment for the sport. But remember that for decades Jews (and plenty of others) were regularly denied entry into country clubs. Just ask Groucho Marx, who confessed, “I don’t care to belong to any club that will have me as a member.”
20. Martina Navratilova turned her back on the gray/grim reality of her Cold War homeland, Czechoslovakia, to come to America, the land of the Big Mac. Similarly, China’s Hu Na shocked the tennis world when, playing the Fed Cup in the U.S. in ’83, she went underground and sought asylum.
21. American tennis’ ruling body, the USTA, has made many stunning advances. But over the years, it also has continued to say no to obvious facts and sensible reforms. It mysteriously removed the historic listing of Dennis Ralston as Davis Cup captain in ’94 (Ralston quickly prevailed in a lawsuit). Plus, in the 21st century some of their governance practices echo the group 19th century roots, including those “here today, gone tomorrow” two-year terms for its president.
22. Of course, the USTA is hardly the only federation that dances with dysfunction. The German association insisted that 12-year-old Boris Becker was not a sufficient prospect and dropped the future star from its ranks.
23. Andre Agassi is justifiably revered these days as a community-oriented humanist and insightful sage, but in his younger days he was a whisky-chugging rebel who, after being confronted by the USTA for refusing to play a Davis Cup dead-rubber, buzzed the venue in his private jet; got into a big-time spat with his original patron Nick Bollettieri; and was a conspicuous no-show on-court for the opening of Ashe Stadium.
24. The International Tennis Hall of Fame kind of has its own no coaching rule. With the notable exception of Harry Hopman (and, you could argue, Perry Jones), virtually no topflight coaches (Bollettieri, Van der Meer, Gould, Lansdorp, Stow etc.) have been inducted into the Hall.
25. Nick Bollettieri wisely (and quite generously) took in the waifish tennis refugee Monica Seles and housed and trained her for years, but when she left the academy, the rising Yugo said “no,” guru Nick hadn’t been her coach.
26. After Monica Seles was stabbed by a crazed Steffi Graf fan, tone-deaf officials refused to protect her No. 1 ranking.
27. Peter Graf insisted he had paid his daughter Steffi’s taxes. But a German court said no way and sent papa Graf to jail. Perhaps even worse, one of the most infamous tennis “Dads From Hell” — Jim Pierce — was so raucous and abusive that he was actually banned from the tour.
28. On the women’s side, many contend that the retirement of the then-dominant Justine Henin in ’08 had the most impact of any retirement in women’s tennis history. Justine, who left by saying, “This is the end of a child’s dream,” left quite a vacuum. In the 10 months since her departure, four players (Sharapova, Ivanovic, Jankovic and Serena) have been No. 1.
29. Henin’s retirement wasn’t the only time in her on-again/off-again career in which she’s said, “No way!” Most infamously, she threw in the towel in the ’06 Aussie Open final against Amelie Mauresmo. Claiming a stomach ailment, she denied the Frenchwoman the joy of playing her way to her first victory in a major. Of course, tennis has a long history of ‘No mas” withdrawals going all the way back to Suzanne Lenglen and Helen Wills Moody. Similarly, on the men’s side, there have been many throw-in-the-towel moments, like when Novak Djokovic recently withered during his Aussie quarter against Roddick and surrendered to the heat.
30. Tennis has a long history of players not coming out of the gate: Suzanne Lenglen kept the Queen of England waiting at Wimbledon and Roscoe Tanner intentionally delayed his appearance before his Wimbledon final. But our favorite example was when the usually mellow Swedes Stefan Edberg and Mats Wilander hid in the men’s locker room bathrooms to protest the way-too-early 10 a.m. start of their ’87 U.S. Open semi.
31. To its credit, NBC refused to join the stampede of organizations that canceled their endorsements of Billie Jean King when a palimony suit in ’81 booted the gay star out of the closet. On the other hand, in ’07, the network felt that the venerable Bud Collins had lost half a step and fired the dean of American tennis journalists. Speaking of the media, freedom of the press is grand, except when it cuts too close to the bone. So Miami tournament officials banned Michael Mewshaw’s book Ladies of the Court: Grace and Disgrace On the Women’s Tennis Tour from the grounds of their tournament.
32. Lleyton Hewitt refused to do an interview with ESPN in ’02 that led to years of litigation, which, unbelievably, lingers on.
33. After years of being snubbed by Sports Illustrated for its cover, Pete Sampras (just like his hero, Michael Jordon) refused to give the mag interviews.
34. Many an American has said no to playing the Davis or Fed cup. (Think Connors, Chang, and even the occasionally heroic Agassi, who once said he wouldn’t play Davis Cup “even if it were in my backyard.” Most recently, Serena Williams has played Fed Cup just four times in her career.
35. Patriotism is wobbly among the many manufacturers who say no to players who want to briefly shelve their logo-ridden gear in order to wear more patriotic outfits during the Davis and Fed Cups.
36. Novak Djokovic caved into pressure and stopped doing his hilarious imitations that brought levity to the game, laughs to millions and probably helped the intense Serb to lighten up and relax.
37. Officials proclaimed tennis a pasta-free zone when they banned the use of the double strung ‘spaghetti racket,’ which resulted in balls zooming off the frame. Speaking of pasta, Marat Safin ($14 million in prize money) gave voice to one of the game’s great culinary protests when he complained that a plate of spaghetti at Wimbledon cost $25.
38. In the greatest Tammy Wynette “Stand By Your Man” moment in tennis history, Jeff Tarango’s wife, Benedicte, slapped Frenchman Bruno Rebeuh, the ump who penalized her man at Wimbledon.
39. Stanford wanted high school phenom Alexandra Stevenson to come to The Farm. But the La Jolla product said, “No way,” because she felt the school’s Palo Alto campus was “too naturistic,” and that there were too many people walking around in Birkenstocks.
40. Humans aren’t the only ones who can get ornery around tennis. Animals also get uppity. Helen Wills Moody’s career was ended when a German Shepherd bit her finger. Maureen Connolly’s career was shortened when she was thrown by a horse, and Navratilova suffered a U.S. Open quarterfinal upset loss to Pam Shriver after she caught a virus from a cat in ‘82.
