ROOT
FOR THE BETTER PLAYER
 Time
after time after time after time, I hear people make the comment "why
are American players not doing well in professional tennis?"
My answer is simple: With the plethora of talent from so many countries
around the world, who cares where a person is from?
Too often in sports, especially in tennis, I get incredibly bored with
hearing the media focus on a person's so-called origins, such as this
is the first woman, the first African American, the first person from
this country. It seems more attention is directed toward
gender and nationality than talent, which is wrong. I mean,
isn't "talent" why we are watching these events? We want to
see the best match possible, and whether a woman goes three sets in a
match or a man goes five sets, we love them all the more for giving us
our money's worth.
For example, when the Williams sisters first came on the scene, many
documentaries on TV highlighted the fact that, apart from Grand Slam
champion Althea Gibson and a few other African American stars that
followed, very few African Americans have broken the "white barrier" in
tennis. I read that Serena Williams recently went to Africa
and not only enjoyed her visit, but felt embraced by the country and
its people. I felt the same way when I went to Africa.
Yet, if you were to ask Serena Williams what nationality she
is, she would say American. Why does the attention
have to be put on her color instead of her amazing talent on the tennis
court? In Martin Luther King, Junior's speech, "I Have a Dream,"
he said that "I have a
dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they
will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of
their character."
This profound statement supports what I am saying here:
People should be judged by their
talent, not where they are from, their gender, or their religion.
Here are just a few of the many tennis players
who were born in one place but live in another:. Baghdatis, a gentleman
from Limassol, which is considered the heart of "Greek" Cyprus, was
born in Limassol but moved to Paris when he was fourteen. The
same with Maria Sharapova, who was born in Siberia but was raised in
United States. Martina Hingis was born in Czechoslovakia,
which is now Slovakia, but was raised in Switzerland. Then
there are the people who have dual citizenship, such as tennis player
Mary Pierce. Her mother was French Canadian. Mary
has dual citizenship, French and American. She was born and
raised in the USA, but decided to declare her citizenship status as
French.
My point is that it is irrelevant where a person is from because most
athletes, unless they are playing for a team in a sport or playing in
the Olympics, are not playing and performing for the sake of their
country. Professional athletes play their sports because it
is their career and they have a family to support. Their
country of origin is indeed important to them, but they are competing
in the name of fame and money and for wanting to be the best at what
they do.
I'll never forget the response when a relative of world champion
sprinter Ben Johnson was asked how Ben felt about letting his country
down because he took performance-enhancing drugs. The
response was, "Don't be
stupid, he was running for himself, not his country."
Athletes don't care what country they are from; the bottom line is that
they want to win.
I'm often fascinated by people's allegiance to their countries or their
state's football, soccer, basketball, or baseball teams. If
you know the players well and you follow their games, I can see why you
would have an allegiance to them. Yet today the players don't
have any allegiance to any team. Sure, they might try or want
to stay with one particular team, but time and again, you see players
traded to the teams of their biggest archrivals. Personally, I'd rather
see a good game between two teams, even if it means that my home team
loses. If they lose, they probably didn't play well and
hopefully will do better the next time. Why not enjoy the
players for the reason they are out there to play their best? Instead,
many fans want to see their home team succeed and win at any
cost. What does this prove? Doesn't the better
player or team deserve to win and move ahead? Isn't this what
we expect in life? Would we want someone at work getting more
support from his or her boss just because they are from the same town?
 Many times, I have taken a subway to a NY
Yankees/Mets game. Here are two NY teams that we have every
right to be proud of, yet as you can guess people are not only taking
sides but getting hostile about it. I've seen many ugly
fights break out because of someone taunting someone else that their
team is better than the other person's. WHO CARES! The whole
situation is so irrational that you begin to believe that people are
just fighting for the sake of fighting!
Some people might find this difficult to believe, but while they are
fighting in the name of their team, most sport champions are fighting
to just be their best selves on the playing field and off the field as
well, regardless of whether they are male or female or where they are
from (you'd be shocked at how many sports "rivals" from opposing teams
are actually quite friendly with each other away from the field).
All in all, I think people enjoy being able to express themselves and
their culture and being respected for their differences in the way they
look, dress, or act. This is how they want to make their
mark. Not by being identified by something they have no
control over.
In the twenty-first century, we are a world that is a conglomeration of
many cultures. Instead of dividing people by race, religion,
gender, and nationality, why not recognize the commonalities in people
instead of the differences? This new level of awareness will
transcend limited thinking not only in sports, but at work and in life
in general. More than ever, we are a small world.
You can play games on your computer in an instant with anyone
around the world. You can turn on your computer or TV and
hear news and information from around the world. Phone calls
around the world have never been easier and more accessible.
Products you buy are not necessarily from your country or from one
country. A Japanese car can have a body made in Japan, but
the parts in the car are made in United States.
Indeed, it is a small world, and we all possess the potential to bring
out the best in each other and unite as a whole. Such awareness is
needed to live together harmoniously and for our planet's evolution as
a whole. It would be a wonderful gift to yourself, as well as
to others, to be working to be your best self for you but also knowing
that indirectly your talents and work at helping not so much your
country as helping the world at large.
So the next time you want to root for people in politics and sports
just because you think you have something in common with them such as
gender, religion, or where they are from, why not think
again? By being open to others who are foreign, we are
creating harmony for ourselves and those around us. In a small but
steady way, we are helping to create world peace.
I'm not saying that you should never
root for your countrymen or countrywomen; I'm just saying don't fall
into the media hype that you support only your country. This
is not war.  This
is about athletes performing their best, and we the spectators are
enjoying their hard-earned talents regardless of where they are from.
I think with this attitude you will be
favorably satisfied that tennis is great and probably the best it has
ever been with the depth of talent that exists in the men's and women's
game. So appreciate it and enjoy it regardless of whether
there are ten Americans in the top-ten world rankings or just one.
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