Tony Becca -
FROM THE BOUNDARY
THE FRENCH Open is now in its second week and based on the excitement, the upsets and the brilliant play of the first week, tennis fans are in for a treat as the world's top players those who are still around, and a few outsiders those who have crashed the party continue their hunt for the major prizes for the men's and women's singles titles.
In a week to remember, the excitement included the contest between Frenchmen Fabrice Santoro and Arnaud Clement - a battle that ended at 16-14 in the fifth set and after a record six hours and 33 minutes, the upsets, the shockers, included the ambush of former men's singles champion Andre Agassi and last year's women's singles champion Justine Henin-Hardene in the first round and number two seed Andy Roddick in the second, and the brilliant play was highlighted by the performance of Lisa Raymond who recovered to knock out Lubomira Kurhajcova after losing the first set at love and trailing 0-5, 0-30 in the second.
After such a wonderful week of tennis, the fans must be hoping for more - and especially so, the mothers and fathers, the brothers and sisters of the young players still in contention.
There is one thing no fan would like to or should like to see, however, and that was the behaviour of Marat Safin on Thursday.
In a the middle of a great contest with Felix Mantilla of Spain, the Russian, a Grand Slam winner, pulled down his shorts after reeling off a brilliant point on his way to victory, and although he saw nothing wrong with it, that cannot be good for the game certainly not before an audience that includes the feminine gender.
"I felt it was a great point for me. I felt like pulling my pants down. What's bad about it?" said Safin after the contest that ended 11-9 in the fourth.
PENALISED
Safin was penalised a point, and according to him, it just does not make sense.
It's entertaining business. You try to make it fun, and they do everything that is possible just to take away the entertainment. Every year it gets worse and worse. There has to be a radical change, and I hope it will be really soon."
Although Safin is right about tennis being entertaining business, and although tennis, like every other sport, needs entertainers and personalities just as much as it needs great players, that does not give a player, any player, the right to pull his shorts down in public to stick his tongue out at officials when reprimanded.
BORIS BECKER
Apart from the parade of great strokes, the kind of entertainment that tennis needs is that which was provided by one like Boris Becker whose acrobatics in getting to the ball really entertained the fans, and the kind of personality that tennis needs is that of one like Andre Agassi.
Thousands of fans went to tennis to see the passion for winning that Becker exuded on the court, and thousands of fans go to tennis simply to see Agassi in action probably also to see him, after a winning performance, face the fans, take a bow and then blow kisses to them.
As far as Safin is concerned, what he did was no big thing, and if that is really so, he should think about it.
Safin needs to appreciate the fact that tennis is a professional sport and that apart from honing his skills and winning titles, as a professional tennis player, as one who makes his living playing the game, he has an obligation to protect the image of the sport.
Safin should also understand that it is also the job of those who run the sport to protect its image and that they are obliged to act if and when the pros, those who benefit most from the sport, step out of line.
