Image Is Everything

The ATP will be leaving Las Vegas on Sunday. I’m sure that they wish that the Sin City slogan about what happens in that town staying in that town could be used as an incantation to take the ATP back to the end of the James Blake vs Juan Martin del Potro match. I’m willing to bet tons of virtual money that they wish that despite the pleas of the top seed, Blake in this instance, someone had had the cojones to tell him get to stepping and to take his elimination like a man and that no midnight calls to Mr. Disney who was in Portugal at the time had been made. That way the event flows smoothly and tennis heads are looking at Evgeny Korolev and wondering if he’s got the intestinal fortitude to make it into the top ten of his sport while savoring a semi final between Lleyton Hewitt and Marat Safin, one the most hated player and one who everyone, male or female, eight to eighty, blind, crippled or crazy, wants to wake up to.

But we all know this isn’t the Magic Kingdom and a mere wave of a wand is not going to put the evil genie back in the bottle or send the wicked king away. Instead we have the spectacle of the vice president of the Player’s Association making the following statement:

"What I thought was that a common-sense overrule took place. But if we have to go by the letter of the law, I’m okay with that.”

http://tennisworld.typepad.com/travelblogue/2007/03/another_twist.html

People dog Andre Agassi about the old Canon campaign which featured the slogan “Image is everything” but as is often the case in our hot house media driven sports culture all an athlete has is their image. For obvious reasons every fan of an athlete, especially in an individual sport like Tennis, can’t be allowed unlimited access to their favorite. Fangirls and fanboys rely on web sites, message boards, and pictures of their favorites to draw conclusions about them. IMG and other image makers are paid huge fees to craft a positive image for the athletes they represent.

Not only individuals are involved in the image game. The ATP and WTA also spend millions to make their leaders appear to lesser beings as demi gods whose pronouncements from on high will raise the level of fan participation to higher and higher levels. The debacle this week did damage to a player and the organization behind him.

This player is not an ordinary player. For years James Blake was a “journeyman” , a guy who would enter an event, make a little noise in the early rounds and then politely give way as soon as he played a higher seeded player. Two years ago he suffered a series of tremendous body blows. He lost his father to illness and then suffered an accident which affected his neck. On top of that he came down with Shingles. When he came back on the tour everyone wanted to give him a break and James responded to that increased support. The level of his play rose and despite some misguided “happy to lose” comments he stopped losing to the big guys without much of a fight. By the end of 2006 by doing well at lower tier events he had cracked the top eight and went to Shanghai where he exceeded all expectations. All of this gained him fans and increased exposure. He reportedly lobbied hard for the post of vice president of the Player’s Council and was elected to that position. In that position it is his job to represent the player’s views to management. This includes upholding the Rule Book and forcing management to deal with not only the spirit but the letter of the “law” as defined in it.

By making the above statement Blake has done serious damage to the tacit agreement about image and the player. The wall of “image” came crashing down and what has been exposed is a not too pretty picture of Mr. Blake. When faced with a similar offer by the ATP in Argentina the week before Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, who has been in a horrible slump, refused it saying he did not want to advance in that manner. Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt both issued withering comments about Blake’s stance.

The only person to suffer worse damage than Blake is Etienne de Villiers, the leader of the ATP. Faced with a public relations disaster to his credit he bit the bullet, did a mea culpa which included him saying he was half asleep half a world away and wasn’t clear on what was happening. He reversed is initial decision and thus allowed Evgeny Korolev to advance to the quarter finals in Las Vegas. He has now said that he thought he was doing what the fans wanted. Blake has lots of fans. Korolev is an up and comer from Russia known only to hard core tennis fans. I don’t think it takes Dr Preston Burke to figure out that the TD of the event probably figured into this equation. The TD figures Blake puts more fannies in the seats and probably wanted Blake to advance as well. Blake’s role in these tawdry events is being actively debated on tennis message and fan boards. If I’m his media advisor I tell him to keep quiet while I create the proper words for him to say. The statement I quote from the article in the Tennisworld blog makes it clear that Blake felt the rules should be bent for him. I think that ends the debate about what his role in this was.

The Player’s Council and the ATP board will be meeting in Miami to discuss not only what happened but what to do about Round Robin play. I like Round Robin for the TMC year end event. There are only eight men playing. The conditions are controlled. You don’t have the vagaries of regular tournament play where a player can become injured or ill and upset the apple cart. I was willing to give it a chance this year but it seems that players conspiring against other players did not take the form many fans, and players, thought it would. When a player can’t rely on his elected representative to do the right thing the entire purpose of the Player Council is defeated.

Here is a list of the members of the Player’s Council. I think this meeting in Miami will be closely monitored by the press and the fans of this great sport.

Ivan Ljubicic - President
James Blake - Vice President
Olivier Rochus and Thomas Johansson - 1-50 Singles
Paul Goldstein and Davide Sanguinetti - 51-100 Singles
Bob Bryan and Kevin Ullyet - 1-100 Doubles
Martin Garcia - At Large
David Adams - Alumni (non voting)
Ricardo Piatti - Coaches (non voting)

http://www.atptennis.com/5/en/media/reports/06_President.pdf

I’m not a player. I’m not male. But I have a strong feeling Mr. Blake will not be re elected to his post next year. And who can blame his peers? Image, in professional sports, is everything and Mr. Blake has destroyed his all for the sake of a tournament that in the scheme of things is simply a tune up for the main events of Indian Wells and Miami. I know that Blake needs this event, it’s the type of event he wins to keep his ranking up. An athlete is an inherently selfish being and I have no problem with that. I thought that the reason professional athletes have agents and managers is to make sure the person behind the curtain doesn’t get revealed to his or her public and fans.

I've already said that the shenanigans of the last few days should sound the death knell for round robin play during the regular season. Like everyone else I'm going to be waiting to see what happens at that meeting in Miami later this month.