Bring on da noise!
Tennis needs to get loud. Tennis needs a shot of adrenaline. If tennis is going to grow as a sport, it needs to become more fan friendly and appeal to the general public. It’s time to bring in a bit of the NFL, NBA and MLB into tennis.
As I watched the quarterfinals match up between Sam Querrey and Dudi Sela at the LA Tennis Open, I found myself genuinely getting into the match because of two particular sections. On one end, there was the half naked, fully charged cheering section for Sam Querry, appropriately named, Samurai. And on the opposite end, The Hebrew Hammers were hooting and hollering for their guy, Sela. It was as if the two groups were competing to see who could be louder. When Querrey finally had a break point, his Samurai locked arms, banged against the fencing, and started screaming, “Break! Break! Break!” The energy level in the stadium instantly went from a 5 to an 8. The enthusiasm and energy spread like wildfire, as the crowd and myself started cheering along.
Now that was a fun match to be apart of! And that was only a small crowd of maybe 4000 people. Imagine if all 15,000 fans at the US Open with colorful signs and flags were screaming and cheering for their player during a match. Wouldn’t that draw some necessary attention to the sport? I think it would.
I propose that the only silence during a match should be when a player is about to serve. Otherwise, cheering, screaming, hooting, hollering, and even booing should not only be allowed, but encouraged.
I know what the traditionalists will say: “it’s a gentleman’s sport,” “tennis is supposed to be classy,” “all that noise is unsportsmanlike,” yada yada yada. But I say, unleash the Samurai, the Hebrew Hammers, the J-Blocks of the tennis world, and let them bring the noise!
What do you think? Should tennis remain the same or should it shake things up a bit?
Jason, TW
i agree with both sides i mean come on of course alot of the people are gonna want to get loud after their player gets an amazing shot or wins a long rally. But on the other side you need to be respectful like not hollering “Break, break, break, break,” during the game because thats probably distracting for both sides. So yes shake it up but lets try to keep it reasonable.
Loud fans at tennis matches are ANNOYING. I’ve been to a good number of live ATP events and some have been ruined by loud and obnoxious “fans”. Some of which, have even been escorted out of the stadium. From my experience, these noisy people are there to be seen and garner attention to themselves rather than to actually support a player. I absolutely don’t mind when the crowd cheers after a great shot or rally, but constantly making noise after every point or before crucial points is just wrong. There needs to be a maintained level of respect for each player.