Gardnar Mulloy could hardly believe his eyes. Watching the Australian Open semifinal between Victoria Azarenka and Sloane Stephens on television, the 99-year-old Mulloy suddenly found himself screaming at what he described as "an atrocity, the worst thing I've ever seen" in a tennis match.
Mulloy, a former top 10 and Wimbledon doubles champion, was not alone. Regardless of what happened in the women's singles final in Melbourne on Saturday, the controversy over Azarenka's 10-minute injury timeout at a pivotal point in the Grand Slam match Thursday sent international shock waves.
"It certainly disgusted me on many levels," Mulloy said by phone from his home in Miami on Friday. "In my day, you couldn't even sit down on the changeovers. This match was a violation of an opponent's rhythm. I don't know if tennis is producing a different breed of player or half of what they do is fake. But it's a different game out there now."
Mulloy said he viewed Azarenka's breach, which included six minutes off the court, as far more serious than Serena Williams's smashed rackets or verbal tirades, John McEnroe's temper tantrums with umpires or even the often amusing, deliberative antics of such other courtside hustlers as Bobby Riggs.
"McEnroe had his moments," Mulloy said. "But he didn't leave the court. He could and should have been penalized for some of his actions. But that's different than having a 10-minute break. Like any sport, you don't leave the field."
Gamesmanship has always been an integral mental sideshow in sports, particularly in tennis singles. The smallest adjustment in behavior or rituals — from the number of times a server will bounce a ball before the toss to a receiver holding up a hand to interrupt a server's flow to the decibel level of grunting on ground strokes — can be the difference in a break point that decides a match. In April 2012, a preliminary study of cheating in men's tennis by the Max Planck Research School for Competition spanning seven years and 22,012 matches involving 1,022 players reported that "cheating in professional tennis is widespread in the opening rounds of non-Grand Slam tournaments."
The pressure is even greater in the four major championships. Multiply that factor by X if you are a world No. 1. Add the pressure of playing a young pro you are supposed to beat, then squander five match points, as the top-seeded Azarenka did in the second set against the 29th-seeded Stephens, and it is not hard to envision a panic attack.
Before the era of tiebreakers, in the best-of-five-set format adopted at Grand Slam tournaments, players were accorded a break after the third set that allowed them recovery time. No such breaks exist now, and the rules allow for medical treatments or bathroom emergencies. This has only heightened the notion that players are abusing the system to fit their needs and further tightening is necessary.
More powerful rackets and balls with less felt have also intensified the physical nature of the sport. Players routinely use topspin on ground strokes not only to confuse opponents but to keep their more powerful shots inside the baseline. The absence of consistent serve-and-volleyers turns most singles matches into grinding physical wars of attrition.
Dr. Jim Loehr, a sports psychologist, who has written extensively about the mental phase of tennis and counseled a number of pros, said he watched the meltdowns by Williams and Azarenka at the Australian Open with fascination and amazement.
"It speaks to the pressures of tennis, the scoring and the huge fish bowl that these players face," Loehr said by phone from his tennis academy in Orlando, Fla. "You're better than the other player. You know you should be winning. But for whatever reason, you can't bring your game forward. You're lost in yourself. You're playing below your normal threshold. Frustration builds. You get tied up in knots. You're telling yourself, 'I feel like an idiot.' You can't produce the kind of response you're accustomed to."
Loehr added: "Azarenka was so far below her expectations. She was confused, disheartened, disappointing herself. You assume something physical because she's been tested psychologically in the past. But once you open the door, there are so many opportunities to exploit. Momentum shifts so quickly. Nobody knows if you have chest pains or back problems. I have not seen anything like that in a long time at a Grand Slam event."
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