Few sports guard their image with as much diligence as tennis. For a fortnight the pretty face of the gentle game took a battering in Melbourne, bouncing from one public relations disaster to another, and the bruises will last.
The image meltdown began with the reluctance of the Australian Open to acknowledge with sufficient speed and clarity what everyone in the city – everyone in the country and around the world – knew about the choking effects of bushfire smoke. It then moved on to the similar impact the twisted moral rectitude of Margaret Court had on everyone not born in the 19th century, most publicly Martina Navratilova and John McEnroe, who objected to the 77-year-old legend’s hardwired homophobia and almost forgotten apartheid apologia. Holy smoke, indeed.
Written by Kevin Mitchell
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/feb/03/australian-open-2020-tournament-tarnished-tennis-image under the title “Australian Open 2020: the tournament that tarnished tennis’s image | Kevin Mitchell”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
