Play the game
I’M not going to mention his name, but you know whom he is.
He’s a serial Wimbledon offender and he takes home too much money for not enough effort.
This time around he didn’t even try. He went out in the first match.
Less than an hour and he’s slouching in the press conference. “The Championships” were not impressed. You know who he is! Yeah ... He got fined 100 per cent of his match winnings because he was not meeting the minimum standards of professionalism. So he was $80,000 lighter, for not showing up and he doesn’t care.
So why do we? Why do we report on him?Why give him a press conference at all?
There are so many other interesting sports stories to tell.
Fast-forward to this week and the Barty Party has come to an unexpected halt.
After wining her first Grand Slam (something he has never been able to do) Ash Barty became No.1 in the world (again something he will never achieve).
Barty rolled into Wimbledon with great ambition and the first few rounds were a display in sensational professionalism. She was on fire and focused.
There was dispute about Ash not getting enough TV time, not enough Centre Court. But this happened around her. She did not drive it.
Barty looked unstoppable and had huge national expectation on her shoulders. So she could be forgiven if the loss produced a petulant reaction. But it didn’t.
In her final Wimbledon press conference for 2019, she was all class. “I didn’t win a tennis match,” she said.
“It’s not the end of the world ... the sun is still going to come up tomorrow.”
This is a champion player and champion person. The role model that we want for our young players, our young people and our older leaders.
Contrast this with the first round loser.
$80k for what? The amount of prize money was a surprise to many who watch the tennis in the lounge room. That’s 12 months’ wages, up in smoke.
If he wants to continue pretending to be a professional tennis player, he needs to go back to the school and remember it is a privilege to play elite sport. Yes, it is hard work, but plenty of people have invested in you to get you there. Taxpayer’s money has been spent on the development of people like this bloke.
If he wants to keep playing he should be forced to watch tapes of Barty’s games. Study the way she conducts herself. Then he should be forced to learn her press conferences word for word. He should have to recite them in the mirror and then repeat them at school assemblies all around the country. Only then should he be allowed to think about walking out onto the court again.
It costs big money to stay on the circuit, especially when you’re losing sponsors every week. So why are male athletes getting paid more than females in the same sports?
The argument about skill or capacity doesn’t hold water any more. This year AFLW proved that with an increased training foundation, the talent pool increases. If we invest in players, they can train full-time and the product improves for the consumer. Maybe it should be based on the amount of effort, the amount of preparation or even the degree of failure and success. This week the US women’s soccer team won its fourth World Cup. The American men’s team has never made a World Cup final and will never hold the trophy. The women’s tournament was watched by a billion people but they still don’t get paid as much as the blokes. In the Olympics the gold medals are all the same size. They don’t distinguish between age or gender. If you win, you win. On Monday night Ellyse Perry took 7-22. Amazing figures. She decimated England — and that’s what every Australian wants — with the best figures by an Australian in women’s ODI. Tonight the Australian men’s cricket team take on England in their semi-final of the cricket World Cup. If they play half as well as Perry and conduct themselves with the same professionalism and good humour as Ash Barty, we’ll be in with a chance and proud as punch.