A boycott at Wimbledon
QUESTION Why was there a boycott of Wimbledon
in 1973? In 1973, the tennis world was governed by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), a traditional organisation that suffered from old-fashioned snobbishness.
nikola (niki) Pilic of Yugoslavia was picked to represent his country in that year’s Davis Cup against new Zealand in Zagreb, but chose instead to play in the doubles at a tournament in Canada.
This was seen as a direct snub to his country’s tennis organisers and, indirectly, to the hallowed ITF. It sent Pilic a telegram to inform him he would be unable to play at Wimbledon because of an ITF ruling that states that players who were not ‘in good standing with their national associations’ were barred from entering ITF competitions.
This suspension imposed on Pilic meant he had no say in his career path.
Around this time, a new players’ union, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), was starting, and the Pilic case was seen as a perfect one with which to test its strength. ATP president Cliff Drysdale threatened the ITF, warning that his members would boycott Wimbledon if the ban on Pilic was allowed to stand.
The suspension was reduced to one month, but this still meant he could not play at Wimbledon, and the ATP felt it had to stand firm to have any credibility in the future, so most of its members withdrew from that year’s Wimbledon.
All but three members, including the previous year’s champion Stan Smith, complied with the boycott. Those who did not were Romanian no 2 seed Ilie nastase, England’s no 16 seed Roger Taylor and Australia’s Ray Keldie.
Wimbledon went ahead with its championship, although it had to rearrange the players’ list and matches. To make up the numbers, all manner of people — ageing players, college players, in fact, almost anyone who was able to swing a racquet — were sought. Women players weren’t involved in the boycott, though Billie Jean King tried to persuade the ATP to include them.
nastase was upgraded to no 1 seed, Taylor was promoted to no 3, and a couple of up-and- coming youngsters — Jimmy Connors from the U.S. and a teenager from Sweden called Bjorn Borg — made the quarter-finals. The general feeling among the public was against the boycott and the crowds still turned up in numbers.
The tournament was won by Czech Jan Kodes, predominantly a clay court player, who beat Russian Alex Metreveli 6-1, 9-8 (7-5), 6-3.
The match of the tournament was Kodes’ defeat of home favourite Roger Taylor in the semi-finals 8–9, 9–7, 5–7, 6–4, 7–5.
As a result of the boycott, the ATP was able to look after its members and increase their wages over the years. Tennis thrived, too, as that year Wimbledon attracted its second biggest attendance in its history. Mick Jones, Northfleet, Kent.
QUESTION We yawn when we’re tired, but is it possible to do so when you are asleep? And are we capable of any other similar actions when we sleep?
YAWNING is rare during sleep, but not unknown, and the reason people yawn remains uncertain.
It was historically believed that yawning was due to low oxygen levels in the blood stream, thus causing you to take a deep breath when you require extra oxygen, particularly when you are feeling drowsy.
This is no longer thought to be the case. An increasing body of evidence suggests that it might also be part of a thermoregulatory response that helps cool the brain by shunting blood to facial muscles that act as radiators and offload heat from the redirected blood.
When the head begins to heat up, yawning acts as a natural ‘thermostat’ by allowing cool air to rush in and bring the brain back down to a healthy temperature. A number of recent studies support this theory: one found that applying cold packs to the subjects’ heads practically eliminated contagious yawning.
A second study demonstrated that yawning frequency differed from season to
season and was more likely to occur when the outside temperature is either equal to, or higher than, internal body temperature.
The theory suggests that by lowering brain temperature and maintaining thermal homeostasis, instead of prompting sleep, yawning actually serves to maintain focus and attention, thereby antagonising sleep. Furthermore, some studies have shown that yawning is accompanied by increases in heart rate, lung volume and eye muscle tension, three physiological effects different from those that
accompany a normal deep inhalation. Stress and anxiety cause the brain to heat up, which neatly explains the otherwise inexplicable tendency for yawning in stressful environments, for example, pupils about to take exams, parachutists about to jump from a plane and olympic athletes getting ready to compete. According to Matthew R. Ebben, director of laboratory operations at the Centre for Sleep Medicine at new York, ‘yawning is certainly less common during sleep, but cases of it have been documented’. Yawning is a semiautomatic reflex that originates in the brain stem in response to external stimuli so clearly if the brain overheats when asleep yawning may occur.
It is most common in babies — suggesting their thermoregulatory control is less well developed. Interestingly, in humans yawning can be observed while a baby is in the womb by the third trimester.
This early development, and its prevalence in even quite rudimentary animals such as reptiles and even fish, is evidence of its evolutionary antiquity.
Many other unusual actions occur in our sleep: there are recorded instances of sneezing, moaning and even crying while asleep. Then there is the dreaded hypnic jerk — when you jolt awake just as you’ve started falling asleep.
There are also various parasomnias — sleepwalking, sleeptalking, and teeth grinding are familiar, but there are also documented cases of sleep eating, sleep driving and even sleep murder!
Dr Ian Smith, Cambridge.
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