Players’ box worth watching
One of the fascinations of the Australian Open tennis was the players’ boxes. There’s sometimes as much drama in the boxes as on court.
During one men’s semi-final, Andy Murray’s fiancee, Kim Sears, controversially unleashed foul- mouthed rants at his opponent, Tomas Berdych.
The Australian media helpfully drafted in a lip-reading expert to confirm precisely what swear words Sears had used.
The incident followed another in November when Roger Federer’s wife, Mirka, chided Swiss Stan Wawrinka during a torrid Masters semi- final in London.
Wawrinka, a placid personality, was so annoyed he argued about it with Federer afterwards.
Players’ boxes can be full of tension.
Bjorn Borg always played with coach Lennart Bergelin and girlfriend/ fiancee/ wife Mariana Simionescu in attendance.
Bergelin looked perpetually concerned. Simionescu chainsmoked – hard to imagine these days.
John McEnroe often had his father courtside. It amazed me how McEnroe senior, a New York lawyer, could watch his son swear and abuse officials, then act as if nothing untoward had happened.
These days, Murray has Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo coaching him.
Murray has been chided for choosing a woman as coach, so it was great he played so well in Melbourne and proved the naysayers wrong.
Previously Murray was coached by Ivan Lendl, who would imitate those Easter Island statues, sitting determinedly emotionless during his player’s matches.
Murray’s mother, Judy, wasn’t at the final in Melbourne, but she’s been a strong presence during Andy’s career, and generally very voluble during matches. Boris Becker once said: ‘‘Andy will never win a Grand Slam tournament until he ditches his mum.’’
As he often is, Becker was wrong.
These days Becker is in Novak Djokovic’s courtside box, looking like a puffed up former rock star.
Djokovic has done well with Becker in his camp, but he was already a champion, so how much credit goes to Becker is debatable.
Roger Federer has had several coaches.
Perhaps the best was Australian Tony Roche, but he was ditched after a disagreement about bonus payments and because Mirka didn’t feel he was cheering for Federer enthusiastically enough.
These days cool, calm Swede Stefan Edberg is Federer’s coach. He’s just turned 49 and looks as if he should still be on court.
Rafael Nadal has always had ‘‘Uncle Toni’’ as his coach. Uncle Toni never masks his emotions and always seems to expect the worst. He has become one of the characters of the pro tour.
It’s just as intriguing watching the players’ boxes during women’s matches.
Sometimes it’s distasteful, as when the aggressive, even violent, fathers of such players as Mary Pierce, Mirjana Lucic and Jelena Dokic were around.
At other times it’s comical – Maria Sharapova’s father used to signal to her what to eat or drink on end changes.
The most interesting times have been when the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, are playing.
In the early days there was a huge cast in their box – parents, extended family and assorted friends.
Then the parents, Richard and Oracene, split. After that Oracene remained in the box and Richard would be spotted skulking somewhere else in the stadium.
One thing about the Williams camp: there was never any doubt about their wholehearted support of Venus and Serena – they were unashamedly loud and aggressive.