Aussie Open offers reminders that sports reflect society
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA>>
Novak Djokovic is back at the Australian Open, which is newsworthy, yes, mainly because of the reason he was not in the tournament a year ago: He is not vaccinated against COVID-19.
Another player — albeit one who is lowerranked, less successful and less famous, Camila Giorgi — drew scrutiny because of published repor ts in her home country of Italy about whether she got a fake vaccine certificate from a doctor under investigation that would allow her to travel.
“Unbelievable,” Giorgi’s father, Sergio, said when that subject was the only one addressed during her news conference at Melbourne Park on Tuesday. “No questions about tennis.”
Ah, welcome to the modern world. Tennis, in particular, and sports, in general, can’t help but reflect society.
And that means athletes, spectators and the folks who run leagues and events must contend with, and perhaps confront, whatever the prevailing global touchpoints are at any given time.
A pandemic. A war. Mental health. #Metoo. Gun violence. And so on.
“There’s always those that say, ‘ Politics and social issues, and sports or entertainment, shouldn’t mix. They should be separate.’ But that’s not reality, either, because you’re dealing with people who are being affected by those things. And so, like it or not, you have to be involved with it,” WTA CEO and Chairman Steve Simon said. “And it does direct and force you to make decisions that maybe you traditionally wouldn’t want to do.”
More than a year ago, Simon declared the women’s professional tennis tour would remove all of its tournaments from China over concerns about the wellbeing of Peng Shuai, a Grand Slam doubles champion who accused a former government official of sexual assault.
Simon wanted a full and transparent inquiry into her allegations and a chance for the tour to communicate with Peng — none of which has happened — and so he still will not commit to bringing WTA events back to China.
With an eye to that matter, along with the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, Simon said: “I’m hopeful that we are moving on to a quieter 2023 with a little fewer of these.”
When Ar yna Sabalenka, a Belarusian seeded No. 5 at the year’s first Grand Slam tournament, was asked Tuesday about a new Tennis Australia policy preventing spectators from bringing f lags representing her country or Russia — which invaded Ukraine nearly a year ago — to matches, so as not to cause disruptions, her response was a bit surprising.
“I really thought that ... sport ( has) nothing to do with politics,” Sabalenka said.
Thi s f rom some - one who, like all players from Russia or Belarus, was barred from competing at Wimbledon last year because of the war, leading the tennis tours to take the unprecedented step of withholding ranking points from that prestigious event.