If you haven’t realised the world has undergone a massive change in the last month, I’d accuse you of living under a rock, but I couldn’t blame you.
In the last four weeks or so the entertainment industry has virtually, well, gone virtual. Live performances are non-existent. Actors, musicians, magicians, comedians have all had to change the way they entertain their fans, if they can still do it.
Radio presenters are broadcasting from the comfort of their own homes. People who can work from home, are. While thousands of others in hospitality and retail have lost their jobs completely. The medical industry seems to be holding up, in this country at least, but for those who have voluntarily taken themselves into complete social isolation (except for obvious necessities), like myself, you may notice one notable absentee from your life. Sport.
Apart from the now famous Belarusian Premier League and horse racing, sport has been cancelled across the globe, at all levels.
And thinking about it over the past few days, sport is an international language. Whether it be football, soccer, cricket, netball, tennis, basketball, golf, baseball, hockey, motor racing, most people around the world would have their chosen dialect. And this form of communication, or connection, has suddenly been taken away.
You know, apart from sport, one of my other interests is comedy. And from about 1993 to around 2006, NBC was promoting their famous Thursday Night line-up, with the phrase “Must See TV”. Shows like Seinfeld, Friends, Mad About You, Wings, Frasier, ER, Will & Grace and a bunch of other hit shows that I’m sure you’d be familiar with all rotated through Thursday nightat some stage. It was called “Must See TV” because there was no way to catch up, if you missed an episode. There was no YouTube, no Netflix, no apps linked with TV stations to watch at your own convenience. So if you missed an episode of one of these shows on a Thursday night, you got left behind in the conversations at work on Friday. That so called “Water Cooler Culture”, where you gathered around the water cooler, or staff room and talked about shows you watched the night before. Now, obviously “Must See TV” cannot exist in entertainment in this day and age, because everyone is watching something different on Netflix, if you miss a show on TV, you can catch up on one of the related apps the next night. If you miss an episode of any show, on any platform, you have months to catch-up.
However, I think the “Water Cooler Culture” and to an extent “Must See TV”, if I think about it, still exists in a sporting context. Sport is the main topic of our “Water Cooler Culture”, because it’s live TV. If you miss watching a game live, it is extremely hard to block out the chatter the next day between family, friends or colleagues. Did you see that race, did you see that match, did you see that tweener, that goal, that speccy, that shot, that putt, that tackle, that pass, that dunk, that injury, do you think they’ll get up this weekend, this is our common language. And it’s spoken internationally, if you speak to the right person. Not just at work, or school, or at dinner, but with friends or family from all over the globe. Sport connects a huge percentage of the world.
So naturally, as a member of the Gen Y community, I went to social media to get a range of opinions from my network.
I got responses ranging, from the changes in physical and mental health due to not being able to play local sport, to sport acting as a distraction from reality, to making a team for the first time and not being able to play, to not being able to help in the set-up of local sports, to losing that small boost of confidence from a good win, to the competition and rivalry and not even being able to race someone to the end of the street, to not being able to attend a footy game (you’ve already got tickets for) for the first time in years, to stress release and the obvious social aspect. Sports mentioned, included footy, soccer, tennis, squash, boxing, running, goalball, hockey, basketball, netball and even wrestling.
Some people are filling the void with video games, some are watching replays and old footage and even the professionals are practising the basics in their backyards. Let’s take a quick look at what some of our favourite tennis players are doing during their time in isolation.
Roger Federer started a challenge for all his social media followers, now called #HatTapChallenge, Tennis players and fans, from all over the world are uploading videos of themselves in crazy hats, volleying a ball against a wall as many times as they can. There’s also a #100VolleyChallenge that players are having a go at. Sam Stosur, Coco Gauff, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Ellen Perez, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Ash Barty, the Bryan Brothers and plenty of others have had a go at different variations too. Elsewhere around the tour, Nick Kyrgios got a tribute to Kobe Bryant tattooed on his arm, Andrea Petkovic is loving hosting her Racquet Book Club on Instagram. Rafael Nadal is posting cooking videos. And Alex De Minaur is posting random golf shots, as well as an ad he shot for Wilson Tennis in a demon emoji outfit. My favourite tennis Instagram post so far, though, is from Santiago Gonzalez on April 6th. He’s created a marching band with a golf club, tennis racquet, his wife, kids and what appear to be plastic plates. Go check it out.
What I’m trying to say is that, if you follow some of the world’s best tennis players on social media, they are doing their best to keep you entertained in fun and creative ways. And I think it shows their human side. Their day job has been taken away, so they are forced to find other things to do with their time.
However, it’s obvious that live sport and local leagues have a huge effect on people, all over the world, physically, mentally, emotionally and socially.
Personally, I’m trying to stay as fit as I can inside, while also dropping a few kilos, so when my local tennis club opens up again, I’m ready and raring to go on a Thursday morning. Watching footy without the crowd just wasn’t the same. And it’s funny, as Melbourne supporters my dad and I were both still yelling at the TV, even though it had already been announced a few hours earlier that the season was going to be halted. We still had that same passion for our team, despite knowing round two was not guaranteed.
I think, for me, sport also proves that the impossible is possible. Maybe not possible for me, but there are definitely athletes out there that are almost superhuman. That’s why I miss watching tennis. It’s the show business factor that I love talking about. Watching the best of the best day in and day out and marvelling at their ability and lifestyles, even though I have no interest in living that lifestyle myself. From travelling every other week, to living out of suitcases, different hotel rooms, constantly on the move and making sure your team is settled. It’s amazing to imagine, but very few are suited to it, just like showbiz. I’m definitely going to miss staying up late to watch Wimbledon and getting up early to watch the night sessions at the US Open this year. Seeing these players in person every January, then following them through social media and television throughout the year just adds to the yearlong spectacle that they are happy to provide. And it gives me that showbiz tingle, that’s almost addictive and local sport can’t provide, knowing these players are putting everything into each match they play and still have to show up every other day for their next one.
So when sport returns, both locally and professionally, I think everyone is going to smile, take a sigh of relief and enjoy every minute of their chosen games, while maybe even discovering some new ones. We’ll get sport back soon, but for now, just remember your favourite team or player is the best and there’s no way to prove otherwise