When Elena Vesnina asks Carlos Alcaraz if his heart ‘is taken,’ there can be several interpretations. One might think that it does tennis no harm to talk a little about personal life, about the human and the divine, instead of insisting so much on unforced errors and the ranking one aspires to at the end of the season. One might think that Alcaraz resolved the issue quickly and astutely, with a ‘he’s single’ that left no room for further questions.
And one might also wonder what would happen to a real journalist, someone who is a media professional and not a recently retired tennis player, if they dared to ask that question to any player.
Most likely, it would unleash a storm, a series of criticisms from the powers that be in tennis, followed by threats to revoke their press credentials. Their ability to do journalism would be called into question, as would their sense of professional and personal ethics, and they would be subjected to fierce harassment on social media.
Asking Alcaraz if he is in love is not for just anyone. It is certainly not something for journalists who regularly cover tennis!
Of course not. To ask that question, you have to be a former tennis player, even if you ask it in the same place and under the same circumstances that would lead to the virtual stoning of any journalist who dared to be so bold.
However, there are other options, besides Vesnina, former world number one in doubles and much loved during her years on the tourt, to find out if Alcaraz is in love, if his heart belongs to someone.
The best way to do this is to be an influencer. To be, for example, one of the 14 chosen by the ATP to join the ‘Tennis Creators Network’.
What is that? The ATP explains: ‘The programme brings together a selection of dynamic TikTok creators from around the world, giving them unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to the season finale in Turin and opportunities to connect fans with the sport’s biggest stars’.
See what it says: ‘Unprecedented behind-the-scenes access’ for ‘dynamic’ TikTokers to “connect” their fans with the players.
There is a third option, besides Vesnina and the ‘dynamic’ ones, if you want to ask Alcaraz about his relationship status: work at Spotify.
Once again, the ATP explains it very well: ‘The ATP will team up with Spotify to distribute original tennis programming that brings fans closer to the sport (…). One of the first projects will be a behind-the-scenes documentary on the 2025 Nitto ATP Finals, set to debut in December.’ Remember Netflix’s “Break Point”? It was a failure.
Behind the scenes doesn’t work for Morgan Riddle, Taylor Fritz’s girlfriend, either. She recently complained that it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to get tournaments to allow them to generate ‘content’, a word that hides contempt for journalism.
It would be unfair, however, to reduce everything to Vesnina, the dynamic TikTokers and Spotify: the fourth, unbeatable option is to be a tennis player.
This is the case of Argentine Federico Coria, who uses his mobile phone to record scenes and statements that are unattainable for any journalist. He does it with ingenuity and skill, he does it well. But if a journalist wanted to do a quarter of what he does, they would be unceremoniously expelled from the circuit.
We have to accept it: tennis is at war with journalists, with those who write or work in radio and do not have the advantage of working for a major sponsor or one of the television networks that pay fortunes to keep the tennis wheel turning.
There are tournaments where appreciation and respect for journalists still remain, as is generally the case at Wimbledon, heir to a British tradition that still admires its ‘tennis writers’.
But in the vast majority of the tennis world, and in much of its governing bodies, journalists are increasingly less appreciated and increasingly despised.
Consolation? It’s not just something that happens in tennis, and of course journalism is partly responsible for this situation. But if the future is one of tennis reported by influencers and sponsors, the future will be one of worse tennis.
Make no mistake. And don’t say we didn’t warn you.
