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Ben Shelton, respect and going viral

Ben Shelton
Ben Shelton celebra en su triunfo sobre el italiano Lorenzo Sonego en el Abierto de Australia / Kyodo News action Press
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MELBOURNE

– Tennis journalism will soon be left with only Wimbledon. There, on the surface where it all began, the press remains a valued and respected institution. Elsewhere, partly at the expense of television, the press is increasingly marginalised, increasingly battered. And not just in tennis, of course, just listen to Donald Trump and Javier Milei.

But Ben Shelton doesn’t have to know all this.

The 22-year-old American, a refreshing figure in tennis, complained on Wednesday, after advancing to the semi-finals of the Australian Open, about the way he has been being interviewed by local television after his matches. He has a right to complain and it’s also good that he’s talking about it openly rather than keeping his anger to himself.

But there is one thing that Shelton and those who follow tennis should be clear about: television is one thing, especially television that pays for the rights to a major sporting event, and journalism is another.

It would not be fair to say that Ben Shelton criticised the press or journalism.

In television, other standards prevail, less and less journalistic. Those who run television often look down on the journalist and put someone who ‘entertains’ in his or her place. And entertaining is hard work, it is not so easy to achieve, not everyone is an entertainer.

At the Australian Open something particular happens: everyone, openly or more discreetly, would like to interview with the style and results shown by Jim Courier, former world number one and two-time champion of the tournament. But there is only one Courier, and who would want a photocopy if they can have the original?

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From this intention to be a Courier II comes the misunderstandings, the supposedly funny questions that are not funny, the heterodox comments that as soon as they come out of the mouth are confirmed as a bad idea…

We must also take into account the tremendous pressure on each of these interviewers to get their interviewee to launch the phrase of the day, to make those seconds go viral, because viralisation is nowadays the measure of all things. A job can depend on viralisation at the right time. Or many.

Is it fair to ask that of a journalist? Is it fair to ask that of an ex-tennis player who plays at being a journalist? Maybe so, but it has its risks. It happened with John Fitzgerald, the great Australian tennis player of the 1980s, who found himself outclassed in the head-to-head with Learner Tien, as Ben Rothenberg painstakingly reflects in Bounces.

At the same time, Shelton asks for respect, and it’s good that he does. Just one question, was his staging of a phone call after a big point respectful? Not to mention Novak Djokovic’s in the 2023 US Open semi-final that he beat Shelton: the Serb, a thin-skinned man in front of an Australian Channel 9 reporter who fell into the trap of seeking salvation in going viral.

[ CLAY is read for free. But if you can, please make a contribution here so we can keep writting great #TennisTales around the world. It’s very easy and quick – thank you! ]

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