C’mon
January 27th, 2005There’s one thing in Australia that is not right, and that’s the Tall Poppy Syndrome, where if someone rises up and does well, they are cut down for whatever minute reason by critics and people who will always have an opinion. One of these critics is Mike Gibson, knocking Hewitt for having passion and the will to win, for psyching his apponent out. Sure Hewitt went a little too far with his “C’mons”, but tennis is a tough game, if you want to play a more sissy sport, try badmington.
With 6 minutes left to what was Australia day, I, along with 4 friends were on the edge of our seats cheering Lleyton Hewitt on to win and jumping around when he did so after a grueling match that had more swings than a swingers orgy. Hewitt had what looked like an easy coast into the semi’s after taking the first two sets convincingly. John Alexander, one of the commentator said, “Hewitt’s got one foot in the door to the semi’s now. As things would have it, Hewitt’s injury caught up with him and he lost the next two sets. This was when it got tense. Point for point it went, Hewitt looked as though he would callapse.
But Hewitt is a courageous fighter, playing two 5 set matches injured, having the heart to give his all when his body wouldn’t, and then prevailing. C’mon, if thats not the aussie never say die attitude, then I don’t know what is. We should take inspiration from that and support him, not nitpick him for his game play.
Hopefully hundreds, if not thousands of young kids Australia wide will have seen this match and be inspired by this never say die attitude and pick up a racquet , bat or book and take inspiration from Lleyton.
Two more games to go, I don’t care if he wins from here on in, seeing him come through the last two matches was enough.
dlog is by
January 27th, 2005 at 2:35 pm
Sure tennis is a tough game, but so is every other game that consists of the planets elite.
I applaud Lleyton for his courageous performance last night, and I do agree he portrays the ‘never say die’ attitude very well.
What I don’t agree with is the psyching out of opponents. Maybe it is part of the game, but there are better ways of doing this instead of looking like an arrogant prick.
Yelling out ‘C’mon!’ as your opponent misses a very important point adding to his list of unforced errors, is showing a tremendous display of bad sportsmanship.
Something not everyone knows without watching the entire game itself, was when Lleyton failed to acknowledge any gratitude when his own opponent applauded him for a well played shot. Lleyton stood there staring blankly leaving his opponent clapping foolishly.
In regards to Australias well known ‘Tall Poppy Syndrome’ problem, I beleive this is one poppy that needs to be cut back down to earth.
Assuming you watched the match last night, I’m sure you would’ve noticed Lleytons hesitation at psyching his opponent out whenever his opponent missed a shot. Lets hope its a step in the right direction where this lad can learn something about being a little more humble.
As for him being a good role model to kids, I don’t think it would be a good idea for the youth of today to provoke an opponent if they made an error whether it be tennis, soccer, rugby etc etc.
Bit of a rant there, thats just my honest opinion. Nice dlog dude
January 27th, 2005 at 3:01 pm
I think Lleyton gets in a zone when he plays. He’s a nice enough guy afterwards in the interviews to be humble enough to say that that he hasn’t won it yet and will take it one match at a time, respecting his apponents.
I’m not sure if he saw Blake clapping, he turned his back right after the point to look at his support box.
Definitely, kids should take inspiration from the skill and heart of Lleyton, not his how he psyches his apponents out.
cheers