Bizarre Traits of the Tennis Players
A player can’t escape a single moment when he is playing the game before a crowd of hundreds and thousands of people. Every stir and move on the court is observed with great attention and conversations are stricken up among various groups of people. In the present age, the evolution of technology and sophisticated equipment has made it possible to capture every scene of the game and save it as a memory.
The matches are broadcasted live from the venue to the whole world. Due to strong interactive media, people have come to find out about the bizarre traits of players. The weird expressions of frustration and gestures of extra-excitement add a great glint into the game. The fans enjoy their favourite players making funny faces and doing strange things during the game-play.
Some odd habits are associated with the world’s famous players such as Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova, and Novak Djokovic. In this regard, the most highlighted players are Nadal and Novak Djokovic who actually lifted up tennis idiosyncrasies to the Olympic level. No doubt these quirks are always a part of the game but sometimes they irritate the opponents in an adverse way.
The current World Number 1 Rafael Nadal has some intricate behaviour’s which have nothing to do with his brilliant game. For instance, the weird kangaroo jumps can frequently be seen when he is in the locker room. Other than that, Ultra-precise drink bottles line up on switch over, compulsive towelling off between the points, and equally neurotic wiping of lines with his shoes, even when the lines are already spotless are a few of his odd habits. Once he was asked by a news reporter about the backward grab at the seat of his tennis shorts, Nadal said that the trouble was actually his bottom. “A little bigger than normal,” he explained.
The World Number 2 Novak Djokovic is also believed to have same wicked traits which are sometimes viewed very awkward. Djokovic bounces the ball many a time before he serves. It creates a psychological impact and can be very annoyed particularly before big points. In the third round match of French Open this year, his opponent Wayne Odesnik was so annoyed that he turned his back to the spectators while Djokovic continued bouncing the ball.
Typically Djokovic starts his game bouncing the ball 8, 9, 10, and sometimes 25 times before pitching it into the air which is obviously quite irritating. Before Djokovic, the German female player Sylvia Hanika of 80s carried the same habit. She used to bounce the ball 30 times or more. The tennis legend Bud Collins said, “if she slipped on the first, it was terrible, another 30 or so bounces.”
The current rules of tennis specify that a player has only 20 seconds to pitch the ball in the play after the last point has ended. These rules are not firmly enforced, which is why Nadal’s towel- gripping and pant adjusting and Djokovic’s ball bouncing, can often increase the gap between two points to 30 seconds or more.
Back in the strange habits department, Roger Federer’s occasional and superfluous head shakes and racket twisting before receiving a serve put him in the same category of players who have eccentric traits.
The Russian Maria Sharapova has the habit to avoid the stepping on the lines between points. The Serbian Ana Ivanovic has also developed the same habit.
Some of the players have passed interesting remarks about these quirks in the game of tennis. The German player Nicolas Kiefer likes to tap the corner of the court using his racket before returning serve. Kiefer made a funny comment in an interview that “The day will come when I will place my racket away and stop the ball with these tics”.
All these tactics and quirks are essentially natural and if they will be eliminated from the game, it will kill the pleasure of watching the game.
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