|
WTA vs Hollywood: Catfights in Competition
by Nadya Vlassoff
In the competitive world of sports there is very little margin for error. It's the same as the weekly race at the box-office, as several movies compete for your attention and hard earned dollars. Similar to when a movie is in production, with an A-list cast and various big name producers and directors, a variety of factors can affect athletes in the sports world. Some examples are injuries, scandals and, in some cases, even friendships. It can be slightly disconcerting for the rest of us to view friendship as a pitfall to one's success in competition but in sports, especially individual ones like tennis and golf, camaraderie does not necessarily translate into a benefit. It's very different than casting your friends in a project in the collaborative filmmaking world of Hollywood.
 In the 2008 Australian Open, Serbian tennis star Ana Ivanovic took to the court in the women's semi-final against Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, who were both considered to be friends off the court. After the trouncing that Ivanovic gave to Hantuchova on the international sports stage - 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 despite leading the showdown 6-0, 2-0 - it's hard to consider how long the friendship lasted after that. This isn't to say that it is impossible to remain friends and keep the tennis separate, but in a world where being number one translates into being the only one, there's not a lot of room to share. If you look to Hollywood, someone has to get top billing on a movie, friend or not. But the movie industry is different since those concessions come with the job and are reliant on where an actor is in the box-office pecking order and how much he or she can command as a star.
In the women's tennis world, however, The Fed Cup is an event where the claws truly come out. In international competition, it's one of the few tennis tournaments were national teams compete every year. For the women it is Fed Cup while the men square off in the Davis Cup. A few years ago, the then #3 ranked player on the WTA tour, Anastasia Myskina of Russia, told reporters that she would refuse to play for her country if the Russian coaches let former #1 ranked star Maria Sharapova play, even though she technically should not have qualified for it after becoming ineligible after a series of withdrawals. Can you see the catfight heating up?
 However,
for Russia, there was much more at stake because
a player must be eligible to play on the team
for at least two consecutive years in order
to take part in the Olympics. In Beijing, Sharapova
did not play due to injury while Myskina hasn't
been heard from in over a year and the less
formidable Russian player, Elena Demenetieva,
captured the gold medal. Was the outright dissent
within the women's team really necessary? It's
hard to say since injury is the biggest problem
women players have to deal with on tour. Even
if Sharapova had entered this year's Olympics
as an eligible candidate to compete for a medal,
there wasn't a guarantee that she would have
even made the podium. As related to Hollywood,
there's no guarantee a film will be a hit with
fans and turn a profit.
What it comes down to is the reality of competition. The more a player wins, the more money they make, their popularity grows, sponsors roll in and the more money they make. Although actors are competitive in Hollywood, a similar dynamic exists for women tennis stars in the WTA. A "slam" win in Australia, England, Paris, and New York only adds to the prestige of one's career. It's like Cate Blanchett winning Best Actress at the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards. Winning the Golden Slam, however, all the slams plus the gold medal in one year, is a dream to most but a reality for only a select few elite, like Steffi Graph who accomplished the feat in 1988. The difference in Hollywood is that not all awards carry the same weight as the Oscars or the Globes.
 Like
actresses, the conundrum for girls of tennis
is what they must give up in order to attain
their dreams. Specifically with regard to success
on the court, hours and hours of training, press,
travel and injuries take a toll on their bodies
and minds, but it seems like a price they are
willing to pay for now. Friendship, especially
on the tour, seems like a far-fetched reality.
With so much at stake after making such huge
sacrifices, friendship will have its limits.
The WTA isn't like the second season of Survivor
- Survivor: Outback - where you'll see the #1
ranked player hand over top spot just because
they became friends. But let's not confuse friendship
and support. When Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters
first burst onto the tennis scene a decade ago,
a rivalry between the two quickly developed.
Whether it was because they were both Belgian,
it's hard to say. But combined with the fact
that they consistently ranked one after the
other, there was something thrilling about watching
one of their matches, especially during slam
season. The same could be said for the Serena
and Venus Williams. As much as they openly supported
each other on and off the court, there was always
the over-the-shoulder glare from Venus that
was met by a scream of frustration from Serena
on missed volley.
And now there is the Serbian duo of Jelena
Jankovic, the current world #1, and Ana Ivanovic,
the reigning French Open champion and media
darling. Jelena has stated how she likes the
way Serbian tennis has improved, which includes
their countryman Novak Jankovic, who is the
reigning Australian Open Champion. Yet, neither
Ana nor Jelena have alluded to a friendship,
especially since the two consistently make it
to the semi-final of most tournaments. When
the two have squared off against each other,
Ivanovic has almost always come out the victor,
a trend that Jankovic is desperate to end. And
while you can look to Hollywood for an alternate
view, a lack of friendship, strife, and conflict
can be the best things to improve your image
and your financial potential.
 On today's men's tour, it feels as though there are fewer burned bridges despite the existing tension. Are women tennis stars more caddy than their male counterparts? As true as that may be, there is simply difficulty in establishing a strong friendship in a sport that focuses so much on the individual. Do you beat your opponent decisively and take advantage of the fact that you know their weak spots? Or do you let them get their shots in and make it a close game with the off-court bond in mind? Both have dangerous consequences. Every athlete knows that the more strain they put on their bodies, the greater the risk of injury. Despite that, is it better not to embarrass a friend on an international stage in front of millions of viewers? Perhaps no one but the on-court athletes will ever know the decisions they wrestle with during a match against a friend.
But as much as friendship might be beneficial on the tour, it can also be very costly in more ways than one. How would you take it if your friend beat you out of a multi-million dollar endorsement deal or killed your career 6-0, 6-0? It would make the perfect tennis movie, filled with the drama of catfights in competition?
|
