| Waking up to a text message from Australia is always an interesting experience, given that their version of “today” has already ended by the time ours (at least on the West Coast) is properly beginning. “Hey pal,” read the first correspondence of my Wednesday morning, from close friend Matt Futterman, a New York Times journalist covering the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne. “Spend a little time this morning reading about the Kyrgios-Humbert match that unfolded while you were sleeping. Beautiful.” We don’t write about a ton of tennis on here, and unless my memory is malfunctioning, it’s the first time either Australia’s Nick Kyrgios (ranked 47th) or France’s Ugo Humbert (34th) have graced this column. But good friends give good advice and Futterman, author of the classic endurance athletics book “Running to the Edge,” was right. Not only was the match worth reading about, it was also, as the most thrilling and incident-packed clash of 2021’s first Grand Slam, worth tracking down a replay of. High level sports, conducted with ferocity and desire by two evenly-matched opponents, is something few of us can resist, but this was something more. The way it went down, and the setting in which it did so, was a peek into our sporting past. With the number of COVID-19 cases in Australia nowhere near what they are here in the United States (27.2 Million in America/28.8K in Australia) and thus able to host the first major global sports event that has only limited restrictions, John Cain Arena (at 50 percent capacity) resonated with sound, virtually all of it in support of Kyrgios, the hometown favorite and a compelling anti-hero. As Kyrgios cheekily served underarm as a surprise ploy – he does that sometimes – the locals screamed with delight. When he brought the drama with a heated interaction with the umpire over what he believed to be a faulty net cord machine, they hung on every word. As he exhorted them for even more noise, they roared. For a while, they grew nervous as it looked like Kyrgios, already having received two code violations, could let his temper get the best of him. Finally, as he saved a pair of Humbert match points in the fourth set to ultimately prevail in five, they bellowed their approval. By the end there was only one way to describe it. A party. “I don’t know how I did that,” Kyrgios said afterwards. “That was one of the craziest matches I’ve ever played.” I remember what it feels like to be in arenas like that, with a mostly mask-free audience that doesn’t have to feel guilty about what they’re doing, leaving them free to get so involved in the action they make the place rattle and shake. I’ve spent most of my working life grateful to be writing from such spots, the highlights being soccer World Cup stadiums, Olympics venues, NBA Finals and Super Bowls. I don’t know when I’ll feel it again. Sometimes it’s like it almost happened to a different person. It is a small loss and it’s a jealous one. Not being able to go to games or tournaments or events is truly trivial compared to the destruction so many have suffered, but it was less painful when no one else got to do it either. It is a little tougher when you see it elsewhere (albeit 19 hours of time difference and a 14-hour flight away), and while life under the enduring COVID grip is so darn pressurized. Australia feels a long way removed because it is such a geographical outlier, but this might as well have been taking place in a different era. It would be sweet to think this was a glimpse into our upcoming sports future, the old familiarity of bustling crowds and only marginal adjustments made for distancing. Maybe. Hopefully. But maybe it is too far gone for that. Maybe we’ve necessarily rejected human closeness for so long that we no longer want it. For the players in Australia, there were sacrifices that had to be made. Former U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens was one of many who spent a full two weeks in her hotel room, not even allowed out to practice, upon landing Down Under. On Monday, she lost to 26th seed Yulia Putintseva in a competitive first round three-setter, a fine effort given the circumstances. Stephens, who recently invested in nutritional product Quantum Energy Squares, told me via email that “seeing how things are in Australia gives me hope there is light at the end of the pandemic tunnel.” Eight-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic has been involved with a public war of words with Kyrgios the past week over various topics, but they agreed on one thing. Playing in front of a crowd, once taken for granted, is magical. “That’s one of the biggest motivations that we have, the source where we draw our energy and strength and motivation,” Djokovic told reporters. “At my age and stage of my career, I’m looking to feed off that energy from the crowd.” Of course, there have been people in attendance at American sports. The just-finished NFL season and ongoing NBA campaign has had limited numbers in certain spots. The Super Bowl had 22,000 spectators, mixed in with cardboard figures stationed at the empty seats. In Melbourne, it was different. They spilled into the aisles. They high-fived. They were a crowd – and they were together. The text message was right. It was beautiful. And, in the most selfish of ways, heartbreaking. Here’s what others have said … Naomi Osaka, women’s tennis player: “I’m just really happy to see people in the stands. It was a bit lonely in New York.” Venus Williams, women’s tennis player: “Compared to what we were playing [in front of] last year, which is zero, this is huge. I am not complaining. It’s exciting. I think every single person there was probably in awe to be sitting at a sporting event, as much as I was to have them there.” D’Arcy Maine, ESPN: “For those watching at home, particularly outside of Australia, the noise and sight of a live crowd will likely enhance the television experience, and perhaps show a light at the end of the tunnel following a harrowing year. For those competing, the significant return of fans is making it feel like an ordinary tennis tournament.” |
