In honor of Wimbledon 2024, here are a few words on tennis etiquette excerpted from Etiquetteer’s recent presentation Tennis Etiquette Through the Edwardian Era, given last month to the Nahant Tennis Club for the 150th anniversary of the first tennis game played in America.
Merriam-Webster’s officially defines sportsmanship as “Conduct (such as fairness, respect for one’s opponent, and graciousness in winning or losing) becoming to one participating in a sport.” So this would include giving one’s opponents the benefit of the doubt, for instance, and very much keeping one’s composure whatever the result of a match. No sulking and pouting and temperament when losing, but no loud crowing and excessive exultation when winning either. The Gentlemen’s Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness of 1860 puts it thus: “While indulging in the recreational sports which are to restore and invigorate us, we must be mindful of the many points of etiquette and kindness which will do much, if properly attended to, to promote the enjoyment of our exercise, and we propose to review the principal exercises used among us, and to point out in what places the delicate and gentlemanly attention to our companions will do the most to establish, for the person who practises them, the reputation of a polished gentleman.”
Those “many points of kindness and etiquette” would include:
Hold your tongue. “A gentleman will never deride anyone for his bad play, nor give vent to oaths, or strong epithets, if disappointed in the playing of one of his side,” said The Gentlemen’s Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness, and that is Absolutely Perfectly Proper.
Pay attention. This advice was rather condescendingly directed to the ladies by Lieut. S.C.F. Pelle in his Lawn Tennis, but it really applies to all players. “Above all, let her pay attention, and not let her mind or eyes wander over to the other courts, or to inspect some new arrival. There is nothing more galling than to find one’s partner inattentive.”
Just play the game. “Never apologize by saying you ‘thought the ball was not going to come over the net,’ Lieut. Pelle continued; '“it is your duty not to think, but to place yourself in such a position that, if the ball does come over, you can take it.”
Shake hands simply and directly at the end of the match. In every tennis match there is a winner and a loser. And whatever one’s position, it’s important to approach the net that final time without an excess of emotion. It’s one thing to celebrate a victory, but another to rub your opponent’s face in it. And after a great effort, it can feel crushing not to win. But this is your opportunity to salute your opponent’s abilities with a kind word and an unflinching gaze. Nothing indicates good sportsmanship better in that moment of “the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat” as being able to look your opponent directly in the eye and simply and firmly shake hands. Exhausted and disappointed as one might be, this is no time for a limp hand and a wandering gaze!
One final word, from Lieut. Pelle: “Above all things, do not get excited, but play coolly and collectedly.”
How the spectators behave during a match can have an impact on the players, and therefore the outcome. Big Bill Tilden, one of the greatest tennis players ever, felt they had a responsibility to understand tennis from its deepest core. “Tennis,” he wrote in The Common Sense of Tennis, “is not a game for the player only. It is a game so essentially dramatic, pictorial and intriguing that the public has taken it to its heart and claimed it for its own. There is a real art in watching tennis. The gallery plays just as great a part in a match as do the players and officials. Intelligence in watching tennis is an assistance to the player and an increased source of enjoyment to the onlooker.”
Dorothea Lambert Chambers (left) vs. May Sutton, Wimbledon, 1906.
Besides being intelligent, a good tennis spectator is silent, concentrated, and does not block the view. The necessity of all these qualities is summed up by Dorothea Lambert Chambers, the great English tennis champion, recalling her Wimbledon match against the American May Sutton in 1906: “Concentration on the game in this match was terribly difficult, as the crowd was so huge and seemed so excited . . . I can quite well remember a dispute going on in the open stand for quite a long time during the first set. I think a lady would not put down her sunshade; there was quite a commotion about it. And then people near would shout advice to me, or scream out ‘It’s over! Run!’ This happened two or three times; and although I knew they were trying to help me . . . it was very distracting and disconcerting.”
So, concentration of the players supersedes everything else both on and around the court. Indeed, tennis (and golf) are unique among spectator sports in that silence is very much required. Try that at a football game!
Etiquetteer wishes you undisturbed and concentrated happiness on, off and around the tennis court.