Sports Has a Bad Scriptwriter (OT)

The trouble with sports is that the writing is bad. So many times you get a story arc that's perfect and then it takes an abruptly awkward turn, or fizzles. Or something really wrong and "lifey" happens that offends our sense of the way things should be. If it were a movie or a Broadway show or a novel, the audience would be going, WTF? The producers in charge of pre-release focus-group testing would demand changes to the ending.

If the same writer that scripts sporting events were writing famous fictional endings:

• Ahab would eat contaminated lobster and die of food poisoning just before the crew of the Pequod kills Moby Dick in a routine hunt and renders him down into oil like all the other whales. Back in port, nobody believes the crew members when they claim one of the whales they killed was white.

• Hawkeye is accidentally run over by a jeep when the M.A.S.H. unit is bugging out in the last episode, and a screen crawl at the end informs the audience that he spent the rest of his life slow-witted from a brain injury, being spoon-fed soft food by his aging father back in Crab Apple Cove, Maine.

• Juliet awakens before Romeo kills himself and Romeo is eventually sentenced to life in prison for killing Paris. Juliet ends up marrying someone else years later, but it's kind of a humdrum marriage and she can never quite describe herself as happy.

• Luke misses the exhaust port and crashes his X-wing fighter into the tough skin of the Death Star, which reduces him instantly to bloody vapor. The Millennium Falcon is quickly captured and Princess Leia executed. C-3PO and R2-D2 are crushed for scrap. The Empire spreads propaganda all over the galaxy that the vicious and remorseless child-killers of the Rebel Alliance have been stomped out by the valiant servants of the people.

I could go on.

Anyway, what self-respecting scriptwriter would pen a movie in which the indisputably dominant tennis player of the decade of the 2010s goes on a great quest, an audacious quest, wins the first three majors of the year, and is one match away from the fourth, the rarest feat in the sport—only to succumb to a combination of pressure, strain, and fatigue and, billowing smoke, spin into the sea?

I guess the script makes sense to people who think Djokovic is an evil villain. It's the sort of comeuppance a scriptwriter would write for the bad guy nobody likes.

I like and admire Djokovic, though, so the terrible ending felt awful. Like a gut-punch. I hated it. Ruined the movie! Gratefully, the emotional hangover didn't last too long for me. Whew.

Flat-footed
And the worst thing about the script? I just knew the writing was going to be bad, that the script would get it wrong, all wrong. Real life usually ruins the perfect ending. Djokovic was flat all week, showing only sporadic flashes of his usual self. In press conferences he was terse, clipped, preoccupied. His normally intense focus was missing. Djokovic, renowned for his footwork and for running the legs off his opponents, was often off-balance, especially in the final but often before it. Dare I say it? He was slow. I sensed at the end of Week One that it was going to come down to Medvedev, and that Djokovic, if he was still standing, was going to fail. Honestly, he could have lost earlier; I wouldn't have been surprised if Zverev had dealt the death blow, or Berrettini, even Brooksby. It didn't matter. No one remembers who shot the poison-tipped arrow that hit Achilles in the heel.

The real problem IMO was that Djokovic, who is renowned for relentlessly removing every fault from his game and resolutely optimizing the preparation of his body in every way, didn't take similarly thorough care of himself psychologically. To get all the way to the end under such terrible strain that he's sobbing uncontrollably into his towel near the end of the match...there's just no way he should have gotten that deep into the tournament carrying all that. A good sports psychologist would have found a way to get him to release that tension earlier in the tournament, and to thoroughly confront the spectre of losing. To be relaxed enough to win, he should have been prepared completely for defeat. It was the only way. Medvedev won, but Djokovic had already been defeated by subtler yet more implacable foes.

Cinderella story
But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe sports, like life, is random and chaotic and not just unscripted but "anti-scripted," so it seems even more miraculous when a coherent story emerges, one with an arc we like and an ending that satisfies. Life's stories are unforeseen—and that's the beauty of them. One of the truly weird things about life, something that we humans have a very hard time consistently accepting, is that what should happen too often doesn't. And hence, no one knows what's going to turn out to be the story. The story of this tournament logically should have been about Djokovic's quest for tennis's holy grail. But it wasn't, that's all—it was something else altogether. The story of the tournament was two bright and talented teenagers in one of the best Cinderella stories ever. Imagine—a tale of two Cinderellas! One immaculate, one flawed (one winner, one loser). No one saw that one coming. Yet it's a tale the world will still be telling when both girls are grandmothers.

You just never know.

Mike

Book o' the Week:

Andy Warhol: Polaroids 1958–1987. "Carrying a Polaroid camera from the late 1950s until his death in 1987, [Andy Warhol] amassed a huge collection of instant pictures of friends, lovers, patrons, the famous, the obscure, the scenic, the fashionable, and himself...this book features hundreds of these instant photos."

The above is a link to Amazon from TOP. Here's Andy Warhol: Polaroids 1958–1987 at The Book Depository. The following logo is also a link:

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

robert e: "Djokovic's story arc was written by an ancient Greek poet, and it was the story of that old nemesis: hubris (or just plain greed if you prefer). Not content to contend for two simultaneous feats of epochal greatness (the Grand Slam and All-Time Most Major Singles Titles) Djokovic was tempted by Olympian treasure, the rarest of tennis feats: The Golden Slam. But even that wasn't enough. Against the advice of his team, he also entered the mixed doubles draw in Tokyo, basically playing in two tennis tournaments in the same week. The gods laughed and for good measure sent a heat wave. Novak fell to earth, defeated and empty-handed. Classic.

"That wasn't the end, of course, it was the beginning of the end, the foreshadowing, a failed overreach that planted seeds of doubt and failure that took root and grew and simply couldn't be excised in time. The timing was critical—less than a month between that embarrassment and the climactic moment of Djokovic's career. There was barely time to even attempt a psychic recovery and undertake preparation. No point in playing a warm-up event—there is no warm-up event for what Djokovic was trying to accomplish, still seething somewhere deep inside about missing his shot at even greater glory.

"I expected Medvedev to win Sunday, but I thought it would take four sets and significantly more time. Djokovic may be the GOAT, but he's also only human. Twenty-one Slams is probably inevitable, but to try for that and a once-in-a-half-century feat simultaneously in one match? I just couldn't see anyone holding up under that kind of pressure, not right after what happened in Tokyo.

"He's still the GOAT and I'm sure he'll get to 21 some day, but he should not have tempted the gods like that."

Dan Gorman: "Since I was a teenager, I've followed pro tennis about as closely as most casual fans do, and I thought it was a glorious weekend. The womens' final was incredible—I didn't particularly care who won, but was hoping for three sets.

"I've always admired Djokovic's skill and competitive spirit, but never been able to warm up to him the way I did to Arthur Ashe, Bjorn Borg, Boris Becker, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer. Novak will almost inevitably win more grand slam championships and hold (at least for a little while) the GOAT title. On Sunday he lost what will most likely turn out to be his best opportunity for the calendar slam, but may well have won something that may actually come to mean more to him. The New York crowd rooted for him from the start of the match—the first time I can remember that happening—and cheered heartily for him in defeat, an honor reserved for only a handful of players in my lifetime. Not the script as he might have wanted it written, but a memory I hope he will come to treasure over time."

Comments

[Thomas Walsh]

I am always intrigued that when a favorite fails to achieve the story line is often about their losing rather than their opponents victory.

[James]

I didn't watch the men's final, but I did watch a few of the matches Djokovic played up to the final. He always looked flat. After a lackluster first set, which he would inevitably lose, he would realize that he was supposed to be destroying these players and so he did. But he was still playing flat, except on important points. I had a feeling that it wasn't going to go well. And then I read Kirk's post about swimming for yourself instead of watching somebody else pay tennis. That did it. I went and did my hill repeats instead.

[Stephen Scharf]

Personally, I'm glad Djokovic lost to Medvedev. Because if he had won, he'd be even more insufferable than he is now. Once again, just as he did at the Olympics, he displayed reprehensible behavior on-court, smashing his racket to pieces.

When have you ever seen Rafael Nadal smash a racket in a professional career spanning over 16 years? Not once, not ever.

There is CLASS, and then there is Jack*ss.

[schralp]

Spot on. Tale would have been even better if the loser didn’t have a hissy fit when the chair umpire required a bandage for the bloodied knee (per the rule book). I realize the timing was in opportune, but you gotta adapt. I believe that tantrum may have been her undoing….

[Kye Wood]

Tennis is such a fun game. People forget that. It was designed to be fun to play.

But once you monetise anything, the joy inevitably takes a hit.

Djokovic wanted to win this open, at this time, more than anything else before.

I'm guessing that he wants to go down in the history books as the greatest player ever.

With so much to lose, he choked. But the sun came up the next day. He's still the worlds no.1 player. And I'm guessing that maybe he'll have a little more fun next time he steps onto a court.

I hope so. I'm 55. And dang if he isn't the best I've ever seen. It would make me smile if it looked like he was having fun - heaven knows he doesn't need the money!

[Dennis Ng]

@scharlap: I found the bandage discussion very odd. Everything goes ok and I think she is going to loss anyway based on the trend. Still, she argued. And I still do not know what is the point.

[You didn't address that to me; however I'll put my oar in. Having watched tennis all my life, my guess is that it comes down to stress and strain. They're under quite a lot of pressure out there, and frustration sometimes boils over. Another factor is that tennis players reach their full skills while still quite young, so we often first see them when they are mature as players but not yet mature as people. A great many players were first thought to be boorish and ill-mannered who later turn out to be perfectly fine people once we they grow up and as we get to know them. Of course some do still suffer from occasional outbursts of temper; the point still holds however. --Mike]

[Not THAT Ross Cameron]

Hi Mike,
I think you might have overlooked another story - Dylan Alcott.
Australian wheelchair men’s tennis player - took out the Golden Slam.
Note that I didn’t see the game, so maybe I’m just being parochial ;~)

[Robin]

Tennis my arse! Where's the interest in that, it's just a couple of people bashing a ball about - yawn.
Unless of course it's a couple of fit looking young girlies leaping around in which case it would be as much pleasure to watch as ballet if only it wasn't missing the music :-)

[Robert]

As far as my memory serves, prince Paris has killed Achilles. There is an opinion, that god Apollon helped with the direction of the arrow. Who knows…
What astounded me however, were words - especially one particular word - of Stephen Sharp Esq. I personally often understand Djokovic, and yes, I oncenearly threw my Hassy into a gorge, because it failed on me. Sports are often about emotions, but still … ts, ts …. We are no jack…ses and we have class of our own! Guess it is subjective ;-)

[Rick Popham]

"No one remembers who shot the poison-tipped arrow that hit Achilles in the heel.

You're right! I had to look that up.

[robert e]

@Not THAT Ross Cameron
There were actually two Golden Slams won at this year's US Open! (As if there hadn't been enough of the improbable and unprecedented already.) Just before Alcott bagged his, Dutchwoman Diede de Groot won hers by defeating Yui Kamiji in the women's wheelchair singles final. Kamiji, it turns out, was her opponent in three of the four major finals this year as well as in the Olympic gold medal match. Alcott's opponent was Dutch, too--a teenager named Niels Vink.

[Joseph Iannazzone]

There is actually a great body of sports literature. The areas I am familiar with are mostly non-competitive sports such as alpine climbing (Chris Bonnington, John Krakauer, Joe Simpson, and others) and fly fishing (John Gierach and others). There is also The Perfect Mile by Neal Bascomb about the quest of three runners to break the four minute barrier. Sport, like photography, does not have to be a competitive endeavor. It is best as an individual experience, be it a personal challenge or a way to connect to nature.

[Not THAT Ross Cameron]

Many thanks @robert e,
I must confess my interest in sport has waned over the years - other pursuits, including photography. I’m just adding to Mike’s discussion from a news headline. Glad you could put it in more appropriate context.
Cheers

[Istvan]

You will like Emma Raducanu's first travel essential, a film camera. And she has the pictures printed, of course!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQWvW1JSeAI