Tennis can become an emotional game and on the court there is nowhere to hide in an arena full of fans and television cameras everywhere. But now the tour is taking seriously an idea to provide athletes a safe space to unleash their fury.
The concept is a “Rage Room.”
The idea came from top women’s pros Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys on their podcast, The Player’s Box. The discussion stemmed from Coco Gauff destroying her racket in a post-match outburst after a loss at the Australian Open. Gauff thought that she was out of site, however, a camera did catch her behind the scenes in the hallway.
Gauff expressed her disappointment that what she thought was a private moment to vent her frustration was aired for the entire world to see. She also questioned why the players didn’t have any private space outside of their own locker room.
Well, the WTA is listening.
At the recent ATX Open, the organizers installed a “Rage Room” where players could freely express themselves and get as much anger out of their system as they want without the world watching.
“I should book one of those and actually like break plates and stuff, that would be probably more fun than a racket,” Gauff told Front Office Sports. Pegula also added that the tournament approached her after hearing about the idea from her podcast and installed it.
While the players may enjoy the freedom to have outbursts in private… isn’t that expression of human emotion part of the draw and allure of tennis? Seeing the best athletes in the world wrestle with their highs and lows and show vulnerability is part of what makes it captivating. That’s the individual pressure that tennis is all about. Why sanitize the product?
Besides, if the players really embrace the Rage Room and go all the way with it, how long before tennis power brokers demand to put a camera in there anyways because of the entertainment value they would be missing out on?
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