Sorry, Stan Wawrinka, But Tennis Needs More Trash Talk

It's going to be hard for tennis to live down the embarrassment of the Nick Kyrgios-Stan Wawrinka incident. By now, you've probably heard the story: during a recent match, Kyrgios, the sport's new 20-year-old mohawked bad boy, told Wawrinka, ATP Tour nice guy, that another player had "banged'' Wawrinka's girlfriend.

"Sorry to tell you that, mate,'' Kyrgios added, perhaps unhelpfully.

Microphones picked it up, and the trash talk went viral. The tennis world was mortified. Rafael Nadal refused to play doubles with Kyrgios in a charity event. The tour issued Kyrgios an official "Notice of Investigation.'' Poor Wawrinka was crushed.

The episode produced lasting damage for tennis, but I want to be clear on what that damage is. As a lifelong tennis fanatic, I'm not nearly as embarrassed by what Kyrgios said as I am by the way Wawrinka and the rest of the sport reacted.

Make that overreacted.

"So disappointing to see a fellow athlete and colleague be so disrespectful,'' Wawrinka tweeted, "in a way I could never imagine.''

Could never imagine? Oh, boo-hoo. Did Kyrgios say something harsh and insensitive and ugly to Wawrinka? Hell, yes, he did. The whole idea of trash talking is to get into your opponent's head; your opponent's job is to not let that happen. Only Wawrinka apparently was so taken aback, so aghast, that it's still bugging him.

Whatever happened to trash-talking in tennis?

"I think it used to be something that happened a lot more often,'' Andy Murray told VICE Sports last month in Cincinnati. "But now with microphones [on court] and social media and everything, you know as soon as something comes out of your mouth you can't take it back.

"We're a long way apart when we're on the court and it's not that often that stuff gets said. I think it's probably better that way. You saw the reaction to what happened [with Kyrgios]. I don't think anyone came out saying that's good for tennis.''

Only that's the thing: it could have been good for tennis. Yes, we could have had a reasonable head-shaking tsk-tsk on behalf of Wawrinka's girlfriend, who is the only real victim here. But beyond that? I can't help but wonder if those microphones aren't picking up tennis reality so much as changing it.

The beauty of tennis is the sport's one-on-one feel. Tennis is a fight, except you punch a ball instead of the other player's face. To battle for hours like that, usually in the heat, is to necessarily experience some very bad feelings about your opponent. Years ago, I briefly coached a high school kid who lacked that focused anger entirely. I told him to scream a swear word across the net at me every time he won a point. Later, I told him to just think it. But the mindset needed to stay.

Tennis doesn't have trash-talking now because the players follow the gentlemanly guys at the top, Roger Federer and Nadal, and even Murray and Novak Djokovic. That's great for sponsors selling luxury goods to an older, 401(k)-appreciative crowd, but maybe not so great for spurring mainstream audience interest, never mind winning the hearts and minds of younger viewers. When everyone has to sit quietly while watching a match, and the players can't even do a little harmless trash-talking like in every … other … sport, then perhaps some of those potential fans and future players look elsewhere.

Speaking of elsewhere: Michael Jordan used to dribble down the court and tell his defender exactly what moves he was about to make. Try to stop me. Larry Bird might have been the greatest trash-talker in sports history. I once saw Usain Bolt, before a relay race, stop and tell his opponents to be very careful not to drop the baton, that dropping the baton would be terrible for them. Also, enjoy seeing the bottoms of his shoes.

That, of course, is the tamer, printable stuff. And all of it makes sports more interesting. More compelling. Even if it sometimes results in bad blood and bruised feelings, or crosses the line into extremely poor taste. In fact, trash talk might be more helpful to tennis than to other sports, given that the former still struggles against an image of country club exclusivity.

Remember: in the late 1970s, tennis was more popular in America than the NBA. That was partially because of the edgy personalities of guys such as John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, stars whose big games and big mouths brought the game to the masses.

"I don't think we went to the level of what Nick was throwing out at Wawrinka,'' McEnroe told VICE Sports. "But it certainly happens a lot in other sports. I think it's part of sports in general. I don't think there's much of it now [in tennis]. In a way, I sort of miss it.''

McEnroe doesn't want people thinking of tennis as a soft game, not when it has fought so hard to be considered in the same light as other sports.

"You know, there's times when I did go too far like Kyrgios did, but I think that's an entertaining and an important part of a one-on-one sport,'' McEnroe said. "I'm not saying they should go out and start cursing each other, but this is an extremely mental game."

In his book The Outsider, Connors said that when he met McEnroe before their first match, McEnroe tried to introduce himself, but Connors picked up his bag and walked past McEnroe without looking at him—"no smile, no hello, no handshake."

He was bullying a kid.

Once in the locker room before a match, according to USA Today, Ivan Lendl told Brad Gilbert, "Bradley, I'm not going to even make one winner today. I'm going to run you left, right, left, right until you cramp.'' And then he did. Ilie Nastase used to say that once your opponent complains about you, he's done. At a senior tour event last year, Connors said that he could never have seen himself beating McEnroe or Nastase or anyone in a final and then coming to the net, putting his arm around his opponent, and consoling him the way top players do today. And he wouldn't have wanted McEnroe to do it to him, either.

McEnroe seems to agree with the sentiment.

"We brought out the best and worst in each other," he said of Connors. "We were going at it. You know, he taught me things. He brought an intensity in the locker room. He tried to beat you in the locker room. You come out on the court, he'd be coming at you with tennis. It was a lot to try to sort of figure out what to do. Ultimately, it made me a better player."

The one place you still find trash-talking in tennis is at the college level. It's against the rules, but, according to Texas Christian University coach David Roditi, everyone does it anyway, particularly the teammates who aren't playing at the time other matches are going on.

"I had one player tell one of my players, who's pretty short, 'Shut up you midget,' '' Roditi said. "We've had guys who might bump shoulders when they're switching sides. I think if they had trash-talking on the tour, it would certainly make the game more mainstream, but it would turn off some fans, too.

"Tennis is a very personal game, very personal. There is a game within the game that the crowd has absolutely no idea what's going on.''

The Big 12 is trying something new with tennis, telling fans they don't have to shut up during points. The idea is that students on campus aren't necessarily comfortable coming to meets to just sit there quietly, unsure how to behave. This is a great idea, about fitting tennis into the mainstream.

Roditi is in favor of that, but he's not in favor of trash talking. I get where he's coming from, but I think he's missing the benefits. Just like his sport.

"There's just nowhere to hide [in tennis]," Roditi said. "Things can't get out. You can't just sit the guy on the bench or take him out. In baseball, a pitcher and better get into it and a guy pitches right at him. But it doesn't go to the whole game, only when the guy comes up to bat the next time.

"Can you imagine a guy like Kyrgios against a guy like Connors? It would get nasty. It would be entertaining, but it might be uncomfortable.''

Uncomfortable. Exactly. Tennis has so much comfort now that, at times, it can get a little sleepy. Some more trash talk would wake things up.