Susie O’Brien: Tennis has a long history of brats and tantrums

Once the game of gentlemen and women, tennis is now home to a vicious and vacuous pack of brats and prats.

Long before we had pampered tennis players complaining about the indignity of being treated like everyone else, we had John McEnroe.

The “superbrat” once told the Australian Open supervisor to “go **** your mother”.

And we’ve got Aussie Nick Kyrgios, who once told Swiss player Stan Wawrinka: “Kokkinakis banged your girlfriend. Sorry to tell you that, mate”.

He might have been sorry afterwards, but still he said it loud enough for it to be picked up by court microphones.

And what about American Jeff Tarango from the 1990s, whose wife once slapped an umpire “because he deserved a lesson”?

Going back even further, tennis’ grand dame was Suzanne Lenglen, who used to smoke and sip brandy at changeovers during the 1920s. Her on-court attire was once described as “a cross between a prima donna and a streetwalker”.

Lenglen was known to throw her racquet, curse, argue calls and intimidate her opponents by abusing them. She’d forfeit matches by claiming she was sick or injured but was often spotted dancing and drinking later that night.

She’d fit right in with Kyrgios and his Aussie bad-boy mate Bernard Tomic.

Aussie tennis bad boy Nick Kyrgios.

Bernard Tomic is no stranger to make the news for all the wrong reasons.

I share the outrage about tennis stars bemoaning their 14-day lockdown. But we shouldn’t be surprised.

Tennis, once the game of gentlemen and women, has been home to a vicious and vacuous pack of brats and prats for years now.

Sure, there are some exceptions, like Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Wawrinka, who posted that he was” #happytobehere, #grateful, #readytowork”.

No doubt it helped that he was housed in a suite in the Grand Hyatt rather than a Holiday Inn shoebox.

With rankings higher than their IQs, prima donna behaviour is promoted by tournament hosts who do just about anything to attract the top players. From goji berries, to his ’n’ hers saunas to pre-match waxing sessions, nothing is too much trouble. For the leading players there’s also free accommodation, travel and skyrocketing pay packets.

We’ve heard no complaints from Rafael Nadal.

It’s why top tennis players — both now and in the past — have never behaved like everyone else. They’re not expected to. In fact, eccentricities are celebrated.

Did you know Serena Williams wears the same socks during a winning streak? Andre Agassi liked to play without wearing underwear? That Novak Djokovic’s good luck charm is a pet poodle called Pierre, which has his own Twitter account?

Down to earth? Never.

Of course, Australia doesn’t have to rely on foreign imports of bad behaving tennis players.

We’ve got some homegrown nobs of our own, like Kyrgios who’s known for his tanking, bad language, chair throwing and making lewd gestures at other players. And that’s on a good day.

Such players don’t care what anyone thinks — just ask Bernard Tomic who is often criticised for looking bored and not playing his best during tournaments.

“I just count money, that’s all I do. I count my millions,” he told reporters.

“You go do what I did (on court). You go make $13m-$14m. Good luck, guys.”

Tomic says he doesn’t care about tennis because he will never have to work again — which is lucky, as I’m pretty sure people aren’t lining up to employ him.

Money and fame can’t buy brains or class.

It also can’t buy good taste in partners.

Tomic’s girlfriend is reality TV contestant Vanessa Sierra, who hit the headlines this week. Sierra did a YouTube video complaining about having to order Uber Eats, being only able to do “minimal yoga” and being denied a hairdresser in lockdown.

Bernard Tomic’s girlfriend, social media star Vanessa Sierra experience heavy backlash this week.

But what more should we expect?

Sierra’s finest contribution to public discourse thus far is dating reality TV stars, wearing skimpy bikinis and posting photos on Insta of Tomic biting her bare butt cheek.

She’s got a Masters in computer science, but she still can’t work out how to wash her own hair.

Now, there are some stars who are more down to earth and can see the funny side of life on tour. Venus Williams, who these days is the match practice partner to her more famous sister, tweeted recently: “A family meeting occurred yesterday. Every1 has 2 put their things away and wash their own dish. What followed (could) never have been anticipated”.

Superb.

We shouldn’t be surprised when tennis players don’t understand the real world. Most don’t tie their own shoe laces or get out of bed for any less than $100,000.

Take away their personal trainers, entourage, hair washers, nail polishers, shoelace tiers and ego strokers and what do you get? Complete meltdown.

Susie O’Brien is a Herald Sun columnist