What champagne and tennis rackets have in common
After a Formula 1 win, champagne is often spilled, and after a failed shot in a tennis match, the racquet is smashed. What do these two things have in common and why tennis outfitters should take a cue from a high-end French brand.
by Victoria Moser
last edit:
Aug 21, 2022, 08:56 am
Tennis is a sport with many emotions. Joy, pride, surprise, but also sadness, anger and frustration. Tennis players are under enormous pressure, not only on-court but also off-court. It's easy to find yourself wanting to take your anger out on the tennis racket, every player's tool. At the top of the list of "racket-smashers" are John McEnroe and Nick Kyrgios, but Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev are also good.
But what has now become normal and serves to amuse viewers is essentially unacceptable behavior. Tennis players are so fortunate to have their clothing, shoes, tennis bags, grip tapes (all their accessories) and also their tennis rackets sponsored. On top of that, they get a nice amount of money for wearing or using them. One wonders whether the senseless destruction would not be a reason for termination on the part of the outfitter.
Nadal honors his thugs
Something similar happened in racing. The famous champagne splash came about in 1966 after the cork of a champagne bottle broke and the winner of the Le Mons 24 hour race unceremoniously splashed the sparkling wine into the crowd. The long-standing champagne partner of Formula 1 was the world-famous brand Moët&Chandon. Around the turn of the century, however, she decided to leave racing. The reason given was that their products were too good and high quality to just waste.
Why couldn't tennis players be threatened with the same thing? If a club is destroyed, the contract ends. One player who is very aware of his role model function in tennis is the Spaniard Rafael Nadal. He says he never destroys a racquet because it is never the fault of his game and there are many children who dream of owning a tennis racquet. This view also supports French Open finalist Caspar Ruud, who has chosen Nadal as his idol and is determined to keep all rackets alive in his career.
And not only children dream of owning a tennis racket. Even as a hobby player, it seems absurd to break a racket worth one to two hundred euros.
A question of respect, manners, role model function? - Ultimately of everything.