Former world No.8 Janko Tipsarevic has said that younger athletes are ‘becoming more frustrated’ on the court partly because of the role social media is playing in their lives.
Tipsarevic, who is a two-time US Open quarter-finalist, spoke out about the issue in a feature he wrote for Tennis Head Magazine. The 34-year-old said that the use of match highlights on websites such as YouTube has resulted in rising stars failing to fully study fellow players on the tour. Arguing that the highlights don’t show the setbacks players can experience on the court during matches.
“Back in my day we used to go back through video recordings of matches. This would mean that we would watch an entire match of our heroes and study their gamesmanship, how they crafted points and turned matches around from frustratingly slow starts.” He wrote.
The use of social media has played a huge role in elevating the profile of the sport. Fans can now watch live streams of player’s practicing and draw ceremonies. The official English page of the ATP currently has more than three million Facebook likes and 1.48 million followers on Twitter. In 2018 the ATP’s media director Andrew Hall said that between 25%-50% of minutes consumed on their online streaming platform TennisTv were non-live (replays or highlights).
Whilst technology has many advantages, Tipsarevic argues that the new generation could be potentially developing ‘unrealistic expectations’ about their own game. The reason being that they have not fully studied the matches and struggles players experience. Something that is not usually shown in highlights of matches.
“Whilst they see the glorious rally’s and the fist pumping celebrations of the winners what they don’t see in the highlight reel are the unforced errors, close calls, the windy conditions or the struggles that a player goes through before they work out that ‘winning formula’ for the match.” He said.
“As a consequence these younger athletes are becoming increasingly frustrated very quickly in their own matches. They have unrealistic expectations that their matches will be filled with winners good enough for the highlights reel. I am seeing more and more that the younger generation of players lack the resilience to fight through a match.”
Despite still being an active player, Tipsarevic has had his own academy in Belgrade, Serbia since 2013. Some of the players who train there include Dusan Lajovic, Laslo Djere and Olga Danilović.
Tipsarevic, who has been blighted by injury in recent years, is currently ranked 318th in the world. He has undergone seven surgeries in the past five years. Earlier this month he reached his first ATP quarter-final in Houston since 2016.
