Pro Tennis Fan: Sportsmanship in Tennis

Pro Tennis Fan: Sportsmanship in Tennis-- The Roddick in Rome (what is it about Rome that brings out the hero in him?) sportsmanship story is the talk of the tennis world right now, and I'm linking to a posting about it at my favorite new blog, protennisfan.com. The fact that this incident was on clay is important, as Roddick concedes that until he looked at the mark, he thought he'd won the match.

The best example of tennis sportsmanship I've ever personally witnessed, considering the circumstances, was at last year's Nationals here in Kalamazoo, courtesy of the champion, Scoville Jenkins, on hard courts (emphasis mine).

Playing Phillip Simmonds in a memorable semifinal match, at 15-30, 3-4, Jenkins gave Simmonds an ace rather than accept the lineman’s fault call.

Accepting the fault (it was too close to call from my vantage point) would have given him a swing at a second serve and two break points to get to 5-3 serving for the set, which was eventually decided by a 22 point tiebreaker, as Simmonds went on to hold for 4 all.

When I asked him if he regretted what he had done, since it may have led to that tiebreaker, Jenkins said, “No, I would have regretted it if I hadn’t conceded. When we call our own lines (until the quarters) that serve was good. Phillip is my friend, I couldn’t do it.” This was with a wild card in the main draw of the US Open on the line.

Jenkins went on to win the match 7-6, 6-4, so the gesture didn't cost him what it cost Roddick (and if Roddick had WON his match, there would have been much less made of it). But it could have, and Jenkins carved his own special place in Kalamazoo tennis lore that Saturday afternoon.