Smash Column, Mobile Edition

Smash Column, Mobile Edition ~~~

I finally saw the print edition of the second issue of SMASH last week (I'm curious, are all you USTA junior members getting it in the mail as promised?), and I read it cover to cover on the plane trip home from Mobile. (I have a small story entitled Renaissance Kid near the back).

The Ken Flach piece on cheating in the section entitled "In The Zone" (no link available) has already drawn the ire of some, with his mention of a pay-back option when victimized. I've seen way too many junior matches to have any doubts that the technique is used, but I think Flach missed an important point. Good people, on occasion, make bad calls. Professional umpires do, so it stands to reason that a player, when watching a ball and preparing to return it, might not be in a position to call a line with 100% accuracy. (Full disclosure: I see many juniors play out balls with regularity too.) I think the assumption that a player you don't know who makes a close call in his favor is a cheater is unwarranted and dangerous. Taking the initiative and getting it back at the next opportunity is not going to make for ultimate justice if it merely escalates the battle.

It wasn't because of Flach's piece that I gave an ace in this column to Sportsmanship. I did it because it I had just witnessed, in Mobile, some of the best sportsmanship I have ever seen. Maybe SMASH could ask Davey Sandgren or Houston Barrick to write an article on how to be a good sport. Seems only fair.