Politics in Tennis (Sandgren)

[EEEEEEP]

What are your thoughts on this? Somewhat related to tennis.

(not the best source but you know)
http://www.news.com.au/sport/tennis/tennys-sandgren-has-every-right-to-be-fuming/news-story/79addf6f47b3c94d91c45b68cae2f9d5
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/tennis/tennys-sandgren-hits-back-at-demonising-and-dehumanising-critics-20180124-h0nuaf.html

"The American 26-year-old, who is also a devout Christian, has come under scrutiny for following far-right political figures on Twitter and expressing controversial political viewpoints in the past on the social media platform. He has since deleted all but one of the tweets from his Twitter account."

Tennys Sandgren is feeling heat on and off the court. He is getting blasted for some political leanings... So what if people have leanings? People are gonna have differing opinions.

Why not just focus on the tennis? He isn't bringing or politicising his game.

(Some of the words directed at him due to the media have been absolutely disgusting)

Split topic from Aus Open Discussion!

[Aaron]

Not a fan @ all.

I haven't seen what he has been saying (or how the media know about his views) but given that the media know about it due to him making them public in some domain, that imo is politicising the game:

expressing controversial political viewpoints in the past on the social media platform.

I also think the fact he brought religion into his presser is a publicity stunt and that further supports the view. Like.. that is completely unnecessary for a press conference related to tennis.

Were they made before he started professional tennis or after (I am really trying hard not to use the word tennys in this post). I guess it has sort of been resolved as they have been deleted but as soon as the media get a hold of something, they won't let it go.


I don't think the "following far-right political figures on Twitter" is the issue. I would imagine its the political viewpoints (publically expressed) that are of concern to the media?

Meh. If Kyrgios is bad, dunno what this guy is...

I agree tennis should be the sole focus, but we have no trouble calling out other people for sharing their views (in any context) however colourful they may be.

I end my post with an extract from Marvin's prior post (a few pages back about tennis + the fact these guys are role models):

particularly as these people are the role-models of the next generation.

[appleandbee]

What are your thoughts on this? Somewhat related to tennis.

(not the best source but you know)
http://www.news.com.au/sport/tennis/tennys-sandgren-has-every-right-to-be-fuming/news-story/79addf6f47b3c94d91c45b68cae2f9d5
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/tennis/tennys-sandgren-hits-back-at-demonising-and-dehumanising-critics-20180124-h0nuaf.html

"The American 26-year-old, who is also a devout Christian, has come under scrutiny for following far-right political figures on Twitter and expressing controversial political viewpoints in the past on the social media platform. He has since deleted all but one of the tweets from his Twitter account."

Tennys Sandgren is feeling heat on and off the court. He is getting blasted for some political leanings... So what if people have leanings? People are gonna have differing opinions.

Why not just focus on the tennis? He isn't bringing or politicising his game.

(Some of the words directed at him due to the media have been absolutely disgusting)

1. Whenever you write something that is public, criticism/scrutiny shouldn't be unwarranted.
2. Even if he is posting for his own personal gratification, he can't deny that his views may carry slightly more influence or weight (even if unintended), so it's not that unfair that journalists asks him about it.
3. Most of the time, unconsciously, many people with status know that they may seem more privileged/worldly/educated (thereby more credible)  and can reach a wide viewership, and capitalise on those things by propagating their views. If they had no viewership, they may not post their views.

So at the time that Tennys wrote those things, he was an unknown tennis player, where his views would have very little to no influence. Given that he has gained some stardom now, I don't think it's too unreasonable that journalists asked him about it once for clarification since it's in the past but his tweets were still viewable to the public (obviously don't ask at every tournament from now on).

[EEEEEEP]

1. Whenever you write something that is public, criticism/scrutiny shouldn't be unwarranted.
2. Even if he is posting for his own personal gratification, he can't deny that his views may carry slightly more influence or weight (even if unintended), so it's not that unfair that journalists asks him about it.
3. Most of the time, unconsciously, many people with status know that they may seem more privileged/worldly/educated (thereby more credible)  and can reach a wide viewership, and capitalise on those things by propagating their views. If they had no viewership, they may not post their views.

So at the time that Tennys wrote those things, he was an unknown tennis player, where his views would have very little to no influence. Given that he has gained some stardom now, I don't think it's too unreasonable that journalists asked him about it once for clarification since it's in the past but his tweets were still viewable to the public (obviously don't ask at every tournament from now on).

Fair comments from you and Aaron, but surely he shouldn't be told to:

Jamon Edit: Removed sensitive content.

I disagree with him, but I don't wish bad things to happen to him.  He is ignorant, but surely isn't (insert expletive) scum.

[lzxnl]

Fair comments from you and Aaron, but surely he shouldn't be told to
- Die
- Kill himself
- Neck himself
- Slip on something and get a coma
- Resign from the Open

I disagree with him, but I don't wish bad things to happen to him.  He is ignorant, but surely isn't (insert expletive) scum.

You're right, he's not. This reflects on the vitriolic and unabashed nature of the anonymous internet.

[appleandbee]

I was commenting on the initial question/discussion point posed on whether people have a right to critic, question or scrutinise his public political leanings, not on whether the reaction was justified.

Regardless of the issues at hand (unspecific to politics in sport), death threats (or any threats for that matter) are unacceptable. But the discussion point raised was about sportpeoples' political leanings.

EDIT: I read the smh article, he seems to be a bit hypocritical and is propagating the concept of hell on others. Regardless, the threats he received are unjustified.

[Yertle the Turtle]

Surely anyone paying attention knows Federer doesn’t have humility in his heart. He’s just good at playing the game (and I’m not talking about tennis). Nadal has genuine humility.

Oh no?

[brenden]

Oh no?

““To lose against someone like that, it's very disappointing, because you feel like he was mentally out of it already. Just gets the lucky shot at the end, and off you go …I mean, please. Some players grow up and play like that – being down 5-2 in the third, and they all just start slapping shots. I never played that way. I believe hard work's going to pay off...”

- Roger Federer on Novak Djokovic.