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Abstract
Among different kinds of performance-altering technologies in elite sport it is important to include those that dehumanize performance, improve safety and reduce harm, increase spectatorship and increase participation. This essay explores whether tennis racket technology de-skills and/or re-skills elite male tennis players and the implications of such technology for the game. I reflect critically on the empirical work of scientists and technologists that relates to performance-altering technologies and service dominance in elite male tennis. In particular, I also intend to explore the extent of effect the proposal to abolish the second service will have on the game. I conclude that allowing ‘one serve only’ would change the fundamental character of the game. Maintaining the status quo of two serves (potentially) per point retains the strategic and cognitive complexity of the game. It is imperative that technological and technical innovations do not compromise the nature of the good game.
Notes
[1] CitationRintala, ‘Sport and Technology’.
[2] CitationSheridan, ‘Normative Authority in Elite Male Tennis’; Sheridan, ‘The Problem of Power-Serving in Elite Male Tennis’.
[3] CitationHaake and Coe, eds, Tennis Science and Technology; CitationS. Miller, ed., Tennis Science and Technology 2.
[4] CitationTingay, History of Lawn Tennis in Pictures. From time to time, however, players have served under-arm in the modern game although this is usually if they are injured, perhaps experiencing cramp. There are also times when the occasional under-arm serve could be understood in terms of a tactic, the lack of pace and depth taking the opponent by surprise and unsettling their rhythm. Michael Chang used it successfully at the beginning of the final set of his win over the top seed Ivan Lendl in the fourth round of the 1989 French Open. Seeded fifteenth, he went on to win the tournament and became the youngest winner of a Grand Slam men's singles title at 17 years and 3 months. One of the most well known cases in recent years of the tactic backfiring was during the 1999 French Open final between Martina Hingis and Steffi Graf. Hingis, the favourite to win the tournament, narrowly lost the second set. In the final set she hit an under-arm serve. The crowd showed their disapproval of her ploy by booing her and giving all their support to Graf. Graf went on to win the match and Hingis was booed further as she left the court.
[5] Formerly the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF).
[6] ‘Muhr Quits French Tennis Federation: Secretary Resigns After Conflict Over Choice of American Ball for Olympics’, New York Times, 22 Feb. 1924; CitationGelberg, ‘Tradition, Talent and Technology’.
[7] ‘Tennis World Aims at Standard Ball: Prevalence of International Matches Proves Need of Greater Uniformity’, New York Times, 22 Dec. 1924.
[8] Tingay, History of Lawn Tennis in Pictures CitationWalker, ‘Lawn Tennis’; CitationMorgan, ‘Timber Tennis Courts of the Sixteenth Century’; Morgan, ‘A Fifteenth-Century Tennis Court in London’; Gelberg, ‘Tradition, Talent and Technology’.
[9] Gelberg, ‘Tradition, Talent and Technology’.
[10] Gelberg, ‘Tradition, Talent and Technology’, 103.
[11] CitationTorres, ‘What Counts as Part of a Game?’, 84.
[12] CitationRyle, The Concept of Mind.
[13] CitationScheffler, Conditions of Knowledge.
[14] CitationPolanyi, Personal Knowledge Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy.
[15] CitationFairweather, ‘Skill Learning Principles’.
[16] Fairweather, ‘Skill Learning Principles’
[17] CitationEvans, McEnroe, 97–98.
[18] As opposed to luck, chance. See CitationLoland, Fair Play in Sport.
[19] CitationMorgan, ‘Chance, Skill, and Sport: a Critical Comment’, 63.
[20] CitationBompa, Theory and Methodology of Training, 259.
[21] Loland, Fair Play in Sport.
[22] Loland, Fair Play in Sport
[23] Braverman, Labour and Monopoly Capital; CitationKraak, ‘Uneven Capitalist Development’; CitationThompson, The Nature of Work; CitationWood, ed., Degradation of Work.
[24] Braverman, Labour and Monopoly Capital.
[25] Although CitationP. Whalley argues that the term de-skilling derives from Marx's model of capitalist control. Whalley, ‘Deskilling Engineers?’
[26] CitationBjerklie, ‘High-Tech Olympians’.
[27] Coe, ‘The Balance Between Technology and Tradition in Tennis’, 43–8.
[28] CitationReid et al., ‘Modern Strength and Conditioning in Tennis’.
[29] Coe, ‘The Balance Between Technology and Tradition in Tennis’, 43–8.
[30] Harder, faster and more powerful.
[31] Klaassen and Magnus, ‘How to Reduce the Service Dominance in Tennis?’, 283.
[32] Klaassen and Magnus, ‘How to Reduce the Service Dominance in Tennis?’, 282.
[33] A term used to describe a stroke that has little margin for error.
[34] A term used to describe a stroke that has a high margin for error.
[35] Ceteris paribus this would usually be the case, yet there are examples that run against the traditional way of playing. One has only to recall the way in which Goran Ivanisevic reacted when he was in trouble against Tim Henman in the Wimbledon 2001 semi-final. There, when Ivanisevic found himself break point down his strategy was to hit second serve aces to win the point rather than to play more conservatively and wait for Henman to make the error.
[36] Coe, ‘The Balance Between Technology and Tradition in Tennis’, 43–8.
[37] A similar exercise can be carried out to describe the ways in which abolishing the ‘second serve’ can allow players to serve more easily. Limited space precludes me from elaborating on this ‘deskilling the server’ argument.
[38] CitationGardner, ‘On Performance-Enhancing Substances and the Unfair Advantage Argument’, 69.
[39] Hummel and Foster, ‘A Sporting Chance’, 46.
[40] Hummel and Foster, ‘A Sporting Chance’, 46 In fishing, the spinning reel has almost eradicated backlash in casting and hence the necessity of an ‘educated thumb’ to serve as a drag on line being cast.
[41] Klaassen and Magnus, ‘How to Reduce the Service Dominance in Tennis?’, 277–84.
[42] Roetert and Ellenbecker, ‘The Tennis Player of the New Millennium’, 163–9.
[43] Roetert and Ellenbecker, ‘The Tennis Player of the New Millennium’, 163.
[44] Roetert and Ellenbecker, ‘The Tennis Player of the New Millennium’
[45] MacIntyre, After Virtue.
[46] Again, limited space precludes me from elaborating on the ‘re-skilling the returner of serve’ argument; that abolishing the ‘second serve’ can limit the service returners’ opportunities to exhibit other tennis skills.
[47] Klaassen and Magnus, ‘How to Reduce the Service Dominance in Tennis?’, 277–84.
[48] Roetert and Ellenbecker, ‘The Tennis Player of the New Millennium’, 163–9.
[49] CitationVaverka, Stromsik and Zhanel, ‘Player Preparation for Service Return’.
[50] CitationGrosser, Kraft and Schönborn, Speed Training for Tennis, 194.
[51] Loland, ‘Fair Play’.
[52] CitationLoland and McNamee, ‘Fair Play and the Ethos of Sports’.
[53] CitationLo et al., ‘Momentum Transfer of Upper Extremity Segments during the Tennis Flat Serve’.
[54] Lo et al., ‘Momentum Transfer of Upper Extremity Segments during the Tennis Flat Serve’, 185.
[55] Lo et al., ‘Momentum Transfer of Upper Extremity Segments during the Tennis Flat Serve’
[56] Klaassen and Magnus, ‘How to Reduce the Service Dominance in Tennis?’, 282.
[57] CitationWalzer, Thick and Thin, 2.
[58] Walzer, Thick and Thin, 2
[59] There is, for instance, the question of whether introducing innovative technological equipment into sport such as titanium baseball bats, asymmetrically-dimpled golf balls, over-sized tennis racket heads, and so on, compromises the essential character of those particular sports. There is also the question of whether the integrity of sport is violated if certain substances such as steroids, amphetamines, and so on are taken to improve performance. Similarly, the integrity of a sport may be violated if technical rule changes are introduced that drastically change the format of the game. The introduction of the ‘one serve only’ proposal and the ‘Super Tie-Break’ in elite tennis are arguably two such examples. There is also the question of whether particular styles of play, including power-serving in elite male tennis, minimizes its aesthetic qualities.
[60] D'Agostino, ‘The Ethos of Games’.
[61] CitationLeaman, ‘Cheating and Fair Play in Sport’.
[62] CitationLehman, ‘Can Cheaters Play the Game’.
[63] Loland, ‘Fair Play’, 79–103.
[64] D'Agostino, ‘The Ethos of Games’, 42–9.
[65] D'Agostino, ‘The Ethos of Games’, 42.
[66] D'Agostino, ‘The Ethos of Games’
[67] CitationMcNamee and Jones, ‘Value Conflict and Fair Play’.
[68] MacIntyre, After Virtue.
[69] Morgan, ‘The Logical Incompatibility Thesis and Rules’, 61.
[70] Coe, ‘The Balance Between Technology and Tradition in Tennis’, 43–8.
[71] Loland and McNamee, ‘Fair Play and the Ethos of Sports’, 79–103; McNamee and Jones, ‘Value Conflict and Fair Play’, 107–15.
[72] This is supported in research by CitationK. Heinilä, ‘The Totalisation Process in the International Sports’, who found that interpretations of ‘fair play’ in football played in England, Finland and Sweden fluctuated not only according to nation but also within the national socio-cultural sporting context according to age and performance level, amongst other reasons. Nevertheless, they are all still playing football.
[73] MacIntyre, After Virtue.
[74] Loland, Fair Play.
[75] Butcher and Schneider, ‘Fair Play as Respect for the Game’.
[76] MacIntyre, After Virtue.
[77] Klaassen and Magnus, ‘How to Reduce the Service Dominance in Tennis?’
[78] Klaassen and Magnus, ‘How to Reduce the Service Dominance in Tennis?’, 283.
[79] For instance, the bowler versus the batter in cricket or the pitcher versus the striker in baseball.
[80] CitationDonohoe and Johnson, Foul Play; CitationPerry, ‘Blood Doping and Athletic Competition’.
[81] For a fuller account of concepts of interests and conflicts of interest within elite male tennis, see CitationSheridan, ‘The Problem of Power-Serving in Elite Male Tennis’, 273–81.