You may have heard people around a sporting event say, “”It’s not whether you win or lose, but it’s how you play the game.”” This might be said to the losing side to ease the disappointment and to encourage a level or pride, or it might be said to the winners in order to remind them to win with dignity.
I watched the UCSD men’s tennis team play host to Hawaii Pacific University in the NCAA Regional playoffs on May 3. I got to the Northview Tennis Courts right after the Tritons dropped two-of-three doubles matches and just as singles play began. I sat in the stands and watched UCSD’s Mike Meyer, Emil Novak and Jeff Wilson play against their HPU counterparts on the north set of tennis courts.
I saw Meyer battle against a hard-hitting, professional-like tennis player in Gabor Jaross. Meyer’s chances in winning a point for UCSD looked dismal, but he found a rhythm and began exchanging crisp shots with Jaross while taking the second set. Meyer continued to match the strong play of Jaross in the third, but he fell 6-4.
On Wilson’s court, the score indicated him leading 5-1 in the third set of his match, but that score was not updated until his opponent Milos Koprivica, evened the set at 5-5. Wilson, who seemed to be breezing through his match and assuring the Tritons of a point, just couldn’t put Koprivica away, and eventually lost 7-6.
However, the Novak match drew most of my attention (as well as the attention of many of the other spectators). Novak’s effort could not be doubted, as he was obviously hurting while running to all four corners of his side of the court, returning the shots of Jan Tribler. After needing help from the athletic trainer, Novak still managed to force a third set by taking the second, 7-5.
But the manner in which Novak carried himself on the court should be questioned. As the match reached the second set, Novak looked as if he was acting out a dramatic theatrical scene after each point, walking (flailing might be a better word) as if he were made of Jell-O and yelling words of discontent as he made his way back to the baseline. It looked to me like Tribler wasn’t beating Novak as much as Novak was beating himself — pounding his fist onto the court several times and dragging his feet and body as if he were stranded in the middle of a desert without any sign of water. It hurt to even watch him play.
Although he played a courageous match and got into his opponent’s head with his court demeanor, his antics showed a bit of poor sportsmanship. I don’t remember one time where Novak actually walked back to his baseline after a point like one of his teammates would (and it didn’t matter if Novak won or lost the point). UCSD men’s tennis is lucky to have Novak’s ability on the team, but he’s got a little bit to learn. Maybe he can take some advice from former professional player Jim Courier.
“”Sportsmanship … is when a guy walks off the court and you really can’t tell whether he won or lost, when he carries himself with pride either way,”” Courier once said.
Technically, Novak neither won nor lost; the match did not finish before Novak retired in the middle of the third set, which was tied 2-2 at the time. But the way he played the game (losing his pride and dignity) definitely looked like Novak was suffering the worst loss in collegiate tennis.
