I have said it before but, heck, let me say it again: Professionals in tennis must hire carriers for their bags.
It’s just plain crazy to see them carry their racket- and towel-filled bags before and after a tournament.
Are they masochists?
Is there a rule disallowing players to hire bag-carriers?
If porters are allowed in hotels and airports, why not in tennis tournaments, too?
They pose dangers?
I doubt. Players know whom to trust best.
And, like all the players in a tournament, the bag carriers could be thoroughly checked, too, by security upon entry into the arenas of battle.
Of course, they’d be duty-bound to leave the courts once they’re done with their bag-carrying duties. They come back only after the match is over.
It is after the contest that bag-carriers are needed the most, especially by the losers.
After a loss, the beaten player would be carrying a bag resembling the weight of the world. Mostly, he’d be a woeful sight as he struggles to leave, his head hanging, his shoulders dropped like an anchor.
I was heartbroken after seeing Sofia Kenin lose her second round match to unknown Kaia Kanepi, who ran away with a 6-3, 6-2, win in the biggest upset in the Australian Open on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021.
Kenin was in tears as she became only the third defending champion since 1970 to miss entering the third round.
I guess I was in near tears, too, especially when I watched Kenin walk out of the court—horribly dethroned by the unseeded Estonian. Kenin’s bag must have seemed like a sack of cement.
May I ask the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals): Are your players not allowed to have their own bag carriers?
If golfers have their caddies, why not bag carriers for tennis players, too?
Also, to allow such practice would help ease the world’s unemployment problem, which has worsened amid the pandemic.
Surely, our players have more than spare money for such luxury so that fees for bag carriers would amount to something like a mere drop in the bucket. Do you know that first-round losers alone in the
ongoing Australian Open, which has a total pot of A$71 million, receive $100,000 each?
I have no further questions, your honor.