What was shaping up to be one of the best non-Slam weeks of the year so far suddenly turned ugly on Sunday night when Michael Russell appeared to hit out at Lleyton Hewitt via messages posted on the American veteran’s Facebook page.
After suffering a 63-minute defeat to Hewitt in the rain-postponed Newport semi-finals on Sunday, comments on Russell’s page said that the Australian former world No1 is a “douche bag and a racist”.
Russell was annoyed that Hewitt implied in his post-match press conference that playing two matches in one day contributed to his defeat in the final to Nicolas Mahut.
“Really, so serving at 7-5, 5-4 for the Championship all of a sudden you got tired. How about you choked and stopped making excuses,” Russell continued.
When a Hewitt defender commented on the post, the American responded by saying: “You can defend him all you want, however, I have been on tour for over 15 years and I know everyone!”
A couple of hours later, Russell denied that he had posted the comments himself and that his publicist had done so without his approval.
“What a mess,” he said. Well that’s one way to describe this situation. A mess. What kind of publicist posts such controversial comments without the approval of his employer, and continues to respond when people come to Hewitt’s defence? This whole incident poses the question: Are athletes using social media the correct way?
The idea of Twitter, Facebook and such was to eliminate the middle man between athletes and the public. It was nice knowing that your favourite player was sitting in his room typing a message on his phone that showed up on his page the exact way he meant it to be and that he can be 100 per cent held accountable for anything appearing on that page.
But social media was quickly hijacked by PR managers who posed as players, tweeted on their behalf and in the first person. And most of them are so bad at it, that they don’t even wait for their employers to get off the court or pitch before posting a comment.
You’re watching Cristiano Ronaldo on your TV screen swap a jersey after a match yet simultaneously he’s saying “I’m so happy I won” on Twitter.
While that’s not the case with all athletes online, it’s more common than not and social media is now treated as a news source, just like any other newspaper or website out there.
Russell seems to have fallen into a trap that is of his own doing. If you’re giving access to your publicist to speak on your behalf on what is supposed to be your official Facebook page then you had better make sure he or she does not put you in a position like this.
Players have gone from asking newspapers to print retractions to denying comments published on their own pages by their own publicists. There is certainly something very wrong with that scenario.
Thumbs up – Nicolas Mahut After spending 12 and a half years on tour without a title, the 31-year-old Frenchman has now won two titles – both on grass – in four weeks to storm back in the top-100 (No75) after dropping to as low as 240 in the rankings last month.
Marathon man Mahut won three matches out of three on Sunday – semi-finals and final in singles, and semi-finals in doubles. Quel magnifique!
Thumbs down – Toni Nadal I’m not sure what good Toni Nadal thinks he’s doing by admitting to the media that he illegally coaches his nephew Rafael Nadal during matches.
He says “I know that it’s not allowed but I think that at my age I have nothing to hide” but age has got nothing to do with it. Such comments are only harming Rafa, who is respected by many and is admired for his work ethic. The Spanish coach should know better.
Week ahead Something I never thought we’d witness – Serena Williams and Roger Federer both playing clay tournaments in July. Williams leads the field in Bastad, where only three top-50 players are in action – including the American world No1 – while Federer is joined by BFF and second seed Tommy Haas at the ATP 500 event in Germany.
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