Inside Sport September 2015

FEEL IT’S SAFE to say that it’s been a particularly turbulent month in the world of sport. As is so often the case, the on-field action has well and truly spilled over the sidelines and into the crowd “conversation”. Racism, corruption, bigotry, bullying – sport does indeed hold a mirror up to society, and very often we don’t like what we are seeing. Just don’t blame sport. Ramy Haidar has written some fine pieces for this magazine in recent years, even collecting an Australian Sports Commission Media Award last year for the “Best analysis of the business of sport”. He’s back in this issue with a candidate for another gong in this year’s awards. In “Dropping The Ball”, he steps into one of the most controversial discussions occupying everyone from…

GAME AND SET Professional tennis needs an overhaul. I am not going to single-out Nick Kyrgios or Bernard Tomic or anyone else, but the game does have a culture of petulant behaviour by too many players of both genders, not limited to those born in the 1990s. Infantile tantrums, abuse of officials and a complete lack of respect for the game itself are quietly accepted, or “punished” by paltry fines. Tennis is not a team sport. Players, particularly those who are any good, focus on their own performance and their own importance from a young age. It’s not surprising that some end up as belligerent narcissists with an overwhelming sense of entitlement. But this can be changed. Golf has the same issue of self-isolation. However, professional golfers behave well and…

WINNER Earlier this year, we argued that too few athletes were named Australian of the Year. In another respect, maybe the award should go to the individual who does the most Australian thing of the past 12 months. And by that standard, no one in 2015 will beat Mick Fanning: a guy named Mick, while surfing and competing, punched a shark and survived. Can’t top that. Joking aside, Fanning, who has enjoyed a decorated life as a triple world champion, understood entirely that coming away unscathed from his encounter at South Africa’s Jeffreys Bay was a victory of a whole other magnitude. We can only hope that Fanning’s psyche came away without damage, and he continues to author what will be one of the more interesting stories in sport through…

WIN Think you can write a funnier caption for this pic than our humour-challenged Inside Sport staffer? Check out page 86 for your chance to prove your wit and win stuff.…

“I’ve read a whole lot. Comments like ‘he shouldn’t be representing Australia’, ‘he’s a disgrace’. It’s tough to read. I’m human. I don’t really want them to love me. I don’t want their love, but everyone deserves respect.” – The curious Nick Kyrgios. “A game is like 55 seconds. Again, did he really do it or not? A game where a guy serves well, is that tanking, too? It is like ... sometimes it’s like a boxer when he puts his hands down, is that tanking? Then he swings freely again ... If you told me he did an entire set, plus more, plus this, I’d say, ‘Okay, it’s a bit much, probably’.” – Roger Federer, when asked whether Kyrgios tanked against Richard Gasquet at Wimbledon. “A guy at that…

AUSTRALIA’S LATEST WORLDBEATERS Australians won nine gold medals at last month’s 2015 IPC World Swimming Championships in Glasgow. And four of them belong to Maddison Elliott, the 16-year-old sensation from Queensland. The youngest Australian at the London 2012 Paralympics to make the podium, with bronze medals in the 100 and 400m freestyle in the S8 category, she was at it again in Scotland, this time winning the 100m free in a new world record of 1:04.71. She also won the 50m free. Paralympian gold-medallist Ellie Cole won the S9 100m backstroke along with the 100m freestyle. Brenden Hall won gold in the men’s S9 100m backstroke. The Dolphins swam 47 personal best times, set three new world records and won a total of 30 medals, including eight silver and 13…