Quote:
Originally Posted by troutman
I understand the custom, but what is so special about tennis (or golf) that fans have to be quiet? Most other athletes perform with crowd noise.
Think of the heckling and abuse a batter gets at the plate in baseball. What could require more concentration than hitting a 100 mph fastball?
|
in tennis, the on-court sounds matter. umpire and linesperson calls could get easily mixed up with crowd noise if you just allow random shouting during a match. the distance from the players to the officials vs crowd is also much smaller compared to something like baseball, where the players and umps have more isolation.
even the sound of the ball is important; hearing how it comes off the racquet of your opponent gives you clues as to its incoming speed and spin. I guess in short, if you moved the crowd back about 20-30 feet, increased crowd size to 20,000 and up so it's a constant general murmur instead of individually identifiable distractions, then maybe tennis could work with crowd noise.