Fiend at Court Unplugged
This weekend the Fiend at Court is even more unplugged that usual for the weekend series. Stick with me. I have been brainstorming potential solutions to the most pressing problems in tennis. First, there is an urgent need to expand public spectator interest in the sport. Second, Nick Kyrgios needs a coach. For me, it is a short trip from the juxtaposition of those two problems and a genuinely inspired (and, well… crazy) idea.
If Reality TV can turn “Honey Boo Boo” into a household name, then surely a show that has the potential to go off the rails at any point in time could do the same for tennis. It is a promotional lottery ticket that could attract new spectators to tennis that are completely outside the ecosystem. Nothing sells better than a good train wreck.
Kyrgios would bring a mercurial element to the table along with the promise that things could spin out of control at any moment. Billie Jean would bring an old school pragmatism to the project that would feed the needs of the current tennis community. Both have the star power that would attract media attention and a potential global audience. I don’t watch a lot of TV outside of live professional sports, but I guarantee you I would tune in for every episode. Somebody please make this a reality.
The idea would obviously have to wait until the COVID crisis is fully in the rear view mirror along with the relaxation of safety protocols and travel restrictions. However, daydreaming about the possibilities transports me to a future happy state. I can’t wait until the world returns to normalcy and am shocked to discover that my concept of that includes the resumption of off-the-wall Reality Television programming.
As I created the first drafts of this weekend’s posts, I couldn’t help but to stumble across the fact that there are quite a few tennis stars who have previously appeared on Reality TV. I will be touching on some of those appearances as codas to the unplugged series of posts over this weekend. That’s right… there are two more crazy ideas cued up right behind this one. Buckle up.
In the meantime, the parting post for this shot is that time when Martina Navratilova appeared on Dancing With the Stars in 2012. Enjoy!
