Who's "fault" is it, anyway?

By Jeff Comer Sports Central Columnist

Tennis just seems to be one of those sports where once you think you've figured it out, it turns itself around and gives you yet another taste of the ever so sweet irony.

For example:

On playing tennis ...

How does a beautiful day -- warm, sunny, and calm -- suddenly become a chilly day with 100 mph winds as soon as you step foot onto the tennis court? And how come the windscreens never seem to, well, screen the wind?

When will people learn that walking behind you while you are in the middle of a point is still considered rude and is not acceptable just because they aren't walking mindlessly through your point?

These are also the same people that hit their ball onto your court every other point and chase after it recklessly. It's like they fear that if they don't get to it before you do, the ball will be confiscated and they will lose it forever.

However, some people don't chase after their stray tennis balls and they prefer to assert the request, "a little help, please?" as if you owe them a favor. Of course, this all happens in the middle of a point -- most likely the best point of the match or even your life.

Why is it that five minutes after opening a new can of tennis balls, you find yourself left with only one ball? Of course, you are completely baffled as to where the other two balls went. Some attribute this to a lost sense of reality, which is a subsequent effect of the infamous smell that the new cans posses.

Why is that when you leave it to your partner to bring the balls, they either show up with nothing at all or with several useless duds?

After slaughtering their opponent, some people feel that commending their opponent on their play is going to be accepted graciously. Are these people serious?

Why does a net without a net strap seem to make life that much more difficult? I think all players should carry a net strap in their bag just as a precautionary measure.

On watching professional tennis ...

Am I mistaken, or does the chair umpire make absolutely no sense whatsoever? On one hand, they have the power, the ultimate authority to overrule a call and have it stand as the final ruling.

However, when a player goes bonkers on the umpire for whatever the reason, the umpire ends up acting like a little child that's receiving a lecture for stealing cookies before dinner. Sometimes I wonder if they are just toying with the players. Keeping score could get rather tedious.

Who is Mary Carillo, really? Also, how does she manage to commentate every single tennis match on television? And seriously, will she ever learn that one, if you have to explain your joke, there's a good chance that it wasn't funny to begin with, and two, nobody ever knows what the heck she is talking about?

Why does the crowd still laugh when a ball gets stuck in the net? Am I missing the joke?

Will it ever not rain at Wimbledon?

Lastly, and on a more general note, isn't it interesting that in an ultra-competitive sport, an individual sport, and hence an ego-intense sport, that during competition, we are reliant on an honor system to ensure fair play?

Of course, this doesn't include professional competition where the players do not make their own calls.

But if they did ...

Article courtesy of Sports Central.