Fidelity can be virtuous, especially in the most adverse situations. Sticking by someone as they endure tumultuous times is a sign of ultimate, unwavering love. That loyalty can also be foolish, to the extent where even Goodfellas materfamilias Karen Hill would question such irrational devotion.
Enter racquet company Head, and their peculiar bond with Maria Sharapova – which resulted in one of the most bizarre press releases from a sports company, in the midst of the most awkward victory lap tennis has ever had.
Minutes after the Court of Arbitration of Sport ruled that Sharapova’s two-year suspension for using the banned substance meldonium was too punitive and lowered to 18 months, Head released a statement profound in its tone-deafness. “Head wishes to congratulate Maria Sharapova on the Cas ruling, and we welcome her return to competitive tennis in April 2017,” it read. “We are proud to have stood by Maria for the right reasons throughout these difficult times.”
It was a defining statement, showing how the loyalty to Sharapova by her litany of backers can produce such stunning lack of self-awareness.
That message was the fitting beginning to the latest, clever PR strategy for a player long privileged and adept at fooling the gullible. The Today Show interview with Matt Lauer, followed by the Charlie Rose chat, and all of her social media postings that preceded these televised conversations, were a stern focus for her to present herself once again as an innocent victim done unjustly by a ridiculously stringent ITF. There would be no short message of contrition from Sharapova, no “I accept the mistakes I have made, and there’s no one else to blame except myself” admission. Instead, Sharapova was defiant, condemning the tennis powers-that-be for not alerting her properly to her own absurd negligence. In her conversation with Rose, she even hinted at a vendetta against her.
These should have been happy times for the WTA. The season-ending tour championships are nearly here, with the year-end No1 ranking up for grabs for the first time in years. Angelique Kerber has deservedly become the world’s top-ranked player after an extraordinary two-slam winning season, and Serena Williams is showing signs that she wants to play in Singapore this year to regain her spot at the top. Agnieszka Radwanska continues to be an extraordinary performer in the Asian swing after another big premier mandatory title at the China Open on Sunday, while the race for the last two spots in Singapore – with Madison Keys, Jo Konta, Dominika Cibulkova, Carla Suarez Navarro and Svetlana Kuznetsova all in play – remains riveting.
And yet all of that news has been virtually engulfed in the flood of Sharapova’s drama.
Instead of dedicating a short, single post on her reduced suspension and quietly moving on, the WTA had its website produce updates throughout the year, and multiple posts on Sharapova’s story, including her own Facebook and Twitter proclamations of overcoming injustice after the ruling. It was the type of awkward, delicate dance in which the WTA is entrapped, fully at the mercy of giving its stars wall-to-wall primary coverage even in the most ignominious situations.
Sharapova returned to a public tennis court on Monday evening in Las Vegas, not at all embarrassed by the situation she has placed herself in, and supported by none other than one of the sport’s most all time exemplary figures in Billie Jean King. King and Elton John’s World Team Tenniss’ steadfast welcoming for the 29-year-old at their Smash Hits charity event was yet another example of fidelity to a controversial star that tennis will extol for as long as it possibly can. And it’s why a player like Sharapova, along with a company like Head, can congratulate themselves so proudly, even when there’s nothing for them to congratulate themselves for.
