Tennis Superstardom and the Very Young

Great tennis players are thrust into the spotlight at an earlier age than athletes in other sports. They are still teenagers, still reacting to the fedback responses to their behavior that they get from the people around them -- editing their personality accordingly.

That's normal for teenagers. We've all been there.

But what happens when there's an overload of that feedback? And it's from artificial sources like the media? Nameless, faceless millions who don't know you at all?

I should think that would be hard enough for someone already comfortable in his or her skin. But a teenager? Yikes.

No wonder we see such unreal, exaggerated personas.

Assuming a public persona is nothing bad or unusal either. In fact, even as a writer I assume one. But there's a difference between assuming a persona that is merely more, say, formidable and self-confident than the real you feels and assuming a persona that is totally different than the real you.

Consider the difference between the young Andre Agassi who burst upon the scene and the man we have now. Of that younger Mr. Agassi, he says, "I had moments of my actions and words not reflecting who it is I am - if that defines a punk, then yes, absolutely.”

It really has nothing to do with tennis. It has everything to do with the media. The media know what sells. Stories. Not facts. Stories. Stories have characters. Not people. Characters. The gunpowder of storytelling is conflict, controversy. Not all sportwriters, but many, are just as brutal as political reporters in asking questions formulated to suck answers that can be exploited to generate controversy.

Players must feel like specimens under a microscope. Their every move is scrutinized and judged. That's like a straight-jacket. I know one thing about teenagers I learned while teaching high school: they rebel against that straight-jacket, acting out as if to prove that you aren't controlling them by breathing down their neck. Yes, oddly enough, the more they act out, the more restricted and inhibited they feel.

And it's a mistake that can have dreadful consequences. There's no need to react by acting out. There's need only to stake out your personal boundaries and protect them.

A player's image is just that, image. A work of art created by storytellers. There's a great danger in identifying with it. It's but a caricature of the real person. One the media uses as a selling handle in the cult of personality.

In old fashioned language, the cult of idolatry. Hollywood discovered how successful this was back in the 1930's. If you cultivate fan worship of the stars, you will make a killing at the box office for their movies.

But there's only one thing people like to do more than set up an idol, and that's tear it down.

So, tennis superstardom should come with a warning label, especially for the very young. Sell your performance, not your self. And never identify with that image of you the world has created. Identify with the one inside.

Oh, and one more thing: You never get in trouble for what you DON'T say.