Has the sideline interview outlived its usefulness, and why don’t we interview baristas?
Earlier this week, tennis star Novak Djokovic indicated he would decline an ESPN request for a mid-match interview at the U.S. Open, while acknowledging ESPN’s intent:
“I think it’s interesting. What I think they’re trying to do is implement a same kind of media interaction as other sports, like basketball. I don’t know how much it can really work in tennis. … But it’s going to be interesting to see if somebody is going to follow up and accept to do the same.”
Interesting is hardly the word I would use to describe the interaction between CoCo Vandeweghe and Pam Shriver following the first set of an early U.S. Open match this month. Vandeweghe looks nervous with a focus elsewhere. She even admitted after the match not remembering what she said.
But these sort of in-game, post-game sideline interviews are ubiquitous in sports. From the coach running off the field at halftime, to the player being interviewed after a walk-off hit. However, like the Vandeweghe interview, they rarely reveal anything useful.
Sure, every once in a while we are rewarded with Richard Sherman…
Or John L. Smith…
But, more often it is “I thank God for making this possible” or “We had a good game plan” or some other piece of cliche that Crash Davis shared with Nuke Laloosh on a bus.
Which brings me back to Vandeweghe, Djokovic and the mid-match tennis interview. It is an individual sport. Sideline interviews are everywhere in team sports, but strangely absent in individual sports. Why is that? There is no coaching in tennis. There is no relying on teammates (except in doubles, of course). When I think of tennis players, or golfers, or other individual sport athletes, I think of how mentally strong they are. Imagine a mid-match interview with Tiger Woods in his prime? His post-round interviews when he was playing well were dull.
Indeed, tennis star Caroline Wozniacki immediately questioned the wisdom of Vandeweghe’s mid-match interview.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Did I just see Coco do an interview on court, mid match, after the first set?? Surely you would wanna focus on the game out there? No?</p>— Caroline Wozniacki (@CaroWozniacki) <a href=”https://twitter.com/CaroWozniacki/status/638469666202107908">August 31, 2015</a></blockquote><script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8"></script>
The sideline interview remains one of the unique aspects of sports. No other profession in the world are employees interviewed immediately after their shift over, much less in the middle of their work. Although, I’m sure we have all had experiences where we would like to find out why it has taken so long for our barista to prepare a drink. “Hey, Jimmy, what was your game plan for preparing that latte?”
