Word: sport
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...imminent withdrawal of Bjorn Borg and Ivan Lendl--two of the game's reigning troika--from Wimbledon has confounded the complacent tennis establishment, Lendl and Borg's threatened decisions not to play in the game's most prestigious tournament highlight the damage single-minded prima donnas inflict on the sport's reputation. Formerly distinguished by its courtly respect for propriety and unwaivering adherence to time-cherishes customs, tennis now suffers from an image crisis...
Since the sport turned pre in 1969, it has become vogue for the tennis elite to misbehave, scream, and quit when things don't go their way. But most secondly, in addition to their ravings and histrionics in front of the paying crowd--many of whom actually come to enjoy a good argument--the glamour boys of the international circuit are treading the baseline of player responsibility, impugning the integrity all professional athletes should display...
...total of three outings, he has only reached the quarterfinal round once. Realizing that slippery, unpredictable grass courts are less hospitable to his power-paced grooved baseline game, the 21-year-old Lendl reasons. Why take two weeks off prior to the event to train for the sport's most demanding tourney, when my chances to improve my world ranking and pocketbook are dim. Can his single-mindedness be that blinding...
That tennis is a highly individual sport, undeniably reflective of the personal temperaments quirks and the artistry of each distinctive player enriches the game's spontaneity and spectacularity. But, as a consequence, this game--without league regulations, season schedules and a structured format--also forgives too much unsportsman-like conduct...
After all, when tennis is allowed to be manhandled in this individualistic, perfunctory, and ultimately unprofessional manner, the attraction of the "sport" is undermined. Debased, it becomes just another job with Sunday workdays and Mondays...