The Way I See It...

A personal view of tennis by Jeff Davies

Towel (and ball kid) abuse

 How difficult would it be to attach a towel rail to each corner of the court?

Considering how many hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent on facilities at every major tournament, it is incredible that they cannot come up with something that is a standard fixture in practically every house in the world.

Instead we have towels tossed on the ground, behind scoreboards or much worse and more often, at unfortunate ball kids who then have to figure out what to do with it.

Can't players take care of their own towels?
Can't some innovative tournaments get a little nice publicity by providing towel rails - with a supply of clean towels in an adjacent container and a scented, fresh air fan drying and de-odorizing the towel in use???
Can't the players have one at each end so that they do not constantly have to shout at ball kids to retrieve and deliver their towel to them at changeovers?

I recently saw the expression of disgust on the face of a young girl who was the unfortunate and repeated target of Juan Monaco's sweaty and dirty towel - into which he had recently emptied the contents of his nose and throat.

I was half-expecting her to either vomit or refuse to continue.

 Surely this should also be a matter of health and safety as well as basic consideration for these poor kids
who should not have to endure such disgusting  treatment.