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Wednesday, July 10, 2024

Cheering speech in context

Protection for cheering speech--fan speech during sporting events--depends on context. Different sports employ different norms and practices, which affect what is acceptable fan speech. Obviously, the constant thunder of a basketball game at Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium does not carry over to Wimbledon, where fans cheer between points but are expected to remain silent during play.

That works well enough in trying to define the rules for fans in those stadiums in which First Amendment rules apply and in which the stands can be seen as some kind of public forum. But tennis also apparently has norms limiting what fans cheer for or against and how. Two cases in point from Monday.

Novak Djokovic was upset with the Wimbledon crowd during his victory over Holgar Rune for disrespecting him by shouting "booo" at him; he rejected the idea that it was Rune fans supporting their player by chanting his name ("Ruuuuune"). Alexander Zverev had a long conversation with American Taylor Fritz when they met at the net following Fritz's five-set victory, apparently angry at how loudly some in Fritz's box cheered, especially when it was obvious that Zverev was injured. It probably did not help that Fritz's girlfriend made several (since-deleted) Instagram posts about women supporting Fritz, perceived as referencing several accusations of domestic abuse against Zverev. Indeed, Zverev clarified that Fritz's coaches and trainer were respectful, so it it was someone else being disrespectful--do the math.

So it is ok to cheer for Player A but not against Player B. And do not cheer too loudly. And do not cheer (at least not overly hard and loud) for Player A if Player B is injured. Strange.

The source of the complaints should not surprise. Djokovic cannot get the fans to love him despite being the unquestioned G.O.A.T., so he somewhat leans into the villain role. And Zverev is poster-child for the ATP's perceived unwillingness or inability to hold players accountable for off-court misconduct.

Posted by Howard Wasserman on July 10, 2024 at 12:36 PM in First Amendment, Howard Wasserman, Sports | Permalink

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