As Chung Hyeon shot up the rankings in 2015, earning the most improved award in men’s tennis, he also was working hard off the court: daily phone calls with a friend in the USA — in English.
As tennis has become increasingly global, it’s still far and away an English-centered sport: Three of its four Grand Slam tournaments are in English-speaking countries, the sport is officiated in English, and players — no matter where they are from — have media obligations in the language as well.
The South Korean world No. 51 was scheduled to play world No. 1 and defending Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic in the first round.
“I’m practicing with my friend all the days,” Chung, 19, said. “It’s for interviews and for the tennis, both.”
Chung isn’t alone: The biggest stars in tennis, from Maria Sharapova to Rafael Nadal, started with barely any foothold in English.
“I didn’t know much going to the States. I just knew a few words that were very useless,” said Sharapova, who moved to Florida at 6.
“I was surrounded by hundreds of kids my age that pretty much wouldn’t shut their mouths,” she said, laughing. “That’s really how I (learned).”
Ben Crandell, an agent for IMG who represents Chung, says it can be daunting for players, no matter their age, to grasp the language. “Every interview after every match is going to include some English, so you have to know how to handle that,” Crandell said. “To become more relatable, you have to improve your English.”
It has had marketers swooning for Sharapova (who speaks English with nearly no accent) and Roger Federer. Federer was raised in Switzerland and his mom is South African; he learned English while growing up.
Rafael Nadal speaks with a heavy accent and sometimes looks over to his publicist or the media manager for an English question to be clarified. He said he enjoyed a more innocent, non-English existence when he first was coming up in tennis.
“For me was much more fun before” I had to learn, he said. “I (didn’t) care about what I was saying, because I only had a few words, that’s it.”
Asked if it was more fun not to know how to speak the language, Nadal replied, “It was good fun, but (my English) was not good.”
Not all media interviews are conducted in English. Most players have journalists who follow them to the bigger events. Nadal always does Spanish-speaking media after his English obligations; Federer does French and then switches to Swiss-German.
No formal English teaching is provided by the WTA or ATP World Tour. Players go through media training and are often advised by tour staffs of questions that might come up in news conferences, but the onus is on the players to learn.
Katie Spellman, a publicist for two-time Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova, said improving the Czech player’s English was one of her main tasks when she came on board in early 2012.
“I encouraged her to read a lot in English,” Spellman said. “We picked out some classic children’s books, including “The Wind in the Willows” and “The Secret Garden,” and she took them around the world with her.”
Simona Halep, the world No. 2, read the Harry Potter series after she skyrocketed in the rankings in 2013. Belinda Bencic, an up-and-coming teenager from Switzerland, says English-speaking TV shows and movies help. A favorite? “Titanic.”
Wimbledon finalist and world No. 3 Garbine Muguruza is reading an English language book. “I think it’s very important, because when you talk to people and they can understand you and you have the vocabulary you need, I think it’s better for me and the other person,” the native Spanish speaker said.
Major League Baseball last week instituted a rule requiring teams to employ interpreters for their Spanish-speaking players. In tennis, that role often is filled by bilingual journalists, who help players when they don’t understand a question.
But the message is clear in tennis: Learn English to survive and prosper; your game can’t do all the talking.
Spellman takes a measured approach: She preps world No. 6 Kvitova with questions that might come up so the player isn’t confused and they go through interviews together.
“English has made such a difference to her life on Tour, not only in press but in the way she is able to interact with tournament staffs and other players,” Spellman said. “She would be the first to tell you that she feels much more relaxed as a result. And the best thing is that she now really enjoys press and will often tell me after a press conference that she had a lot of fun — that’s music to my ears.”
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