Court Generalship, Boxing Ring and Tennis Court Comparisons by Tim Ryan

By Scoop Malinowski

I recently had a conversation with retired sports announcer Tim Ryan about the comparisons of boxing and tennis. Ryan would know: He was the announcer for countless network boxing matches on CBS in the 1970s and 80s as well as several major closed-circuit fights like Ali vs Frazier, Leonard vs. Hearns, Leonard vs Hagler to name a few. Ryan also called nineteen US Opens for CBS.

Ryan said that he used to have discussions with his colleague John McEnroe about the similarities of boxing and tennis and at first McEnroe resisted the notion though he eventually agreed.

“I’ve heard him sometimes make that (boxing/tennis) reference in big matches on TV,” says Ryan. “The player takes command of the court like the boxer in the ring. All the greats do that. When Roger Federer enters the court – in his gentlemanly demeanor – he gives you a sense that it’s his court. That’s part of the similarity of the champions in boxing and in tennis, along with the one on one aspect. Now the tennis players have their teams, so much like boxing.”

Having closely studied the greatest champions of both sports from an insider’s perspective, Ryan shares more of his insights: “I believe when all the greats take the tennis court for a match, they try to assert their dominance. Federer, Nadal, Djokovic have that presence, that the court is their own.”

Contemplating that observation I suddenly think of Pete Sampras who possessed a very low-key and understated nature on the court. I mention it to Ryan and he agrees, “I don’t think Pete Sampras had that presence. I don’t remember him projecting himself like a champion. He was just better than everybody.”

Ryan has a family relative who is a ranked junior in Canada. From his experience in professional tennis he offers her advice. “I tell her, When you go out there, act you like you own the court. It’s part of the way to be a champion. As soon as you walk out for the warm up. I think the warm up is an important time in the match. During the warm up, which player decides to go to the net to practice volleys and overheads. Even on the professional level, the player ranked no. 50 is going to defer to the top ranked player without even knowing it.”

“It’s just like the great boxers, projecting that they’re the boss. It’s a visual thing to do. It’s part of it all.”

Ryan suggested his family member accept the outcome of any match with this philosophy: “No matter what the result, be smiling, shake hands and look forward to the next match.”

Ryan, who lives in St. Helena, California and just published a book “On Someone Else’s Nickel: A Life In Television, Sports and Travel” about his life and over four-decade long international broadcasting career which included Olympic Games, tennis, world cup skiing, basketball, hockey, boxing in venues all over the globe.

Ryan mentioned other tennis champions who had a distinctly special presence. “Lendl had that. Connors, Agassi too. The whole arena focused on them until play started. The great player asserts his presence and sends a message to the opponent. I’ve always felt that tennis and boxing had that similarity.”

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