Yes, you read that correctly. While sports journalists make every effort to not talk about female athletes’ bodies in ways that could be misconstrued as sexist or objectifying or potentially damaging to women’s self-esteem (using euphemisms like “her fitness” when they really mean “her weight”), some seem to have no problem describing and critiquing male athletes’ bodies at length.
There are a few commentators in particular (specifically, male commentators) who talk about male tennis players’ bodies with such a strange obsessive level of detail that you’d think they were either evil scientists trying to create the world’s perfect athlete out of spare body parts, or just horny old gay guys undressing young men with their eyes. Whether it's referring to what a “big, strong boy” a tall, muscular player is or belittling a shorter player for allegedly stretching the truth about his height, some journalists seem obsessed with the mass, muscularity and power of male tennis players.
Some commentators also love to reinforce stereotypes about physical performance by offering qualified, backhanded compliments like “For a short guy, his serve packs a punch,” or “for a tall, lanky guy, he moves pretty well” (as if all tall people are just clumsy and awkward and always on the brink of tumbling over).
When David Goffin, a physically smaller player (relatively speaking), caught the public’s attention as a young qualifier by taking a set off Roger Federer in their match at the 2012 French Open, one commentator kept talking about how the lithe Goffin was going to “need to hit the gym and pack on some muscle” if he was going to be a real contender on the ATP tour. Six years later, Goffin is a far better player (he’s currently ranked #7 in the world) and doesn’t appear to be any more muscular than he was in 2012. My point is that, even if it weren’t offensive to break down male athletes into nothing more than stats and body parts, the observations these commentators offer up would still be mostly incorrect. Unlike in football, where you’re literally using the mass and acceleration of your body to knock other people down, muscularity isn’t that important in tennis. Hitting powerful serves and groundstrokes has much more to do with timing, technique, and consistency. And then there are all the other skills tennis players need to master to be great: foot speed, agility, hand-eye coordination, mental toughness, etc.
Maybe it’s immaturity that leads these commentators to talk about players like they’re part of some video game or fantasy tennis league, or maybe it’s just their own insecurities about being physically average that make them fetishize height, weight and power. Whatever the case, it’s sending a bad message about judging people based on their size and appearance. Any argument we can make about objectification and the way we talk about girls and women should also hold true for how we talk about boys and men.
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