I believe that in no other sport the fans and the media are so hard on players. I understand if a soccer player poorly performs at the final of an international competition or if a quarterback is not able to complete passes in a Superbowl game. But many of these great achievements always remain next to the player’s name. As a reminder of their amazing accomplishment.

Seems like the media and the fans are not this way in tennis.

 They seem to never be satisfied. One player reaches a final and we are questioning when will they finally win a title. Or a player wins a title, ranging from a 250 to one of the four grand slams and not even an hour later, thousands of people are online asking if this means many more of these titles are coming and if this is just the beginning. We don’t even let players celebrate one accomplishment before we send out a gazillion tweets analyzing their future(yes, we, because I’ve done that). 

We take so lightly what winning a grand slam means. A draw with 128 of the best players in the world competes to only crown one champion. But when the final has passed seems like it won’t matter as much as the next big tournament they are supposed to win now. 

Hundreds of different creative ways of calling those champions are created. “One-time-wonder” is one of them. 

Don’t wonder when will they win a title again. Wonder how many hours of training it took them to get the one they already won.

Don’t wonder if they will be the next top ten. Wonder how many years of sacrifice it took them to achieve their highest ranking. 

So fast to criticize, but so slow to clap.

How many of those critics would wish to win one of those big titles at least once? To leave their mark on the history of the sport. 

Raducanu said in a recent interview when asked about feeling the pressure. But I’m a slam champion, so no one’s going to take that away from me.” 

“If anything, the pressure is on those who haven’t done that.”

Emma Raducanu

I don’t know if it is the tennis calendar, which luckily offers four chances of making history to players, unlike other athletes that had to wait for the Olympics or World cups. But If Messi were to win this upcoming soccer World Cup with Argentina, it could skyrocket his career to being named the greatest of all time. If he had done it already there would be no discussions as to who is the best soccer player in history. That is how much value that cup holds.

Why not give the same value to a grand slam title? 

We should honor a player’s effort more and all that happens behind the scenes that allow them to compete at the highest of levels.

One-time-wonder reached the stars at least once. How many times have you done it?