The emotion of it all: Why we love watching sport

Under high pressure situation, keeping a lid on emotions is not easy, writes Sandeep Menon

Why do we love watching sports?

It’s a fair question. In the grand scheme of things, how important is a victory or a loss for a team or individual who has little to do with fans beyond nationality, kinship, admiration or the badge on their jersey?

But it remains a cultural phenomenon that brings out tribalism, reflected worth and a myriad of emotions. It is the most important, least important thing. It’s inherently chaotic, unpredictable and the most beautiful theatre played live across the globe.

So when PV Sindhu had a little outburst against the officials during the Badminton Asia Championships semifinal against Akane Yamaguchi, it generated a lot of conversation.

Hurriedly typed hypotheses were made of the impact that ‘faulty decision’ had on the result. Sindhu herself admitted that it made a difference. In this instance, frustration and anger probably got the better of her. But let’s get one thing straight. Sindhu is a champion, probably the greatest athlete India has produced in the last decade. Her credentials are second to none. She is entitled to have a bad day.

What it does bring up is how an athlete deals with emotions. In sports, there are no guarantees. The decisions are taken in a split second in an environment brimming with entropy. Some decisions are beyond the athlete’s control as well. And when things go wrong, and they often do, emotions reign supreme in a high-pressure environment.

“Any competition when it gets high, your emotions are running high so your senses are heightened. For an athlete to perform at their best, they need to know what is the level of arousal or emotions that gets them to the level of focus they require. If it goes beyond a point, it becomes a distraction,” says Sujith Somasundar, former Indian cricketer and Head of Education at NCA and a life/mind coach.

“You want to be as calm as possible, it’s important for decision making,” admits Somdev Devvarman, former ATP World number 62. “That is the thing about sport, regardless of the level of the athlete, you are not impervious to emotions. They are people at the end of the day and that is fine.”

The stories of athletes losing the plot have been told and retold for years. And this too from the world’s leading individuals who have time and again managed to channel their emotions well. There are no guarantees. Serena Williams, arguably the greatest female tennis player of all time, has incurred punishment two separate times, nine years apart, at the US Open after outbursts against officials where she lost the plot completely.

Zinedine Zidane, possibly the greatest exponent of grace on a football field, famously headbutted Marco Materazzi in the World Cup final. Both have achieved phenomenal success and, surely, are not unable to overcome obstacles.

“Anger by itself is not a bad thing as long as the person getting angry has control,” says Somasundar. “Why, to what extent and for what reason. If all that is in control then it is okay because it’s not getting the better of them. They can use it to heighten their level of focus and determination, then it’s a good thing. At the end of the day, whatever happens, how the athlete makes it mean is very important.”

There have been many instances of that too. It was famously noted by his rivals that John McEnroe’s anger fueled him and made him play better. Virat Kohli goes looking for a fight because it makes him better. Brian Lara, a calm man, wears a steely determination when sledged to the point that Australian team meetings had orders not to speak to the West Indian batsman.

Novak Djokovic, ever the pantomime villain, finds the cold blood when the crowd goes against him, as they often do in big games. He famously said, after defeating Roger Federer in an epic Wimbledon final, that he heard ‘Novak, Novak, while the crowd chanted ‘Roger, Roger’.

Daniil Medvedev, the same player who suffered at the hands of a hostile crowd at the Australian Open against Rafael Nadal, burst into the wider public conscience, due to his ability to antagonise the crowd and win with that anger at the US Open three years ago.

“When you see outbursts, a lot of the athletes expel the negative or pent-up emotions. Probably the extroverted athletes show the anger and frustration and the minute they do, they would be able to bring back the focus,” says Somasundar.

What is noticeable is the times when athletes lose the plot is mostly an error, perceived, not of their own making in tight situations.

“It is difficult when it is a touch-and-go situation. If it was the beginning of the game and the same error happened, the way the athlete represents that to the final result is different from how they attach it if it happened towards the end of the game. The mistake the umpire makes is the same. The situation under which the bad call happens will heighten the effect on the player,” says Somasundar.

“Towards the end, that is when the player starts feeling a lot more heat and it’s a lot more difficult to bring back the focus and let it go. When the player starts attaching a lot of meaning and continues to feel like that, usually what happens is, as human beings, we start to use it as a victim card. Then the focus and determination start weaning off because in a way, mentally you are giving up so physically start giving up as well. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Even there, it’s about internal meaning for an athlete.

“Even a victim card is the way they make it mean,” continues Somasundar. “If you start making it mean like this is the start of my downfall, that may allow them to stay focused and mental resilience will be backed by the physical skill part itself. It’s all about what you make it mean.”

If the drama on the field/court is not enough, athletes also have to deal with expectations, perhaps more so now than before with social media where everything is magnified.

“I don’t think there is more pressure than there used to be,” believes Somdev. “Lot of it is self-bought. Don’t want to be on social media, then don’t be. Sensationalism exists. There is no denying that. On one hand, athletes don’t have the right to complain because that is why they are making money and fame. But it comes with a cost. That’s the way it is. When I was playing I had people send very hateful messages. In time you realise you have a job and need to try and get better.”

“When you know there are so many people to comment on what you did well and didn’t do well, that causes a lot more damage,” admits Somasundar.

“It’s harder to feel that you lost. There is also the fear of success. You did it once you are expected to do it again. Success brings so much expectation, you can’t look mediocre at all.”

The easy thing is to advise on keeping emotions under check. But would we want to? Would MS Dhoni be the cricketer he is without his ice-cool demeanour under pressure? Would Kohli be who he is without the fire? Zidane or Diego Maradona’s genius is only compounded by that temperamental streak.

It’s emotions that make an athlete great. It’s the emotion that makes the sport entertaining and the theatre it is. Wouldn’t be the same without it.