Apologies from the Samurai.
Tommy Haas got a little ticked off at Sam Querrey's fan club last week in the LA Open, and this has led to some questions about whether some of these fan groups, like James Blake's, are going overboard.
Let's just say that tennis can be a little bland when fans are forced to sit around on their hands. Years ago I was in the stands as a fan at Wimbledon when Michael Chang got a bad line call against a British player. When I yelled "British line judge,'' well, it broke a funeral-like silence and didn't go over well.
And while I'll admit that whenever I leave a Blake match, the chant "James, James, James, James," is always stuck in my head like an annoying song.
But so far, Querrey's group seems fine to me. The guys take off their shirts and reveal the letters S-A-M-U-R-A-I, one letter per guy, on their stomachs.
Oh, boo hoo. Haas, by the way, happens to be a complete headcase on the court. So don't just assume that rowdy fans in tennis were the problem.
Querrey said the Samurai were "awesome" that night. Personality is not a bad thing in tennis. And now, the Samurai, on their Facebook page, have issued this apology:
"First off, we would like to extend an apology to Tommy Haas for what he believes was 'inappropriate' and 'classless' behavior. . ." the apology said. "Contrary to what Tommy Haas asserted, we were not cheering his errors and missed serves (our restraint is something we actually take pride in), but simply applauding (yes, in a pretty boisterous fashion) the unbelievable effort from our former classmate and good friend, Sam Querrery.
"We understand that this line can easily be blurred in a competitive tennis match and therefore apologize to Haas for the confusion. To make up for it, we would like to follow in the steps of the White House, and offer to take Haas out for a beer (Beck's, of course) and reconcile our differences at the upcoming U.S. Open Tennis Championships."See? Can't we all just get along?
E-mail me at gregcouch09@aol.com
