On Sunday, Sept. 7, the U.S. Open Final was held in Queens, N.Y. In an ever-developing rivalry, Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz bested Italian Jannik Sinner in four sets, becoming the world’s number one.
While the tournament was held in the U.S.’s biggest city and featured a final matchup of the consensus best two players in the world, fans and resulting conversations have been focused something that took place before a point was even scored: President Donald Trump, alongside some of his cabinet members and son-in-law, made an appearance in the stands to what seemed to be a a mix of cheers and booing.
The reaction is not surprising, considering New York’s political landscape. Trump’s appearance and the disruptions it caused highlight a truth many try to deny: politics and sports are inseparable, regardless of how much some fans hope they were.
To assert that sports do not involve politics is to believe that we live in a world devoid of context. Even ignoring the individual high-profile political moments, sports are celebrations of culture, opportunities to bring honor to one’s heritage and chances for lower-class and oppressed players to gain upward mobility and better livelihoods.
While the mixed reactions from fans were a surprise, Trump’s appearance was planned and known. In the week leading up to the match, the eventual champion Alcaraz was asked his opinion on the president’s attendance. He said, “I don’t want myself to be nervous because of it” and “It’s great for tennis to have the president into the final.”
Sporting appearances have been routine for Trump, who received similar boos at Super Bowl LIX in February and routinely gets the spotlight and support at UFC events. A political leader’s attendance at a sporting event in their country can be argued to be intended to honor the athletes involved. However, it is also a sufficient example of how politics play a role in sports.
Many fans take the stance that political conversations should be independent of sports, claiming that sports should be a chance for them to disconnect from the troubles of society.
Often, athletes are criticized for engaging in politics. Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham telling LeBron James to “shut up and dribble” for speaking about being a black public figure, criticism of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling in protest of police brutality and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce’s appearance in a Pfizer ad campaign are just some instances representing this belief.
Conversely, a lot of the “keep politics out of sports” crowd seemingly support political expression from athletes when it is conservative, at least aesthetically. In the English Premier League, Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy went viral in 2020 for breaking a rainbow-patterned corner flag with a slide tackle in celebration of a game-winning goal.
Though Vardy followed this up by signing the flag with a pro-LGBTQ+ message for fans, the viral clip is, to this day, used on social media to imply that gay and trans people have no place in the sport. Vardy’s image as an “old-fashioned,” white, English player did not help such a case either.
To demand that athletes confine themselves to being a statistic or a jersey number instead of encouraging them to be a role model that uses their platform to bring about change is dehumanizing and communicates an ignorance of societal issues and a contentment with the status quo.
The national anthem before is played before major sporting events like the World Cup for a larger purpose: to support freedom, national pride and diversity. If favorite pastimes really do hold this type of value, it’s best to uplift the identities of the individuals who make them happen.
Dylan Rivas is a Staff Writer for the Views section of the FSView & Florida Flambeau, the student-run, independent online news service for the FSU community. Email our staff at contact@fsview.com.
