Every few days/weeks/months on here, there is a fresh argument on whether Jannik Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz is the best tennis player in the world. *yawnnnnnn* Nevertheless, every time I read the outraged and passionate defences of both players, I am struck by the analogy that Tennis Twitter fans are really just like a group of parents chatting (read: bragging) at the school gates. Yes, as proud parents, we all think our child is the smartest/funniest/best-looking/most gifted, and we expect everyone else to see the same perfect, flawless qualities. Did the class teacher declare our son to be the brightest student in the cohort? Well, obviously, he’s speaking only the most accurate of truths (even if it could be a slightly biased perspective because our boy just signed up to play on the teacher’s sports team that he coaches for fun in his spare time, whilst the other class genius is too busy building robots and has no time for group work, nor activities which will not score him any formal academic credits). Of course, whilst we always think our child is the best, and take the opinions of those who agree as being the gospel, objective numbers and statistics don’t lie. The issue only falls in which numbers we choose to focus on to make our argument. Did our son win the most trophies at his school prize day? Well, it’s settled, he must have the highest academic ceiling, compared to everyone else. But hang on, wait a minute, there’s this other child genius who routinely scores the top in his test results, and in fact, even recorded the highest ever individual test score in history. Hmm, so maybe his peak is actually the Mt Everest of the cohort’s mountain range? 🤔 The truth is, comparisons are pointless when the schooling years have not been completed. Because, the precocious kindergarten child who is already writing their name in cursive font whilst the rest of their peers are still figuring out how to hold the pencil, is very rarely the same individual delivering the valedictorian address at their graduation two decades later. In any case, the thing that many of these pseudo-parent tennis fans forget in their haste to anoint their child as the Big-3’s successor and even superior, is that parents typically love their children unconditionally. If other people see their offspring’s beauty, kindness, and genius, that makes it all the sweeter, but either way, they love their child most for who and what they are, separate to anyone else’s opinions. Whether your child is the one who has already won 10 of the races across the monkey bars or is his best friend recording 7 of his own victories in their fierce playground battles, the only relevant thing is that either way, you still love watching their swinging technique the most. So, friends, next time this needless debate crops up, let’s all try and be the parent who manfully swallows down their story about how their child recently drew the cure for cancer on their etch-a-sketch, and simply walks away from all the other seagulls still squabbling over each other’s equally delicious fries at the school gates. ✌️