What? This Happened at the US Open?
I love tennis!
I love seeing the best players in the world battling each other… and the US Open has been an amazing event!
But wait a minute… This article isn’t about what an incredible event the US Open is in New York City in 2022, this article is about the biggest “blackeye“, the United States Tennis Association, the US Open, the sponsors, and the players could ever receive in my opinion, that just happened the other day.
One of the top-ranked women’s players in the world is an American named Jessica Pegula, and she battled mightily against the number one player in the world at the U.S. Open the other day and lost a really great match.
I was so impressed by her I had never seen her play before and I kept thinking, wow.
Wow.
However, my wow turned into disgust a little while later.
After she lost the match, they immediately went to another match with two men in the singles quarterfinals I believe it was, and halfway through that match the announcer said, “we’re going to show you a clip from Jessica Pegulas’s press conference that happened a little while ago.”
And this is where it gets disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.
They go to this recorded clip, where she’s sitting at a media table answering questions from radio and television reporters from all over the world, and sitting in front of her of all things is a Heineken Beer!
And finally, one of the reporters says “Why would you have a Heineken Beer at a press conference?“
And Jessica, in the fashion of all alcoholics like I used to be, responded “it helps take the edge off, the frustration of losing a match.“
WHAT? What the hell did she just say?
Those are the perfect words that I used to say as a former alcoholic!
I used to use those same words! “I’m having another glass of wine because it was just a really, really long day.“
Now, wait a minute… Before you think I’m some anti-alcohol cop, I’m not at all. I could care less if people are social drinkers, but if you’re having a beer on national television after losing a match you are not a social drinker!
And it gets worse!
Jessica Pegula whether she likes it or not, is a role model to six-year-old little girls, 10-year-old little boys, 14-year-old little girls, 16-year-old little boys, 28-year-old young women…
And what is she teaching them?
When you struggle in life, when you’re sad or frustrated, drink. Numb yourself out. Don’t deal with reality.
To have the guts to have a freaking beer at a press conference when there are millions of people around the world looking up to her as a role model in my opinion is absolutely disgusting.
And I used to be just like her. I used to drink over my frustration. I used to drink over the disappointment. I used to drink over anger. So I used to be just like Jessica. Yes, I was an alcoholic.
But it’s not only her problem. Why the hell would the United States Tennis Association allow a clip like that to be shown across the world?
Why would the United States Tennis Association want one of their star players to be giving the message that it’s OK to drink alcohol when you’re sad or frustrated… Have we lost our minds here?
Or is it really about money, power, and greed?
If that was a Bud Light, who is not a sponsor of the event with the USTA allow that clip to be shown again?
I doubt it!
Because Heineken is a sponsor of the U.S. Open, the U.S. Open obviously shows their codependency with money, and codependency with sponsorships by showing an athlete drinking beer because she’s sad that she lost a match!
Has no one taught Jessica how to use emotional regulation techniques to deal with sadness, frustration, and anger after losing a tennis match?
This message tells all younger people and even older people, that the best way to deal with challenges in life… Is not to deal with them.
Is to numb out.
I hope this article reaches Jessica Pegula, the USTA, Heineken, and the U.S. Open committee and I hope they all feel embarrassed as hell that they’re being called out for doing something so ridiculous at a time when Addiction has gone through the roof in our country alone.
We need logic. There’s no logic between Jessica, the USTA, Heineken, and the U.S. Open committee.
I hope that they have the internal strength and integrity, to make a public apology announcement from all four players here, because of the damage that they’re doing to our young and even middle-aged individuals that love tennis, giving them the message that the best way to deal with a loss… Is to drink alcohol.
Wake up America.
As a former division one basketball player, I can’t imagine going to a press conference after we either won or lost the game and being in front of reporters with a glass of wine in my hand. Are you freaking kidding me?
Would LeBron James, I pray to God he wouldn’t, at a press conference after losing a game have a Bud Light in his hand?
Do you see how ridiculous this is… And the message we’re sending out to people all over the world?
It’s time to wake up Jessica. It’s time to wake up the US Olympic committee. It’s time to wake up USTA… Of course, Heineken is a winner here because they get additional advertising for being a sponsor at no cost!
Heineken is probably ecstatic that they showed that clip!
But as a professional counselor, number one best-selling author, executive coach, and minister I say enough!
Apologies are needed, from all parties involved. It’s a disgusting relationship between athletics and alcohol.“
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