Worsley at the Aussie Open: The weird and wacky superstitions of tennis

Rafael Nadal in action at the Australian Open.
Rafael Nadal in action at the Australian Open. Photo credit: AAP

OPINION: Superstitions - almost every sportsperson has them. From which sock goes on first, to what clothing they wear, what they eat for breakfast, the music they listen to, where they sit on the bus.

This is the weird and wonderful and somewhat silly superstitions of tennis players.

Arguably the most fascinating of late is Spaniard Rafael Nadal, and he has quite a list.

He walks on to the court with a racquet in his hand, only crosses a line with his right foot and never steps on any lines. He delays putting his headband on until last and usually still adjusts it as he walks on to play a point. He stays in his courtside seat until his opponent approaches the umpire.

Then there are tennis balls. He will always have three balls to decide from before he serves. If he has a ball in his pocket, he will only take two from the same ball person, apparently never one from different ball kids.

Before serving he will clip the ground behind him with the tip of his foot, tuck his hair firstly behind his left ear then his right, and then wipe his forehead, bounce the ball again and serve.

But the most intricate Nadal-ism comes with water. He has two water bottles which he places in front of his chair with the labels pointing outward. When play changes ends, the bottles are adjusted to ensure the labels face the baseline of the end he is playing from. It's fascinating to watch. He is quite delicate in the way he places them.

On occasion, a ball person has knocked them or adjusted them. Nadal will then quickly put them back in to place with an almost look of disdain on his face.

Andre Agassi.
Andre Agassi. Photo credit: Getty

One superstition which involved former player Andre Agassi could potentially be a little uncomfortable. He has talked about how he went to play the first round of the 1999 French Open against a tough opponent who was playing some of the best clay court tennis in the world at the time. He realised when in the locker room getting ready that he'd forgotten his underwear. His coach offered to lend his. Agassi said, 'Sorry man - I'd rather go commando than wear yours.' No puns about balls, please.

He played the first round so well he proceeded not to wear underwear the rest of the tournament, and won. There are rumours he didn't wear them for the rest of his playing career, but who's checking?

Most players have little systems to keep their concentration and form some sort of rhythm to their game. Here's a few which spring to mind.

There are rumours Serena Williams never changes her socks when she's winning - which is pretty gross.

Dominikova Cibulkova looks like she's kissing a new tennis ball when in fact she's going further into fetish territory by sniffing it.

Novak Djokovic bounces the ball a certain number of times prior to each serve - around 20 times - but then who's counting?

Maria Sharapova doesn't walk on the lines of the tennis court. A few others have a similar type of superstition (Justine Henin and Ana Ivanovic), but Sharapova's is fairly evident at times, and being who she is, she turns her back to her opponent before they serve to her and plays with the strings of her racquet. She also does something funny with her hair too. She doesn't smile much either, but that's just Shazza for you.

Dave Worlsey is a Newshub sports reporter, covering his 21st Australian Open.