Losing stings but tennis stars always show up to talk. So should golfers

In all the pomp of victory, as podiums are set up and long ceremonies commence, look at the defeated athlete. He can't hide except under a towel. He's just waiting, scrutinized by staring cameras (did he break a racket? kick the dirt?), having platitudes tossed at him ("your time will come"), holding on to disappointment till he's alone in a locker room and weeping.

- Rohit Brijnath

For 20 minutes after the last shot in tennis, the vanquished are still on court, an exhausted prop in a triumphant theatre. They're handed a microphone, here, speak, be graceful, stay humble, praise the champion, don't forget the ball kids, all this while their heart feels like a toppled jigsaw.

And still, as Jannik Sinner did in Paris, they do it brilliantly, even if he said "it's easier to play than talking". His court duties done, he went, like every tennis player, after every match, win or lose, to the interview room, a young man interrogated in multiple languages on falling short.

The interviews are testing because everything is recent and raw, defeat still chafing, and so, sometimes, like with Aryna Sabalenka in Paris, the answers are clumsy and ungenerous. But if we want an uncensored, candid view of how athletes feel, rather than just bland replies, then we can't complain when occasionally it isn't pretty.

This isn't to excuse the graceless but an appreciation that young people, living in a 24-hour spotlight, will slip. The occasional offender we forgive, the frequent sinner is another matter. Sabalenka quickly apologized and Coco Gauff, who beat her, will understand. On the outside we judge; on the inside, fellow athletes know the bad days, the mad margins, the rage for perfection.