Tennis and golf seem so much different than almost all other sports. Baseball is the most intense with a pitcher throwing a ball towards you at over 100mph. NFL quarterbacks have to go to a silent count to snap the ball because they can’t hear the call. Basketball, Soccer (futball), Rugby, NFL, hockey, etc… all allow as much noise as you can make. Most teams will also encourage noise when the opponent has the ball. Why is tennis and golf an outlier?
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For golf at the professional level, the margin of error is around 1° for how square you hit the ball and a few blades of grass between the club face and ball can drastically change how the ball flies. It highly precise and full concentration is required. No crowd noise helps a lot. That being said, I’m sure if the sport had evolved with crowds making a bunch of noise then it would be different.
Note that there are a few tournaments every year where crowd noise is encouraged. The Waste Management Open has grandstands and is extremely noisy. The Canadian Open crowd treats it like a hockey game. The Ryder Cup is generally very loud with crowds trying to throw off the visiting team. The Ryder Cup is the best players from the US vs the best players from Europe and the host rotates between the US and Europe. When it’s in Europe, the crowds try to throw off the US players and vice versa when the US hosts. These are some of the best tournaments every year and players love to play in them.
Tennis and gold are precision sports. A loud shout could completely knock a player off their swing. It’s considered bad form to deliberately sabotage athletes. Even in football and rugby, when they’re taking penalty kicks the crowd is quiet.
Also, the other difference is that there’s a home/away team in the other sports you mentioned. There’s a certain degree of acceptance that there’s going to be cheering/jeering because it’s part of the culture of supporters.
I always assumed it’s the fact that golf and tennis are individual sports whereas the ones you mentioned are all team sports. Noise is a necessary part of team sports – constant communication is expected. No such expectation in tennis so any noise is an exception that will throw off your concentration
Fans are supposed to be quiet at football games when their offensive is starting a drive, and loud when their defense is up. Not that everyone follows that rule (but they should!)
Being able to hear how the tennis ball is struck helps with anticipating what kind of speed & spin will be coming at you
I have to wonder if tennis and golf are sports where spectators are very close to the players, and players aren’t making a ton of noise themselves. Team sports usually have some distance from the audience, and while basketball can have people sitting literally ringside, it’s already a fast-paced game with natural noise. Golf is one person concentrating very hard before a swing, and tennis is only two players making their own noise.
From a golf perspective I don’t care about constant noise, it’s sudden noise. Golf is mush less react then many other sports so noise can cause issues.
A lot of people are saying it’s a cultural thing, but there is a huge element of focus in sports that requires fast-twitch, explosive, movement can be very challenging.
Think about how we turn down the radio in the car when we are trying to read an address on buildings where it’s hard to see.
But in sports like golf and tennis, the wind also has a huge factor. Many players have “feel” when we play games like that. There’s so much going into one specific moment that we can’t conciosly think through every piece, and you have to trust your gut and focus. So, having the silence helps put every point of brain and body into the moment.
Here is my take as a golfer. If the noise is constant, or consistent I’m ok with it. What gets me, is when it’s quiet and I’m focused, then someone says something behind me, yells from a fairway over.
Typically I have music going (at a reasonable volume). I actually prefer a bit of background noise. I also bowl, and it is never quiet, and I think it takes just as much concentration as golf.
Edit: some spelling
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