Research indicates tennis crowds laugh at stuff that isn’t actually that funny

An in-depth scientific study has revealed what many of us have assumed all along: tennis crowds laugh at stuff that isn’t actually that funny. The study, which forensically analysed the on-court events at a variety of tennis tournaments across the globe, and then tracked the audience response, is believed to be the first scientific evidence of this odd phenomenon.

When asked about the inspiration behind such a ground-breaking study, lead researcher Callum Field told The Watsonia Bugle, “Over the last few years of the Aussie Open I’d seen crowds laugh heartily at the most banal goings on that I thought it was time to look into what causes this strange behaviour. I mean, does the audience really leave their sense of humour in the cloak room at Melbourne Park, or are tennis fans just generally lame people in the first place?”

According to Field, the study analysed over a dozen tennis tournaments all over the world but, oddly, the Australian Open crowd seemed to be the lamest. He said, “Initially we thought the Hopman Cup or Hobart International would be the lamest, but nothing seemed to match the good old Aussie Open. Crowds there laughed at the most basic things, and it seems that any moron in the crowd can yell out pretty much anything during a silent period and they’ll get a decent smattering of laughs around the stadium.”

Following on from there findings, Field said he and his team would like to now analyse why this propensity to laugh at unfunny things exists. He said, “Is it something about the fairly civilised nature of the crowd involvement? I mean, it’s very strict in the crowd. You know, no talking during play, you have to wait until the change of ends to get back to your seat after going to the toilet. Maybe it’s like that old thing of when you’re somewhere that you shouldn’t laugh it just makes you want to laugh harder? Like when someone farts in church or something. It’s funny, but because you shouldn’t laugh it just makes it funnier. I don’t know, but we’ll try our best to get to the bottom of it.”