In the top echelons of men's tennis these days (as demonstrated by the recent Djokovich/Nadal match), the game has deteriorated to a form that is reminiscent of the not-missed days of Chrissy Evert dominating the women's game.
Serve, ground stroke, ground stroke......ground stroke, better ground stroke, really good groundstroke, groundstroke winner.
Yea!
Then, serve, ground stroke, ground stroke......ground stroke...(yawn)...better ground stroke, really good groundstroke, unforced error.
Yea!
I do not dispute the fact that these guys are really, really good, and that they are the best tennis players in the world right now, but when it comes to Entertaining Tennis, it leaves me cold.
Proper tennis is Serve & Volley, or "approach shots," after which the hitter comes into the net and puts the ball away with a short, angled volley.
But Serve & Volley is dead because the players have return shots that are so good the server would be committing suicide to try to come in. Even someone with a server like Eisner's can't come to the net more than a couple times in a set, because he is passed as often as he gets a chance to hit a good volley. Same for "approach shots"; they don't exist anymore. You can't approach the net for fear of being passed.
In the heyday of the Aussies (Laver, Emerson, Newcombe, etc), points were frequently played out as a series of overhead smashes and lobs, but the advent of the topspin lob has killed this pattern almost entirely.
I don't know what the general public looks for in a tennis match, but I can't imagine that a casual observer has any interest in watching a 4 hour match where the average point involves 15-20 groundstrokes - even if they are FANTASTIC groundstrokes. As a tennis PLAYER, I can tell you that I enjoyed watching the matches of Sampras, McEnroe, Becker, and Edberg a lot more than these marathons being played by Murray, Federer, Djokovich, and Nadal.
If I were the emperor of tennis, I would de-tune either the balls or the rackets, to bring the rocket groundstrokes under control and permit "real" tennis to be played again.
The same could be done in golf; it's absurd to have pro's hitting driver and middle-irons on par 5's. But that's another thread altogether.
Serve, ground stroke, ground stroke......ground stroke, better ground stroke, really good groundstroke, groundstroke winner.
Yea!
Then, serve, ground stroke, ground stroke......ground stroke...(yawn)...better ground stroke, really good groundstroke, unforced error.
Yea!
I do not dispute the fact that these guys are really, really good, and that they are the best tennis players in the world right now, but when it comes to Entertaining Tennis, it leaves me cold.
Proper tennis is Serve & Volley, or "approach shots," after which the hitter comes into the net and puts the ball away with a short, angled volley.
But Serve & Volley is dead because the players have return shots that are so good the server would be committing suicide to try to come in. Even someone with a server like Eisner's can't come to the net more than a couple times in a set, because he is passed as often as he gets a chance to hit a good volley. Same for "approach shots"; they don't exist anymore. You can't approach the net for fear of being passed.
In the heyday of the Aussies (Laver, Emerson, Newcombe, etc), points were frequently played out as a series of overhead smashes and lobs, but the advent of the topspin lob has killed this pattern almost entirely.
I don't know what the general public looks for in a tennis match, but I can't imagine that a casual observer has any interest in watching a 4 hour match where the average point involves 15-20 groundstrokes - even if they are FANTASTIC groundstrokes. As a tennis PLAYER, I can tell you that I enjoyed watching the matches of Sampras, McEnroe, Becker, and Edberg a lot more than these marathons being played by Murray, Federer, Djokovich, and Nadal.
If I were the emperor of tennis, I would de-tune either the balls or the rackets, to bring the rocket groundstrokes under control and permit "real" tennis to be played again.
The same could be done in golf; it's absurd to have pro's hitting driver and middle-irons on par 5's. But that's another thread altogether.
