Pro Tennis as a Spectator Sport

[DGS49]

I heard one of the tennis commentators saying yesterday, that there has not been a single repeat-winner on either the mens or women's side of professional tennis this year. Every single tournament has been won by someone who had not won before this year.

That will change today, as John Isner goes up against The Roger in Miami, and Federer will win in two sets.

But isn't it ironic that a situation that would appear to be Great for tennis - a wonderful level of competitiveness - will actually hurt attendance and viewership, as the well-known players (Williams, Sharapova, Nadal, Federer, Djokovich, Murray) are not consistently in the semifinals and finals of the tournaments? They are getting knocked off in early rounds by unknown players who are just breaking into the top level. And it will take a couple years before the names of the Phenoms become familiar enough that people will want to tune in to see them play.

My own interest has waned in recent years as the play has focused on baseline play, which isn't anywhere near as entertaining as Serve & Volley. But things are gradually changing.

 

[Eric Arthur Blair]

Time marches on...new faces are bound to pop up. Wonen's tennis, at least, is finally over the big overweight shadow of Serena Williams thankfully and new faces like Andrescu, Barty, Osaka are going to be taking command.
Players who aren't yet past their prime but not fresh faces like Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens will be in the mix too.

As for the men they will suffer more from player fatigue. That is, the same three faces winning all the time and taking all the air out of the game. Felix Auger-Aliassime who has a smart stylishly pleasing game will break through this year.

On the plus side stylistically, the boring monochrome baseline grinding hard and harder hitting contest that has become pro tennis seems to be giving way in the women's game at least to players like Ashleigh Barty and Andrescu, the Canadian (which isn't to say that big shouldered beasts like Aryna Sabalenka will not have their say at times).
The women's game has always been more entertaining because it doesn't over rely on pure power.

Ironically as the singles game seems to be showing some signs of reintroducing finesse and brain power back into vogue top levels doubles teams are going the other way simply blasting balls at each other. It is dismaying.

 

[Polishprince]

I heard one of the tennis commentators saying yesterday, that there has not been a single repeat-winner on either the mens or women's side of professional tennis this year. Every single tournament has been won by someone who had not won before this year.

That will change today, as John Isner goes up against The Roger in Miami, and Federer will win in two sets.

But isn't it ironic that a situation that would appear to be Great for tennis - a wonderful level of competitiveness - will actually hurt attendance and viewership, as the well-known players (Williams, Sharapova, Nadal, Federer, Djokovich, Murray) are not consistently in the semifinals and finals of the tournaments? They are getting knocked off in early rounds by unknown players who are just breaking into the top level. And it will take a couple years before the names of the Phenoms become familiar enough that people will want to tune in to see them play.

My own interest has waned in recent years as the play has focused on baseline play, which isn't anywhere near as entertaining as Serve & Volley. But things are gradually changing.

Tennis just isn't a very interesting sport to most people, so they really don't keep up with it. People who are big stars in the sport are the only ones that most people know. Other sports have faded in the past as well, only to be replaced by others.

 

[22lcidw]

Time marches on...new faces are bound to pop up. Wonen's tennis, at least, is finally over the big overweight shadow of Serena Williams thankfully and new faces like Andrescu, Barty, Osaka are going to be taking command.
Players who aren't yet past their prime but not fresh faces like Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens will be in the mix too.

As for the men they will suffer more from player fatigue. That is, the same three faces winning all the time and taking all the air out of the game. Felix Auger-Aliassime who has a smart stylishly pleasing game will break through this year.

On the plus side stylistically, the boring monochrome baseline grinding hard and harder hitting contest that has become pro tennis seems to be giving way in the women's game at least to players like Ashleigh Barty and Andrescu, the Canadian (which isn't to say that big shouldered beasts like Aryna Sabalenka will not have their say at times).
The women's game has always been more entertaining because it doesn't over rely on pure power.

Ironically as the singles game seems to be showing some signs of reintroducing finesse and brain power back into vogue top levels doubles teams are going the other way simply blasting balls at each other. It is dismaying.

Tennis needs some McEnroe types to stoke interest. To bring in viewers and interest from outside its base.

 

[Eric Arthur Blair]

The match up of styles (baseliners vs. and net rushers) is what makes for really interesting tennis and there was a whole generation of serve and volley players (Edberg, Rafter, Sampras, etc.) who vanished because of technological changes in racquets, strings, tennis balls themselves and the way tennis was being taught.

A few players exist outside the mold of baseline hugging hamsters who just run back and forth hitting hard and harder and eventually the pendulum will swing back. Until then tennis will not have the mass appeal it should.

 

[DGS49]

On that same subject, I was watching a Youtube video last night of Pete Sampras and Roger Federer playing one of a series of one-on-one matches, about four years after Sampras had "retired," and when Roger was in the middle of a couple hundred consecutive weeks when he was Number One in the World.

Roger had NOTHING on the elderly Sampras. He was executing his serve&volley just like when he was the best in the world, and Roger's passing shots were sometimes effective, sometimes not, but no one watching could conclude that Serve & Volley was dead...for people with the talent who can carry it off.