|
Is it time for a change in tennis? I believe so and you can do it!
Ever since I watched the final of Wimbledon between Roger Federer and Andy
Roddick it has become evident to me that tennis needs somehow, sometime,
somewhere a change
.
Sure Roger and Andy did battle at Wimbledon and it was a long one, 4 hours and
16 minutes to be exact, but was there real excitement in it? Did we really
see any of the two players make a play out of their own terms and comfort zone?
Did we get inspired?
To be honest, no.
Then what is happening here?
Tennis officials, ATP, WTA, ITF and grand Slam organizers, 'talk' about:
- How they would like to energize tennis.
- How to make tennis, more exciting and attractive for the new generations.
But the reality on the ground is that they are using many of the same rules from
over two hundred years ago and the same protectionist system from yore.
Among of which favoritism plays a 'hush-hush' role, for example not putting a
player on center court 'they' do not consider appealing to the public!
For goodness sake what happens if the player they do not want to put on center
court is a darn good fighter like Jim Courier was? And you delay his career
progress because Andre Agassi was more appealing to the crowd!
Yes! I dealt with that as a coach and at the time let the ATP players representative
know my two cents worth at the US Open!
There are many other goings on behind the scenes, to mention one, like who is
going to suffer the high heat of midday and who is going to have the cool breeze
of the night matches.
Does anyone believe all is fair-play in sports?
Perhaps in the times of Pierre Coubertin, but not today in the times of TV
ratings and Grand Slam tournament incomes hovering over 200 million US dollars
per event.
Even more blatant is that they all agree, players and organizers alike, how
grueling tennis has become with its interminable rallies, with balls being
traded left and right for hours on the baseline, whether on clay, grass or hard
courts.
Furthermore, even though the players complain about injuries due to the extreme
abuse of their bodies, no one seems to see the obvious:
- One of the reasons for this is the fact that the very same officials that show
so much 'pity' for the players, were the ones who made the balls bigger, heavier
and slower, which made it more difficult to finish points and stymie creative
play and the attack as well.
- Players too busy making the millions, did not see that the same officials they
are pleading with, made surfaces slower like the Australian open with the
infamous 'rebound ace'.
- This surface, in turn, besides having injured many a player because of its
well-known stickiness under Australias hot sun, also took the edge away from
Australian born players who were developed on grass courts, like Patrick Rafter
who was a serve and volley player and did not have a chance on 'rebound ace'!
- Today the Australian open has a faster surface, but it
is still far from fast courts!
What did some of these policies and decisions by officials do to tennis?
With, bigger balls, slower balls, slower courts, officials practically have
condemned tennis to a pure baseline event and taken away the incentive for
players to go to the net. This made the game a grinding, repetitive cross-court
bore.
People who do not have a clue about tennis may be entertained by matches where a
few multiple repetitions of the same point are presented to them, but not 2, 3
or 4 hours of it!
Another example of the official decisions is the Wimbledon slow down of the main
courts (stated by the players themselves), we witnessed it in a 4 hour and 16
minute match where the champion, Roger Federer, was able to win with one single
serve and volley attempt the whole grass court final match! Wow! That's grass
court tennis or is it clay court tennis?!?
Do revenues play a role in these decisions? Perhaps.
The most important source of revenue at Wimbledon is the television and radio
rights from 180 broadcasting countries. Would a gross income of over £125
million surprise you? I bet it would not, me neither. Even larger revenues may
not be foreigner to the other Grand Slams, the Australian, French and US Open.
Attendance at Grand Slam events has grow exponentially and many people are going
to an event such as Wimbledon, who have not even the foggiest idea or care about
tennis, they just want to be there to say, 'I was at Wimbledon!'
They are happy to 'ape' the wave while players who know tennis like Illie
Nastase, Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras appeared to be bored to death!
While the largely tennis ignorant crowd suits the very officials that now
pretend to 'agree' that the game has become arduous and repetitive to the point
of boredom.
Also the players are happy to play ram-ram tennis, because it is easier to do,
until they face a Federer and then they realize how important variation, the
volley, the serve and volley and the attack in general is. Too late! It takes
years to develop such skills.
Why should officials care if players serve and volley or go to the net and make
the game more exciting when they should, if the millions continue to pour in?
Now should there be any changes? Absolutely!
As I offer criticism freely, I also offer solutions that would be:
- The ATP and WTA world rankings should start anew from 0 points in January of
every year! Only players from the ATP and WTA from the previous years databank
ranking would be allowed entry into tournaments
- The top 128 (or 256) of
the previous year would be seeded in the first 3 tournaments of the year, after
that the points acquired by players that year would be enforced in the draws.
- A blanket rule should be made to rotate all seeded players to play on the
outside courts at least once at all tournaments.
- In early rounds lower seeded players should be given the chance to play on
center court and show courts 1 through 3.
- Playing in the sun or night matches, should be evenly split and no player
should be advantaged.
A new scoring system to stimulate the attack, the serve and volley and the
volley (even with the present slower, courts, slower and heavier balls):
- Every point won at the net with a volley or a overhead-smash is a 30 point.
- If the score is at 40-40 or 40-30, 30-40, ad in or out, if a player wins the
next point with a volley or a overhead-smash:
40-40 = Game + 15-0 in the next game
30-40 = ad-in
ad out = ad-in
ad in = Game + 15-0 in the next game
ad out = Game + 15-0 in the next game
What would this do?
Players and spectators would have a fresh look at the game every years rankings
and moronic records would be stopped.
It would make the game tactically and totally different, completely
unpredictable, plus this would force players to get out of the comfort zone and
systematically try new types of play.
Spectators, commentators, experts or not, would be constantly on edge (so would
players). A continuous injection of excitement and unpredictability would
surround every match and you would be introduced to tennis of the 21 century!
Also I understand that a return to serve and volley only
is not possible and would not be healthy for the game of tennis as baseline only
is not either, but a good mix of both and good volleying skills is a must to
make the game show us all of its possibilities.
Now it is up to you to have read this and say, whoopdeedoo Sergio and so what?
And let these ideas die right here on this website, or take action by forwarding
this article www address http://tenniscruz.com/content/view/431/90/ or its content:
- To every TV and newspaper sports writer/commentator/anchor you know on the
planet
- To every tennis fan and friend of yours.
- To every tennis coach who teaches you now or who once taught you.
- To your tennis
Federation
- To the
ITF
- To the
ATP
- To the
WTA
- To the
Associated Press
- To press
agencies in England
- To Inter Press
- To
Reuters
- To AP Australia
- To ESPN
And see if we together can shake up the status quo and get back to some exciting
tennis to be played around the world and on TV as well.
Thanks!
Sergio Cruz
Support the TennisCruz website, use our search link partners and purchase from them. Anything you would like to find on this website or anywhere on the internet?
Find it here:
Back From Tennis - Time for a change - You can do it! to Tennis Cruz Main Page
Copyright © Tenniscruz.com®. All rights reserved.
Please login or register to add comments |
TENNIS ARTICLES 
