They're calling it the greatest match ever. Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer put on a spectacular show, battling back-and-forth in a game of anything you can do I can do better. For one rainy afternoon at Wimbeldon, tennis was back in the nation's limelight. This classic match between the game's two most outstanding athletes conjured up memories of the historic duels between John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg, and Jimmy Connors. At least for one day, everyone had tennis fever. But when our hearts stop racing and our minds clear, will we still crave tennis?
Ever since Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras bid farewell, tennis has been largely irrelevant in the United States, surpassed in popularity even by the pointless inanity that is NASCAR. What exactly happened to the sport America once held in such high regard? Prior to Sunday, I can't recall the last time SportsCenter led with a tennis highlight. I'm no Einstein, but here is my best guess as to what went wrong:
- Mostly every sport needs a rivalry to succeed. In baseball, you've got the Red Sox-Yankees and Giants-Dodgers. In basketball, you've got the Spurs and the Suns. In football, it's Peyton, Brady, the Colts, and the Patriots. The only sport capable of thriving without a major rivalry is golf, only because the sport features the most dominant athlete in the world in Tiger Woods. Take away Tiger, and golf would suffer too. That's why the PGA can't wait until Tiger recovers from knee surgery. But if your sport does not have a guy by the name of Eldrick Woods, it is necessary to have some kind of juicy intrigue, and rivalries provide just that. The two sports that have been hit hardest because of a lack of rivalries are boxing and tennis. Americans loved tennis in the 80's and 90's because of the great rivalries. And we loved boxing because of Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. In recent years, however, names like Andy Roddick and Oscar De La Hoya have failed to spark any significant interest.
- Another reason tennis has suffered is because of the overwhelming power of the Big 3: baseball, football, and basketball. The National Football League, Major League Baseball, and National Basketball Association dominate the headlines so thoroughly that the offseasons have become a season of their own. The sports page in newspapers across the country is devoted to the Big 3, and it is difficult for the other sports to land a story that finds its way onto the front page.
- Perhaps the most telling sign of the tennis decline has been that most of the great champions of tennis in recent years have been foreigners. This is not true on the female side, as both Venus and Serena Williams have had and continue to have magnificent careers. The same cannot be said for the men. We all thought Andy Roddick would be the next Sampras. Roddick's good, but he's no Sampras. After eighth-ranked James Blake, the next American player ranked in the ATP Rankings is forty-first-ranked Mardy Fish. And I don't know about you, but I just can't get enough Mardy Fish.
So, as you can tell, tennis has been floundering. But if Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer continue to provide epic drama in Grand Slam tournaments, Americans might finally embrace the sport they once loved. But if Nadal-Federer fails to captivate, the sport may never relive its past glory. The time is now. After all, this is the rivalry tennis has been waiting for.
No comments:
Post a Comment