federerhoogenbandfan said:
Do you think that is why tennis is getting less popular?
Some of the current players need to step it up and change this.
Clijsters needs to step it up vs Henin. These two are good enough and play enough to have a rivalry but not until Clijsters stops laying on her back and playing dead whenever she plays Henin in a grand slam.
Another one would be the Williams sisters. First of all both need to step it back up so they can play other somtimes in big matches again(it will never be like 02-03 where they played in every slam final again). Then they need to create some more unpredictablility, it cant be stretches you know whichever one is ranked higher at the time will win every single match.
Another one would be Federer-Nadal, Federer needs to step it up and start beating Nadal to make it a real rivalry. Right now he is Nadal's dish towel.
I think it is why tennis is getting less popular. From 75-86 or so, you had true rivalries on both sides. They were contrasts in playing style, in temperment, and often really didn't like each other. Even when they respected each other, a la Borg-McEnroe, or actually liked each other, a la Navratilova-Evert, they never gave any quarter.
On the women's side nowadays, almost everyone plays the same power game. Their is no diversity. What set apart Evert-Navratilova and later to an extent Seles-Graf was their contrasting play. Evert, nicknamed the "Ice Maiden," who could run you ragged from the baseline and pass you at the net, never losing her composure, vs. the often fiery Navratilova, the last pure serve/volleyer the women's game has seen. Further, the two played more often than not in the finals of a tournament. Occasionally, like the 82 U.S. Open or the 83 Wimbledon, one would get upset in the earlier rounds, but usually they were playing for the title.
It was the same on the men's side. First, you had Connors-Borg. Connors, the game's ultimate competitor, vs. Borg, the cool Swede who's idea of an outburst might be to glare at a line judge. Connors, who played a relentless power game vs. Borg, the first of the modern baseliners. Then McEnroe vs. both Borg and Connors. McEnroe passed Connors in the bad behavior department, and the two never liked each other, even playing each other on the seniors tour. And McEnroe-Borg gave the world 4 of the greatest GS Finals ever. Then along came Lendl, a power player who seemed dour on the court. There was never any love lost between Lendl, Connors and McEnroe.
It was so much more back then. The players seemed larger than life. Nadal and Federer in contrast seem once or twice removed from the fans. They can't work the crowd the way a Connors could, or captivate them the way a Borg could with his looks AND his playing.
I don't think it's a coincidence that tennis ratings really fell after 91-92, when Connors made his U.S. OPen run and McEnroe followed with a run at the Aussie.
