Washington Post look at other sports

[rocky b]

I love how tennis is the punching bag of sports. The NBA is way down in ratings. The NHL may not even be here next year. Nobody cares about soccer. The Masters Golf was down like 30% in thier ratings Football is the only sport people watch because its on 1-2 times a week. In 2004 we have so many other things to do computers video games internet. My kids like tennis but would rather go skateboarding then watch. Times have just changed tennis is still the best sport in the world but TV coverage can improve

 

[ProStaffTour90]

Nobody cares about soccer.

Too True, but we all love FOOTBALL

 

[Feña14]

ProStaffTour90,

Football is the second best sport after tennis.

Tennis isn't that popular in England I don't think but the coverage is excellent imo. The commentary is unbiased and we don't just have to watch Tim, we get a good choice.

Football coverage is second to none with excellent commentary such as Ron Atkinson :lol:

Liam

P.S. Come on Chelsea!!!!! Monaco are going down!!!!!

 

[ProStaffTour90]

The coverage is good if you have Sky which i sadly don't, so i have to make do with DC Ties and the big four, well highlights of Ao, Us and French if we're lucky!

Tennis isn't that popular here i agree, unforunately there's abit of a social stigma surrounding it, alot of people think that it's a rich mans sport and would much rather their kids played Football or Rugby.

Even people who would actually like to play are intimidated by clubs, thinking everyone there will be real posh and look down on them.

And the amount public courts there are over here is just pathetic, and the ones that are there, people just play football on!

Unfortunate but True






One Love, One Life MUFC

 

[Feña14]

ProStaffTour90,

Many people at my club do look down on me, there are only 4 juniors worth playing and that is why not many juniors make it nowadays.

How do you feel with having to settle with third in the premiership?

Blue is the colour!!!!! LOL

Liam

 

[ProStaffTour90]

:lol: That was a bit below the belt!

There's no juniors here i can hit with, i am 18 now so i'm staring to hit with the bog guys and the people at my club are great, but they weren't when i was 14-15, probably because we just made loads of noise and played more cricket than tennis, but i can understand why kids get intimidated!

If some adults came when we were playing they would just walk on court and say "Thankyou boys" in the most patronising tone imaginable and we'd just have to pick our stuff up and move courts!
No wonder we don't produce any talent, the over 70's get priority on the courts!

 

[Feña14]

ProStaffTour90

I am about your age and never get anyone to hit with, the kids just mess about and the adults think that I am still a kid, so I just have to go with my Dad and hit with him. Thats if im not down Stamford Bridge at the weekends!

Tournaments are different though.

Liam

 

[ProStaffTour90]

Yeh, this will be my first season playing men's tourney's cos i'm now to old for Under 18's, it should be pretty interesting!

 

[Deuce]

What in hell is wrong with you Brits when it comes to tennis, anyway?

You've got the best, most traditional tournament in the history of the game, and still cannot generate interest in playing the game, and producing good players. Is it the weather? The mentality? Surely, building indoor courts would solve the weather problem - so why don't they build more? Why isn't there a demand for more indoor courts? Seriously, what is the problem over there?

 

[ProStaffTour90]

social stigma, that only posh people play tennis, which is not helped my the media either!

NO public courts.

There are iniatives though, many more indoor courts are been built (for private use), and JP and Tim are starting a program to find kids with natural talent all around the country's in city centres!

Kids would much rather play football though!

I mean i myself regarded myself as a Footballer that just also played tennis until a couple of years ago!

 

[Feña14]

Everyone loves football and it is so easy to play for a team because there are so many of them.

There are hardly any good clubs and PS tour 90 is correct about people thinking that snobs play.

Now England won the Rugby World Cup everybody plays it for about 2-3 months then go back to football.

If Tim wins Wimbledon everyone will go mad for tennis and play all the time for 3 months then get bored.

I think that the parents who have been raised with football in the family that it sticks with them.

Also tennis is a lot harder with the rules and technique is very important, so kids just get frustrated.

I only started playing tennis because I like to be different and that means the girls like guys who play a sport like tennis :wink:

Liam

 

[Free_Martha]

Not just the Brits, what about the Canadians? There are perfectly good white people up there, why can't they give us some decent tennis players?

PS, the "white people" line was a tongue-in-cheek joke, so please people, don't firebomb me with insults about my anti-PC comment.

 

[ProStaffTour90]

I notice a definate influx of kids down at my club when wimbledon's on, but then the novelty wears off!

If only there was much more coverage the kids would appreciate the sport more, and be motivated to play all year round! Not just for a fortnight in June

 

[Deuce]

The things you guys mention about more programs starting up, etc... - that's been said for the past 20 years. And what is there to show for it? Henman. That's basically it. Do your schools and universities even have tennis teams? It's nice to have lovely P.R. B.S. about starting new programs, etc. - but is anyone actually doing anything to make tennis more accessible?

Canada doesn't have the most historic and most respected tournament in tennis. Not even close.

This is why it doesn't make sense to me that there is so little interest in tennis in England. Do you know how many countries in the world would love to call a prestigious tournament like Wimbledon their own? And these countries, without any major tournament, produce 10 times the number of players that Britain does. Sure, the weather factors in - but the weather alone does not justify the embarrassing lack of interest in tennis in Britain.

 

[Feña14]

There are NO school or university teams and most of the clubs that I have been to are shocking.

At the moment I play at a club with 3 courts and a shed as a clubhouse were they keep balls.

There are no oppurtunities for kids in tennis, it took me 2 years to even find a tournament to enter!

You might see me on Centre Court at Wimbledon in 5 years :lol:

Liam

 

[devila]

The world, not only the US, pretends that tennis is not important and exciting and therefore, doesn't deserve much TV coverage. That's one of the many lies thrown at us.
IMO, tennis players become less popular because commentators
make it difficult for the casual TV viewer to enjoy and understand tennis. It's all about ratings. The ignorant commentators rant endlessly and kiss up to the player instead of letting the matches speak for themselves.

 

[Matt Riordan]

Oh the shame of it...

The next time I'm home in England I mihgt take a photo of the courts where I grew up playing and post them here - then you'll see whay we, Henman excepted, have no outstanding talent...

Matt

 

[jackcrawford]

No one really cares about butts in the seats. The Indy 500 gets 300,000 attendance and that sport's so dead you can smell the rotting corpse.
Worldwide, in TV ratings, Soccer is first, followed by cricket, formula one auto racing, and then tennis. You don't hear about this because the sports networks own NBA and NFL rights which you can't give away outside the US. Tennis may just have to live with a lack of popularity here, although the US Open generates a profit of $75 million dollars and most pro sports franchises lose money, owned as a hobby by rich half-wit sons of billionaires.

 

[Deuce]

Baffling...

absolutely baffling.

 

[dander]

actually many (most?) big sports teams are owned by corporations that STILL lost money on them. Rupert Murdoch bought the LA Dodgers just a few years ago and then couldn't wait to get out of the biz...

the bottom line is that tennis is really TOO GOOD FOR AMERICA!!! There are no explosions and no violence, even in the Roddick age it's still a game of patience and subtlety, especially compared with the sports we're used to, which is why i like it so much.

and in an era of international ignorance and provinciality on our part, nobody here wants to watch a sport ruled by a bunch of euro "appeasers" and south americans.

the American masses don't deserve tennis...which makes it all the more puzzling that we'll be apparently seeing so much of it starting this summer

 

[ProStaffTour90]

Woah, i love Cricket, but i didn't expect it to be second on te viewing list, but then again, you've got over a billion people in India who love it i suppose!

 

[juu]

OT - There's a tennis court right by the Tower of London, but it looked abandoned. I was very surprised to see it. Do you know what's the story with it?

 

[C_Urala]

...Tennis isn't that popular here i agree, unfortunately there's abit of a social stigma surrounding it, alot of people think that it's a rich mans sport and would much rather their kids played Football or Rugby.
One Love, One Life MUFC

Well, it's true for Russia as well. (just read hockey instead of rugby.)
I, myself, thought that tennis is too expensive. Just because of that common belief.