Even in the U.S., tennis is a sport sorely lacking in popularity these days. Say Roger Federer and Justine Henin; I bet a lot would say, who? That, despite the fact that both are the current world no. 1 and had both been winning tournament after tournament these past few years. Of course, Federer is fast proving his claim to the greatest ever title, and Justine is simply the most brilliant competitor on the women's side, defeating even the hard-hitting, ball-bashing, well-known Williams sisters in the same tournament ( U.S. Open 2007). Yet, neither is as recognizable or popular as, say Andre Agassi and Maria Sharapova. Steffi Graf, despite being a reclusive champion, was well known even among those who never saw her play.
So when the best of the best cannot generate the much-needed publicity to promote the sport, how do tournament organizers cope? They resort to gimmicks!
Such as hiring model girls to replace ball boys. Despite resistance from some players and officials, the practice has been going on since 2004. And last year, the girls of the WTA started to have their own version of male models on court. Well, only in Madrid (Spain).
But this week in Paris, during the presentation of trophy to tournament winner David Nalbandian, this. Totally inappropriate, in my opinion. It kind of takes away the immensity of his achievement. Why, it's the Argentine's second straight ATP Masters series title, winning Madrid last month against Federer, beating Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal on his way to the final. Then, in Paris last Sunday, he thrashed Rafael Nadal 64, 60, in the final and defeated Federer during the third round. Well, I guess even Nalbandian isn't such a popular name, although he's been around the tour for quite some time now.
While you're deciding if this merging of tennis and fashion is bizzare, I'm wondering when Anna Wintour will show up at one of Federer's tournaments again, and excited over the Sony Ericsson Year-End Championships in Madrid this week. Here's the top 8 contenders.
From left to right (world ranking): Anna Chakvetadze (7), Ana Ivanovic (4), Svetlana Kuznetzova (2), Maria Sharapova (6), Justine Henin (1), Daniela Hantuchova (9), Jelena Jankovic (3), Serena Williams (5)
Which is a shame, actually. It’s such a global sport. Europeans are dominating the field these days. Asians have a few breakthroughs here and there (Sania Mirza, Li Na, among the most recent).
Too bad the Americans couldn’t continue the legacy of Sampras.
Posted by zarine at November 7, 2007, 2:35 pmAll comments are moderated. Your comments will not appear here unless approved by the blog owner. Thank you.
public interest in tennis always slows down whenever there’s no top yankee player in the horizon. it’s been noted before. same with golf when tiger woods had a downturn. it’s a dilemma for certain sports. unfortunately the us market has that effect on some events
Posted by onyxx at November 7, 2007, 11:46 am