At my old gym, they put up posters of anything vaguely related to sports, fitness or nutrition, and recently there was one for the L.A. Tennis Open. Granted that the L.A. Open probably was never one of the premiere events like Wimbledon or Forest Hills, I still couldn’t help being struck by the attractions, in addition to the actual tennis, which were promised–namely live music and fireworks. I can’t imagine that anyone would have felt that was necessary, even for a regional event, back in the 80s. What, I wondered, would be next—rides and a petting zoo for the tots?
From my (it is to be hoped) unbiased position as someone who really isn’t interested in tennis anyway, it does seem that I don’t hear as much about it as I once did.
I love tennis. In fact, I started a thread about it being the greatest sport. Here it is.
Even so, I’ll admit it is less prominent than it used to be, at least in the United States. I guess it’s because there is not as many prominent American men as their used to be. Andy Roddick and James Blake our our top men, and only one of them has one a Grand Slam event(4 1/2 years ago).
Back when there was John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, it drew more attention. Even Agassi and Sampras(and Courier) drew more attention than the men now.
In addition, the women’s game is getting less attention now that the Williams sisters aren’t winning as often.
Did you watch tennis on TV back when McEnroe was playing? I was watching an old match on ESPN a while back and there was a rain delay and they showed an old McEnroe match and I could not see if the ball in or out at all. It was just unwatchable. I did not know if this was how tennis used to look on TV or if the tape of the match was just degraded.