The unpredictability in women’s tennis is not good for the sport.
Way back in 2004, the Argentinean Gastón Gaudio and the Russian Anastasia Myskina emerged from nowhere to win the French Open men’s and women’s title respectively. Unfortunately, this would be the only time the pair would catch the fancy of tennis fans across the world, since neither player managed to win another Grand Slam in their careers. And while Gaudio’s win was an exception on the men’s circuit, Myskina’s victory has been symptomatic of the fluctuating fortunes of women’s tennis in the last 10 years.
The big fear in men’s tennis after Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Boris Becker retired from the game, was that there was too big a void to fill. The fear was genuine, for spectator interest wanes in the absence of quality players. This anxiety manifests itself in other sports as well. And so a nation waited in hope for Sachin Tendulkar’s arrival after Sunil Gavaskar retired, while Formula 1 still anticipates the arrival of the heir apparent to Michael Schumacher’s legacy. Yet, with the onset of the Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal rivalry in the mid-noughties, tennis fans, without exception, found new joy in the game after the passing of the Sampras era of the ’90s.
However, the women’s game failed to get past this obstacle. In the last 50 years, women’s tennis has always had at least one dominant player on the circuit. Margaret Court was the marquee name in the ’60s, Billie Jean King in the early ’70s, while Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova established a famous rivalry through the late ’70s and ’80s. Steffi Graff and Monica Seles then took the baton and between them won 31 Grand Slam titles in the ’90s.
And this is where Serena Williams, the best female tennis player of the noughties, has fallen short. Her 13 Grand Slam singles titles dwarf Graf’s 22 titles. Where Graf competed in a total of 31 Grand Slam singles finals, Williams has played only 16. Further, Graf bequeathed a lot to the game itself. Her booming forehand, court coverage and sliced backhand — which in later years was mixed up with her one handed backhand, raised the bar in women’s tennis. Serena, her fashion statements aside, has matched Graf in some aspects, but the game hasn’t become any better for her. Also Serena’s so called rivalry with her elder sibling, Venus, appears more an exaggeration, a pathetic marketing ploy to build spectator interest, than a reflection of reality. This dwindling interest in the women’s game has also been crippled by Martina Hingis, Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters (the latter two have made comebacks) choosing to walk away from the sport when they could have served as its best ambassadors. Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova or Ana Ivanovic promised a lot but delivered precious little. As a result new names like Francesca Schiavone, the 2010 French Open champion, appear fleetingly, like moths before they perish in the flame.
The men’s game now shows signs of the same ailment. Since Nadal won his first French Open title in 2005, only two men — Novak Djokovic (Aus Open ’08) and Juan Martín del Potro (US Open ’09), have managed to stop Federer or Nadal from winning a Grand Slam event. And while Djokovic is still a regular on the circuit, one has to use Google’s search engine to figure what happened to Del Potro.
As Federer turns 29 next month, it is safe to assume that his playing days are numbered. Nadal, a relative youngster at 24, may well be restricted in coming years by injuries, which are a natural fallout of his playing style. Who next does the game look to in the absence of Federer -Nadal? Or is tennis to be characterised by several nondescript Gaudio's and Myskina’s in coming years?
(Akshay Manwani is a Mumbai-based freelance writer)
