Tennis: Remember When?

by user Justjudith

Remember when tennis was fun to watch?? Remember when there were personalities and great rivalries on tour?? The Williams sisters helped keep the women's tour interesting from an athletic standpoint for a few years, but the men's tour is without a fan favorite. They tried to make us think Andy Roddick could replace Pete Sampras (who I found boring but at least he won). I grew up watching Chris Evert, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe (cursing on tv!), Stefan Edberg, Ivan Lendl and Boris Becker. Even if they weren't all that interesting individually, the rivalries were fun to watch. The second wave of players I liked were Andre Agassi, Michael Chang, Jennifer Capriati and Jim Courier. But I can hardly name anyone currently playing except for Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and the retiring Agassi. It would be nice if tennis could return to it's glory days. Do you think it will ever return to popular form?

http://viva-voce.blogspot.com

Date

Thu 07/06/06, 12:38 pm EST

Wtt02005Varsity

1266 days ago

Score 2

Huh??? (watching Sharapova) What??? Repeat that again. Actually, I do not think she's drop dead gorgeous. She's just pretty relative to the other players who look like men (Mauresmo, Davenport come to mind).

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I am a cpcpMajor Leaguer

1266 days ago

Score 0

This is one of the problems with tennis. Guys that do watch are doing so just to see who's hot or not, not for the actual sport. I'd say 90% of tennis convos on this site end up in the realm of who's hotter. It's supposed to be about the sport.

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Wtt02005Varsity

1266 days ago

Score 0

About your topic, I think tennis has been the same since those days.

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JustjudithWaterboy

1266 days ago

Score 2

you do?? i don't. i thought the rivalries were much better back in the day.

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JustjudithWaterboy

1266 days ago

Score 1

lol. I'm speaking from the athletic standpoint. Sharapova is pretty (to some) and can play. I just don't particularly root for her. She's like that Martina Hingis...just don't root for them but they're ok.

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Jgov05All-American

1266 days ago

Score 2

Tennis is so bad I haven't heard of many of the top seeds on both the men's and women's bracket.

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Sayhey-rodSoccer Kid

1266 days ago

Score 0

I think the men's side is a lot more uninteresting with the 130+ miles an hr serves, racket technology. It takes a lot out of the game. Much how men's golf has changed with the new clubs. Women's tennis is a bit more interesting, mostly due to their attire.

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I am a cpcpMajor Leaguer

1266 days ago

Score 0

It's been a long, long time since the glory days of tennis. It was even before me. I used to think that the Sampras/Agassi era was great stuff, but I realize now it's no different from what we have today, the same two guys (or now, just one guy) winning over and over and over. Speed helps a lot of games, it's killed tennis.

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Djcfla1Varsity

1266 days ago

Score -2

Mauresmo is Arnold Schwarzenegger

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ThecrookedcapAll-Star

1266 days ago

Score 1

If Nadal can step it up on the other surfaces, then we might have some interesting stuff between him and Federer. One thing that hurts it for me is having 5 set matches in men's Grand Slams. The matches can end up being 3-4 hours. That's way too much time for such routine action.

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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer

1265 days ago

Score 2

The change of grass has hurt it at Wimbledon - the grass is now like a harcourt surface, and as a result, Tim Henman, even now the best serve-volleyer in the world, doesn't feel he can surve-volley on it and win. You used to have clashes of styles, the surve-volley technique of Sampras, Ivanisevic, Rafter, McEnroe, against the baseliners of Agassi, Hewitt, Borg and Connors. You don't get that any more.

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JustjudithWaterboy

1265 days ago

Score 0

I have to wonder why there isn't an American tennis phenom right now. Where are our players??

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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer

1265 days ago

Score 1

USA always should have won the Davis Cup more. Historically, USA always had the best players, but Sampras and Agassi never played. Credit the new breed, Roddick and Blake play for USA. But they are not as good as the previous generations. Every 12 months, Britain spends two weeks (i.e. after all our players have lost at Wimbledon) asking itself why there are no British tennis players of a high quality. I wonder if the US is going the same way?

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JustjudithWaterboy

1265 days ago

Score 0

Great points, alex. i forgot about james blake. I'm hoping there will be a resurgence in American tennis talent.

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