By Anthony Bosco
I wanted to take this opportunity while the best tennis players in the world camp out in Queens for two weeks or so to try and send them a message, a little advice if you will, about how to make their sport great once again.
Last week I took the U.S. Open to task a little bit, emphasizing the lack of interest that seemingly surrounds the tennis world and that, no matter what the quality of play might be, there needs to be something that once again grabs the interest of the casual sports fan.
I remember John McEnroe in his prime, who was charismatic in an off-beat sort of way. While he was unquestionably one of the best players of his time, he also transcended the sport because he was so outspoken, so unafraid to get in an official’s face if a close call didn’t go his way.
His brashness — which made him all the more endearing to native New Yorkers like myself — has never been duplicated since he stopped playing competitively on the tour. His charisma, the hate me/love me effect he had on people, has not been seen either.
But McEnroe — who grew up in Douglaston — had the advantage of having some great rivals to pique interest. There was the equally erasable Jimmy Connors, the stoic brilliance of Bjorn Borg and the machine-line Ivan Lendl, all of whom waged war with McEnroe during his peak years and all are indelibly linked to him forever.
Tennis nowadays is an endless sea of good players, some truly great, but none shining so brightly as to pull in new fans, or even keep old ones. There is no great rivalry in the game — at least on the men’s side of things — and hardly enough name players to fill out a top 10.
Andre Agassi was perhaps the most marketable player since McEnroe. When he first burst onto the scene more than a decade ago, Agassi was a dyed blonde who wore denim shorts in every tournament he played — save Wimbledon — and the girls just loved him.
But back then, as good as he was, Agassi was nowhere near the best in the world. It wasn’t until a few years later, his head now shaved clean and the denim but a distant memory, did he realize his true potential and garner the No. 1 spot in the world.
For the better part of the ‘90s the tennis world had Pete Sampras as its No. 1 player. And while Sampras established himself as one of the all-time greats, breaking record after record, he never endeared himself to the public. He was a soft-spoken champion who seemed to care less about making an impression than winning.
I guess that’s the way he went about winning, but it didn’t do much for tennis in general.
For a brief while there seemed to be a budding rivalry between Sampras and Agassi, but it never came close to McEnroe-Connors or McEnroe-Borg.
So, I guess what I’m trying to say with all this is, if the players are reading, liven things up will you?!
Try interacting with the crowd once in a while, get riled up when you hit a good shot, wear your emotions on your sleeve, hit a shot between your legs when you can and, please, argue a call or two.
The women on the tour now are infinitely more interesting than the men and without a doubt more marketable. Of course, the most marketable player, the delectable Anna Kournikova, has yet to win a tournament as a singles player and didn’t make the trip to compete in Flushing Meadows because of an injury, which may not affect the outcome of the tournament, but certainly gives me less incentive to watch.
Anyway, the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, are a dynamic duo, both of whom have won the U.S. Open already. Unfortunately, many tennis fans are turned off by them, not because of their play, but because of their outspoken father/coach Richard. Though I am sure he only wants the best for his daughters, his occasional controversial comments only serve to drive fans away from them.
The women’s tour received a much-needed boost this year with the sudden resurgence of Jennifer Capriati. Capriati was supposed to be the tour’s next star some 10 years ago, but failed to live up to the hype and all but faded into obscurity. This year she has won both the Australian and French Opens but lost in her bid to win a third Grand Slam at Wimbledon.
An ideal situation this year would be for Capriati and the defending U.S. Open champ, Venus Williams, to meet in the finals on prime-time television. The match would be the highlight of what is billed as Super Saturday by the USTA.
But that’s not going to happen.
If all goes according to the seedings, Williams, seeded fourth, will face the No. 2 seed Capriati in the semifinals, with the winner facing either No. 1 seed Martina Hingis or No. 3 Lindsay Davenport. So, for all intents and purposes, the best match of the entire U.S. Open might be a semifinal encounter, if it happens at all.
It is just typical, unfortunately, but what can you do?
Hopefully the players will heed this call, making tennis at least a little more interesting for me and the millions of other borderline fans in the world. If not, I can keep watching golf. And if televised golf is more compelling than tennis, you know there is a problem.
Reach Sports Editor Anthony Bosco by e-mail at TimesLedgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 130.
