Tennis' New Deal

 It's almost too funny. Tennis has always taken yes-men types from the country club world and put them "in charge." As if these types of people ever ran into a rule they did not run around themselves. 

Now it is 2024 and we find that despite not having all the Grand Slams on the same page, everyone got together on burying Jannick Sinner's failed drug tests as they begged for investment from the Saudis. 

For a lot of people, the influence of Roger, Rafa and Novak is enough to declare the ATP a player's league. But just which players we're talking about really came to the forefront when Nick Kyrgios was not defaulted at Wimbledon while yelling and screaming at Stefanos Tsistsipas. It was clear that the tournament itself had made a calculation that Nick could do whatever he wanted.  

The "calculation" on the popularity of Kyrgios is an ongoing thing. He isn't playing, but he is still showing up everywhere, sans any kind of world ranking at all. At least Rafael Nadal is #156. But Rafa is most likely out of wild cards, so it would seem one of the greats would have to play the Challenger Tour, right ? 

There are so many players making an impact, and so many inroads to the tour now, I hate to mention that just below our no.1 who's failed multiple drug tests is Novak Djokovic, a man who's medals do not erase his  deportations and his terrible reputation at the United Nations. The country club leadership is what led to Novak being an anti vaxx demigod. No one ever did anything wrong protecting the majority of people over the complaints of one person. In his grand protest, Novak Djokovic is the same as Joe Flacco and a few no name players from the NBA. That's the legacy of all that. Novak Djokovic is Joe Flacco, enough said. 

Tennis has to learn how to say no. The folks pushing the largest piles of cash to the middle have always called the shots in the sport. But the entire point of having an organized tour is for the overall health of the sports' combatants. If the players are going to put their bodies on the line week in and week out, and compete with integrity, an even playing field is a must. Officials with the power to enforce the rules is a must. Sponsors who are willing to find ways for their investments to pay off without affecting the way the sport is played is a must. In 2024, the four Grand Slams being on the same page and guiding the future, is a must.

Some common sense things could be done, if the powers that be took control of their tour. In America, the Citi Open in DC and the Western & Southern in Cinci need to switch places. Having a Masters 1000 in the USA just before the Open is crazy. However, the opposite would be true if we had a bunch of even overlapping smaller tournaments leading up to NYC, ala Winston Salem. The fact that it was all just a waterfall of small grass court tournaments leading up to Wimbledon 2024 proves my point. That was great and the spirit of tennis was palpable. 

The lack of best of 5 outside the majors is silly. I think you could intertwine the fear of best of 5 with being gun shy of having too many tournaments at the same time all over the world. I think the successful way that the Challenger Tour has been highlighted and boosted over the past couple seasons tells you all you need to know. So many players have benefited from the Challenger Tour - Andy Murray, Jordan Thompson, Brandon Nakashima, just to name a few. Players could choose to play a best of 5 tournament, or not. Too much of everything is just right. 

The way in which we force players to go from surface to surface is crazy. They do it for the money only. But we need to revamp the playing requirements. Players should be able to play wherever they want, as long as they are competing a certain amount of the time. We have always had specialists. We should not fear the diversity of our sport. Points decide who gets the invite to the Grand Slams. Let's keep it that simple. The rules I saw for who makes it into the ATP finals last year made my head spin. Why the complexity ? 

One of tennis' strengths is that the non traditional people love the traditions, and traditional people obviously do too. Tennis players love tradition. In tennis you are not chasing a moving target, you are quite satisfied being that year's champion, and next year it starts anew. The goals are the same every year on your local junior circuit and the pro tour. Just win, baby.

With access to the lower rungs of tennis putting matches on people's phones every day, the larger tournaments need to worry about living up to the authenticity these small money venues offer the fans. And I use small money venue carefully there, most of these spots are beautiful country clubs, however the purses they offer pale in comparison to the majors. 

Transparency must be introduced to professional tennis. You should see the ethics codes that teaching pros live by. In fact, many are listed on the back of the actual membership card we all carry. Maybe it would be smart to force the ATP to carry the same kinds of cards, to remind them that without people buying rackets and watching on television, they're just that guy at the club who yells a lot and no one wants to play with.

"Consolidated Break by Greg Gunther"