Back To Tennis... no really, BACK TO TENNIS

 Can we please get back to tennis y'all ? 

No, really, top players - get back to it. My heavens, what else do these folks have to do ? But I am losing this war, aren't I ? 

The tourny pull outs, the injuries, the walkovers, the complaints about the drudgery of the world tour, they all sorta relate to what's going on with the rest of sports. But it doesn't need to be that way, and it never was that way. Tennis grew out of the generosity of people already involved with other sports really. And it's power then grew out of it's own popularity and the governing bodies that oversaw their largest events. But the advertisers, like boosters in college, took over. Those with cash laying around, took over. Just a few years ago, people were lamenting the power of the four majors. Today, people would sell their soul to put the genie back in the bottle and get back to that simplistic system. The four majors and the ITF rule book, like four chords and the Lord.

So what the heck happened ? It turns out that everyone overlooked the essence of the tours we got to know. The guys in the parking lot in 1990 that formed the ATP, and the individual efforts of Billie Jean King and other risk takers, are what created such an envigorating, organic professional sport out of what many of us condiser the sport of a  lifetime. The product was interesting, democratic. The majors always featured drama and created a foundation that is still appreciated today. But money got so good all around that now everyone just fights over it instead of enjoying any kind of compromise, shared vision or love of the sport. The power got taken away from those not guarding it. And the point system is so heavily weighted towards the stars, the essence of the sport has been ruined, much the same way that paying a couple stars on a college football team all the money changes everything dramatically. But in NCAA football, televison only has to sell these kids a few times in the fall, tennis is year round and frankly I feel sorry for anyone not totally sick of Sabalenka, Swiatek, Alacaraz and Sinner. The interesting people for the WTA and ATP are their Greek Tragedies, Rybakina, Gauff, Bublik and Meddy. But the fans that the sponsors want hardly know the other players, let alone the fact that the tours are built on top of lots of other tours. The fans that the sponsors apparently want don't even attend tournaments until the final. It's interesting how unwatchable a tennis match in an empty stadium is, isn't it ? 

Tennis, like Democracy, relies on it's organic nature to thrive. Tennis in America sometimes capitalizes on this, with an early Spring run through California and Florida. But the summer tour in the states is an embarrassment. Hard courts that are 125 degrees are literally torture and have contributed to the USTA losing it's power in the game. Ohio, Georgia, North Carlina and New York can build indoor courts if they want the best players to come visit in the summer. It's never made any sense. It's always freaking hot in the desert and in Soflo, why not just switch the U.S. Open with Indian Wells and trade the Western Southern for the Miami Open ? It is on the verge of outlandishly stupid to not do this right away. That is, before the Saudis come calling for their major.

Tennis never needed to work at the behest of major banks and undemocratic countries. Then again, the Dodgers and the Red Sox never "needed" to be owned by hedge fund companies. But the fact that the ATP, for example, went from guys who were making no money forming it, to guys taking money from Saudi Arabia to destroy it, is scary and action needs to be taken from the American perspective. The USA should control what it can control and work totally outside the norms of what's being allowed. The rest be damned. Like all business, the USA invented it, and we shouldn't let bad actors control it. America has the college system. America has the training facilities. Heck, Miami wouldn't work with Rafa Nadal to create the Nadal Academy in Florida. They could still do that (idiots). America has the sponsors. And today, America even has the players. The USTA needs to lean into the USTA, lean into Big D.

America does not develop the best tennis players, or the best basketball players, or the best baseball players, or the best soccer players. However, our pro sports have always been the most popular because of an even playing field. Our Democracy, big D, has been our secret sauce. Athletes still come here to train as soon as they can. Illinois' Final Four basketball team is a great example, Arizona's too. It's not just tennis players in Florida. The USTA should lean heard into the Big D as it chooses course. Since they (we) hired Tilley from Team Australia, the Big D bent should not be that unnatural. When you consider the combined influence of Big D Britain, Australia and America in tennis, you'd think it would have been too hard to get here. But here we are, with a so so product on both sides, being played mostly in front of no one, quickly being soured by inhuman stars unconfined by rules on doping, scheduling or just being likeable. In America, we want to Be Like Mike. Mike hardly even played for his h.s. team. Mike had to stay in school in order to go to college. Mike was held to under 20 points in college by Dean Smith, his coach. Mike was far from an immediate success in the pros, neither were his tennis shoes. Mike worked for it like a mutha. That's what America appreciates, that's what we are and our tennis can embody that and not Saudi Arabia.

John McEnroe rode the subway and played in junior USTA tournaments. I played against a guy in college who was taught by Connor's coach, he had the same strokes. It was unbelievable. The coaching, the American upbringing, the personalities, these are what built the televised version of tennis. American Arthur Ashe defeating American Connors at Wimbledon was important for a 100 different reasons. Sampras playing Agassi in the streets of New York City with a makeshift net was a Nike commercial, but they actually did it and it too was important for another, perhaps less important, 100 reasons. Tennis doesn't want America forgetting all of this. Tennis needs the Big D. Trust me, it does. Matteo Berrettini, Arthur Fils and Holger Rune's injury stories cannot sustain a tour that cannot even shake loose of Novak Jokovic, a guy who has brought more bad news to his sport than Barry Bonds. The elegance of Federer and the fight of Nadal seem as historic as Borg and Evert at this point. 

The roboticm, unlikable and in many ways illegal manners of both Sinner and Zverev really squish the goodness of Alcaraz. Add some Russians and some unlikeable Americans and you have a pretty unwatchable crop at the top of the men's game. None seem deserving of what they have, and there is enough doping and Instagram going around to make you gag on what you are ingesting. Same thing on the women's side. Has the mystery of why Sabalenka's Russian boyfriend "jumped" off her balcony to his death even been covered by the media ? Her newest Brazilian billionaire boyfriend somehow doesn't seem to be the press we need. And when the wholesome story is there, it's not good enough apparently. Pegula's from New York and has trained in Florida forever. Gaugh was born in Florida and lived in Atlanta too. Tommy Paul has roots in North Carolina and New Jersey. I am here to tell you that these stories are enough. I had pictures of Gaugh up on the club bulletin board in 2017, because she was a creature of the USTA. She is us. And just because Pegula's Dad invented fracking, she was on court while he was doing that, in another part of the country. I am here for Tommy Paul's hunting orange and Frances Tiafoe's style. Enjoying being Americans is part of what makes tennis great. You can't have one without the other. 

And by the way, everyone the world over is walking around today in a shirt invented by Henri LaCoste, and wearing tennis shoes......

Consolidated Break by Greg Gunther, Certified Pro