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It’s an issue that has been as well documented, discussed and dissected as any other over in the wonderful sport of tennis. Who is to carry the women’s game in the next five years.
The shining light of Serena Williams may still be burning at the moment, but at the age of 31 and with so many of her delightfully painted fingernails dipped in other side projects, the WTA cannot rely on her for long. Another multiple grand slam winner, ‘the Sweetheart of New York’ Kim Clijsters has retired for good it seems leaving behind wonderful memories, but also denying everyone the chance to see that wonderfully warm smile that made it almost impossible to hate her.
Other major winners such as Sam Stosur and Li Na are beginning to think about their age and how many years at the top of the rankings they have left while the inconsistency of Petra Kvitova, Caroline Wozniacki and Aggy Radwanska means that although they have the talent to win the big trophies but not on a regular basis needed to be the face of the women’s game. So that leaves two East Europeans, Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka.
Sharapova has of course tasted the spotlight and revelled in it. The highest earning woman athlete on the planet has been a sponsors dream. She speaks great English and has the look that could melt the hearts of men – not mine personally but that’s another issue entirely. On the court she is one of only six women in the open era to have won the career grand slam and by all accounts is the most competitive player on the circuit.
Azarenka is a rare breed in women’s tennis, a number one who has won a grand slam. She has the best all round game of all the female tennis players around at the minute – including Serena – but lacks that massive weapon to challenge Serena for the majority of the time. She had a wonderful run at the start of the year winning 29 consecutive matches without defeat and has eradicated the mental problems that afflicted her in the early stages of her top tier career. Both of them have been magnificent on court throughout the year are developing a bit of a rivalry with the Belarusian having the best of the recent encounters culminating in her win earlier tonight. So it seems that the WTA have it covered. Azarenka and Sharapova will be faces of the tour. Wrong!
No matter how good they are on court, they continue to alienate tennis fans across the world. Sharapova is loved for her beauty not her personality. She is respected for her determination on court but her cold demeanour means she can’t match Clijsters and Williams in terms of fan appreciation. Azarenka is even worse. After winning the Australian Open this year, she had a disastrous studio interview with the host broadcaster increasing the perception that she is not a favourite amongst the press. Her characteristic entrance to court with hoody and headphones in emanates a detached personality there to a job and nothing more. Azarenka in particular needs to understand that the press are just as an important obstacle to beat as the opponent on the other side of the net. Get them on your side and the money and accolades will flow. Both ladies’ icy personalities leave fans that see past the beauty and want more than just great tennis out in the cold and that will mean half empty stadiums come the crunch time of slams if they aren’t careful. All these problems are bad enough and I haven’t even mentioned THAT other huge issue to tackle.
So much has been written about the grunting of these two in particular I’m not going to bother trying to explain how difficult it is to watch them play. All I’m going to do is tell you about my grandmother who has been a diehard tennis fan for 50 years. She has seen every great tennis come and go and never misses a slam unless absolutely necessary. But today, even she couldn’t handle Azarenka vs Sharapova in full concert. If she couldn’t take it, God knows what the casual fan would think.
The trouble is that they played a fantastic tennis match with Azarenka showing why she is the number one, grinding down Sharapova’s power bit by bit until finally prevailing. This was a match that was worthy of being an advert for women’s tennis. The problem was that either everyone watching was either deaf at match point, had hit the mute button after ten minutes or had given up after such immense pressure.
Those who stuck it out watched a brilliant match but it shouldn’t be a struggle watching a sport that you love unless your favourite player is losing. So, how can you promote a sport when you two best players cause people to turn off their televisions rather than the other way round? For the sake of the women’s game, I hope the WTA have the answer.
