The future of Men's Singles Tennis looks bleak

In the last ten years or so, men’s singles tennis has grown by leaps and bounds. The quality of the game has increased phenomenally. The competition is far better now than what was a decade back. Unlike in the past, now all the players have started taking every ATP event, irrespective of its status, very seriously. The intensity with which the battles are fought inside the courts has got me hooked to men’s tennis. No wonder it is acclaimed as the golden era. But I am not sure how long my interest in the game will last, particularly after seeing the blander side of tennis in the form of the next generation.

For long we have been hailing Australia’s Berdan Tomic and Canada’s Milos Raonic, and to some extent Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov, as the players to whom the baton would be passed on once the players of the current era make their exit. The sad part is none of those three have shown any signs of upholding the excellence of the top 10 players of this era. If they are indeed the future stakeholders of men’s tennis, we should have seen a glimpse of their talents by now.

It looks like these three, or for that matter any other fresh talent in the ATP world right now, will come to the forefront only when all the players, who are right now ranked inside the top ten, decide to quit the game. Leave alone Federer, Nadal and Djokovic – players who are are hard to replace, even competing against the lesser guys who do not have even a Masters title to their credit is proving too much for the next generation. This is a bitter truth which needs to be agreed with.

So, what does the situation say about the future of men’s singles? Lawn tennis is a physically demanding sport where players over 30 years of age seldom make merry. It seems to be no different in Federer’s case too as he is left to struggle against the players who are younger than him by five to six years. The same situation will hold good for Nadal, Djoker and Murray too when they reach the age of 30. So, going by the trend, I would rather stop watching ATP events totally since they would have gone insipid by then due to lack of flair and competition.

If you take some of the top professionals – both retired and current - into account, you would understand why the future of men’s tennis looks very bleak. When the Greek-American, Pete Sampras, won his first Grand Slam in 1990 in New York, he was just 19 and same was the case with Rafael Nadal who was of the same age when he began his romantic affair with Roland Garros. Likewise, the Swiss Maestro Roger Federer was also 19 years of age when he stopped Sampras’ reign at Wimbledon. They went on to become great players of their respective eras, after starting strongly and early.

All the three so-called brightest prospects – Tomic, Raonic and Dimitrov – have crossed their teens already. Yet they are not able to come up with one big win which would boost their respective careers. Losing is not a big deal as no one is invincible. If there is competition between two people, there has to be a loser. But the way the youngsters are facing defeats regularly in the early stages of any event, it leaves very little hope for the future to witness breathtaking tennis. Losses in the preliminary stages of the tournaments, including the opening rounds, have almost become a regular event for these players.

Just three days back in Barcelona, the Australian Tomic was handed a defeat in the second round by Juan Monaco which included a first set bagel. He has been tasting such humiliating defeats against top 20 players for quite a while now. Ranked 46 in the world, the way the things are going for him, it would take a miracle for him to break into top 10. But for the hype generated on account of his matches against Roger Federer in the last two Australian Opens, his name would have remained unknown to a normal tennis fan even now.

Compared to him, it must be admitted that Raonic has been faring better. So much so that he is ranked no.13 in the world as of now. The only thing which seems to be working well for him has been his thunderous serve, well complimented by powerful forehands. Otherwise, his slow movements on the courts and erroneous backhands, coupled with bad footwork, seem to be taking him nowhere. He too is waiting for his turn for long to make a big impact.

On the whole, the abilities of the top ranked players in men’s tennis look to be much better than those of the future set of players who have just touched their twenties. I can’t help thinking if we have seen already the ultimate talents in tennis in the form of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic which cannot be battered or bettered by anyone. If that is the case, then would we be satisfied upon seeing the other guys make an impact after the retirements of the stalwarts? Let Tomic or Raonic win multiple Grand Slams and overhaul all the existing tennis records. Even then, we would always be left wondering – had the seniors been there, would they have achieved so much?

So, here is a conscious decision that I am going to take. While the future of ATP is looking down the barrel, the women’s tennis is progressing quite well. The WTA seems to have come up with so many young girls who are making amends quite early in their career. Most of them are beginning to look like championship material already. I firmly believe it is WTA and not ATP which will gain momentum and will provide us with many exhilarating contests in the next ten years or so. I will be switching over to watching WTA more closely than ever before once tennis is deprived of the multiple Grand Slam holders of men’s tennis today. The golden era of women’s tennis is going to return soon.