I think a lot now rides on the fate of the Williams sisters. If they do come back and do well for awhile, the sport will hang on.
But it isn't just women's tennis. Sampras has retired (although not officially) and how much longer is the 33 year old Andre Agassi going to hang on? My guess is, he too will be gone very soon.
So far, Andry Roddick is a major disappointment and his loss to Henman yesterday is further proof of that.
The only up and coming male stars on the tour, stars who have actually won a major, are Europeans or Aussies and most remain almost completely unknown to the general public in the United States.
Yes, women's tennis has Kim and Justine, but neither I am sorry to say has what I would call star power, meaning aside from their games, they do not have the looks or personality to become celebrities in a market other than their own homelands.
Yes, only a few years ago, it seemed that the WTA had more stars than MGM did in the 1940s. But Martina is gone, Anna going, going and soon to be gone and the Williams sisters continue to play very reduced schedules due to injury and other commitments.
While that may be nice for them, the organizers of the tournaments they skip and the fans who would have attended to see them cannot be happy.
Maybe Hackleroad and Sharapova can "save" women's tennis, but the problem is, neither has yet accomplished enough on court to start any real fires in the sport, Hackleroad in particular. And it takes more in tennis than looks to be a real star.
If Anna had been the only celebrity in the sport, I don't think her star would have risen as fast or as high. It was easy to lump her in with the big winners because she could kind of get lost there. Martina, Venus and Serena were big winners and it didn't really matter that Anna had not matched their accomplishments. She seemed to fit in well with that group.
But now she may be gone too, leaving only the Williams sisters as star quality performers. But even if Venus does play the US Open, I would be surprised if she wins, because she will have little preparation and she will face some top players with good preparation and a reason to believe they can beat her. That will make it two years since Venus has won a slam and unless she gets to the final, it will mean a further drop in her ranking.
Personally, I wonder about her motivation, I don't care how many times she says she plans to play until her 30s. The truth is, she never seems very happy out there on the court, much less in the press conferences.
Venus does fine in controlled, photo shoot atmospheres, but I don't think that deep down, she particularly likes being a celebrity in the manner Serena does or Hingis did. I continue to believe that unless she starts winning slams soon, Venus will also exit the sport early herself.
Soon, the sport may be looking back at the late 90s with real nostalgia as the golden era of women's tennis. And that era will not be back soon.