[tropolis]

not looking too good in my opinion. needs to be more tournaments in my opinion. too many weeks with just 1 event.

need more challengers to the williams sisters. ivanovic is already a has been wash up choke artist, jankovic doesn't impress me, and dementieva isn't going anywhere. imo the williams are the clear leaders right now and it makes the tour look bad when nobody is close to them.

retirements are killing the sport. why are people retiring before there matches even start sometimes? why do they quit in the middle when there losing, they do it because they can get away with it with the retirements. im not in the know in regard to tennis retirement rules regarding take home pay if you retire during or before a match, but if you do retire you should be faced with some fine or penalty instead of nothing.

IMO this tour is light years behind the mens tour. just would like some overall thoughts and opinions on comments presented. thanks.

 

[Miss Amor]

Then go follow the men's tour and stop whining , women's tour is fine. Just because the WS are dominating now, you guys have a problem.

 

[tropolis]

Then go follow the men's tour and stop whining , women's tour is fine. Just because the WS are dominating now, you guys have a problem.

i dont have a problem with the williams sisters dominating. there should be more competition though.

retirements are my main problem and lack of tournaments.

can someone explain the whole retirement process and if there are any financial reprocussions?

 

[oliviasmith]

Then go follow the men's tour and stop whining , women's tour is fine. Just because the WS are dominating now, you guys have a problem.

:haha: :haha: :haha: :haha: :haha:

 

[SvetaKuzzy]

I like it when there are a few players that are untouchable, unlike Justine in 07. My favourite time was when Jennifer/Venus were at the top and Serena was coming through. The depth wasn't there through the top 50 as it is now, but in the top 5-10, there were always spectacular, mouth-watering matchups. I like some competitiveness, but the matches I rewatch over and over are the ones were one player thrashes the other (serena oz final 07 is possibly my most-watched) as it emphasises what each player is capable of. I guess, I would like consistency between Venus, Serena, Jelena, Elena...[Sveta, perhaps...???] and the resurgence of Ana as well as Masha around so we constantly see the best QFs forward. OMG Maria, come back!!!

We also need an elite lefty/alternative or old school player back such as Amelie

 

[supergrunt]

Then go follow the men's tour and stop whining , women's tour is fine. Just because the WS are dominating now, you guys have a problem.

thank you

 

[goldenlox]

The mens tour has a rivalry between the top 2 players, who have won something like 12 of the last 13 majors.

The womens tour changes. One year ago, Justine and Maria had won 5 of the previous 8 majors. Then suddenly they are both off the tour.

Now Safina is going to take #1, and a year ago she wasn't in the discussion of 10 best players on the tour.

So the WTA is in a transition, and older players are winning. Dementieva, Williams, Mauresmo, Williams.
A young star on the rise would be good.
Or a consistent rivalry over a few years.

 

[sammy01]

Then go follow the men's tour and stop whining , women's tour is fine. Just because the WS are dominating now, you guys have a problem.

these topics have been popping up for well over a year, before the williams sisters started 'dominating' again.

why don't you just state your opinion and let others have theres.


as for me i've not been happy with womens tennis since the start of 2008, there are many reasons i've gone into several times over, but i deffinately watch less womens tennis now than i did 2 years ago.

 

[Lunaris]

Weaker on the top but overall much deeper than it used to be, maybe these two things are somewhat connected.

 

[Andy.]

IMO the womens game is lacking the big stars and personalites, the rivalries and the bitchyness that was arounf 5 to 10 years ago. The game has lost the likes of Hingis, Pierce, Davenport, Capriati, Henin, Clijsters, Kournikova with only the Williams Sisters and Sharapova left to hold the fort. Maria has been out for so long that many casual fans are no longer tuning in, the Williams sisters cant carry the game on their own. Jankovic has got the personality that we need on the tour she just needs to get a little more exposure. Ana is pretty but she doesnt bring much in the area of personality. Kuznetsova, Safina and Dementieva are never going to be huge stars and box office. We need legitimate stars and big time rivalries with a bit of personality and bitchyness. One more thing, the quality of matches these days does not seem as good as around 2 to 5 years ago when we had some great matches between the likes of Henin, Clijsters, Sharapova, The Williams Sisters, Mauresmo etc. The rallies were awesome and there was some great fighting we dont see a great deal of great matches these days even in the later stages of tournaments. We nedd players that can keep a rally going for more than 2 or 3 shots.

 

[Andy.]

these topics have been popping up for well over a year, before the williams sisters started 'dominating' again.

why don't you just state your opinion and let others have theres.


as for me i've not been happy with womens tennis since the start of 2008, there are many reasons i've gone into several times over, but i definately watch less womens tennis now than i did 2 years ago.

Thats very true for me as well which is a sad thing

 

[tennnisfannn]

The mens tour has a rivalry between the top 2 players, who have won something like 12 of the last 13 majors.

The womens tour changes. One year ago, Justine and Maria had won 5 of the previous 8 majors. Then suddenly they are both off the tour.

Now Safina is going to take #1, and a year ago she wasn't in the discussion of 10 best players on the tour.

So the WTA is in a transition, and older players are winning. Dementieva, Williams, Mauresmo, Williams.
A young star on the rise would be good.
Or a consistent rivalry over a few years.

maria is not off the tour, she is injured just like the williams were in 03 which affected their careers for a good 4 years or so. maria will be back, it may take time but she will be. Being able to stick with it for four years even with mediocre results like the williams did is commendable. Look how Molik's career turned out.
Why do people have trouble appreciating other players! safina has risen to the top of women's players-she is probably having a dissapointing start to the year but who does not from time to time.
Venus and serena have a rivalry which I enjoy immensely. Some refuse to acknowledge this and choose to look at them like they are one player-most ridiculous attitude if you ask me.
maria and serena do not have a rivalry yet and as much as people want to call it that it is not. their rivalry is only in term of who has more star power it is not the tennis.
Thes second tier players have been so grossly under estimated, there is a reason there have been so many upsets in women's matches, lower ranked players are taking it to the top players and that is wonderful!

 

[BuTtErFrEnA]

Then go follow the men's tour and stop whining , women's tour is fine. Just because the WS are dominating now, you guys have a problem.

:rolls:

 

[crazillo]

The new upcoming players are just machines, they don't show much personality. Everyone could associate something with former stars. Tennis is on the decline, slowly but steadily. I
t has been like that in Germany for many years, IMO it is slowly turning into the same situation in most western countries.

How many current female top players do people know except for us hardcore fans? In the 90's, everyone knew Graf, Seles, Sanchez Vicario, Novotna, Pierce, maybe even Martinez etc., also everyone would have heard about Hingis, Kournikova, Davenport etc. in the new century, but right now?
Except for Sharapova and the Williams sisters, there's hardly anyone people would know.
Compare that to men's tennis, even nowadays people will have heard of many more names!
I think that's a good method of measuring where the tour currently is at reputation-wise.

Considering matches, styles and quality of matches itself:
the female 'stars' all play the same, there is much more variety on the men's tour. A few years ago we had the last veterans playing with a different style, making things at least a little more interesting and diverse, but nowadays everything is becoming so monotunious and replacable. Even if player A retires, there will be numerous A' with a really similair style - also top-players! But who would ever have replaced Novotna, Graf, Seles? - See, none.
Even if there is more depth, the top is really head's and toe's above the rest, still we have seen as many No. 1's in a short time span as probably never before because certain players get rewarded for playing so much rather than having significant wins at majors.
I think a player who has won the two last majors AND was in the final of the major before that (like Williams) should never be likely to lose her No. 1 ranking to a player with good, but no signficant titles such as Slams or the YEC (like Safina).

This all results in a poor state of the tour ATM - and I really don't see much of a change soon.
Although I still follow the tour because of my passion for this sport I will likely never be as much into it as I used to be from 1993-2003/4...

 

[DeLorean]

Other than a lack of a rule where you lose an item of clothing per game lost, the tours fine.

 

[T. Ennis]

The new upcoming players are just machines, they don't show much personality. Everyone could associate something with former stars. Tennis is on the decline, slowly but steadily. I
t has been like that in Germany for many years, IMO it is slowly turning into the same situation in most western countries.

How many current female top players do people know except for us hardcore fans? In the 90's, everyone knew Graf, Seles, Sanchez Vicario, Novotna, Pierce, maybe even Martinez etc., also everyone would have heard about Hingis, Kournikova, Davenport etc. in the new century, but right now?
Except for Sharapova and the Williams sisters, there's hardly anyone people would know.
Compare that to men's tennis, even nowadays people will have heard of many more names!
I think that's a good method of measuring where the tour currently is at reputation-wise.

Considering matches, styles and quality of matches itself:
the female 'stars' all play the same, there is much more variety on the men's tour. A few years ago we had the last veterans playing with a different style, making things at least a little more interesting and diverse, but nowadays everything is becoming so monotunious and replacable. Even if player A retires, there will be numerous A' with a really similair style - also top-players! But who would ever have replaced Novotna, Graf, Seles? - See, none.
Even if there is more depth, the top is really head's and toe's above the rest, still we have seen as many No. 1's in a short time span as probably never before because certain players get rewarded for playing so much rather than having significant wins at majors.
I think a player who has won the two last majors AND was in the final of the major before that (like Williams) should never be likely to lose her No. 1 ranking to a player with good, but no signficant titles such as Slams or the YEC (like Safina).

This all results in a poor state of the tour ATM - and I really don't see much of a change soon.
Although I still follow the tour because of my passion for this sport I will likely never be as much into it as I used to be from 1993-2003/4...

Today's tennis probably looks too much like hard work instead of fun for many Western countries.
Too many bread and butter players who lack imagination nowadays.

 

[Hardiansf]

Needs rivalries other than Williams vs Williams

 

[barmaid]

Needs rivalries other than Williams vs Williams

Of course, I appreciate your post especially since you are a Williams supporter but the state of women's tennis does not lie with the Williams sisters....its all the wannabees who for some reason cannot deliver...tennis is a competitive game....when there is no competition...it just sucks!
Barmaid:wavey:

 

[Sam L]

Then go follow the men's tour and stop whining , women's tour is fine. Just because the WS are dominating now, you guys have a problem.

:secret:

The "decline of women's tennis" started around Wimbledon last year. :haha:

 

[Bijoux0021]

Then go follow the men's tour and stop whining , women's tour is fine. Just because the WS are dominating now, you guys have a problem.

AMEN!

Federer and Nadal are the only ones that have won 99.9% of the slams, for how many years now? Yet no one has said they are bad for the game, including this thread starter who obviously doesn't see anything wrong with it, but has a problem with Venus and Serena. The second Venus and Serena won a few slams, then all of sudden they are bad for the game.

I've never heard the previous dominating players, all time Grand Slam record holders, males or females, were "bad for the game" until Venus and Serena came along.

I'm a big fan of both Nadal and Federer and some other male players, so of course I'm glad that they keep winning the slams. If the other players are not good enough to stop them, then they deserve to win them all. The same goes for Venus and Serena on the women's tour.

If my favorites, males or females, are not good enough to win, I'm not going to whine and say other players are bad for the game. It's just sour grapes.