OT: American tennis...

[EricLA]

we used to chit chat about this on the old board and there were a couple of posters who i found particularly knowledgeable about American tennis specifically, and tennis in general.

i've been paying attention to and watching the US open and have been incredibly impressed with the newest crop of American tennis players. most are in their late teens or early 20's and the did really really well at this year's open...

Fish, Roddick, Isner, Bogomolov Jr., Blake (well he's an oldster), Harrison, Sweeting, Russell, Sock and Young all did well on the men's side...

And while Oudin has been a disappointment (one hit wonder so to speak) on the ladie's side, McHale, Falconi, VanDeWeigh, Keys, King and Sloane Stephens (love that name) all played really well.

a few years back we were talking about the women's side and that once Serena and Venus retire, there's no one left even in the top 32 that would be seeded in any grand slams. that may well change over the next few years and it's very nice to see...

 

[VAUConnFan]

While I hope your prognostication bears fruit, I do not see it happening. However, you did leave plenty of wiggle room with TOP 32. Of course, that is possible. What is improbable is seeing an American woman not named Williams advancing to a quarterfinal in any of any the majors. If I am Venus or Serena, I am demanding a hefty appearance fee from the networks. One can see from the coverage in this year's US Open, just how much ESPN, The Tennis Channel, and NBC, are talking about/hyping Serena. They need her to continue advancing.

On the men's side, same thing. Donald Young, at 24, has to break out within the next year; Roddick needs to search for the coach who can hone his skills toward winning majors; And keep searching until the right one is found. Anyone that serves as well as he does should advance to the semifinals of every major; It should be a given.

We need Tsonga to emigrate from France.

 

[VAUConnFan]

This article from two days ago on espn.com briefly addresses the general issue tennis's popularity:
http://espn.go.com/espn/commentary/...905/roger-federer-grace-volatile-tennis-world

 

[johnhuskies95]

While I hope your prognostication bears fruit, I do not see it happening. However, you did leave plenty of wiggle room with TOP 32. Of course, that is possible. What is improbable is seeing an American woman not named Williams advancing to a quarterfinal in any of any the majors. If I am Venus or Serena, I am demanding a hefty appearance fee from the networks. One can see from the coverage in this year's US Open, just how much ESPN, The Tennis Channel, and NBC, are talking about/hyping Serena. They need her to continue advancing.

On the men's side, same thing. Donald Young, at 24, has to break out within the next year; Roddick needs to search for the coach who can hone his skills toward winning majors; And keep searching until the right one is found. Anyone that serves as well as he does should advance to the semifinals of every major; It should be a given.

We need Tsonga to emigrate from France.

Young turned 22 a few months ago.

 

[VAUConnFan]

Young turned 22 a few months ago.

My bad.

 

[Bryan Lord]

Anyone think roddick has a shot here?

 

[mauconnfan]

Roddicks a whiny little girl and the rest are made up of guys who will never win anything big. Tennis is awful now because the colorful McEnroe's, Connor's, Agassis's are all gone and nowwe're stuck with a bunch of brats. Not that they weren't but it meant something to them now they just soak in the cash from advancing and cry if it rains on their courts and they have to play a few days in a row. Sucks to have to root for Federer but at least he has balls and a heart!!

 

[HuskyNan]

I stopped watching tennis years ago. I miss the McEnroe-Conors, McEnroe-Lendl, Becker-Edberg, Agassi-Sampras, Evertt-Navratilova, Seles-Graf... There used to be drama and excitement in the matches, now it's a bunch of baseliners slugging the ball back and forth.