WTA: Buy, Sell, or Hold?
By Kendra Baisinger
Articles about the problems in women’s tennis have become so predictable as to be redundant. What to do about the great grunting/shrieking crisis and whether Player X deserves her ranking have been dissected to a degree generally reserved for discussions of the Israeli/Palestinian crisis, and the sentiment that “women’s tennis is bad” has become the consensus. However, my (admittedly annoying) contrarianism combined with actual signs of life in the women’s game have led me to believe that the consensus is about to become outdated. I am not about to claim that women’s tennis has been compelling in recent years, but if women’s tennis was a stock, I would rate it a “buy.”
First, however, it should be acknowledged that the popularity of women’s tennis has plummeted and that it has done so for a reason. To me, the depths to which it had fallen became obvious during the first round of the 2011 U.S. Open. Just to be clear, the people who arrive (armed with sunscreen and draw sheets) at 10:00 a.m. on the first day of the Open are not casual fans. These people can pick Jesse Huta Galung out of a crowd.1 They know their tennis. So, the WTA should take note when these tennis aficionados filled up Louis Armstrong Stadium only when 8th seed Marion Bartoli began decisively beating Alexandra Panova, and then audibly groaned when there appeared to be a slim possibility that the match might go to three sets. The groans were not, as you might expect, from Bartoli fans concerned that she might lose to an unseeded player. Rather, the new arrivals were there to claim their seats for the upcoming match between Gael Monfils and Grigor Dimitrov and were irritated that they might have to sit through a third set of the Bartoli match2 (when they could have been watching the fifth set of Troicki vs. Falla).3 I saw this scenario play out several times over the first three days of the tournament, and I don’t think it is much of an exaggeration to say that unless Serena Williams or Maria Sharapova was playing, I never saw a full stadium at a women’s match. Read more »
Posted: February 22nd, 2012 under Uncategorized.
Comments: none



