The Loose Change

Tennis is getting slower?

September 5th, 2009

I’m watching the current 2009 US Tennis Open in New York.  I have been a tennis fan for well over 30 years.  I am old enough to remember McEnroe, Conners, Martina, and some of the ‘older’ players.  And what I have noticed is that tennis seems to have gotten alot slower as of late.

Back in the old days, the players didn’t have to go to the towel after each point.  They would just go on to serve and towel off after each game of the set.  The match had a much better flow to the game.  It seemed much less time consuming and much less boring back then.

In addition to the players going for the towel each point now, they also go into their neurotic, uh I mean, ritualistic tendencies.  This is taught to them to create a sense of structure, predictability and focus.  It’s a purposeful thing to get their head into a winning habit.  I think it’s probably BS.  You never saw that crap with the older players, at least I don’t remember it.

For me, tennis as of late has become too repetitive to be of much interest.  Occasionally, there are great matches, but most of the time it’s like watching a rerun over and over again.  How many times can you watch Rafa pull his underwear out of butt, or Maria putting her hair behind her ears before each serve.

Apparently, the tennis players have 30 seconds after each point, and many take much longer.  30 seconds between points is a LONG time.  Perhaps they should cut that down to 15 seconds to make the game play a bit quicker and perhaps provide a bit more interest.

I mean who has time to watch a 5 hour match these days?  I don’t.  I have NEVER sat and watched the entire 5 hour match.  And I just can’t believe they have to towel off after two or three ground strokes.  That adds so much time and to me, makes it extremely boring to watch.  I mean come on, it’s almost as bad as watching baseball.

Anyway, I think that it’s become quite a boring game, with more neurotic behavior than ever.  And I juat don’t care to spend my time watching such repetitiveness any longer.

Entry Filed under: Tennis