Dual gender Tennis reappears
View(s):US-Open Series of 2017
At start of Tennis, 150 years ago, Women were not allowed to participate in competitions. It was considered not ladylike. It changed and dual gender events became the norm. After the formation of ATP and WTA, this tradition stopped in the professional circuit. In effect, even today, dual gender events such as the Grand Slam have a flair which single gender events cannot match. While feminine presence gives the flair and glamour, Men exhibit power and vibrancy. Both have the power to move the audience, making Tennis appealing. The US-Open series is on track to bring this back.
Until 2004, Tennis did not get the TV prime time in North America. Surprising, but true. In the past 14 years, the US-Open Series has successfully changed this. In America, publicity equals popularity. North America developed a series known as the ‘North American hard court season’. This has attracted the TV back into Tennis. It is also called the US-Open Series.
2017 series
US-Open series has been working to bring back the lost attraction of dual gender. It is not quite so the way it was. Except for the US-Open in New York, which is dual gender, others go in alternate weeks. This year the US-Open series began in late July and go on till September 10, finishing with the US-Open finals. In this period of time, the Series will take Tennis events to 8 locations. Men will play in Atlanta, Montreal, Cincinnati and Winston-Salem. Women will grace Stanford, Toronto, Cincinnati, New Haven and both in New York.
This is a big money Series with over US$ 40 million in prizes for the players. However, the Series has removed the bonus issue for the Series this year. It caused confusion to follow. Most probably, professional bodies did not like the practice. The bonus was introduced to attract the best players to participate. Although with Wimbledon, which finished a month ago, the European season should come to an end. In reality, many of the major championships are still being played even next week in Europe.
The boost, the US-Open series now gets is mostly from its ability to grab over 70 hours of TV time during the 6 weeks, and repeats later in North America. The times have changed, at one time, people went to events, it is a small percentage that does it now, taking the game to the people is the big thing, and TV does just that.
The attraction
Big names in the game are the attraction and the worry for the organizers. In the current US-Open Series, already on the Men’s side, Djokovic and Wawrinka, two of the star attractions have withdrawn with injuries. It is the last quarter of the global Tennis season. Players are stretched and are not playing their best. This Wimbledon showed how low the players physical conditions were. Federer, who took the entire Clay court season off, did the best. After all, even the best Tennis players are human and we all have our limitations.
In this backdrop, emerging players are going to be the main attraction this year. Up to now, not much has come from the emerging players to replace the top 5 in both genders but, one could confidently say that a few are knocking on the door. Although, emerging players often appear in the top 10 of the ranking, the trend is that very few survive to find a place in the top 3.
Blue courts and media rights
Clay is red in Tennis and grass is green. The organisers have made hard court ‘blue’ in the US-Open Series. Yellow ball is better seen against a blue background under lights, and on TV screens.
Economically, the segment which has shown great deal of growth in sports is the Media rights. A model which has developed into an attractive package in through Football. All believe this will go up many folds from now in Tennis. Professional bodies have employed some of the best hands and they are busy identifying and increasing the income to the player base. Up to now, this income was there, but did not reach the players.
Whom to watch
Hard court Tennis is not the same as Clay or Grass. Most of the players today were developed on hard courts. It is the most available courts in the world now. Making Tennis a game for the young and not for the middle age and the old, as it will cause much strain and injuries to the body. Hard courts made of concrete base needs high end reaction speed based game to win.
The emerging talents to follow in this US-Open Series among Women are, 22-year-old Ukrainian, Elina Svitolina, 26-year-old Brit, Johanna Konta, 20-year-old Latvian, Jelena Ostapenko and 24-year-old French, Kristina Mladenovic. Among Men it would be 23-year-old Austrian, Dominic Thiem, 20-year-old German, Alexander Zverev and 22-year-old Australian, Nick Kyrgios. The final event of the Series, the US-Open, starts on August 28. The US-Open Series already has got past the halfway mark.
-George Paldano, Former int. player; Accredited Coach of German Federation; National coach Sri Lanka & Brunei, Davis-Cup, Federation Cup captain/coach– contact 94 77 544 8880 geodano2015@gmail.com -