Tennis and spectatorship
View(s):Making the game appealing and inviting is player responsibility. Make it so if you are a tennis player. A time revealed study has shown this to be the only sustainable way.
In Colombo, hill stations and suburbs in the decades gone by, a tennis match would attract large spectatorship. They played tennis and were knowledgeable in global tennis. With the advent of TV and traffic, this breed of sporting spectatorship has waned to a near zero and our population up four folds.
Today’s tennis is juvenile school activity for parents and orchestrated coach’s camp chorus cheering own and jeering opponent’s mistake. What happened? I am at a loss for explanation.
Where are our senior players? Not prominent at all. They play their finals in the presence of family members, tournament officials and invitees. Most of the top-end orchestrating officials are never a player coaching now, playing the role of tournament officials.
Do not bother to search the established junior or senior rankings of the world for players from our island. We are not there and this after fostering the game over 100 years.
My opinion, we have lost the supportive tennis leadership over a time. Having served in overseas stations, been a witness to this development in our region especially. Junior tennis is big business for low-end skills. This means numbers and not tennis standard.
Beneficiaries are hotel, travel, logistic, officiating and court maintenance trades and a few more unseen but present. I missed out overseas scholarship stream – it is big time. Expectation is they will return to be in our teams. Happening is not in the proportion of input.
Fine we say, only one problem – we have not placed a single junior player into the top 100 of the global ranking in the past 30 years. This makes our development, a carry on series. There is no wakeup call and tennis promotion needs a one urgently.
Global sport in
warring backdrop
Gingerly WTA and ATP did conduct their events as per calendar in American continents. However, the events in Asia Minor were forced to be shelved or cancelled. More than the direct impact of the war, the flight cancellation and schedules to which professional players rely on in the first three tiers suffered, mostly subjected to cancellation. Most, if not all, rely of sponsorship, in the warring times sponsors will not get what they want. We are not at the end but the beginning, making rest of the 2026 look bleak.
Modern warfare in an ex-soldier view, are not long drawn. We now live in an era of mega speed weaponry war. A thought that should send shivers. Either, one have be naïve or bold willing to go on a holiday to countries neighbouring war zones. Yet this is part of modern economy.
WTA, ATP and ITF, I am sure are navigating staging events in safety zones. If such exists is arguable. Even juniors are travelling in hordes to play events overseas. Today, player recognition comes from performance even in junior level. This means school holidays are their performance time. Not only tennis in all sports.
WTA and ATP showcase
What is most appealing about WTA and ATP players is their pursuit to make their game appealing to watch. So much so, speed, tactics, stroke making repertoire are way beyond the ability of casual players. It is magical. Unfortunately, TV screen does not bring out this with profound effect. One non-tennis player who witnessed ATP event told me the backdrop and the skill level of the finalist in the Grand Slam he watched, will be with him un-erased. Such was the strength of the impression.
Enhancement – a
responsibility
Top end of the professional WTA and ATP events are tennis showcases. Players like Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Pete Sampras in men and the William sisters Venus and Serena, Maria Sharapova, Justine Henin, Martina Navratilova, left a legacy enhancing the game. What always baffled me is the South American tennis. Decades of strong sand court players. Had the privilege of playing Thomas Koch of Brazil and watched Villas. Europeans Alex Metreveli, Ilne Nastase and the Indian stalwarts Vijay Amitaraj in the Indian circuit were my early impression of the game. Late Rupert Ferdiands took the reflexes of table tennis to tennis, two others followed suit. Suresh Melvani and Vajira Premaratne.
We had the talent, I remember Wimbledon finalist Wilhelm Bungert with whom I worked recalling P.S. Kumara being in the squad coached by Harry Hopman in Australia. Others in the squad were Ramanathan Krishnan, Roy Emerson and Fred Stolle.
2026 so far
Professionals grooved to produce dynamic game and tactics most effective, in turn appealing. In the current backdrop, early American events staged, mostly labelled as limited version in player and spectator attendance. The show must go on.
–George Paldano, European and Asian competition player; player development German Federation, national coach Brunei and Sri Lanka; Davis Cup, Federation Cup, ATP and WTA tour coach; WhatsApp +94775448880–