For what I consider my whole life, I have watched almost every major tennis event. From Wimbledon in July to the Australian Open at the beginning of each year, tennis has constantly been a part of my habits. Growing up in a family that loves sports, and especially tennis, it is expected that we have our favorite players. Throughout my childhood and early adult life, every grand slam or tournament has featured the same familiar players facing the same familiar opponents. As a longtime tennis enthusiast, this is an aspect of sports that I find comforting, yet exciting. Every tournament draw contains familiar faces, although almost every tournament results in new world number ones, underdogs and unexpected upsets.
With the end of the Australian Open about a month ago, I’ve come to realize that throughout the years, there has been a subtle but constant increase of “underdogs” or “newbies” in the grand slams. In the past, I remember being excited as new players qualified for major tournaments, interested in how they would compare to those we consider the greats, such as Rafa Nadal and Ana Ivanovic, just to name a couple. Now, as more and more talent erupts, major tournaments are filled with drastically more new players and less of those who I grew up watching and raving about.
Although this is not an element of sport that is specific to tennis, I feel unsettled with the influx of new talent. It’s somewhat upsetting that the staples of tennis I’ve watched on TV my whole life are fading out or retiring. For example, one of my favorite players, Andy Murray, retired at the beginning of this year, a disturbing and weird reminder that someday, the game will be filled with entirely fresh faces and playing styles.
Obviously, in every sport, great players retire, but it is something I never thought would actually occur or would be so sudden. Due to an increase in fresh professionals and world number ones, I am somewhat less interested in watching these major tournaments. This is because the players I’ve watched win grand slams year after year are no longer making it to the final rounds or are retiring from matches due to injury. For me, I think the increase of these new faces in major competitions will change the way I watch future tournaments and interact with the sport from an audience’s perspective. As a major part of my life, it’s weird to recognize new talent as surpassing those who came before – those who are tennis to me. Understanding that not all the big-name players will be in every major tournament anymore will be something I will have to get used to and somehow appreciate.
Of course, I commend those who are up-and-coming for their pure talent and grit, but I don’t have the same connection with these players as I did with, in my mind, the staples of tennis. As new talent continues to rise, it is difficult for me to build interest or connections to players I’ve only been watching for two years.
Regardless of the amazing commitment these professional tennis players have, the tennis I’m watching now is not the tennis I watched 10 + years ago. This is by far my least favorite part of any sport, but I understand it’s a must. As the yearly grand slams continue, I’m hoping to find new appreciation for the players I don’t know as well, while preserving the history of the players I’ve watched my whole life. Despite this shifting, I am interested to see what connections I can make to those I’m not used to who are winning grand slams.
Laura Haley, a Chief Copy Editor for the Voice, can be reached for comment at LHaley21@wooster.edu.