Women's Tennis: How the WTA Can Save the Game

Women's tennis is currently enduring some serious problems, and until the WTA amasses the courage to make changes, the game will continue to suffer—at the gate, and in public perception.

Fans who pay top dollar to attend matches other than the Grand Slam events know that there will be few competitive matches in the early rounds.  Furthermore, the likelihood of competitive matches at any stage may be questionable, depending on who shows up for the various tournaments.

And this is where the problems begin.

As opposed to the regulations of men's tennis, the women do not have to play a specified number of tournaments in any year in order to preserve their ranking.  This has led to many stars (Can you spell Serena and Venus Williams?) pulling out of events at the last minute—despite the fact that fans have purchased tickets based on the publicity generated by the expectation that these players will attend. 

In fairness, some injuries are legitimate and the WTA needs to address the issue of year round play.

But the women just don't get it.  They take their endorsement money and forget that they need to sell the game of tennis continuously in order to maintain interest among fans.  While the Williams sisters are the best female athletes I have ever seen, they pose serious and damaging challenges to the sport. 

The WTA needs to adopt a mandatory minimum number of tournaments required to sustain ranking and eligibility in order to play in major events.  Additionally, after the U.S. Open, there should be a tournament of Champions followed by an "off season" during the months of October, November, and December prior to the Australian Open and the prep tournaments.

Players who commit to a tournament and fail to play, for any reason, must be  prohibited for a period of 30 days from participating in other tournaments and exhibitions.  Real penalties must be instituted to give weight to the governing rules and regulations.

I do think the WTA is trying to do something, but they must reach forward a great deal more before women's tennis is fighting back serious failure.