What's Up with Women's Tennis?

To be frank, I’m surprised that you even decided to read this article. And while I’m being honest, I’m surprised that I could even be bothered to write this article! That’s the problem with women’s tennis at the moment…it’s all a bit of a drag.

But I have been pondering it for some time now…you see, I wanted to try and work out why exactly it is such a drag.

So instead of being tempted into writing about my favourite subject (Roger Federer) once again, I have decided that I will attempt to write an article about women’s tennis. Here it goes…

Take a look at all the other articles which have been published in the Tennis section of the Bleacher Report over the last few days. How many are about women’s tennis? How many are about men’s tennis? I think I have made my point.

The problem is that women’s tennis is just not very interesting at the moment. There is no consistency (apart from the Williams sisters) and there are no superstars (apart from the Williams sisters).

I would have included Maria Sharapova in my brackets but she has been off the court for such a long time (harbouring a shoulder injury) that I have almost forgotten who she is.

I know many are longing for Maria to return as she is the only player who seems to be able to challenge the Williams sisters. Others are even hoping that Justine Henin Hardenne will come out of retirement just to spice up the game a little!

Ok, so I’ll also admit that maybe there are a few rising stars in the women’s game. Ana Ivanovic strikes me as one but even she cannot be relied upon to be consistent at the moment.

Fair enough she just recently made the Indian Wells final (where she lost to Vera Zvonareva) but the question still remains: Would she have even made it to the final if the Williams sisters had decided to compete and one of them had been in her half of the draw? Answer: Probably not.

Only a couple of days ago Ana was defeated by the 25th seed Ágnes Szávay in the third round of the Sony Ericsson tournament in Miami. (Nope, I hadn’t heard of Szávay either!)

This is all too familiar and distinctly reminds me of when she entered Wimbledon last year as the No. 1 seed (having just won the French Open) and then made a speedy exit in the third round. She lost to Zheng Jie of China, who at the time was ranked number 133 in the world.

Perhaps it is the pressure she feels when entering a tournament as one of the favourites which is producing these hugely varied results? Whatever it is…we cannot single Ana out. She is just a microcosm of the women’s game at the moment. Perhaps there is something contaminating the water in the ladies’ locker room?!

A good example of another player facing similar problems (on a more drastic scale) would be Ana’s fellow country(wo)man, Jelena Jankovic. The way it is going for poor ol’ Jelena at the moment, it looks likely that she will be forever known as the former world number 1 who never won a Slam.

I think that the fact that a player can be the best female tennis player in the world at the moment without having won a Grand Slam pretty much sums up the state of the game in the women’s field at the moment.

Anyway…back to Jelena, and I must say that I don’t know what has happened to her of late.

Being knocked out in the fourth round of the Australian Open could have happened to anyone, but then losing again in the fourth round of Dubai and, even worse, second rounds of Indian Wells and Miami (after having been given a first round bye in both) is not expected from a world No. 3.

It appears that even Jelena cannot fathom what has happened to her game. After her loss in the second round of Indian Wells she admitted, “I'm struggling in this moment to find my game overall and find the confidence on the court.” And in Miami she said, “I'm not the same player as I used to be.” She got that spot on.

To illustrate my point further just take a look at who has already been knocked out in Miami. Apart from Ana and Jelena, both Dinara Safina and Elena Dementieva, ranked No. 2 and No. 4 in the world respectively, have made early exits; Dinara in the third round and Elena in the fourth.

So many of the top seeds have already been knocked out in Miami and we are only just getting into the quarter-finals as this goes to print (oh ok, goes online!).

Another problem I see in women’s tennis at the moment is the style of play…all that grinding from the baseline does not make for the most entertaining of matches.

In fact, I recently read that Ray Moore, the president of PM Sports Management, suggested that female tennis players should use Andy Murray as a role model. It seems that what Moore is after is a bit more variety in the women’s game.

A new recipe is perhaps needed: mix in both short and long shots, a bit of spin here, a touch of slice there, change up the pace à la Murray. Et Voilà! A match we might actually enjoy watching.

I think that one of the other big issues in the women’s game is that there are no big personalities and no real rivalries. Of course the men’s tennis world is alight at the moment with the Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal rivalry.

But even if we look outside of the top two players in the men’s game there are a huge number of other highly entertaining players.

No matter what you think of him, you cannot deny that Novak Djokovic brings some incredible tennis and a unique personality to the game.

Then there is Andy Murray…a star in the making. Marat Safin…a player who has brought raquet smashing and outbursts to a whole new level in tennis and has won over a legion of fans whilst doing so.

We have Jo Wilfred Tsonga…another brilliant up and coming player, the consistent and often humorous Andy Roddick, a huge variety of fabulous Spanish players (Verdasco being the most talked about at the moment), and French players (with the likes of Gilles Simon and Gaël Monfils). The list is endless…

I’ll admit that the Williams sisters are favourites on the women’s tour, but who are their challengers? Each other?  I personally don’t find an all Williams match very exciting to watch.

I am not taking anything away from their game…they are wonderful players and I hugely respect them. But when you know that the trophy is going to go to the same home whatever the outcome, you really cannot care too much who wins.

And should Venus and Serena happen to meet before the finals of a tournament you just know that whoever wins that match will go on to become the eventual champion…too predictable for my liking.

Watching an all Williams match does not even come close to watching a Roger-Rafa match. Roger and Rafa fans offer loyal support to their chosen man and fiercely want him to win. In return, Roger and Rafa provide their fans with the wonderful contrast of two very different playing styles.

Do the Williams sisters provoke the constant debates of who is better and who is the greatest ever? I think not.

The women’s game needs to recapture some of the days of former glory with Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert battling it out for victory…and throw in some Steffi Graf for good measure!

So there we go. I’ve asked the question: what's up with women’s tennis? And I hope I have at least provided some possible answers. The end!

(P.S. You can expect that my next instalment will be a return to my favourite subject: Roger!)