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Wimbledon Tennis - Is It Worth Watching Any More?
By Martin Luxton
When I was a teenager the highlight of the summer was always Wimbledon fortnight.
In the long evenings after school we would we watch all the big matches on the BBC and then go to the local courts to play a game of tennis ourselves. There was something magical about playing after a great match on television.
But now, a lot of that sparkle has gone and I don't know why.
Is it because I'm quite a bit older?
Is it because I am no longer actively playing tennis myself?
Or is it because the game itself has become less interesting?
I have come to realize that a lot of things I used to be passionate about in my youth are less appealing nowadays. I was even more crazy about football than tennis and now I only watch the occasional big match. However, I think that is due mainly to football's overexposure on TV. Going from a time when seeing a game live on the box was a rare privilege to the present day where you can watch five major games in one weekend has, I think, jaded a lot of palates, mine included.
On the other hand, tennis hasn't always been so ever present on TV.
The fact that I don't play tennis any more probably isn't a factor either. I don't play snooker now but I still enjoy watching it.
So, is the game less interesting?
In my eyes, yes. The present day game of tennis seems to be more about power and fitness. It seems like a tennis genius like John McEnroe would be blown away by even a pretty average modern player. McEnroe's spats with umpires followed by unbelievable match winners were moments of pure magic. Ile Nastase was the consummate showman. He didn't win much but people would queue up to see his matches. Even the original sweat and guts man, Jimmy Connors would grandstand to the crowd.
But the entertainers were living on borrowed time. They were tennis dinosaurs swept away by a new-style player.
The Bjorn Borg era was the death knell for the fun-loving, entertaining mavericks. Borg was a great player and a very nice man but on a tennis court he was like the Terminator - a ruthless machine. You justwished he would lose more often to make the sport more interesting.
The same happened in Formula 1 with Michael Schumacher. Pole position. Chequered flag. Pole position. Chequered flag. Yawn! Yawn!
Anyway, that's how I feel about many of the players today - they are professional machines optimized to churn out the best results. Of course, I admire the skill and mental strength of somebody like Roger Federer and if he equals Bjorn Borg's record of 5 Wimbledon titles this year it will be an incredible achievement.
But, it would be nice if the result wasn't a foregone conclusion.
I will watch Wimbledon as usual this year. But you know something? I'll be looking forward to the rain breaks when they show highlights from matches of yesteryear.
What's that you said, John?
"You cannot be serious!!"
Martin Luxton is a teacher, writer and musician who is interested in the bizarre, the weird and the quirky. You can find more of his writing on tennis at http://www.opentennistour.com
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