{"id":698,"date":"2012-03-22T17:43:40","date_gmt":"2012-03-22T21:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/heavytopspin.com\/?p=698"},"modified":"2012-03-22T17:43:40","modified_gmt":"2012-03-22T21:43:40","slug":"why-the-atp-is-more-popular-than-the-wta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/2012\/03\/22\/why-the-atp-is-more-popular-than-the-wta\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the ATP is More Popular Than the WTA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last night, Fernando Gonzalez<\/a> played the last match of his career. \u00a0Gonzo is a fan favorite, with a historically great forehand that propelled him to finals at the 2007 Australian Open and the 2008 Olympics. \u00a0He won tour-level titles over a ten-year span<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Next month, the man in the limelight will be Ivan Ljubicic<\/a>. \u00a0He doesn’t exactly qualify as a “fan favorite,” but tennis aficionados have grown to appreciate his deadly service accuracy, beautiful one-handed backhand, and intelligence on and off the court.<\/p>\n

Men’s tennis is in the age of the veteran. \u00a0Even though we’re talking about 20-somethings and a few 30-year-olds, virtually every player at the top of the game five years ago is still in the mix today. \u00a0With the exception of Andre Agassi, every top-ranked player from the ten years is still active.<\/p>\n

And fans love veterans. \u00a0The current state of the ATP<\/a> is tailor-made for fan interest.<\/p>\n

There are two things going on here. \u00a0One is simply a matter of familiarity. \u00a0If you lost interest in tennis for the last five years, you might be surprised to find Mario Ancic out of the game, Arnaud Clement<\/a> still in it, and Andy Roddick<\/a> well out of the top ten, but the cast of characters would be immediately recognizable. \u00a0It’s like a television soap opera–you only have to watch an episode or two before you’re back in the swing of things.<\/p>\n

The other factor is what we might call the “Agassi effect.” \u00a0In the late 80’s and early 90’s, Agassi was the stereotypical brash youngster, offending the effete and challenging Wimbledon’s all-white rule. \u00a0A decade and a half later, he was perhaps the most popular player in the game, the very picture of sportsmanship and class. \u00a0Few players undergo such a radical transformation in the eyes of the public, but the general direction is very common.<\/p>\n

Only a few years ago, Rafael Nadal<\/a> was a divisive figure, mocked by many for his sleeveless tops and bulging biceps. \u00a0More recently, Novak Djokovic<\/a> was widely disliked. \u00a0I’m sure detractors are still out there, but they are much quieter. \u00a0Think back to the early days of just about any veteran’s career–Andy Roddick was exciting to American fans, objectionable to most everybody else. \u00a0Lleyton Hewitt<\/a> was another Agassi, and he didn’t grow out of it as quickly.<\/p>\n

Yet for all that, can you think of a player who has gotten\u00a0less<\/em> popular as he ages? \u00a0Perhaps this phenomenon is unique to individual sports. \u00a0In team sports, some figures seem to attract fans, but others lose them, as they sign mega-contracts with new teams, becoming viewed as sellouts<\/a>. \u00a0(Or worse, if they take the mega-contract, then never perform as well again<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The phenomenon of gaining fans with age isn’t limited to men–veteran WTA players experience it, as well. \u00a0It seems like Kim Clijsters was better loved upon her return to the game than she was the day she retired. \u00a0Even the Williams sisters seem to have fewer detractors these days than they did several years ago. \u00a0But while the WTA has its share of vets, it has far fewer players who have persisted at the top of the game.<\/p>\n

Only two players from the 2007 year-end top ten (Maria Sharapova and Marion Bartoli) are in the top ten of today’s WTA rankings. \u00a0Most of the WTA’s vets have hung around on the fringes of the game’s best for years. \u00a0Li Na, Sam Stosur, and Vera Zvonareva have all given us their share of highlights, but to extend my soap opera analogy, they are peripheral characters who star in a few episodes, only to disappear into the background again. \u00a0Someone who hasn’t watched women’s tennis for a few years would have a hard time catching up.<\/p>\n

Of course, none of this is to say that men’s tennis is inherently better. \u00a0At various times in the past, the WTA has had a stronger stable of perennial stars, and when that is the case, it rakes in the ratings. \u00a0Victoria Azarenka may not be as obviously bankable as a charmer like Caroline Wozniacki or a cover girl like Maria Sharapova, but by winning consistently<\/a>, she gives the women’s game a head start toward developing what the ATP possesses right now. \u00a0If a few other players rise to the challenge for more than a couple months at a time, we might do more than just talk about Djokovic, Federer, and Nadal all the time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last night, Fernando Gonzalez played the last match of his career. \u00a0Gonzo is a fan favorite, with a historically great forehand that propelled him to finals at the 2007 Australian Open and the 2008 Olympics. \u00a0He won tour-level titles over a ten-year span. Next month, the man in the limelight will be Ivan Ljubicic. \u00a0He … Continue reading Why the ATP is More Popular Than the WTA<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deep-thoughts","category-wta"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}