When Serena WilliamsUS Openwomen's singles third round last Friday, Arthur Ashe Stadium was packed and Americans cheered every shot taken by the nation's greatest women's tennis player of the past 20 years At the same time, on the No. 5 court not far away, the 15-year-old American star Corey Gauff is partnering with the 17-year-old Catherine McNairy to compete in the first round of the women's doubles. It's full.
For the sake of safety, the staff implemented a current limit - only after one spectator exits, another spectator can enter. However, no one wants to miss any moment in the growth of these two rising stars in the United States, especially Gauff, so the fans waiting to enter the stadium lined up a line as long as 100 meters. In fact, there has been a wave of "gauff craze" in American tennis recently, because Americans have been waiting for the next star of hope for too long. The Williams sisters, who are nearly forty years old, are still fighting around, but they can't wait. successor.
Women's tennis is inactive, and men's tennis is hard to revive.
From the age of 13 to participate in youth competitions, Corey Gauff's name began to shine in the American tennis world. In 2018, she won the French Open junior championship and became the world's No. 1 junior. 15-year-old Gauff turned into professional tennis this year: French Open, won the first round of women's singles qualifying; Wimbledon , won three consecutive qualifying matches, and became the youngest Wimbledon at the age of 15 years and 3 months Main match player; her miracle continued in the Wimbledon main match. She defeated Venus, and Hercog in the first two rounds, and finally stopped at the top 32. The first two Grand Slams of
's career have brought Gauff national attention, which explains the long queues for an obscure US Open doubles first-round match. The third round of women's singles match between Gauff and defending champion Osaka Naomi last Saturday, American audiences do not need to line up, because the organizing committee arranged the duel in the Arthur · Ash pitch. Although he failed to break through Naomi Osaka in the end, Gauff has shown enough dazzling potential, just as ESPN US Open commentator and former ATP world No. 1 Jim Courier said: "We are in the ' There is so much to look forward to in this 15-year-old girl.”
Gauve carries the infinite expectations of Americans for the next top local tennis player, but behind it is a hidden truth that I have to admit The fact that despite the Williams sisters' dominance of the women's tennis scene for the past 20 years, the US women's tennis team is now in a lean phase. At the US Open two years ago, when Stevens defeated his compatriot Case to win the Grand Slam championship for the first time, the Americans seemed to see the future of women's tennis. Case stopped in the fourth round. Now 26-year-old Stevens and 24-year-old Keyes were once seen as the future of American tennis, but no one can really carry the flag that is about to fall.
If the 15-year-old Gauff gave Americans hope for the revival of women's tennis, then the future of US men's tennis is even more worrying. This year's US Open, no American player entered the top 16 men's singles. Going back 30 years to December 1990, there were seven Americans among the top 20 men's players in the world, including household names such as Agassi, Sampras, , Zhang Depei, and McEnroe . Today, only 34-year-old Isner (No. 14) remains among the top 20 Americans. And since Roddick won the US Open in 2003, no American male player has ever been involved in a Grand Slam. Since then, European players represented by Federer, , Nadal, Djokovic, , and Murray have won 61 of the 63 Grand Slams.
This year's US Open men's singles top 16 list also confirms this point: except for Australian Minard and Argentine player Schwarzman, the rest are from the European continent. "We haven't had a first-class tennis player for a long time, and we will have a long way to go to restore the glory of the past ... I hope this situation will not last too long." Sampras said two years ago. Said so in an interview with the American media, but until now, the American men's tennis is still hard to see the glimmer of revival.
Low-level tournaments have left one after another
The lack of top American tennis players has directly led to many local playersTickets and sponsorship income for tennis events have been sluggish for a long time, and the business is in trouble. More and more games are leaving the United States to seek new life in better-funded emerging markets. When the Connecticut Tennis Open last year was unable to find a sponsor, tournament director Anne Wooster, after considering offers from major cities in the United States, finally sold the event to the highest bidder, APG— — A sports and entertainment company with a strong presence in Asia.
Now the event has moved to Zhengzhou, China, where it will be held a week after the US Open. "I've seen the sport grow from nothing and every step of the way it has grown over the past 21 years. It's very sad to see it disappear like a child. But that's the way the economy is and even though we don't want to sell, There is no choice." Wooster believes that an important reason for the tournament to leave the United States is that there are no local stars worth promoting. European players such as Niacki are the protagonists. "In tennis, a global sport, it is not easy to promote non-Americans. Americans want to see Americans." , Miami Masters and Cincinnati Masters and other top events in recent years are still very eye-catching financial reports. ESPN analyst Patrick McEnroe believes that major tennis events will be more popular than ever, but low-level events will continue to face survival difficulties. Tennis players are at the top level."
The "New York Times" pointed out earlier this year that the original pattern of world tennis centered on North America is changing. In 1990, 24 of the WTA3z55 tournaments were held in the US, today there are only seven; the same trend is true for the men's events, where 16 of the ATP's 77 tournaments were held in the US in 1990, now only 11 of the 63 Project settled in the United States. The ATP and WTA year-end tours were once held in New York's Madison Square Garden. Now the men's event is in London, England, and the women's event has moved to Shenzhen, China.
With the rise of tennis in emerging markets such as Asia and South America, this increasingly internationalized sport has gradually shed its reliance on the US market, and has settled around the world with the help of globalization. In 1990, only four WTA tournaments were held in Asia. China alone has 11 games this season. "We're not going to be a US-centric tour again," said WTA chief executive Steve Simon.
