Are fans losing interest in the ATP

Gators-Rox · Are fans losing interest in the ATP

With the predictabiltiy of most tournaments with Roger Federer becoming champion week after week do you think that most tennis fans will lose interest in the ATP tour and focus more on the WTA which has more chances for different champions at each tournament.

leftys_rock

no, because though it gets boring for fed winning, there is still great tennis throughout the week........thats the problem with the WTA.......there are usually breezy early round womens matches, and then it gets interesting.......

Gators-Rox

Very true, It takes the women to get down to the QF to have tough matches.

x.doublea

I don't think so. I think most people (including me), enjoy watching men's matches more than women's matches, simply because it's faster and has more variety. However, although Federer usually wins, we are still interested about the rest of the field. As well, Federer can help promote tennis; he is known throughout all sports.

stevos14

The ATP tournaments, like lefty said, have much more depth but are predictable, however, I enjoy the quality of points and how every shot isn't ended on an UE. On the womans side, however, i love the passion and drama and emotion that is left on the court. It may not be as deep, but I think the WTA is more exciting for sure.

x.doublea

True. The WTA isn't as predictable, and the race for the Number 1 rank adds to the drama. However, Federer isn't in every tournament, so the ATP is also unpredictable to some extent.

J-man

no because the ATP is move entertaining for most people and federer is fun to watch

x.doublea

Yes....he is a brilliant shotmaker.

stevos14

I love his backhand personally. The beauty of that stroke is pretty great to watch. And then so is the rest of his game. I really enjoy watching his serve, as it is not all power, but placement and spins. So intelligent.

Gators-Rox

Federer sure does have some great strokes none better then his backhand which he seems he can hit the lines with all the time. It is brilliant to watch him, I just wish there was some competition for him. Please Rafael step up on the clay like last year and win against FED.

J-man

don't worry you can bet nadal will step up on clay. it's his best surface

stevos14

I Hope he can! Nadal better bring his A game though. It would be great if nadal was a bit more at feds level to spur a great rivalry.

Gators-Rox

I thought Nadal was going to step it up when he beat Federer at Dubai a few weeks ago, but he hasn't performed as well since.

stevos14

It's too bad. But hey, no one can be perfect 24/7.

dav6789

The good thing about the ATP is that there are different players for different surfaces. e.g. Clay (Nadal, Moya, Coria, Gaudio), Grass (Federer, Roddick, Hewitt), and Hard, where everyone plays well. In this part of the game, there is more variety. You see different players suceedng on different surfaces, which is a good element that the game has since there are some upsets etc...

The WTA tour isnt as reliable on the surface, all the top players play well on all surfaces, even their weaker ones. e.g. Lindsay on Clay, Justine on grass. The WTA has alot of top players and isnt being cominated by one player (which is great). Everyone is a contender for big titles, on all surfaces.

Another good thing about the WTA tour is the tournament structure. The top players all focus on tier 1's and tier 2's, and the lower players tier 3's, tier 4's. There is a tier 2 or tier 1 tournament nearly every week, so you get to see the top players playing against each other every week , producing some fantastic matches all the time.The tier 3 and tier 4 allow lower players to break through. The ATP tournament structure is manly 3 international series every week, all at the same level, so the top players are spread out, and tournaments are much more predictable.

At the moment, womens tennis is very strong (as it is not predictable and there is a group of elite players), and just needs more variety.Mens tennis is also strong, with top players breaking through (like Blake, Ljubicic), but every top title is being won by the same person. If Ljubicic or Blake or Roddick could beat Federer, and some more contenders came through then I would say Mens tennis is stronger, but for the moment I think Womens tennis is more exciting to watch as the top players are always playing and the tournaments are not predictable (this of course is not reguarding Charleston which has a very poor draw).

J-man

i would have to disagree. i can't find womens tennis more exciting then mens. maybe it has to do with me being a guy. even though federer wins just about every thournment he enters there are still people who can push him and make it exciting.

we can't just tell federer to dump a final and make the ATP more exciting

dav6789

J-man

no i'm not kidding. i don't find it as exciting as mens tennis. but i would agree that the tournment situation is alittle bit better

PSALT

Womens tennis is more exciting by far. Almost any grang slma there are 4-5 possible women that can win it. In mens it is (maybe) 1-2. Federer doesn't have any competetion. The closest somebody is to being called that is Nadal and who knows how serious this foot injury will end up being.

J-man

federer does have competiton it's just that his competetion usually can't beat him. but i can't believe you don't think Ljubicic, blake, davydenko, haas ect, competiton. because to em these guys are competion

Gators-Rox

PSALT

J-man

i see where your coming from. i didn't mean competion by someone standing on the other side of the net. i was just saying that these guys that i metioned do give federer most of the time a run for his money or at least play him tightly. to me that's as close as you will get to competion in this era of federer.

J-man

i just looked at some head to head on the ATP site. and it shows that federer is leagues ahead of his competion. the only time that i saw that any of the players took sets off of federer (other than nadal) were in five setter where you can let a set go and still be safe. i saw blakes head to head against federer and he has been able to push him in sets. a few 7-6 sets. but federer the next usually just man handles him

dav6789

Nicolas Kiefer consistently pushes Federer though...

J-man

here's kierfer's head to head

2006

Australian Open, Hard, S
Australia

Hard

S

Federer

3 6 7 5 0 6 2 6
2005

US Open, Hard, R16
NY, U.S.A.

Hard

R16

Federer

4 6 7 6 3 6 4 6
2005

ATP Masters Series Cincinnati, Hard, R32
Ohio, USA

Hard

R32

Federer

6 4 4 6 4 6
2005

Wimbledon, Grass, R32
England

Grass

R32

Federer

2 6 7 6 1 6 5 7
2005

ATP Masters Series Indian Wells, Hard, Q
California, USA

Hard

Q

Federer

4 6 1 6
2004

Roland Garros, Clay, R64
France

Clay

R64

Federer

3 6 4 6 6 7
2003

Halle, Grass, F
Germany

Grass

F

Federer

1 6 3 6
2002

Halle, Grass, S
Germany

Grass

S

Kiefer

4 6 6 4 6 4
2001

Moscow, Carpet, R32
Russia

Carpet

R32

Kiefer

6 3 1 6 7 6
2001

Indian Wells TMS, Hard, R64
California, USA

Hard

R64

Kiefer

3 6 7 5 6 1
2000

London, Hard, R32
England

Hard

R32

Federer

2 6 3 6

kiefer and nadal are problems for federer as you can tell. kiefer has been able to consistantly push federer. so really federer's only realy competion is kiefer and nadal who can consistenily push federer. so yes i was wrong

x.doublea

Yes, but for some reason, Federer always pulls it out against Kiefer.

dav6789

x.doublea

He sort of loses his focus midway through the match and then 'wakes up' when it counts.

beachjm

The ATP tour should get much more interesting in '07-'08 when hopefully some of these young guys step up and are consistent members of the top10-15. I also wouldn't shut the door on Safin yet. He's missed a lot of time due to injuries (half of the last 3 yrs.) but when he's counted out he often plays his best. He's already beaten Davydenko twice and Gasquet in DC, so his comeback is going pretty well. I just hope he can stay healthy and be a factor on the hard courts come summer time. Still think when he's on (outside of Nadal) he poses the toughest challenge to Fed 'cause he has such a huge game. Then again you never know with Safin, too often he majorly disappoints.

x.doublea

Yes. I think he might be a big threat at Wimbledon, though, since he has proven to himself that he can play on grass.