Tennis, Anyone (Else?)

The marathon final at the recent Australian Open, won by Novak Djokovic (@DJokerNole) over Rafael Nadal, was certainly one for the ages, some have gone so far as to say the best ever. After almost SIX hours of unbelievable tennis Djokovic came back from being down earlier in the fifth and deciding set and went on to victory. The men's semi finals had all four of the top seeds, (Roger Federrer and Andy Murray the others) and the top two ranked players in the world met in the final. Many would say that, obviously given the quality of the final match, that this is for the best as it provides for stunning entertainment, and that they earned it by battling their way through the tournament. However, it doesn't leave much in the way of competitive balance. Since 2004 only 6 men have won a grand slam title. Three of those men, Roger Federrer, Nadal and Djokovic have combined to win a stunning 30 of the 33 Grand slams in that time. This is mind boggling stuff. An American man hasn't won a major since Andy Roddick won the US Open back in 2003. This is a far cry from the woman's game, who through some strange system had a #1 ranked player in Caroline Wozniacki (@carowozniacki) who, while a very talented player with many career wins, had never won a major tournament. The days of the Williams sister dominating seem to be long past and now the game is wide open. This is great for fans and players as well as the competition is more unpredictable. Since 2004 14 different women have won a major, more than double the men's total. Does this speak to lack of competition on the men's side or simply a few dominant athletes? Or does it speak to the lack of dominant players on the women's side? And if we look at the last few years especially does it point to a growing disinterest in North American players? The Australian Open had no North Americans left in the singles competition after the first few rounds. The game is being played at a higher level than ever and with that those trying to catch up need to put in every conceivable effort to reach the pinnacle of their sport. Whatever the case, as long as the sport is as much fun as many of the recent finals have been, people will watch and we will be entertained.