Tuesday, January 24, 2012

The Inexplicable Decline of Women's Tennis


For some reason, totally unknown to marketers, women's tennis has inexplicably declined both in quality, as observed in The New Republic, but also passion from the public and sponsoring revenues. Pay for tennis executives is declining, between 8 and 22 percent, as sponsorship also declined. The Women's Tour (WTA) is losing Sony Ericsson, at $88 million Tennis's biggest sponsor.

Women's tennis has fully embraced the Williams sisters, and as seen above and below, they are not exactly the model of feminine attractiveness. More like linebackers in a dress. Meanwhile, more attractive players like Maria Sharapova (tall, blonde, speaks English) are not doing well on the tour, with few wins and lower recent publicity.



Tennis is not a sport like say, Basketball, which appeals to ever-narrower groups of Americans (the NBA under David Stern failed miserably in expanding in Asia, Chinese are happy to wear pirated Kobe Bryant jerseys, not so much at paying for games or visiting NBA stars). Basketball is a sport of individual athleticism, basically a dunking contest and nothing more. Any notion of team or cooperation has long left the building, around the time Elvis checked out. Nor is Tennis a sport like Football, a brutal endeavor of tough guys lining up against each in a literal battle over turf.


Nope, Tennis is a sport with pretensions still, to gentility and good sportsmanship, of tradition and grace. That goes doubly for Women's Tennis, which is basically a competition to find the most graceful and athletic princess. The women who were truly embraced as Tennis Champions, were not ugly Eastern European Lesbians, or linebackers in a dress, who overpowered opponents like Godzilla squashing Bambi, but athletic, blonde, pretty, "nice" in deportment (on camera anyway), who every little girl wanted to grow up to emulate, and won the approval of every middle class father.


Women's sports are different from men's. Not a competition to find the toughest guy who can take on the most brutal punishment, and dish it out too, or cooperate with other men in defending turf, or engaging in one-on-one displays of athletic dominance. Nope, it is at heart an exhibition of feminine resilience and endurance matched with grace. Certainly physical, always demanding, women's sports requires the admiration of millions of middle class (White) girls who would like to be known for prowess in something as well as just beauty. This is why Chris Evert, and Tracy Austin, and Katarina Witt are remembered fondly, while Martina Navritolova, and Tonya Harding are not.

Women's tennis has embraced the Williams sisters. Who undeniably have athletic dominance. But that has led only to the decline of the sport. Does anyone really think that millions of Middle Class White girls dream one day of looking like Serena Williams? Really? All their athletic dominance, their power, their brutal efficiency, mean nothing as it meant nothing for an Eastern European Lesbian before them.


Women's tennis exists to sell their stars, as the kind of women little girls want to be when they grow up. This reality gets clouded by executives excited about "breaking new ground" or the pure dominance of not very feminine women's players. Be they Lesbian or Linebacker. Sometimes people cannot even see the obvious.

Would an alternate universe WTA where say, Sanaa Lathan or Gabrielle Union, more traditionally feminine and attractive women, were dominant champions have this difficulty? My view is no, they would not. At least, not in this degree. People do however like looking at, and following those, who resemble an idealized, younger, stronger, more attractive version of themselves. Black men and women are not racist for figuring that Woody Allen movies and Seinfeld are not for them. Nor are Hispanics racist for thinking Country Music, Larry the Cable Guy, Sundance, and the IFC Channels are not for them either. There is nothing wrong with Black people preferring Tyler Perry movies, and Rap Artists like Jay Z, to Dogme 95 movies by Lars Von Trier, and Justin Bieber. And there is not anything wrong with White girls (and their parents) preferring a White tennis star to a Black or Hispanic one. Wanting to see someone like yourself onscreen is not being one step away from a Klan rally. That this has to be said speaks to the pathetic nature of today's society, and terminal PC which masks an obvious hatred for "the Wrong Sort of White People."

At any rate, Women's Tennis will continue its decline until another Middle Class White Princess is found. Not Linebackers and Lesbians.

39 comments:

Garamond said...

"Black men and women are not racist for figuring that Woody Allen movies and Seinfeld are not for them. Nor are Hispanics racist for thinking Country Music, Larry the Cable Guy, Sundance, and the IFC Channels are not for them either. There is nothing wrong with Black people preferring Tyler Perry movies, and Rap Artists like Jay Z, to Dogme 95 movies by Lars Von Trier, and Justin Bieber. And there is not anything wrong with White girls (and their parents) preferring a White tennis star to a Black or Hispanic one. Wanting to see someone like yourself onscreen is not being one step away from a Klan rally. That this has to be said speaks to the pathetic nature of today's society, and terminal PC which masks an obvious hatred for "the Wrong Sort of White People."

Well said. As a person of color, it takes some time to rid oneself of Marxist thinking which is akin to second nature when you've grown up in it. Fortunately via research you eventually see the truth. However, exorcism of past marxist thinking is still paramount when one considers the amount of years wasted and the potholes in thinking which may still be present even in the best of us.

Good Job.
Top 5 Blogs always.

Anonymous said...

Is that her real ass? It's huuuuge

little dynamo said...

yup the Williams sisters have double-handedly killed womens' tennis -- not just with the repulsive physiques, but with the entitled, arrogant, whiny, predatory attitudes

the only draw would be to watch in hopes one of them might get beat by a normal female, assuming any are left in the WomanWest

contrasting serena's photo with one of chris evert at, say, seventeen, tells us plenty about what america was, and what now is . . . a bloated, p.c., hyper-steroid matriarchal police-state, that bullies its own as much as foreign "competitors"

Anonymous said...

Katarina Witt was no tennis player, but an olympic gold medalist in figure skating. I think you had Steffi Graf in mind, the best german tennis player of all time.

vanderleun said...

Is there a test for steroids and other doping items going on in women's tennis? There obviously should be.

Anonymous said...

How much of it is to do with the granting of "equal" prize money for playing the best of three sets?

When women's tennis was judged on its own merits it was judged on its own merits but when they asked to be compared to the men's game (aka real competitive tennis) they were found wanting.

Whiskey said...

Yes Witt was a figure skater, but I was comparing her to say Tonya Harding. Who while attractive when younger was not the glittery princess that most of the female fans aspired to be. More like a waitress on skates, athleticism without grace. Class does count, still.

Artur said...

That photo of shebeast Williams makes it clear that modern American africans still exhibit clear signs of steatophygia.

It's the Hottentot Venus with a tennis racket in her hand.

crimesofthetimes.com

Anonymous said...

"How much of it is to do with the granting of "equal" prize money for playing the best of three sets?"

and william sisters playing for the doubles' title as well, unlike their male counterparts?

jhbowden said...

Basketball is a sport of individual athleticism, basically a dunking contest and nothing more.

That might be how it looks to the causal fan, but that's not how it looks for those who know the game. Coach Nick here goes through a several team concepts on defense, including ice, no middle, closing out, boxing out, all designed to force the offense to take inefficient shots and limit second-chance points. Organized rotations matter tremendously in the NBA, since if the help comes from multiple directions, people are left open; it has to be like a string, where one man comes over, and another person rotates and takes away the second option, etc. This is why a well-coached team like Philadelphia with no major stars is doing great this year, while a disorganized team like the Knicks, with no just one, but two stars, has a losing record. Getting the concepts right matters.

DeShawn said...

Dat Serena Weeyums be fine an shit!

Ryu said...

Yep.

You've got the celebration of dykes like Navratilova and Billie Jean on one hand. The celebration of non-whites on the other.

The audience is majority white. Hence, we don't watch.

Anonymous said...

Blacks ... if we ignore them in large enough numbers, maybe they'll disappear altogether.

(Hey, I can dream.)

Firepower said...

Yikes
a steroid-juicing nig
from out of Stage Parents'
Central Planning
to Rake in The MegaBucks
go Figger

Herostratos said...

Sony Ericsson was a failing business. Ericsson opted out and the smart phone company is re-branded as Sony. No cash flow = no sponsoring.

Ingrid said...

Seriously, thank god for Masha then... tall, blonde, sexy, Russian, sweet, and an excellent player whose on form this year and will be number 1 again (hopefully). The Williams sisters time is over, Wozniacki, Azarenka, Kvitova, and Masha are the new faces of Womens Tennis.

superdestroyer said...

Whiskey,

You should look up the marketing research that women's soccer did to learn why they failed.

One of the odd things about marketing to girls and young women is how you cannot market to all of them. Women's soccer aimed at the elementary school/junior high girls who play soccer. That totally alienated high school/college age women.

Twelve year old boys and 25 year old men can both be fans of football but women's sports cannot be marketed to 12 y/o women and 25 y/o women.

Anonymous said...

Djokovic played 10 sets of top class Tennis in the space of 48 hours. For all this talk of women being as good as if not better they will never play at this level and that level is what the spectator even if they say otherwise.

Man Mountain Molehill said...

There's an easy answer to this. Split women's tennis into two leagues. The cute babes in tennis dresses league and the hulked-up bull dyke league. Something for everyone.

Andrea Ostrov Letania said...

I think what the Willum Sistaz done to tennis, Michelle Obama done to first lady.

Andrea Ostrov Letania said...

I think we need to redefine 'racism' or 'race-ism'.

It should mean race + ism = belief in races and racial differences(and having racial preferences). It shouldn't necessarily mean one is filled with hatred of other races.

Race is real, and racial differences are real. Blacks are more athletic than whites, and so they have a natural advantage in sports. There are very few black females involved in tennis, but look how far the William Sistaz went. And Tiger Woods also rose very high in golf though most golfers are white.

At any rate, there seems to be two kinds of black athletes: the Negro and the Nigga. Negroes include Joe Louis, Arthur Ashe, Tiger Woods(before he turned into Jungle Tiger with ho's), Mike Singletary, and others who play at being non-threatening Negroes. They are the Jackie Robinsons of the world.

Then, there are the Ali's and Tyson's of the world, these blacks channel Jack Johnson. Their sense of black pride is premised on hostility, brashness, and Ugabutzpah.

White liberals have been trying to 'tame' the William Sistaz to be white-friendly, but the two biatches just can't hep themselves. Their aggressive Afro-genes are just too powerful, and so they act like trash mamas on the court.

In the White House, we have Obama who plays the nice Negro and there's Michelle who just can't suppress her nigga biatchness.

It's just the biological reality of black personality. Blacks are naturally more childlike, self-centered, uninhibited, narcissistic, aggressive, and etc. This is why they can't work together to build anything of lasting value. Too many black people are prima donnas or more like primitive donnas or primi-donnas.

Anonymous said...

I so love seeing you fork tounges crying and squirming lol x

Anonymous said...

omg these people here ... what is this crap about saying you want blondes that are tall and sexy. and the shit that niggas are more childlike, aggressive, whatever.
stop thinking the friggin world is yours. white people like to think they own the world. in fact, none of you wankers does. so stop your racism and please please please GROW UP and get a brain

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

p.s. and i'm not even black. crazy, hum?

vanderleun said...

Oh, put your knee pads on and get back to work.

Anonymous said...

That this has to be said speaks to the pathetic nature of today's society, and terminal PC which masks an obvious hatred for "the Wrong Sort of White People."

I think what is rather pathetic is the white people who try to excuse their racist attitudes. The pathetic society got this one right, I am afraid. Tennis will be better off without backwards audiences, it will find the new fans elsewhere where there are people who do not mind watching whoever excels in the sport.

vanderleun said...

Thank you for sharing you anonymous piece of shit.

Anonymous said...

Great to see the pale males still bemoaning their obsolescence.
All the white guys complaining about black people are angry that black males ran them out of baseball, basketball and football and now two black women are running white chicks out of tennis.
Before long all you'll have is hockey. However it was a black man who scored the winning goal this year, so you don't have long for that one!

Anonymous said...

Sure is news to Drew Brees that whites were "ran out" of football by black males. (It's news to anyone with eyes that blacks play baseball at all.)

Maybe when either of those sports becomes the exclusive domain of shuck-'n'-jive throwbacks the way basketball did, we can talk, but at that point I doubt we'll be talking about any more 100-million-dollar contracts.

Unknown said...

Meanwhile, more attractive players like Maria Sharapova (tall, blonde, speaks English) are not doing well on the tour, with few wins and lower recent publicity. tennis lessons and programs

Anonymous said...

All of these unneeded posts about how ugly black women are & how the Williams sisters have destroyed women's tennis. Nasty complaints about how ugly the women are & whose hot from men who are likely butt ugly. However I suggest you watch mens tennis. Womens tennis would be a lot more popular if it would get rid of the Sharapova's & start marketing based on drawing "women" to the sport---not men. Players should have more up close & personal interviews. Focus on the characters & personalities. Who'd dating who. The Williams sisters esp. Venus are some of the reasons for the surge in the sports popularity in the 1990's & early 2000's. Since the appearance of Sharapova the sport has lost popularity with these so called 'it" girls who get paid in endorsements but fail to generate big ratings & interest in the sport.

sports fan said...

need more pretty tennis players to keep people interested.

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Frank
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