Men's tennis is boring and weak.

We didn't. Hardly anyone plays this beautiful game.

It's because modern raquets, strings, balls and court surfaces make it too easy to blast topspin safe shots from the baseline. This killed the all-court game of previous eras.

Listen to the "pop" when the ball is struck and when it hits the ground in these highlights, not too long ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EI_ddyn787s&ab_channel=TennisFanClub

Compare it to the sound and trajectory of the shots in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7K8UKqA_4g&ab_channel=LoveTennis

Uhhh, and youre going to tell us american football is hot and exciting?

It's also because tournament organizers want slow and homogenous surfaces because it makes play more predictable and therefore less of a chance of no-names upsetting the big players. They changed the traditional grass at Wimbledon so that the balls would bounce higher and slower like they do on hard courts which play as slow as clay courts.

In 2012 there was one tournament that played on a new surface blue clay that caught the big players like Djokovic off guard and they complained about it to the ATP and the surface was never used again.

I wish they’d play just 2 out of 3 sets for men. A match is way too long.

andreescufan#1 wrote:

How did we, as society, go from sword and gun duels to hitting soft fuzzy yellow balls at each other for three and a half hours?

At least on the women's side you have eye candy.

Rich people are boring and weak, and tennis is a rich person's sport. So, you are correct.

How about if they hit the balls at each other, instead of past each other. A point for hitting the opponent.

Lead Foil Hat wrote:

andreescufan#1 wrote:

How did we, as society, go from sword and gun duels to hitting soft fuzzy yellow balls at each other for three and a half hours?

At least on the women's side you have eye candy.

Rich people are boring and weak, and tennis is a rich person's sport. So, you are correct.

Agassi, Rios? Players from war torn or near third world countries?

Tennis is one of the most accessible sports on earth. If you're good, you'll make it.

The problem with men's tennis is that the same three guys have been dominating for over ten years. How about some good American players?

They should play some of them on concrete, I honestly think that would be more interesting because of the variety.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

The problem with men's tennis is that the same three guys have been dominating for over ten years. How about some good American players?

No one is preventing Americans from competing.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

The problem with men's tennis is that the same three guys have been dominating for over ten years. How about some good American players?

I never saw that as a problem. For me that made it even more exciting to watch, because you have the same personalities battling over and over again and obliterating anyone else.

I think women's tennis was a lot more boring, since there are new faces every year at the top. No one in women's tennis was establish themselves like the Big 3 in male tennis.

For Americans, Isner was a beast, everyone feared him for his serve. Very tall and powerful, but kind-of a one-trick pony with his serve. He was just too tall and big, moving slowly across the court. If he had been shorter who knows how good he could have been.

This is boring? Really?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScKohNh-1E8&list=PLH6PkwFXfceynF_lylAB-NlXYlXBtVb4_&index=3

The big ‘3’ or ‘4’ have made it both interesting from a rivalry standpoint and boring. However they’re aging so younger guys are getting their shot now.

Isner is too big. Same w Reilly Opelka. Can serve bombs but can’t move. Ideal height for a male tennis pro is 6’1” - 6’3” IMO.

Jack Sock had promise but had injuries and got fat, mostly playing double now.

Taylor Fritz looks promising. Tiafoe looked like the next star a few years ago but hasn’t had a breakthrough.

Americans are frustrated because there are no guys in the top 20.

Some countries are loving the sport. Russia, Canada, and Spain each have 3 guys in the top 20.

Then Italy & Switzerland have two each. Serbians are very happy about being #1, but the US & UK always had something against them, so understandably they're both angry about Serbias top status.

I don't think 6'1" to 6'3" is the ideal height. That's just what the big 3 happened to be. Upcoming (and current top 10) stars include Medvedev at 6'6", Tsitsipas at 6'4", Zverev at 6'6", and Berrettini at 6'5".

I just saw Shapovalov v Sinner at the AO. Aged 21 and 19 respectively. Fantastic tennis over 5 sets. There is some real new talent emerging in the game. But I acknowledge the sport is too sophisticated for most runners to understand.

Taylor Fritz took Djoker to 5 sets, but couldn't close it out. Is a major talent, needs time.consistently. Only 23. Definitely not a 'Serve-bot'

Mackie McDonald has a good chance of winning his 3rd round match.

Musttt . . . nnnooottt . . . . agree . . . . with . . . Jamin

Dang it. He is right. Although I also think that another big motivation behind the changes was the fact that tennis was so hard on the players' bodies that stars were getting chewed by injuries by the time they hit their late 20s.

Today, tennis is an endurance sport. That favors players in their late 20s early 30s who have built up the aerobic endurance needed for all the long rallies and 5 set matches. There are a lot of big strong young players coming up who are very exciting to watch. But they still cannot get past 30+ year old players because they do not have the endurance.

It is boring to watch compared to the days of serve and volley. The players look like robots hitting dozens of ground strokes before anything actually happens.

Seems like we do see a bit more volleying again, or at least both players coming in close at the same time.

Unorthodox players are always fun to watch, too.