Why Isn't Tennis As Popular In USA As It Was In The 80s & 90s? 

The real issue is the TV coverage in America. ESPN puts out baseball coverage like it’s the only sport when a tennis matches are inherently more exciting and a quick paced sport. Grand slams should be on all channels like March Madness games, if that was the case there would be exponentially more tennis fans, but currently the access to the sport is difficult

In the 80s and 90s, tennis was on espn every weekend. Now you can only see tennis by buying a membership to tennis tv. No tennis on tv unless you pay. Also there are no rivalries in tennis. With so many great players retiring (Serena, Federer) the sport has definitely taken a hit.

The sport can't grow because matches are only broadcast on the Tennis Chamnel.

I never played tennis growing up, but I remember watching tennis in the 90’s. Andre, Pete, and the Williams sisters. I never thought I’d play. Until I signed my son up for JTT and became the team mom. I started taking lessons so I could hit with my son. I’ve played for the last 9 years. I’ve captained teams, gone to districts, added playing mixed. Play all year long. I’ve never watched so much tennis on tv in my life. I wish I could go to watch tournaments at their venues, but they are so very expensive, in addition to travel. I can just watch at home.

To quote Nick Bollettieri, “I used to be able to watch a junior and say ‘I’ve got another Agassi or Seles’ but I can’t anymore because you’ve got the WHOLE WORLD out there playing tennis.” It’s no longer just 5 countries.

I am a football , basketball and tennis player. This is my opinion on why tennis isn’t as popular as before: 1) weather : too windy, rainy u can’t play outside. But the indoor courts are three times as expensive as the outdoor courts (where I live). If u live in a place where it rains 200+ plus days a year, that alone restricts your playability. Football and basketball, as long as it’s not massive pouring rain, u can still play outside. Even if u hire indoor courts, because more people are playing, the cost per person is much less. 3) equipment costs are very expensive now days. A flagship premium racket can easily cost around $250 usd. Plus tennis shoes and other things as well. Basketball and football are cheaper to be ready to play. 3) The modern tennis game is lonnnnnnnnnng rally game. A lot of ppl who don’t play tennis find it very boring to watch. If u find boring to watch, how can they have the interest to play themselves? 😅

I'm sorry but blaming the problem on anything other than the fact that there are no Americans competing for the slams is just ignorant. We all know how much Americans love their own so when you haven't had someone consistently fighting for slams since Roddick it's obvious that the American crowd has lost interest. In the 80s and 90s they had the biggest names in the sport and now their best talent is Fritz, who is a fantastic player but nowhere near the top (I'm aware he is top 5, I'm talking in terms of his game here). Also, the big three slowly fading away is going to be a big problem for tennis since there isn't as much hype anymore. As someone who's been watching tennis for years now these are the main reasons tennis is in a decline

Here in Italy things have changed in recent years (3/4 years) people also started to talk and bet on tennis matches while before it was only about soccer

I play tennis since I can remember and I always found it hard to explain how the game works for people who don't know the sport. It's an individual sport, the scoring system is unconventional and hard to relate for most people. One of the things that put people away is that to fully appreciate the strategy and variations in game style you must be a little more into the sport, 'cause for someone who just picked up watching it, it feels like two dudes or women smacking the life out of a yellow ball, but even if players hit hard, there are an infinite amout of subtleties in the way the game is played, the angles, depth of shot, consistency and so on. It saddens me to see that the organizations running the show can't addapt. I mean, Formula 1 is an even more elitist sport that is literally made for rich people, but has been able to grow a lot since Liberty Media came around. Why can't tennis follow a similar path?

Real ones remember when Wimbledon used to be on NBC and US Open used to be on CBS. Not putting grand slams on mainstream channels did hinder exposure to tennis in US

Having names as Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi helped a little.

The problem with tennis is its marketing . If you create a promo and event with dancers , singers , local stars and promote local products such as food and local sponsors for opening and closing every different tournament in the atp giving a distinctive feel , increase at least by 5% all court speeds resulting in less grueling defensive plays and make ticket prices more affordable for the common man while also bringing back more team events such as hopman cup , team world cup alongside the davis and united cup and bring back the grand slam cup and many charity and exhibitional events with different concepts (for example wood rackets , the senior tour , the UTS etc..) and start huge ads and promotions in the cities and culture that the tournament will take place a month before it starts the sport will start booming and crowds will start coming even on the 1st day of a 250 event .

I think making the different surfaces play actually differently would be huge. An actual clash of styles was part of the driving force that made the big 3. Most elegant one handed player meets his nemesis in topspin lefty master and they both have to face off against a baseline wall with unreal psychological resilience. Great triangle. I love Alcaraz v. Sinner but their game (along with FAA, Rune and others) is essentially the same. Aggressive baseliners. More grass tournaments (M1000 and more) and sped up hardcourt would be a great start. The huge difference would be a surface where serve and volleyers had a real chance. That would change the game. Don't really know what that looks like though.

Comparing tennis to F1, or even team sports, is missing the commercial aspects behind them. In F1, you had Bernie Ecclestone, who was a single decision maker, for a global sport. In many US team sports, they have a single body representing the players, who have come together with stakeholders to provide a 50/50 revenue split with the teams (not counting individual sponsorship deals). In tennis, you have 7 different organisations (ATP, WTA, ITF, and 4 grand slams), all doing separate deals. They cant have one voice to negotiate with media companies, to produce a single, united front, for the betterment of the players. Mainly because, sadly, they're not interested in the betterment of players at all. All they're interested in, is lining their own pockets with as much revenue as possible. This is why, in tennis, players dont get 50/50, but instead, get 7% of the revenue generated. And this is deplorable. When did a fan ever say they went to a tournament to see how well the administrators administered? Never. Without the players, there is no tennis. And yet, I can play tennis at any one of thousands of facilities, without having to worry about supporting an administrators lifestyle, pay their mortgage, or put their kids through college. Players dont need administrators taking 93% of all the revenues that players generate. That is just theft. I think the first step is to get the 7 organisations to put aside their selfish interests, and come together behind a single united front to negotiate with media interests, to generate a much bigger pie for the PLAYERS, and to ALSO take a smaller percentage of the pie as well. For far too long have the players been treated as second class citizens.

Many good things are in decay, tennis popularity being just one of them.

I don’t know the answer, but I was an avid tennis nut, and I checked out when Lendl became dominant. I could not watch that zombie play. Now the seven foot servebots are ruining tennis.

Here in Australia, it's pretty much dead locally, I would say participation rates are on the rapid decline worldwide. Grand Slams are putting out record prize-money but that doesn't show the full story in less your in the top 50 in the world you are not making good money, also the marketing component has drastically decreased the big sponsors no longer seem as interested in players. A lot of TV stations/PayTV are showing less & less tournaments around the world, it's getting hard to follow tennis seriously if your a diehard fan.

What was Agassi without Sampras? The contrast of Pete's cool demeanor, big serve and attacking net game provided an interesting contrast Agassi's baseline style and amazing returns. IMHO the bad boy personas were overblown. Nick is fun to watch... when he decides to play.

According to the video , negativity and players tantrum were the reason tennis was popularity in the 80s and 90s and because most tennis players are behaving professionally now, tennis popularity declined. But the same people criticize Djokovic for him being competitive and occasionally showing attitude during play. I think the only reason tennis in decline in US is because there is no American grand slam men’s champion in last 20+ years and no women champion after Serena. Americans were dominating in the 90’s and game has changed since Federer and shifted the power to Europe. Andy Roddick is the last American grand slam champion. If there is one American grand slam champion, then the game will come back in America.

A guy told me that once Sampras retired in 2002 the casual tennis player lost a lot of interest and the courts became empty fairly quick.

For me in the US, it’s frustrating how few tournaments are actually available to watch, Wimbledon, us, Aus open, (not the French) are on common stream platforms or channels unless you get very expensive select services, not to mention the time differences of worldwide events

The broadcast has made it difficult to reach the majority fans , you need multiple subscriptions to watch the matches , courts/costs/availability of courts are a concern too but still fixing the broadcast to me is 1st .

nice analysis! I agree with most, and it saddens me to see my favorite sport on the decline. Especially the threat of padel makes me nervous, since you can cram about twice the amount of courts on the same surface area, and you don't need to be particularly skilled to be able to play...that's a dangerous mix in these overcapitalistic and plug-and-play times. One thing I don't agree with though is the characters. Yes there was more drama back in the 80s and 90s, but if you watch the game for that go and watch love island or something 😊

I just read between 1982 and 1986, esp 83/84/85 in US tennis their were a grand total of 41 mens players in the top 10, phenomenal for 1 country, that's 40% of the players, now in 2023 only 7. It's mad, I guess tennis now is such a niche sport whereas back then it wasnt.

Pickleball isn’t even on the US sporting radar, mate. As for the decline in boxing’s popularity, a lot of that comes down to increasing public awareness of the fact that head trauma is really, really bad for you. American football is still very popular but the pool of future players is drying up. Youth football in the US is in steep decline & kids aren’t into the game the way older generations are.

I am fairly new to tennis fandom. I tried to get my siblings and parents to watch matches with me and I deliberately picked some big events like Wimbledon and the US Open, hoping the grandeur of the occasions would intrigue them 😂 I guess my father summed it up best when we watched Alcaraz against Djokovic in the final at Wimbledon. He said: I am German, this a tournament in England, starring men from Spain and Serbia. Who am I rooting for? Plus, he mentioned that commentary does not go out of its way to help new people understand the tactics and strategies of the sport. When the first set clocked in at around an hour, he turned to me and said: if this game goes the distance of five sets, we could tune back in in three hours to see the end of the game. Long story short: 1) the issue of who to root for is a real problem. 2) commentary (at least on German TV) hardly does anything to help new fans understand the sport. 3) games can be too long (especially five set matches) for casual sports fans since they consider most rallies to be samy. 4) there are too many breaks in the game. According to the British Journal of Sports Medicine, the effective playing time in tennis is 10-15% on fast courts and 20-30% on clay.

It’s easy. The things that have been constant are not to blame. It’s always been an individual sport. So what has changed? The lack of variety in play styles, caused by lack of variety in court characteristics. Yes the surfaces are different, but they’ve become more similar than before. Different styles of play attract different player personalities, and that allows for suspense in points. Suspense of a serve and volleyer against a great returner was like a duel, for each point. I fall asleep once a point takes over twenty strokes.

Totally agree that the money in the sport has taken away the incentive for players to be who they really are. The players of today are driven by corporate sponsorship. It’s a snooze fest out there. The homogeneity of styles doesn’t help either. Winning Wimbledon from the baseline… pathetic. Attacking play is no longer rewarded.

Roger Federer will always be my favourite player, but I already have new players that I follow closely and want to see succeed. If I'm in the minority of RF fans, so be it, but I loved watching Roger because he made tennis so beautiful. Alcaraz has the all court game to do the same in his generation.

I've been playing tennis for over 30 years and it is my main sport now. I did a lot of sports in my school and university days: tennis, basketball, badminton, table tennis and a bit squash and snooker (if you count that as a sport 😉) The problem with tennis is the long learning curve before you can make any decent rally even at basic level, let alone serve properly. In this age of internet (or AI?), the teens simply lose interest and venture into other sports well before they can find the fun in tennis.

Hmmm not sure how true this is. Attendance at the US Open and Indian Wells keeps growing year after year. Just because it’s not on ESPN or major networks every day, there is tennis channel which broadcasts tons of matches all year round.

I'm new to tennis and yeah I think it's an elitist sport not for the common people, it's really hard to get into.

Individual sports are tough for an overall players to make a living Unlike a team sport where thousands of players can make a living professional In a Individual sports its only the 100-200 player can make a living playing professionally In a team sports more than 100 players earn millions Whereas in individual sports only about 10 players ears the same amount

Thoughts on World Team Tennis? That aimed to tackle one of the major drawbacks of tennis you address by having teams for fans to root for, but it never really took off like organizers hoped. I only ever see it covered occasionally on the tennis channel.

In the 70s, wasn’t tennis more popular than NBA basketball in the US? The golden age was clearly when Connors, McEnroe and Evert were around. Tennis already lost popularity in the US in the 90s. As great as Sampras was, he clearly wasn’t a big draw in his own country unless he was playing Agassi.

What is happening in the US with pickeball is what is happening here in Brazil with Beach Tennis. I have no idea why, but this sport just exploded here in the last couple of years. The amount of beach tennis players in my club already far surpassed the amount of tennis players (which only decreases), and there has been pressure to get rid of some tennis courts to build beach tennis ones.

Too many tournaments in the USA. There should be one masters and one grand slam. Spread the other all over the world.

Tennis is the fourth most popular sport globally and is doing better than ever when you compare viewership with that of other sports. Yeah there are problems with earnings disparity that I think need to be addressed, but I take issue with a lot of things you say. First of all, pickleball is a passing fad as a professional sport. Secondly, rooting for a team may be more enticing, but one of the beautiful things about tennis is that you don't tend to nail your colours to the mast and only support one player. You watch a handful of players who play the kind of tennis you like. You say the surfaces and styles are all the same, but you're wrong. You can't say that grass plays the same as clay or hard court, and there are about as many variations of hard court surface as there are hard court tournaments. As for play being homogenous, idk maybe you are just watching a the wrong players or something. Yes there are lots of baseline rallies, but you act like that's all that happens. If you watch a Dan Evans you will see an artist at the net, and many of the top players use a good amount of variation. Even Rublev comes to the net sometimes, and he is kinda an extreme when it comes to baseline play. I do think there could be more surfaces, such as bringing back the carpets of Australia which would certainly add more justification for its existence, but I think you've been unfair to the sport. How much variation do you see in soccer or baseball? Finally, you say the sport lacks star power, but have you not heard of Djokovic or Nadal or it's future legends Rune, Sinner, Alcaraz or Swiatek?

Just think about it? You got football basketball baseball and the NHL. The people behind these 4 or , perhaps, 2 of them are doing what they will within their means to tame the audience of tennis. Or to prevent new viewership which will mean less time for the other sports. Just follow the money and you’ll find all you need to know to get down to the bottom of anything in the USA.

It's a cultural problem. While playing tennis at a public court, a father who was watching on the other side of the fence told his son that tennis is an "uppity" sport. Can't blame the cost of learning to play or attending an event. Other sports are just as expensive.

Obviously there are other factors but it's mostly just down to the lack of American tennis players. You think English people would care nearly as much over the last 10 years if Murray wasn't around

I think for young men particularly in Europe the fantasy of getting a contract with a big soccer team and having guaranteed money 6 figure money coming in every week, which happens more frequently than you would imagine across the Premiership, German League, French ect ect you get the idea the same thing happening in the NBA, MLB, Hockey League star players with multi year contracts regardless of dips in form, all that kind of puts their respective sports in the forefront of young peoples minds in ways that tennis doesn't. Yes Djokovic, Nadal Federer have obscene earnings but it seems like just a few guys taking everything compared to entire teams and leagues.

I started playing tennis as a kid in 1973. Touring pros weren’t millionaires on private jets traveling with their own chefs, coaches, physios, etc. Those big prizes have to be paid for. I no longer go to watch tennis. It’s too expensive and glittery. And its now 2 guys with 2-handed backhands trying to out hit each other. Yawn.

sportsbetting is big in tennis, because that's the only way to care about the result of an individual sport, so the extra leverage you get from a bet is much greater. That is, you want to watch because the sport itself is exciting (that is, the skills and high energy are exciting to watch), but you need to care about the result, and the excitement of the play does not create that interest - that's where betting comes in. But the main problem at the moment is, the sport is growing - more people playing, but increasingly, club players are the only ones who follow the pro circuit.

The 80s and the 90s was the golden age of tennis. Players were consistent of their rankings unlike today. Don't follow the game that much unlike during the 80s

This is wrong-headed. The issue is not the personalities, of which we've had many. There are "on air" broadcasts of golf, soccer, Nascar, odd trail bike racing, etc. But in the USA, there is no broadcast coverage of tennis. I blame the Tennis Channel. Coverage is sequestered to streaming. The US currently has some great players. But, yes, fans would rather watch team sports. Coverage exacerbates the problem. Let's not bring up the Pickleball/ageing demographics bit, OK?

The main reason is failure of promoting the sport. Is rarely seen in ESPN and other companies for the masses. New generations of sports fan never watched tennis because they never had the opportunity and they don’t watch tv. Today there is more promotion diversification and new platforms are more important, Facebook, Instagram, tiktok, RU-vid, etc…. Who are the top college players and team, who are the top juniors, there is huge possibilities for marketing untapped. The top USA players are there, Fritz, Tiafoe, Paul, Korda, Shelton, cressy, etc. And we just end the GOAT reign of the Williams sister that dominated the woman side for years !!! If is by the quality of the players the USA players tennis popularity should be rising. Maybe there is no dominant usa male player like Agassi or Sampras but Boston Red Sox did not have a winning team for decades and their fans never left. The game of tennis is faster and harder more than ever, the quality of matches is better than ever. Colorful characters like in any sports are still there. Better journalism and promotion is missing.

Tennis is too expensive in the US and it is inaccessible. American tennis lacks diversity largely, most players are rich and white, so there’s is no real marketability to most of the US which are not rich. Tennis racquets used to be relatively inexpensive and it was easier to find good programs, but the USTA has divested from public infrastructure that would actually help.

"Thank goodness we've got Kyrgios?" Is that what it takes to make tennis more popular in the US? If that's the case, I sincerely hope tennis goes under.

I just started watching tennis at the end of 2021. It was because we bought a sports channel cable package that included tennis.

It not being on regular national broadcasted TV anymore doesn't help. It's not exposed like it once was. Tennis channel or no tennis

I think that a certain group of americans just like their own sports better. American Football, while not that interesting too the rest of the world, they like it because it is theirs. Even if actual football is the biggest sports event for almost every country, olympics comes close in terms of interest, but not in fanatiscism. They seemingly move more away from what the rest of the world likes, in a sort of rebellious way. Tennis is the same. Tennis players are arguably some of the most complete athletes in sports. But since the rest of the world cares about it and they are not producing anything exceptional since Sampras. It seems they will double down on the sports that, again, the rest of the world really don't care about, but is uniquely common American. The problem here is that talented and gifted young athletes are drawn to baseball, basketball or american football. While they might be better suited to football, tennis or any other sport that is not as celebrated in the US. Remember, many top tennis players are also better then average in any sport involving a ball, even if it is not round. They are exceptional athletes. Nadal could've been a football player, Sinner could have been a pro skier and so on. It is too bad, because with the system in place in the US, they could produce some of the best players in the world. But the talent pool is distorted because of public perception and immidiate environment of these young prospects. So someone who doesn't make the NFL, could've easily been more fitted to the ATP. But by the time you fail the NFL, it's to late for any other sport...

UTS by Patrick M should be televised and put everywhere on social media.

Tennis in US is not popular because because US tennis players are not on the top any more, but in the rest of the world is more popular than ever. On the other hand, baseball or carryball will never be that popular outside of North America. Also, most casual audience in US just like spectacle. That's why that wrestling circus is so popular there and the rest of the world doesn't care about it.

The name "pickle" says it 😂

Outside of financial resources, I'll say for USA players, from what I've observed- they're too soft. If there is to be a new star from the USA that can stay, they'd have to come from a background where they earn a lot of what they have and some strong values. Handing things for free has a tendency to weaken the mind and spirit.

Oh come on! They have no one… simple!

The prime reason for the decline of tennis in the US (and by consequence worldwide) is due to the fact that no American men have had any real success/presence in the sport. And by success, I mean winning Grand Slams and being ranked #1. America is a highly ethnocentric and patriarchal society and until its men start having real success in tennis don't expect the downward trend in tennis' popularity to change.

Because we are all watching RU-vid videos instead

i agree also.. after Serena retired and Venus not at her prime anymore.... i barely watch women's game.... Nadal fan also.... but well.. plenty of handsome tennis players... so, i focus on men's right now hahaha

Yes, I think it’s the lack of style diversity

Hope to tennis grow

Over price!

Because basketball is not soccer!

08:43 shame on you

1. Lack of role models like McEnroe, Sampras, Agassi, Williams sisters. 2. Demography change - more Latinos, black people who prefer basketball or football. Tennis is associated with white rich people. 3. Competiton from other areas - e.g. video games. Yong people are more focused on smartphones, Playstation. 4. Extremely bad food in USA. This causes obesity. If you want to play tennis at decent level, being obese doesn't help and makes more chances to make injury. Any other thoughts...?

Video starts 4:40

In Tennis you cannot blame it to someone else - that is a No No for American mentality. It also involves serious athletics. There is no standing around or going to the bench when you feel tired like in Baseball (not really a sport IMHO), basketball or American "football". And Americans still disklike anyone from eastern Europe.

plus the teenagers and 20 plus people nowadays are hooked on their cellphones....... no time for sports...

This was really good with interesting and thoughtful points made, lots to think about.

The rackets.

The major factor for sure is that no more US player dominate tennis…20 GS without a single GS and Americans are not usual with being losers…pickeball seems to be nice but not require the skills and physical requirements to be a sussesful professional tennis player wich way more dificult than picklebal and can attract some popular names to the sport

Get rid of hawk eye; bring the line call tantrums back :D

Good video! I think the reason for the decline in interest has a lot to do with the lack of American players at the top of the game and the tendency for the press to only focus on the Big 3 or "controversial players" like Nick Kyrgios and Naomi Osaka, who are not popular amongst the many conservative people who play the game.

Pickle ball is so dumb

What americans want in tennis: - Cheerleaders - 10x more stats than what we currently have - Match points and sets to be removed completely. At the end of 2 hours, the players with most won games win. Then they can go away and eat 3 hot dogs and won't miss anything when they come back. - Kiss cams - A repetitive song in between points. - Physical danger to the players. For example making the tennis ball 5x heavier so it can severly injure or kill players and fans. But the players are allowed to have helmets and protective gear, either that or a padded cap. - USA's national anthem is played before every match even if that doesn't make sense. - Some longer intermission in the middle of the match so the audience doesn't get bored (and so viewers at home can drive to mcdonalds and back). This is also a good time for a concert with some of the most famous artists in the world. - The players being sponsored by mountain dew instead of sports companies. - Controversial players that they can love to hate. Also cheating. - Drama between players. Also literal fights between players where the umpire have to run down his elevated chair to break up. There would be 20 pages of rules on how much time a player has to remain in the penalty box if they hit the other player. During that time the other player can continuously hit aces until the player in the box can come out. I'm all out. But this was fun.

1) Ban polyester strings so more nuanced tennis playing styles return. Will stop cookie cutter baseline-to-baseline bashing! 2) Surface should stay the same -slower & homogenous-ish so servebots don't rule! I lived thru the Sampras & Ivanesivic era & they made tennis unwatchable! 3) Experiment with different formats & TV angles such UTS. Court level viewing is more engaging! 4) Maybe have a multi-speed surface. A court with different speed/bounce zones. Players would need to change their tactics each turn & side change.

The incessant & often inane ramblings of the commentators doesn't help either.

As someone who truly values the quality of the sport and played it. The last generation and current generation bring a quality of tennis never before seen, by that I mean the Federer/Nadal era. No antics and controversy’s just incredible matches, rivalries and titles, however I can see how to the average viewer who doesn’t fully understand the game, but follows a the controversy’s and antics, would not be as intrigued, That’s why the 90s and 80s were so popular, there wasn’t social media which can hide some of the controversy and slander, back then there was less sources of news and everyone was able to follow the stories, and the stars of the 80/90s has compelling stories and antics and that drew in new viewers who watched for the antics and not necessarily the game. It’s a different time and I hope the sport can recover to how it was a decade ago

Americans want to see people hurt each other, and there's very little of that in tennis.

Is simple like this: USA has no longer good tennis players

11 minutes that could be summed up in 10 seconds, the fact is simple: Americans only watch US players, nowadays the level of US players is very low and that's why they don't watch tennis

Mmmm, I watched tennis across Australian Open and Indian Wells... ...and I saw record crowds were reported. I certainly enjoyed what I saw. 👍👍 Pickleball - haha, let's see if it is still around post being a fad. I couldn't watch it!! 👎👎

Lots of reasons. USA hasn't had a Grand Slam champion in men's singles in a long time. Rest of the world has growing interest in tennis. So expensive for an American to become great at tennis. So much more expensive to attend the US Open than it used to be. TV coverage is mediocre at best.

America had Connors, McEnroe, Agassi and Sampras. They decided to entitle their by far largest and most important tennis stadium to a minor tennis player that nobody remembers, just because he was black. Their second most important stadium is entitled not even to a tennis player, but to a black musician. The USTA tennis center in Flushing is entitled to a lesbian woman whose biggest achievement is “equal pay” in a sport where the number 100 of the men would beat the number 1 of the women. And let’s not talk about the Williams sisters and their shenanigans. That’s why Americans have lost interest for tennis.

Too boring for genTiktok

Tennis is really hard to bring in on a streaming service. Make it easy to watch!!!

Sorry but I dont agree with your statement about declining in tennis. Here in Europe we know most of top 100 players names. We have ton of sport events to watch on tv and even without Nadal and Federer there is so much interest.

As someone who worked as a coach and still owning a tennis clothing company I approve of this message. However, the one thing that I fully believe lop sided all attention away from other sports and the marketing of them came down to one man. Michael Jordan.

there are a lot of good points in the video and great comments why, but there are some more imho. younger generations got attention disorder because all they watch is short form, even when they "watch" sport its because some flashy plays, they care less on if their team win or loose (example in basketball they watch for big dung or nasty block more than the team play). tennis match, especially in GS are too long for them, and boring. it's not contact sport, it's all finesse and it's harder to understand for wider audience. except if they are playing tennis and understand everything you need to put in one match to win it at the end.

Pickle ball is a fad. Play tennis. Tennis is cool!🎾🎾🎾🎾🎾

Cause no dominant player comin from US anymore.

Sports in US follows the baby boomers. In the 70s, 80s, to early to late 90s, baby boomers flocked to the tennis courts. Then it was golf in the ;late 90s till 201X. Now it is pickle ball. It will have its run for another decade.

It's due to internet, smart phones, Netflix, people have more money for skiing, golf and other activities so most people don't focus on only playing tennis, but just something they do a few times a year once in a while on a date or something. I play 5x a week and noticed this trend over the last 20 years that almost no younger kids are playing except with parents but no good, or on a date, but they don't do for fun because can play games at home and do other things now

Tennis is the only sport I like to watch on TV, precisely because it's an individual sport. I couldn't care less for teamp sports, I have no interest in them, and I can't stand these supporters who would happily kill the other team"s supporters if that were allowed. Note that I can't stand tennis hardcore fans either who would defend their dear player against all others to the death. Djokovic is the best, no, Nadal is, no, it"s Federer... come on. Grow up! Just watch and enjoy and may the best player win! I also wish a bigger part of the prize money would be given to players who are not in the top 100. So many players struggle to make a living, it's absolutely ridiculous. And tennis is a sport where you NEED to travel. You can't stay in your city, not even in your region, not even in your country if you want to go up in the ranking. This costs money (transport, accomodation, food) and that's often not even covered at all with the meagre gains in most smaller tournaments. How many potentially great players had to give up on this sport because they couldn't afford just playing? And yeah, Americans will pay attention to that sport when/if a great American player emerges again and becomes an undisputed talent. Mainstream audience doesn't care much for anything outside of the US.

Tbh have a felling that usa doesnt follow sports they dont dominate (football for example)

Americans need to chill and know that there is another world outside of their country : imo after watchin this i feel like they should calm down and not think they run this world alone like they please

A lot of tournaments left tithe US. No male players with top 10 !rankings.

Uhm because Americans arent performing as well as they did in the 90s.

Because there hasn't been an American player in the Top 10 since the 80s and 90s.....😒