If I were suddenly in charge of women's tennis--a job for which I'm not qualified, but this is fantasy, so we must suspend disbelief--there are certain changes I'd want to make, most of which are off-court items. Here they are, in no particular order (because it would be impossible for me to prioritize them):
1. Put the ad point back in doubles competition, and get rid of the super-tiebreak.
2. Recruit female stadium announcers!
3. Get rid of on-court coaching.
4. Train players, especially new ones, on how to handle inappropriate questions from the media.
5. Actively educate commentators so that the chronic mispronunciation of players' names will decrease.
6. Confront the ATP (publicly) when their players make sexist comments about women as athletes, about hormones making women inferior, and about the tour in general.
7. Create a marketing* campaign that can really grab public interest.
8. *Bring back WTA gear!
9. Rename the Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award the Karen Krantzcke Sportswomanship Award. This is long overdue. (Now that Allaster is gone, at least I don't have to include "stop calling yourself a chairman.")
10. Focus on the mental health of players so that any stigma about getting help can be removed.
Don't sell yourself short, Steve Simon doesn't seem qualified.
ReplyDeleteI think the pandemic will get rid of on court coaching for good.
NFL and NBA have media training for rookies, WTA should have something similar.
ReplyDeleteSimon couldn't get us an app back when we had WTA TV.
I think you're right about the demise of on-court coaching--I hope.
I don't know if the WTA still has a mentor program, in which an established tour player take on a "protege" and helps her adapt to the tour. But even if that still exists, it isn't enough.