Is Men's tennis heading in the right direction?

The 1980′s saw some of the most glorious years in Men’s tennis. Who can forget the likes of “madman” John McEnroe, “ice man” Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors, who dominated the first half of this golden decade. Then came the likes of the young Boris Becker, Ivan Lendl and Stefan Edberg who dazzled fans all over the world with their incredible level of play. These three players dominated the scene for around 4-5 years, after which the Americans came to the forefront for the next decade, i.e. Jim Courier, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, all of whom played a dominating brand of tennis.

Now what’s common among the above three situations? There is always a new group of talent which takes over the baton of domination from a former group. This is the reason why watching tennis used to be way more interesting than keeping track of most of the other sports. There was always some competitor who tried to give the champion a run for their money. But this occurred only till the mid 90′s.

Pete Sampras, whose style of play was ideal for Wimbledon, dominated the 90′s by winning a record 7 Wimbledon titles. Whenever he played in Wimbledon, his opponent hardly stood a chance. Till the 2000’s, the American dominated like no other.

But then, the Swiss clock striked! Roger Federer marked his arrival by beating Sampras in his own backyard, at Wimbledon. This marked the beginning of a legendary career. His style of play was just awesome. Pure magic. Though it was always a delight to watch him, according to this writer, his dominance brought forth the downfall of tennis. Federer, along with Nadal, dominated tennis from 2004-2009, due to which many talented players always remained in his shadow. Andy Roddick, for example, was an exceptional player who was never able to win a Grand Slam after clinching the 2003 US Open, thanks to the domination of Federer and Nadal.

The Federer-Nadal rivalry is considered one of the best ever in tennis. Over the years, it has been a treat watching these legends work their magic against each other. However, looking at the last two years,with Federer not at his best, and Nadal suffering from fitness problems, they do not meet at Grand Slams as often as they used to. So one could consider this as a transition period where the baton of dominance is set to be passed onto the next generation of players.But this has not happened yet as expected.

None of the youngsters have managed to stamp their authority in recent times, despite Federer and Nadal not playing to their full potential. One could argue that the reason is due to the presence of the rampaging Novak Djokovic and the recent form of Andy Murray. Still, this is a cause for concern. What will happen after the retirement of Federer? Will a youngster pop out of the blue and kick-start an era of dominance? Or will the Djokovic-Nadal-Murray saga continue until their retirements? Only time will tell. But as of now,the future of tennis doesn’t look too bright.