Women’s Tennis Keep Losing Top Players

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by David Rosenthal

This past week watching the Williams sisters loose so horribly in France at the 2008 Roland Garros Grand Slam was disheartening. In fact it was downright bad news as far as I'm concerned. Because in my mind it's over for them. The sisters are done. They may play as professional single players for the next 2 years, but after that I foresee them leaving the game. And they got knocked out early! The slam started and I felt like I hadn't even had a chance to get settled in. Usually I catch as much of the first week as I can, but ok, I might miss a game or two with no harm done. But this year if you weren't on top of it, you would have missed their self-defeating performances altogether.

Most people believe that Venus and Serena are too distracted by all their varied interests, hobbies, ventures, and general lack of attention to tennis. But my strong belief is that the Williams have lost their momentum due to a dramatic shift in family life. Their sister, Yetunde, was killed on the streets of Compton. And she wasn't a distant sibling; she was older and worked as their assistant. She was ever present at games and function. Their parents Richard and Oracene also split and both began acting as "coach," although let's be honest Richard was the coach and once they began splitting up duties the tennis stars began to be erratic. So I've got to suggest; with a family in disarray like that is it so remarkable to imagine they've lost their core, their momentum, and their focus? All the fashion, design and experiments with Hollywood are symptoms of 2 young women who aren't as focused as they used to be because the entire family isn't as focused as it used to be. Game over.

But they're not alone, women tennis players have been retiring for the last few years at a surprising rate. All at the top of their game. Martina Hingis, Kim Clijsters, Jennifer Capriati, Lindsay Davenport and most recently Justine Henin. And every time the tennis world expresses great shock and disbelief. At some point people have to stop being shocked. This is how it goes. New players come on the scene and freak everybody out, players get injured, and women players start feeling the biological clock and start thinking about having a family. For women there seems to be a 10 year run, from say 15-16 years old to maybe 25-26 years old. For the first couple of years they're the "youngest ever," then they have maybe 5 good years, then for the last couple of years they're in and out of games with injuries. Followed by a sudden retirement. It's happening a lot. The Williams initially scared a lot of players out of the game and now the women from Eastern Europe have cleared the rest of the field. And I believe they're about to push the Williams out too.

David Rosenthal writes about things he reads in comic books, sees on TV, at that movies, and finds on his computer. Also documenting a home renovating project.

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