Mr. Ed's Champs & Chumps (September 1, 2001)
by Ed Zafian



This week's Champs & Chumps focuses in on the media. This past week, thanks to a magazine cover story, women's tennis was put into the national spotlight here in the States. While it may not be all "good" news about the WTA, most would certainly agree that feature is not a bad thing. Finally, Mr. Ed chides his favorite tennis publication for some silly Grand Slam feature articles this past year.

Champs
If you've got the TIME...

With the US Open well underway, the WTA could not have asked for better publicity than landing on the cover of TIME Magazine here in the States. This is quite a coup since tennis personalities rarely even make it onto the cover of TIME's sister publication, Sports Illustrated. Whether the WTA Tour is thrilled with the actual content of the article is quite another issue. Additionally, many fans of women's tennis might have some qualms that the feature is named "The Sisters vs. The World." Is this further ammunition that the WTA actually stands for the Williams Tennis Association, with Joel Stein dubbing Venus and Serena "part-time players with a full-time presence."

Stein writes an entertaining article though clearly from an outsider's perspective. While discussing how the women have eclipsed the men in popularity ("75% of tennis fans prefer the women's game" the article boasts). Stein suggests that there is a serious lack of personalities on the men's tour adding that Gustavo Kuerten is just another "name to memorize." Another misstep on Steins' part as Guga is clearly one of the more colorful (and wildly popular) guys out there.

But are catfights and trash-talking the main reasons for the increase in popularity in women's tennis? The article unashamedly sets forth several pieces of evidence to support this theory. Somewhat surprisingly, Lindsay Davenport provides the quotes: "These players for the most part don't get along. That's what makes it so interesting." Even the Tour's top brass received some shots from Californian, "As far as a leader of women's tennis, they've totally failed us. Nobody has helped us get there except the players. The success is pure luck for the WTA."

After reading the TIME article, one can make the conclusion that women's tennis is really just another addition to the current craze of "reality-based" television. Not unlike Survivor or Big Brother, these women are captives - traveling the world together and having to coexist with and compete against each other. On these shows, the mix of personalities and competition makes for compelling viewing. While the Tour may not be thrilled with the nationwide airing of some of their dirty laundry, they can at least find some comfort in the adage that there is no such thing as bad publicity.


Chumps
I've Got (Bio)Rhythm, Who Could Ask For Anything More?

As an avid reader of anything related to tennis, Tennis Week over the years has become my favorite tennis magazine. Detailed and lengthy articles from some of the best writers in tennis world have kept me both informed and entertained. However, this year in the Grand Slam preview issues, Tennis Week has questionably devoted many (many!) pages to a biorhythm analysis to forecast how players will do at the Grand Slams. Biorhythms propose that each of us has emotional, intellectual, physical cycles and that this can be used as a predictor of potential success or failure.

Whether you chose to believe in biorhythms or not, Tennis Week is losing credibility with these sometimes embarrassing predictions. With publishing deadlines, often the "analysis" is dated even before the tournament gets underway or shortly thereafter. For instance at Flushing Meadows, no-show Anna Kournikova "appears in good shape the first week" while first-round loser Amanda Coetzer is "a promising side bet for long odds." Flipping back to other issues, one can find even more stunning failures. The French Open biorhythms showed: Gustavo Kuerten "certainly (will) not repeat his 1997 or 2000 successes" while first round loser Venus Williams's "final weekend?is absolutely brilliant" and surprise finalist Kim Clijsters "seems tired and far from happy throughout. No impressions made here."

While sometimes the "analysis" does stumble onto the truth, the whole idea seems totally out of place in this quality tennis publication. Next thing we know only Libras, Scorpios, and Capricorns will be making it into later rounds or a player will lose in the first round as "The Tower" is uncovered in their tarot card reading. Tennis Week needs to stick what it does best - reporting and editorializing about tennis.


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