Why tennis nowadays is so damn boring

Nobody in their right mind would deny that the standard of play at the top of the men's game is at an all time high.
Trouble is there are so few real personalities on tour nowadays to go with that fact . Players like Connors, Agassi and McEnroe (like them or loathe them they had something special about them) just don't exist anymore.

Every other player now seems more of a Sampras type i.e. frankly pretty dull and uninteresting when it comes to it. Djokovic has his moments and Murray his occasional tantrums but can anyone out there tell me someone actually worth watching from a charisma view?

Safin, Ivanisavic, Nastase. I could go and on... Just where are there equivalents noways? Berdych , Ferrer and Fish for example? I rest my case.

Same in every sport in terms of a lack of characters. Nowadays young sportsman are given media training and are scared of showing their true personalities on the court or off it. Murray and Novak are two that show their emotions more than others, but off court they tow the professional line and I can understand why.

Novak used to do his impressions which were great, but got some criticism for it and so stopped. Murray showed his sense of humour to the media early on and had a 'joke' twisted into something which he still gets criticised for today.

So whilst I agree with you, I think the players are in a no win situation. Damned if they open themselves up, boring if they don't.

Novak used to do his impressions which were great, but got some criticism for it and so stopped.

They stopped being funny quickly, good decision to stop them.

I laughed when he produced the golf club before opening match at Wimbledon - I seem to be in a very little minority!

newballs wrote:Nobody in their right mind would deny that the standard of play at the top of the men's game is at an all time high.
Trouble is there are so few real personalities on tour nowadays to go with that fact . Players like Connors, Agassi and McEnroe (like them or loathe them they had something special about them) just don't exist anymore.

Every other player now seems more of a Sampras type i.e. frankly pretty dull and uninteresting when it comes to it. Djokovic has his moments and Murray his occasional tantrums but can anyone out there tell me someone actually worth watching from a charisma view?

Safin, Ivanisavic, Nastase. I could go and on... Just where are there equivalents noways? Berdych , Ferrer and Fish for example? I rest my case.

I agree to an extent Newballs on there being less bombastic personalities in the modern game. The reason is very simple and it has to do with technology. There simply isn't anything to fight about anymore, the players still try to have a go at the officials but since shot spot technology they aren't left with much to fight about. This has taken a lot of the controversy and hence personality out of the game. Also the players are more corporatized pitch men than they were before. Nike and Mercedes benz don't want controversy they want whoelsome corporate pitch men so you better tow the line if you want their megamillions. The endorsements weren't such a gigantic part of the game in the 70s and early 80s when Mac, Connors and Nastase were terrorizing the officials.

With the standards of fitness now required, the players cannot waste too many breaths being "characters". Yes, it's a bit of a pity. But the gladiatorial nature of the big match-ups should be enough for most fans, even if the players are far more one-dimensional these days.
Doubt if people in future years will be saying of, for example, Federer that he was "not much of a character".

Its the same across all sports...and society at large.
We're all just too serious these days...and take ourselves too seriously.
Everything is about the end-result, the outcome...not the journey.