Women's Tennis in a desperate need of a rivalry

Over the course of half a century of the Open Era, Women’s Tennis has entertained us throughout the period and has given us so many legends of the game, obliged us with countless memorable matches and has blessed us with some incredible moments to remember for life.

As we turn back the pages of the history and revisit the glorious timeline of 50 years of the Open Era, we are reminded of so many incredible things. From the unbeatable Margaret Court to the ruthless Serena Williams, from the rebellious Billy Jean King to the inspiring Kim Clijsters and from the ever-consistent Chris Evert to the fierce Justine Henin.

We get goosebumps remembering the unorthodox backhand of Steffi Graf and the efficient doublehanded forehand of Monica Seles. It makes us somehow nostalgic when we think about the serve and volley of Navratilova and the movement across the court of Hingis; we are reminded of the Sharapova's unbreakable concentration, Venus Williams’ immense conviction and so much more.

But somewhere it feels that women’s tennis is going through a transition phase where it is lacking behind its own glorious past. This decade hasn’t been as amazing and engaging as its many predecessors even though we are optimistic that in few years it will reach up to the level of the past, So let us analyze the cause behind its downfall in recent years.

The major thing that has been lacking in women’s tennis for few years is a good rivalry. A tough competition among two or more consistent players always engages more people to the game as well as ups the level of the game and increases the intensity of the competition as it has done in the past so many times.

Since the start of Open Era, women’s tennis has been blessed with some incredible rivalries and that has spoiled the audience for many years. From the Court vs King to Navratilova vs Evert to Graf vs Seles, the list is long until the last decade.

But in this decade it has been hard to maintain that level of consistency on the tour as there is no one who stands against Serena; she is dictating against everyone else and there is no other player who has been able to come even close to challenging her in recent past. It’s more than evident in records if we look at the grand slam wins per decade

So if we see the history of Open Era, there is no other decade completely dominated by a single player than this decade that too when she missed 4 consecutive majors in a row after 2017 Australian Open because of her pregnancy. This shows the lack of consistency among other players other than Serena.

This is because most of the best players of this decade mainly have had much shorter or rather inconsistent careers opposite to the subtle and consistent players of the past.

The likes of Sharapova has been in and out of her career because of injuries, retirement and doping charges; Venus because of the long break, Azarenka because of injuries, Kvitova because of injuries and the unfortunate attack on her - the list is very long. Let’s take Li Na which I think is a prime example of the tradition. She peaked a bit later in her career, played some incredible tennis for some years suffered injuries, and had to retire a little early.

Now let’s take a look at the current generation...

Let’s start with Caroline Wozniacki as she could be considered as the second most consistent player of the decade after Serena. She has been on the top for a decent period of time now but never performed as per the expectations in majors.

The first big title came for her just at the end of last year at WTA finals and then came her first major in Melbourne this year. Simona Halep has been consistent for a while but has failed to convert her chances as she finally won her first slam this year at Roland Garros. Angelique Kerber on one day wins a Grand Slam final and the next day she gets out in the first round of a tournament.

Pliskova is aggressive but inconsistent while Ostapenko gave a lot of hope last year at Roland Garros but hasn’t had much success since then. Muguruza is amazingly talented but performs only on occasions. Sharapova is not even participating in many of the tournaments.

If you look at the table of WTA no. 1 for this decade, it has been 9 different players who have held no 1 ranking, most of them for a very short period of time if you exclude Serena who has occupied it for almost half of the time including the record consecutive 186 weeks of being the number 1 equalling the record of the great Steffi Graf.

To engage more people with the game we need good competition; we need a good rivalry which we are clearly lacking right now in women’s tennis. But let’s be optimistic about the future. Halep and Kerber’s conviction, Julia Goerges and Pliskova’s aggression and Muguruza’s talent and so many other good players promise us for an engaging and exciting future ahead.

2018 has given two young promising tennis players from two countries who don't produce too many Tennis players. First one is obviously the US Open and Indian Wells champion from Japan, Naomi Osaka and the other is Aryna Sabalenka from Greece who has already won two titles this year. To add to that Qiang Wang is also playing well to go up the ladder.

So let’s cross our fingers and hope that women’s tennis will again reach up to the heights as it has been in the past.

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