Tennis and television. A terrestrial problem.

by Garry Cook

Everyone knows that the British play tennis about as well as cats swim.

Our record in the sport is abysmal. We suffered decades of non-achievement in the sport before the Greg Rusedski and Tim Henman golden period of non-achievement came along.

Rusedski actually gave us hope that a Briton could get past the second round at Wimbledon despite the fact that he was entirely Canadian. And, would you believe it, after finally getting someone who could serve fast as f*** to change their passport, along came Tiger Tim – a true Brit who turned out even better than his pseudo countryman.

And now, after the deadly duo wracked up zero Grand Slams between them in a decade of successless success, we have great Scot Andy Murray, a teenager who has everything needed to win a Grand Slam except basic fitness.

Inspite of (or is it despite?) this trio tennis in Britain is still a major event, or at least Wimbledon in Britain is a major event. And here lies the problem with this often breathtaking sport.

Wimbledon apart, tennis as a mainstream entertainment does not exist in this country.

And this shouldn’t be so. Tennis has always had great sportsmen, mesmerising competitors. It is also the only sport in the world were the women’s game is as high profile as the men's. Clearly something is missing.

Agreed, when it comes to the All England Club the interest in the sport is huge. Helped by a mixture of the BBC’s quaint coverage, short skirts and the lush green grass and architecture of the venue itself, the sport captivates millions.

Tennis is able to push football off the tabloid back pages, and that does not happen very often. The sport is also able to hold your attention for hours on end. A mammoth five-set battle with nerve-wracking break-points and breathless returns of serves can be brilliantly excruciating. Then there’s the finesse and skill of the women. Not to mention John McEnroe’s sublime commentary.

But the sport suffers outside of Wimbledon because, quite frankly, no one here cares. We’ve all heard of Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova, but we have a peculiar situation here in Britain where Wimbledon fortnight comes around and we’ve never heard of half of the players in the top 10 because we’ve shown no interest in the sport for 12 months.

Newspaper coverage dips dramatically for the US, French and Australian Opens, never mind the numerous lesser events. TV coverage is non-existent terrestrially (that’s free to receive broadcasts for you Yank readers). I presume there is a similar lack of interest elsewhere for tournaments outside home borders.

There was increased coverage of the US Open recently (2006) because Murray was doing well, but still nothing to get over-excited about.

Compared to Formula 1, tennis is strictly low key. When F1 comes to Silverstone the interest is huge. But when F1 goes to Belgium, Turkey, China or Canada interest is still huge.

While both sports are entirely different, they are equally suited to TV coverage.

The thing is this: F1 is sold as a season-long World Championship battle. You sit down to watch one race, you sit down and watch them all.

But the mainstream tennis fan - and by that I mean the bloke who watches Wimbledon on the BBC and not the Hooray Henry who is a member of his local tennis club - discards the sport from his mind as soon as Sue Barker wanders on to the court to try and make the loser cry.

If tennis is to truly swell its fan base in this country it needs first to tie-up a TV deal with the BBC or ITV, even Channel 4, to show all four Grand Slams, plus a few more high-profile events.

And if that means creating a season-long world championship, then so be it. Yes, there is a Champions Race, but that is way behind the rankings and the Grand Slams in importance.

The sport needs maybe 12 major events (F1 has shown anything more than 16 becomes tedious), all of which contribute to a players’ championship. And the championship itself needs to be promoted on ‘normal’ television – even if the ATP and WTA are forced to turn down bigger offers from the satellite companies.

A hard-fought championship staged around the world would whip up interest, the media would be forced to increase their coverage and Sunday evening TV tennis could become a welcome addition to UK viewing habits.

Tennis is compelling sport, but it needs more than two weeks exposure a year.