Having lived in the UK for much of his life, apart from a brief two year stint in Spain teaching tennis, a year in the United States applying the same trade, and another in Ireland riding racehorses (slightly scarey!), Ian Turnbull considers himself well versed in the world of sports, particularily from a UK point of view. His subjects would certainly be soccer, tennis and horse racing, although a playing handicapp of seven suggests his knowledge of golf is none too shabby either! Just as we began hurtling towards the true depths of "tennis boredom," the world has suddenly woken from decades of slumber. Change has been introduced and, dare I say it, excitement returned!
Gone are the desperate futile rallies constructed, not by an aggressor searching for success, but more from individuals interested only in the avoidance of error, preferring to wait for mistakes made by similarly mentally challenged opponents who seemed to have adopted the exact same game plan. The result … pit-pat tedium containing as much interesting content as an ice-making instruction manual would have for an Eskimo!
We all remember gentlemen Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Pat Cash, Boris Becker and friends, with their immense rivalry complimented by an individual ability to conduct a recipe of exciting tennis, which included all areas of the game from baseline rallies to net rushing tactics, or power serving to delicate drop shots.
What have I forgotten? Oh yes, for some of them, the added spice of verbal abuse to themselves, the equipment, the officials and whoever else that decided to cross their paths! Ok, on occasion there were times when "a sprinkling of spectators" were offended by some of the antics, but at least we were all entertained.
Did you honestly know what to expect when any one of the aforementioned strode confidently onto the court in search of victory? Too damn right you didn't, and that was exactly what created excitement, anticipation and maybe a little intrigue within each loyal audience.
Then suddenly, and with little warning, the world of tennis entered its most boring chapter – the era of "pit-pat" tennis. Hours and hours of watching competitors stuck to the baseline hitting three-quarter power shots to opponents waiting respectfully for their own chance to return the compliment. Angles existed, yet were seldom searched for as the fear of unforced errors seemed to strangle the life out of attack minded individuals.
Ok, I understand there will be those of you who object to my description, citing Pete Sampras as an exciting talent who won Wimbledon oodles of times along with several other Grand Slam events equipped with society's opinion of the all round game. Well, all I can say is he was "the exception to the rule," for I agree that "Mighty Pete" continued in the vein of all court play. But, I must remind you this was really only on the lush grass of Wimbledon, and his powerful "net game" was not exactly common across the other three corners of the world.
Finally, and not before time, we have the arrival of a new generation intent only on striking the ball as hard as is humanly possible while searching for angles that even our geometry teachers were unaware existed! At last, something we can really get our teeth into – a game full of unbelievable talent has returned. And this awesome revelation is led by Rafael Nedal, closely followed by similar exponents of this explosive power in the names of Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Novak Djokavic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Fernando Verdasco, to name but a few.
Thankfully, these gentlemen have raised the bar way beyond so many people's expectations, re-introducing an excitement that can only extend the life of tennis as a viewing sport. The combination of strength, speed, raw energy and the ability to hit balls in places that nobody could ever dream possible has injected a brand new lease of life into a game that was indeed suffering immense tiredness. No longer do we stifle yawns, listen to MP3 players or exchange texts while sitting at courtside. No, our attention is again firmly in place.
Tennis has returned. It's quick, it's powerful, it's skilful, and when all is said and done, it is pretty damn good.