The recent retirement of Roger Federer from tennis isn’t the sort of headline that is going to grow interest in the sport. Inevitable as it may have been in hindsight, there did seem to be this underlying belief that Federer could keep on going. Sadly, it wasn’t to be, and even sadder is the prospect of more legendary players soon likely to follow the great Swiss player into retirement.
heading to dinner with some friends @RafaelNadal @andy_murray @DjokerNole pic.twitter.com/2oYR3hnGaZ
— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) September 22, 2022
It surely won’t be long before Rafael Nadal goes, and that will just leave Novak Djokovic, given Andy Murray hasn’t been the same since his hip injury, or is ever likely to be again. Add to that, that over on the women’s tour, Serena Williams has also gone, as has another world no.1, Ashleigh Barty, and tennis has a huge and probably impossible hole to fill. So, where does this leave tennis from a commercial perspective?
Live Streaming
When it comes to live streaming in the USA, for example, the sport isn’t as popular in the US as their own mainstream sports are. It has been reported that the top five streamed sports in America are American football, basketball, ice hockey, baseball, and soccer.
This leaves tennis out in the cold, so the retirement of household names isn’t going to help. But with tennis not as popular as those other sports for streaming even when Federer and Williams were playing, it begs the question, will it ever be?
TV deals
The loss of big names like Serena Williams to retirement doesn’t seem to have filtered down into TV contracts. Events like the US Open are covered by Amazon these days, and the online corporate giant has shown no signs of waning support for showing tennis on its platform.
The retirements of big household tennis names may even, in the mid-term, make it a more appealing sport to fans and commercial entities. Having the same guys win every event for years could have gotten boring. Although there seemed to be little evidence of this during the years of dominance from Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic on the men’s tour.
Nevertheless, having new faces on the block, and more varied winners could even give the sport a boost.
Creating new household names
Love him or hate him, and it’s usually one or the other, seeing guys like Nick Kyrgios in more Grand Slam finals could be just what tennis needs to attract new fans to the sport.
Novak Djokovic. Nick Kyrgios. Wimbledon final.
Let the fireworks begin…#Wimbledon | #CentreCourt100 pic.twitter.com/K37h8DNYri
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 10, 2022
We’ve also just witnessed a new up-and-coming star win the 2022 US Open. Yes, the competition probably missed not having Novak Djokovic there. But would we have seen the emergence of Spanish wunderkind Carlos Alcaraz had the Serb been present in America?
Tennis will be fine
It used to be said golf would be nothing without Tiger Woods. Or even longer back, boxing couldn’t cope without Muhammad Ali. But both sports are still thriving, and tennis will be no different.
New legends will come along in time. Although tennis may have to settle for playing second fiddle to American football in the US, or to the Premier League in England, it will still survive without its legends of recent years.
It’s also safe to say the sport is still in a pretty good place. And all the better for having seen the likes of Federer and Williams in recent years.