There are sports competitions, and then there are all-out brawls. Slugfests. Marathons of strength, will, and pure talent. Larry Legend against Magic. Ali versus Frasier. Brady versus Manning. The list is pretty much endless.

But recently, the sport of tennis has had a downward trend of popularity. Sure, Bill Simmons tried to resurrect the whole sport with his list of ideas to better the sport, by allowing cheering throughout matches and shortening sets… but these are not immediate possibilities and are whimsical hopes.

The days of MacEnroe, Ash, Borg, Connors, Sampras and Aggasi are long gone. American women, being solely represented by Venus and Serena Williams, are able to dominate the world. However, American men rarely make it past the second round. James Blake and Andy Roddick seem to have quite a bit of hype, but also seem to get steamrolled by anyone who doesn’t call America home.

Perhaps that is why the United States public has neglected tennis as a sport. Matches take a while, it doesn’t appeal to the middle class majority, and we don’t have any American heroes.

And to that, I say: WHO CARES?
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