Women's tennis has always been a thing of beauty and elegance as is the game itself. Several names of yore have adorned the Ladies game of lawn tennis from Maureen Connolly in the 50s to Margaret Court, Virginia Wade and Billie Jean King in the 60s. The 70s belonged to a lovely lady by the name of Chris Evert! The 80s were dominated by a very manly and muscular Martina Navratilova, representing the first winds of change in the Women's game of tennis. Power game was in. The soft touch and finesse gave way to power serves and even powerful returns. Ms. Navratilova faded away in the early 90s giving way to a host of successors that seemed to keep up "softness and elegance" tradition of the Women's tennis in the form of Steffi Graf, Gabriella Sabatini, Monica Seles. Ms. Navratilova seemed, therefore, a one-off aberration. Later part of 90s and the first decade of the new millennium saw the likes of Martina Hingis, Kim Clijsters, Maria Sharapova and the Williams Sisters. While power was still in, the overwhelming femininity of the players and the sport, the soft touch and finesse remained thankfully intact through the early part of the decade of 2001.
Cut to 2011 and what do we see......?
Just scan the names of girls who made it to the final 8 (quarter final match-ups) of two Grand Slam events this year, viz., the French Open and Wimbledon.
French Open - May/June 2011
1. Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS vs. Marion Bartoli FRA.
2. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova RUS vs. Francesca Schiavone ITA.
3. Na Li CHN vs. Victoria Azarenka BLR.
4. Maria Sharapova RUS vs. Andrea Petkovic GER.
Wimbledon June/July 2011
1. Dominika CIBULKOVA versus Maria SHARAPOVA
2. Sabine LISICKI v Marion BARTOLI
3. Tamira PASZEK v Victoria AZARENKA
4. Petra KVITOVA v Tsvetana PIRONKOVA
Notice anything special? Lots of gals, right? Of course!! But look deeper..... Do you sense a huge whiff of change happening quietly in Women's tennis. Notice that 5 of the 8 players that made it to the French Open Quarterfinals are of Slavic ethnicity (Slavic ethnicity is broadly the peoples of Eastern Europe - Russia, Poland, Baltic states, Balkans, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria etc). And get this..... 7 of the 8 Wimbledon quarterfinalists are of Slavic descent (Sabine Lisicki is from Germany but born to a Polish mother and a German father!). And guess who's the World No. 1 player in Women's tennis today.... Caroline Woczniaki - a Dane born to Polish immigrants!! And she did not even make it to the Quarter finals of both the events!
What's going on here in Women's tennis? What do we owe this outright "Slavicisation" of the sport to? How is it changing the sport?
The last of the questions first. It is for everyone to see……. Power is overwhelmingly back in Women's tennis. It is my sense, after watching several matches lately, that the average speed of first serves in this year's Wimbledon Women's Quarterfinals is well over 95 mph…… That's over 150 kmph for your information and that's also pretty darn close to what the men are serving up these days!!! The famous serve and volley game of Wimbledon has given way to baseline to baseline rallies lasting over minutes. Simply, the Women's matches are getting longer. The average number of Aces served have gone up as well. Look deeper and you see the reasons….. the girls look quite pretty with very pronounced Caucasian facial features that Eastern Europe is famous for – light eyes, blondish brown hair, well proportioned features, sharp nose, etc. But look beyond and you see strong athletic and muscular build from the shoulder below, strong, muscular and thick limbs that clearly enable the ability to run around and last out on long rallies and excellent court coverage. Such a physique is so typical of the region and ethnic group they hail from. So forget about seeing the hour-glass figures and other soft features a la Chris Evert, Tracy Austin or a Gabby in future…….
And what is triggering this? Beats me but I can only hypothesise. All these girls were born in the period between 1985 and early 1990. Means, they were born right around the time the Iron curtain was coming crashing down and Eastern Europe was opening up to the World. That most of these girls today train in tennis academies in the US is another case in point. This would have been unthinkable if the Soviet Bloc had stayed intact (remember, Martina Navratilova actually sought and received asylum in the US in the 80s). Of course, this does not explain why there aren't more Women players from Eastern Germany, a group that should have had the same advantage of the Soviet Bloc collapsing. So another reason could be the "Navratilova effect". Martina showed these girls (and their parents), as they were growing up, what is truly possible and made several Eastern European girls dream and pursue tennis as a serious hobby and even a career option. And their genes and physical attributes just enabled it so well. May be there is another simpler reason but it escapes me.
So as you sit back to watch the Ladies' matches at Wimbledon this week, enjoy the fickle English weather, the sudden downpours, the lighting-bolt like serves, the thunder thighs :-) and the whirlwind of change sweeping Women's tennis........
Cut to 2011 and what do we see......?
Just scan the names of girls who made it to the final 8 (quarter final match-ups) of two Grand Slam events this year, viz., the French Open and Wimbledon.
French Open - May/June 2011
1. Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS vs. Marion Bartoli FRA.
2. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova RUS vs. Francesca Schiavone ITA.
3. Na Li CHN vs. Victoria Azarenka BLR.
4. Maria Sharapova RUS vs. Andrea Petkovic GER.
Wimbledon June/July 2011
1. Dominika CIBULKOVA versus Maria SHARAPOVA
2. Sabine LISICKI v Marion BARTOLI
3. Tamira PASZEK v Victoria AZARENKA
4. Petra KVITOVA v Tsvetana PIRONKOVA
Notice anything special? Lots of gals, right? Of course!! But look deeper..... Do you sense a huge whiff of change happening quietly in Women's tennis. Notice that 5 of the 8 players that made it to the French Open Quarterfinals are of Slavic ethnicity (Slavic ethnicity is broadly the peoples of Eastern Europe - Russia, Poland, Baltic states, Balkans, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria etc). And get this..... 7 of the 8 Wimbledon quarterfinalists are of Slavic descent (Sabine Lisicki is from Germany but born to a Polish mother and a German father!). And guess who's the World No. 1 player in Women's tennis today.... Caroline Woczniaki - a Dane born to Polish immigrants!! And she did not even make it to the Quarter finals of both the events!
What's going on here in Women's tennis? What do we owe this outright "Slavicisation" of the sport to? How is it changing the sport?
The last of the questions first. It is for everyone to see……. Power is overwhelmingly back in Women's tennis. It is my sense, after watching several matches lately, that the average speed of first serves in this year's Wimbledon Women's Quarterfinals is well over 95 mph…… That's over 150 kmph for your information and that's also pretty darn close to what the men are serving up these days!!! The famous serve and volley game of Wimbledon has given way to baseline to baseline rallies lasting over minutes. Simply, the Women's matches are getting longer. The average number of Aces served have gone up as well. Look deeper and you see the reasons….. the girls look quite pretty with very pronounced Caucasian facial features that Eastern Europe is famous for – light eyes, blondish brown hair, well proportioned features, sharp nose, etc. But look beyond and you see strong athletic and muscular build from the shoulder below, strong, muscular and thick limbs that clearly enable the ability to run around and last out on long rallies and excellent court coverage. Such a physique is so typical of the region and ethnic group they hail from. So forget about seeing the hour-glass figures and other soft features a la Chris Evert, Tracy Austin or a Gabby in future…….
And what is triggering this? Beats me but I can only hypothesise. All these girls were born in the period between 1985 and early 1990. Means, they were born right around the time the Iron curtain was coming crashing down and Eastern Europe was opening up to the World. That most of these girls today train in tennis academies in the US is another case in point. This would have been unthinkable if the Soviet Bloc had stayed intact (remember, Martina Navratilova actually sought and received asylum in the US in the 80s). Of course, this does not explain why there aren't more Women players from Eastern Germany, a group that should have had the same advantage of the Soviet Bloc collapsing. So another reason could be the "Navratilova effect". Martina showed these girls (and their parents), as they were growing up, what is truly possible and made several Eastern European girls dream and pursue tennis as a serious hobby and even a career option. And their genes and physical attributes just enabled it so well. May be there is another simpler reason but it escapes me.
So as you sit back to watch the Ladies' matches at Wimbledon this week, enjoy the fickle English weather, the sudden downpours, the lighting-bolt like serves, the thunder thighs :-) and the whirlwind of change sweeping Women's tennis........
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