I need to know what you think...

[coach tom]

I was pretty much beat up on the MSNBC tennis BBS this week and was called "biased". I have been posting there all week to see what comes of it, and lo and behold, Venus and Serena's family must own the BBS. Everytime I say something that doesn't have either of them winning a tournament, or when I say Hingis is number one (the rankings don't lie), or when I don't hold a Williams up to the level of Goddesses of Tennis, I get the crap bashed out of me.

I believe the Venus and Serena will be great players if they continue to improve and start playing more tournaments. But in my opinion they are not quite ready to be lifted to the level of Court, King, Evert, Goolagong, Gibson, Navratilova or Graf.

Hey Guys, am I wrong?

[Marc]

Well Tom, congrats on getting some reaction to your articles. Although people have expressed their disagreement with you at times, it must feel good to know you have affects on people's thoughts about tennis now.

You can't expect everyone to agree with you, and a lot of the fun of being a sports columnist is debating and making affects on people who disagree with you.

Who knows if the whole Williams family controls that BBS :), but it might just be a coincidence that they all agree against you.

Anyone else's thoughts are appreciated, I'm sure. Are Venus and Serena ready to lead tennis, or are they already doing it?

[Nate]

I have to agree with Tom. The Williams sisters are good, but they are not ready to take the reins of women's tennis. They do not quite measure up against players like Hingis.

[Marc]

Well, it looks like you're not completely alone, Tom! I agree with you, and Nate does, too.

[tennis4you]

Man Tom, you are dead wrong, u suck, don't you know the William sisters rule the world!?!?!?! Lol, just kidding. I agree with you 100%. They are not playing enough tournaments or seem dedicated enough to be elevated to a level that Graf and others deserve.

You will find that at a lot of these tennis messageboards you have a bunch of 14 year old kids chatting and that is about it. I hate it when that happens. The newsgroups seem to be pretty reasonable, and the ESPN.com is not too bad. This one is cool too. :)

I think tennis would not suffer at all if the Williams sisters left. And if it did, good, if you are only watching tennis to watch JUST the Williams sisters, well then no big loss. Sampras is by far and away my favorite player, but I just sat and watched 1 1/2 hours of Fed Cup.


Scott Baker
http://www.tennis4you.com

[Marc]

Originally posted by tennis4you
I think tennis would not suffer at all if the Williams sisters left.
Actually, I somewhat disagree with this. The Williams sisters are big marketing money for tennis and they sellout arena and drastically help the overall sport. There would be a noticeable affect, don't know about suffering.

[coach tom]

Thanks guys, for making me feel a little better about my opinions. Sometimes I just get a little wrapped up in what the others say. I have tried for twenty years to be an objective and at least fair reporter/writer, and I get bothered when people feel otherwise.

Now Scott, I watched every Chase match, and have them all on tape. I have to admit Kournikova impressed the heck out of me. I think my biggest fave will be Dementieva. Give her a little seasoning and she will, in my opinion, wipe Venus and Serena off the map.

I watched the doubles too. I love watching Anna and Martina together. Its like doubles was meant to be.

Till tomorrow...