Wednesday, July 27, 2005
The Williams Effect, or Lack Thereof…
A short time ago, I had a nice conversation with a very high level Nike executive. Someone from my old high school, a Hall of Fame college athlete, and one generally great guy. He had just moved into a position where for the first time ever, he would have tennis wear under his umbrella. Not really having any experience with the tennis industry, I was able to give him some good sources for information, and we were able to discuss in detail the value of professional athlete endorsement.
I know, you already see where I'm headed. I hope so — otherwise you just don't read this column enough! Well, I was putting the thoughts that follow together when just after Wimbledon, Lindsay Davenport made her comment about the future of American Women's Professional tennis.
To summarize her comments, she basically said that after her generation, there isn't much else in the pipeline for America in terms of top-10 players in the women's ranks. Names like Alexa Glatch and Megan Alexander don't immediately pop off the tongue when talking about future champions. Funny, that was my comment to my friend just a few months ago.
The Unites States Tennis Association (USTA) and other tennis governing bodies here in the U.S. have been banking on a paradigm shift in tennis that they had been ignoring for years. The public parks tennis program, once a thriving portion of the industry, has been looked to of late as the savior of the USTA and the impetus for a whole new generation of tennis players nationwide. I find that funny, because until this current year, the expenditures of the USTA and USPTA in public park and public recreational tennis has been minimal at best. So why have they been looking for this new group to emerge?
I call it the Williams Effect. The rise of the Williams sisters from the mean streets of Compton, CA and the local public court, combined with their obvious urban minority background, had all of the USTA officials super excited. You could hear the meetings they must have been having. Finally, the urban, minority sector will come to tennis. If this were to be true, this is a huge influx of former "street" athletes and a huge boost to the athleticism in American tennis and another big chunk of the tennis retail market. Problem is, the Williams Effect never happened.
Unlike the Anna Effect, where Anna Kournikova's rise in professional tennis and her endorsements and worldwide notoriety has spurned a revolution in professional tennis and influx of former Soviet Bloc women's players in under a generation, the Williams Effect was zero, or darn close to it. It's a shame, but true. What's worse is that it seems everyone connected with the industry bought the idea hook, line, and sinker. Nike paid a humongous endorsement contract to Serena in hopes that she would be to tennis apparel what Michael Jordan is to basketball apparel. Interestingly, I couldn't find any statistic that backed up the concept.
In the time Venus and Serena have been in the pro ranks, there has not been really one player who will cite they got there because they wanted to be Venus and Serena. Mashona Washington was already there, Angela Haynes, Shenay Perry, and the others were young, but already in the queue. The influx of urban players was non-existent, as was evidenced by the recent fight to save the Harlem Tennis Center, which was almost lost. The numbers just never materialized.
Like me at any casino, the tennis industry and associations have lost big time. They bet the farm without taking a close look at what they were betting on. Thank the lord for the Russian women, or Nike, Reebok, Adidas, and all the others might be bankrupt right now. If pro-shop and retail sales of tennis dresses in my area are any indication, Maria Sharapova sells, where Serena doesn't. Three very leggy, cute college-age juniors in my local club had her Wimbledon dress before the tournament was over. I couldn't find anything that Serena or Venus was wearing.
Nor could I find anyone on the public courts. Asbury Park, NJ is a stone's throw from my house. It's about as urban as you will find in Central NJ. I spent the two weeks of Wimbledon tracing a route that took me past just about every public tennis court in the town and surrounding area. I think in two weeks I saw a total of six people playing on the courts. Just after Venus won the Big W, I went past all the courts, as well. In the three hours immediately following her win, I couldn't find a single person, male or female, minority or not, playing on the few public courts in the Asbury Park area. Nor did I find a ton of players on any of the nice public facilities I deliberately passed on my way home.
So, with all that, now Venus and Serena have their own reality show. I don't see this as anything that great, and clearly it won't bring more people to hit the courts and play some tennis. People are barely influenced by or watch tennis because the Williams' are playing. If the tennis community doesn't care, and their apparent base doesn't really respond, then who else really will?
Ashley Harkleroad, where are you? Maybe you will be our savior...