AO – American Women Excel

This Australian Open has been a great one for American women.  Jennifer Brady, ranked 116 in the world, lost in the 4^th roiund today to Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, but what a tournament she had!   She got through 3 rounds of qualifying and won another 3 in the main draw.  Coco Vandewegh, ranked 35, is in the quarters after winning a close one against Bouchard and the blitzing the world #1 Angelique Kerber.  Venus Williams, despite her advanced age, is also still in and looking very strong.  And of course, there’s Serena Williams, who had what looked like a tough draw on paper, but who has continued to win.  By the way, let’s not forget Madison Keys, ranked 8 in the world, who couldn’t play this tournament because of arthroscopic knee surgery.  So overall, women’s tennis looks very strong in the US.

            The success of American tennis is very exciting to our TV commentators, many of whom are former American players.  But is this jingoism really important?  Who cares if Roger Federer is from Basel instead of Boston, Nadal is from Majorca instead of Montana, Djokovic is from Serbia and not Sarasota?  I think one of the really great things about tennis (and golf as well) is that it garners talent from all over the globe.  For me at least, great play is all that matters. 

The globalization of sports has only improved them.  Another example is basketball.  One of the strongest NBA teams in recent years, the San Antonio Spurs, had three starters from other countries:  Tim Duncan (St. Croix), Manu Ginobli (Argentina) and Tony Parker (France).  Did that make the Spurs any less fun to watch?

            So we should enjoy the success of American women on the WTA, but what we should most enjoy about them is that they produce great tennis for us to see.