Harry Cicma Revives Pro Tennis In Bradenton

I love it. Thinking outside the box and not giving up. Its what my parents taught me and what I teach.

I am shocked to hear stuff like Gauff, top juniors, and others in our area not training. Sure, our area became more and more closed the past month. All the way down to even our neighborhood locking courts no one used but us to police closing off a remote soccer field. We drove to the next county, found some openings, but they too were all closed 2 weeks ago. It appeared there was no where to train.

So we used google earth and searched the countryside. Each week we identify more hidden courts to play on and empty fields to do fitness on. We now have a choice of 4 different places to play and rarely see another player. Absolutely no excuse for many players not to be able to find a place to train within an hours drive. And gas is cheap now so driving is more time than money, and lots of folks have plenty of time now.

We see all these juniors in our area who bragged about wanting to be pros now posting Tik Tok videos all day long. Meanwhile our girls have not missed even one training session…..all done safely, remote courts, do not touch anything, keep their distance, use the balls they brought and no others.

You are alone on that one Scoop. No one cares or will ever care about lower ranked players. Dime a dozen cannon fodder that is easily replaced by the next batch. Post virus the money and fan interest will be even tighter. Instead of hiring amazing college and former pro players to hit with our juniors for $35/hour, we will get them for $25. Not saying it is right, just saying it is what it is. Life is tough, reality is brutal, making money in tennis is brutal, and will be much more brutal going forward.

I would rather watch the best player I could in any sport. I would watch Michael Jordan or Fed reruns before I would walk across the street to watch a lesser player. I grew up outside Philly and ran the art museum steps as a kid when Rocky came out….but thats just a movie….in real life I only watched the very highest ranked boxers I could.

Federer wants the ATP and WTA to merge. Not sure about that. A lot of differences between the two and different aims in many cases. I think the tour should be mixed for big events but not for the rest. A good percentage of men players don’t care about women and wish they’d go away. This was the case many years ago and I’d make a good bet the underlying feeling hasn’t changed. Roger doesn’t see this from his lofty perch.

Jon – you’re right that things have changed in many ways since the 70s and 80s and maybe men and women can survive together now without the bitterness and rancour around in those years. But the question of prizemoney is sure to raise its head again and that’s an issue which would need to be sorted. I’m thinking of events outside the GSs.

Gauff’s novelty value drew crowds – not something you can rely on long term. Also, the landscape of pro tennis may look significantly different by the time tournaments reconvene and decisions about mergers etc should probably be left until then.

Because whoever thought it up envisaged a men only event. There was probably never any question of including women, for financial and logistical reasons.

Hopman Cup (I think) was designed as a mixed tournament.

I do not think Fed spoke without knowing what is coming. He and his agency, tennis federations, sponsors, ATP, WTA, ITF, TV executives, tennis venues, equipment and apparel manufacturers…they are all talking and they know what the future of pro tennis likely is.

Insurance companies have to sign off on events. Nothing big happens without being backed by liability insurance. No insurance company is allowing a tennis tournament with spectators without a vaccine. The liability is too high and masks are not enough. There will be a lot less revenue, less fan interest, less everything in the future.

So when Fed floats that trial balloon, he does it after talking with a lot of very smart and connected people who are looking ahead. The survival of professional tennis will mean changes, and combining tours is likely to be one of them.

The plans being put into place involve quarantined venues without fans until a vaccine is available. Extensive testing regiments are being planned. Only some venues can even be considered to host events going forward. Like I said, forget the old ATP and WTA tours, they are gone.

Andy Murray has been talking about how tennis may be one of the last pro sports to return to anything like normality, because of its international nature, and that’s obviously true, so we may see the pro game re-emerge in a fragmented way, with some countries isolated for a long time. And some careers ending prematurely. That was more or less the effect after two WWs.

One possibility – players’ personal teams may be reduced in size, not a bad thing IMO.

Perhaps we can not predict everything, but we can make some very reasonable educated guesses. I have a unique skill set on this matter, MS in Microbiology, friends still in the game at major drug companies and health institutes, since switched to tennis coaching 11 years ago, now have friends involved at Wilson, USTA, and they are connected to the buzz of the big money players in tennis.

Virus will be around, will come back in bigger waves, especially next October-Feb. A vaccine, if possible as some viruses never lend themselves to a vaccine, would be 12-18 months before the public gets it if fast tracked. Masks are limited. Insurance companies have already said no way to spectators without a vaccine.

Tennis events with enough spectators to generate lots of revenue are done for a long, long time. Much longer than the sport could survive in its current form. TV revenues are tough to generate outside the slams. So basically fanless slams at a venue that can be quarantined, with thousands and thousands of tests for players and support people would be needed. And one positive test…game over for that event. Those will be the rules.

It sounds nice that Kygrios want consultation, lets discuss, all that. But pro tennis is entering survival mode, the powers that run tennis are already in crisis mode. The old tour is gone. A smaller tour MAY be salvaged, maybe. Depends on the financial health of the sponsors, the viability of no spectator slams.

Going forward the least of Nick’s worries will be how much money women players are taking from the men. It will be if professional tennis ever returns to being a big money generating sport.

Calm down Scoop and take your Hydroxychloroquine Z pack daily dose. Oh wait, that was last week’s BS.

As a curious student of humans, I must admit Trumpers are fun to watch. They remind me of a fly that flies into the hot light bulb again and again and again and again. You keep thinking, well this time they will get it….but nope, right into that bulb one more time.

But then again, thats why we can still sell swampland in Florida, always another sucker coming through that door.

Scoop – we had all this stuff before, on another thread. I know you run this site and you can discuss what you like but wouldn’t it be nice if we could stay somewhere around the subject of tennis ? Less stress.

No, an unvaccinated person isn’t a threat to someone who’s vaccinated – who said they were ? Of course some diseases, like tetanus, aren’t even infectious but it’s a good idea to get the vaccine. (I’m not talking about vaccines any more.)

Catherine, I have bad news for you. If you had a tetanus shot, you will certainly die. Eventually. Though I hope not for a long time.

Scoop, one person who springs to mind if Johan Kriek. Can’t think of another.

Here’s to hoping that regardless of what happens in the real world, we stick to tennis here.

Vijay – I’ve had a tetanus shot (as a child) plus a booster, and I’m still alive, although very old. Tetanus will probably kill you, agonizingly, but the vaccine won’t.

Johan Kriek (South Africa) won Australian twice.

Had to laugh – I looked on Another Tennis Site and there was just as much political stuff there as on T-P. A sign of the times I suppose.

Thinking about Noah – he never seemed to recover from winning RG in 1982 – got distracted and overwhelmed by various things and his game didn’t really develop.

Gossip: Zverev and gf no longer an item. Sascha doesn’t seem to have much luck with the ladies – his relationships don’t last long.

RG changing dates but it’s irrelevant – IMO there won’t be any pro tennis for the rest of 2020.

Vijay – my mistake about Noah, I’m afraid I was too lazy to look it up. Had a feeling he might be French born.

I had 1st tetanus shot when I was at primary school (not in the US) and we were recommended to have a booster after around ten years or so. As we lived in an agricultural area it was quite important. I mentioned on an earlier thread that a neighbour of ours died from it so tetanus was something we had to think about.