{"id":22378,"date":"2019-12-17T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-17T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordontennis.com\/?p=22378"},"modified":"2020-04-11T15:30:39","modified_gmt":"2020-04-11T19:30:39","slug":"ten-terrible-things-about-tennis-in-the-2010s-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2019\/12\/17\/ten-terrible-things-about-tennis-in-the-2010s-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten Terrible Things About Tennis In The 2010s: Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a four-part series<\/a> to end the 2019 season, Martin Keady, our resident tennis historian, looks back not just at the last year but at the last decade in tennis. This week, he looks at ten lowlights from tennis in the 2010s.<\/em><\/p>\n

In the men\u2019s game, the 2010s were \u2013 sadly \u2013 the decade in which effectively a whole generation of men (with the honourable exception of Marin Cilic) failed to fulfil their potential and at least make a meaningful challenge for the Majors, such that The Big Three of Djokovic, Nadal and Federer maintained their stranglehold on the sport\u2019s biggest prizes. Moreover, the original Big Two of Nadal and Federer maintained their stranglehold on the tennis public\u2019s affection, so much so that there was little affection (let alone love) for the new dominant force in the men’s game, Novak Djokovic.<\/p>\n

In the women\u2019s game, the most negative headlines and stories surrounded two great former champions, Margaret Court and Maria Sharapova, who through their offensive comments and offensive drug-taking respectively brought the sport into considerable disrepute. And there was also the horrendous stabbing of Petra Kvitova, which might well prevent one of the greatest contemporary women players from ever winning another Major.<\/p>\n

Throw in match-fixing, institutional and administrative crises, and the death of the Davis Cup, and it is clear that tennis has faced some very serious challenges in the 2010s, and that some of those challenges may persist in the decade ahead.<\/p>\n

Here, then, are 10 terrible things about tennis in the 2010s.<\/p>\n

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  1. The Ongoing Threat To Five-Set Tennis<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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    Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n