Keeping top billing not American star's to …
看來Andy可真是身負重任
好不容易達成了大家期待了近三年的目標
"the next big thing"
"when is it going to happen?"
"when will he win a Grand Slam?"
"when when when???"
現在另一個重擔緊接著又落下
"save tennis in America"
"use your charisma, your looks, your personality, your smile...to bring the
crowds back!"
無比艱鉅的任務...光他一個人根本不可能夠的
其他美國小將們一起加油吧
Keeping top billing not American star's toughest fight
By JOHN P. LOPEZ
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
The濳arget audience couldn't care less that in his first performance as the
world's year-end No. 1 tennis player, Andy Roddick was not getting enough push
from his legs or accuracy on his second serves.
That's just details. That's just tennis stuff.
The target audience couldn't care less that before officially receiving his tro
phy for becoming the world's No. 1 player, Roddick played sloppily down the str
etch.
It hardly mattered that Roddick missed clutch shots and allowed German star
Rainer Schuettler to steal a hard-fought 4-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3) Tennis Masters
Cup win Thursday afternoon at Westside Tennis Club.
The target audience is more concerned about whose shirts Roddick wears, what
commercials he is in, when the next autograph appearance is scheduled and when
the video game comes out.
Those 16- to 39-year-old mall-goers, Saturday Night Live viewers, weekend warri
ors and potential shoe customers want to know what style of Reeboks are on
Roddick's feet.
They want to know where this 21-year-old heartthrob had dinner last night, and
was pop diva girlfriend Mandy Moore on his arm?
It's official. Andy Roddick has it all: The money, the game, the looks, the lif
estyle -- even a new crib, so to speak, in Austin.
"I know I live this ridiculous life," Roddick acknowledged after Thursday's
loss.
But as perfect as it all is right now for this prodigy, will it be enough to
help the American target audience grow from a cultish and devoted few to the
ultra-important crossover masses?
Such is the burden that tennis, and Roddick, now, must bear at what could be
a make-or-break crossroads for the game.
Sure, tennis always will have a place on the international sports landscape.
It always will have its extraordinary moments and the occasional lead on Sports
Center, if for no reason other than the allure of surefire events such as
Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.
But it needs more.
In reality, it needs about 100 more forward-thinking, well-funded entrepreneurs
like Jim McIngvale, who brought this event here.
And it needs Roddick to do more than simply win and reach the world's No. 1 ran
king.
Once Roddick took the ATP trophy in his hands acknowledging the No. 1 ranking
Thursday afternoon, the easy part was over.
Now, the hard part begins. Reaching a mass audience.
No doubt winning should be all that matters. But this is a sport that has suffer
ed from having nearly as many governing bodies running the show as professional
boxing -- ATP, WTA, ITF, the Grand Slams.
It also has waged a long battle with growing indifference in the United States,
complicated by most dominant players now growing up overseas or in South America
a, and more TV-friendly sports passing it by.
The retirement of Pete Sampras hasn't helped, neither the likely impending reti
rement of Andre Agassi.
It is no stretch to think tennis' success in this country hinges on just how
long Roddick can be at or near the top of the world rankings, and just how much
the young, TV-watching, sports drink-guzzling, shoe-buying target audience catc
hes on to his wit, personality, looks and style.
Rest assured, Roddick's impact on the game and its audience will not be
Tiger-esque.
As much as Roddick today and Woods at the dawn of his meteoric rise share many t
hings, tennis is too far under the radar to be lifted so dramatically and quick
ly. This is going to be a long, tough hike. This is going to be tougher than an
ything Roddick has seen on the court.
When it came to the win that clinched the No. 1 ranking for Roddick, for exampl
e -- Agassi's Wednesday night victory over Juan Carlos Ferrero -- Roddick had
to keep up with it by telephone, because it was televised only on tape-delay.
And just one look around the Masters Cup interview room this week shows you how
low the game's season-ending Super Bowl of sorts rates among American media out
lets. Probably 80 percent or more of the media covering this event represent
foreign outlets.
Roddick has so many shots in his bag. He has the mettle on the court and the
flair off of it. He has a million-dollar smile, a teen-idol girlfriend and a
billion-dollar future.
But can Andy Roddick save tennis in America? He'll have to. Everyone else is too
old, retired or living in Argentina.
--
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