Year End Bust

Maybe it’s just me but doesn’t the conclusion to the 2005 tennis season feel like a complete bust.

The WTA Championships are a lame duck tank job of an event. The stands are empty, there’s no media buzz and TV coverage is uneven. Without the Williams sisters there’s no real drama on court. Seeing Lindsay wrap up No. 1 was nice if not awkward because she did it by losing, but it leaves the event with no real “story” per se, except perhaps that it is indeed lifeless.

Over in Shanghai, the big story is who’s actually playing. No Andy Roddick, no Marat Safin and no Lleyton Hewitt have squashed the star power of the year-end ATP event. Top dog Roger Federer and his bum ankle made the trip and should be okay to go, and Andre and Rafa are apparently in the house, so that’ good. But with Federer sewn up No. 1, there’s not much to chew on or get excited about except a potential Federer-Nadal clash and the round robin Nadal-Agassi battle. It’s slim pickens otherwise, at least from an American perspective, with the Argy’s, Davydenko and Ljubicic. Not exactly Madison Ave kinda peeps.

If the two year-end events don’t get the juices flowing, what about the Davis Cup final, Slovaks vs. Croats, which I reckon will have the world on the edge of their seats, yeah right.

Of course I may be completely wrong and all three events may provide riveting action. For that, we can only hope.