Squashed

Tennis is so much more popular, as a spectator sport, than pretty much every other racquet sport. Table tennis, racquetball, squash. You can't really see these sports on TV.

Somehow I stumbled on this tennis channel, which lacks any contracts to show the top tournaments, and so they show some casual tennis, and some competitive squash. What you realize is that squash and badminton have far more finesse than tennis. Tennis is really built on power. Badminton has a lot of finesse, which lots of drop shots and lobs, forcing players up and down. Tennis players lack finesse, and you feel, if they'd only watch other sports, they'd be using drop shots a lot and using fitness and speed to try to win.

The problem is the serve. A powerful guy can zip in a fast serve, and finesse is no good if you can't deal with power.

Squash has even more finesse. Racquetball has long gone way too powerful, much like tennis on grass courts, with powerful servers. Squash players force down the line backhand shots over and again, and then drop shots, lobs across the back corner. Rallies run 10, 12, 15 and more shots, requiring speed and finesse.

This sport was once dominated by Pakistanis, but the Brits and even Egyptians are masters of this sport. One obvious missing nationality is the US, since, of course, Americans simply do not care for international sports, where they might suck in any given year.

So inward looking are Americans that a recent Miss Teen USA was asked why 20% of Americans couldn't find the US on a map, and she seemed fixated on South Africa and Iraq in her answer, rather than point out that Americans simply care about the US. We may be more international, but it's too complex for Americans, who, even now, see Iraq as the country "over there", with even American deaths meaningless as long as it's not in the US.

Tennis players could learn lessons by watching squash and badminton. The next revolution appears to be Roger Federer, but I think it will eventually be about people who can drop shot at will, running shots down, playing lobs, and such. But racquets are so heavy, and tennis balls so heavy, that this finesse isn't used much.

Maybe some day.