Every year the major search engines release data on how many people are searching particular news stories, celebrities and athletes. Usually they don’t reveal any astounding data (We get it, people search attractive women) but this year as I scrolled through Bing’s data a large graph of tennis popped onto my screen. The graph below only reaffirmed what I already knew, that Serena Williams is the only relevant tennis athlete left on the United States radar.
I’d like to believe that the majority of these searches were made based on the fact that Serena had a historic season but but I’d bet most people weren’t checking in to see how she was doing at the Cincinnati Open. Between being a fashion icon, a Drake aficionado and a generally polarizing figure it is a stretch to say that many she’s more likely to stimulate a Google search as opposed to new players. Think about it like this, only people who are genuinely interested in tennis would be searching for Stan Wawrinka. Not even Roger Federer, who is a living legend and goddamn gem of a human being, can do anything at this point in his career to transcend the sport of tennis in the US. The men’s game is competitive as ever but it is crying out for someone fresh (no, it is not Nick Kyrgios).
What may come as more of a surprise is that the list of most search athletes on Bing included two tennis players, Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki, in the top 10. As shown in the previous graphic it’s no surprise that Serena tops this list but the fact that Woz is, even above Lebron James, shows how shallow people are. When you search “Caroline Wozniacki” it’s a slew of articles chronicling her dating life and image results of her in bikinis. When a WTA’s national search rankings (7) are higher than her actual tour ranking (17) you know something isn’t right.
If people are going to get serious about following tennis again in this country we need a fresh American face that is going to make waves on the court on not in the tabloids.
