While men's tennis is in the "midst of a golden era ... women's tennis is caught between two eras," as some fans currently see "depth and drama, others chaos and disinterest," according to Bobby Chintapalli of USA TODAY. The tour begins its '12 season next week and "cites an increase in sponsors, spectators, tournaments, prize money, broadcast hours and player participation." Chintapalli writes those metrics "suggest it was a good year, but it didn't always feel that way." It is "not that the tour lacks stars," with Serena and Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters. But those players "didn't play much in 2011 or didn't play as well as they had in past years." If some "bemoan the lack of a consistently dominant player ... others note the lack of a gripping rivalry." Certainly "nothing rivals Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal or Chris Evert-Martina Navratilova." The biggest story might "not be a player or rivalry but the Olympics, especially with tennis events taking place at Wimbledon." There is also a "sense that some veterans are sticking around for the Olympics and a fear they'll retire en masse soon after." Chintapalli notes when the Williams sisters retire, it will be "bad news for American tennis, which has few top players in the pipeline and no one like the once-in-a-lifetime sisters" (USA TODAY, 12/28).
