Comment: Wimbledon fans hitting snooze button every second day

There’s two glaring reasons why this year’s Wimbledon tournament has become more lopsided than Rafa Nadal’s left and right arms.

Bring back Ash Barty. Picture: Ella Pellegrini

After winning his first match at Wimbledon, Nick Kyrgios said tennis had a problem with entertainment.

Not that enough players aren’t capable of providing it, but not enough people appreciate the different ways in which it can be expressed on the court.

“I don’t think there’s a shortage of entertainers. I just think people go about it differently. Different perspectives. I don’t understand why it’s so hard for people to understand that,” Kyrgios said.

“Just because I’m different, I go about it a different way, it causes a stir.

“I understand that people are different and people are going to play different. If everyone was the same, it would be very boring, no?”

I can get around Kyrgios for his entertainment value (if not for his regular abuse of officials) but I’m afraid I fall into the category of tennis fan he’s most disappointed with.

Nick Kyrgios the Entertainer. Picture: Ella Pellegrini

For lovers of the sport, and in particular those from Australia, Tuesday was a dream at Wimbledon. Kyrgios and fellow Aussie Jordan Thompson played a riveting five-set thriller, Ash Barty stepped out at the All England Club for the first time as world No. 1, rising star Alex de Minaur won and big guns Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams were all in action.

So too were top women’s seeds Angelique Kerber and Sloane Stephens, Maria Sharapova and French Open Men’s finalist Dominic Thiem.

But after all that excitement, a look at the order of play for Wednesday just didn’t get my juices flowing. And it was likely a similar story for the average punter.

Unless you were a Brit cheering on local hopes like Kyle Edmund and Heather Watson, or a real tennis diehard who follows the sport closely all year round, there weren’t too many big names in the singles draw that jumped off the page and screamed “watch me”.

Novak Djokovic, 15th seed Milos Raonic and three-time major winner Stan Wawrinka were in action on the men’s side, with the latter being upset by big-serving American Reilly Opelka.

For the women, third seed Karolina Pliskova opened the day on Centre Court, eighth seed Elina Svitolina survived a close one when her opponent retired and former world No. 1 Simona Halep won through to the third round.

The top side of the men's draw is sparse of stars.

But are any of those names nearly as captivating as Federer, Nadal, Williams or Sharapova? Doubtful.

Again, this is looking at things from the perspective of a casual fan and someone who isn’t a dedicated tennis nerd. That is, someone who follows what’s going on at grand slams and major ATP and WTA tournaments, but not the nitty gritty of week-to-week touring life.

Those who do fall into that category may well have found Wednesday’s Wimbledon action just as inspiring as the first two days and fair enough, but give me Williams and Thiem over Pliskova and Daniil Medvedev any day of the week.

Scheduling can never please everyone and day two was loaded, so we should probably just appreciate it for the brilliant spectacle it was rather than feeling the need to compare it. But the let-down on day three was real, at least for the non-diehards among us.

Part of the reasoning for that is because of Next Gen’s flame out. Top-10 seeds Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas should have been in action today but the German failed again at a grand slam and Tsitsipas was nowhere near his best in a five-set loss to Italian Thomas Fabbiano.

Reigning US Open and Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka also suffered a shock loss on day one to add to the void.

Had they won, the star appeal of Wednesday would have been far greater.

Day two could have done with a splash of Naomi Osaka. (Photo by Adrian DENNIS / AFP)

Federer, Djokovic, Nadal, Wawrinka, Williams and Sharapova are all closer to the end of their careers than the start and the men at least have long been unchallenged on the big stage. Since 2002, only four male players have won Wimbledon — the Big Three and Andy Murray.

Kyrgios would say I’m part of the problem for not appreciating how entertaining some of the non-household names are, and he’d hear no arguments from me. Guilty as charged.

But unless the young brigade can start seriously challenging the old guard then keeping fans interested in tennis when the ageing top dogs retire will be easier said than done.