Tennis has always been a challenging sport to cover. Media companies have always struggled to accurately cover the sport of tennis in a fashion that suits the fans.
The article in the Sports Networker entitled “Crossing the Baseline: Social Media Changing Tennis” by Aaress Lawless explains why tennis is a difficult sport to cover for media companies in comparison to other sports.
Crossing the Baseline: Social Media Changing Tennis
According to Lawless, one of the challenges that reporters, journalists, newscasters, and photographers face when covering the sport of tennis is the fact that “the tennis season is the longest of all major sports, lasting over ten months and with tournaments in over thirty nations.” This unusually long season is matched with other problems, such as major time differences, accessibility, and subpar television coverage. All of these factors inevitably lead to frustrated fans who have high expectations of the media.
New social media have stepped up to the challenge of covering the sport of tennis in a more appealing and accurate manner to satisfy the demanding fans. According to Lawless, “social media has stepped in as a new medium, allowing fans to consume the latest news at their own paces and schedules.”
One of the main goals of media companies has been to provide fans with real-time coverage of the sport of tennis, something that has not existed in the past due to the logistical complications. According to Lawless, “Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites have helped [social media companies], because it has given [them] the chance to really listen and communicate with the consumers in real-time.”
The constantly evolving social media tools shed light on a promising future of satisfied tennis fans due to instant coverage of the sport of tennis.
For the Love of Tennis 