1. Tennis Popularity Is On The Rise
With all this drama unfolding throughout the year, fans have become more and more enthusiastic about the game and those annual Wimbledon watchers have started following the tour all year round. The best indication of how the sport is becoming more popular is probably the ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena in London which saw 9 of its 15 sessions sell out this season while the tournament's mobile traffic increased by over 100% on last year's figures. This is especially true in the UK as British tennis fans have just had their faith renewed this summer when Andy Murray finally won the elusive Wimbledon Championship. Britain's hope for a home-grown champion at the quintessentially British tournament is notorious worldwide and so when the opportunity finally came up, after 77 years of disappointment, the whole world was watching to see if he could do it. And he did, to the jubilation of every British tennis fan. The build-up was immense and the aftermath was even greater, with Murray going on to be crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year in recognition of his achievements. More people want to watch it, more people want to take up the sport and, naturally, more of us who'd rather live in the virtual world fancy our chances at winning a few slams ourselves. It is impossible to directly translate this into an increase in tennis gaming popularity because there has not been a tennis game released in two years. Gamers who have become tennis fans may be reluctant to buying games that are outdated while existing tennis gamers would already have the latest releases and would more likely be frustrated by the absence of a game that reflected this rise in popularity. But if ever there was an opportune time to release a new and updated game, in time for this year's exciting season sure fits the bill so we can all have a go at racing Andy Murray to number one. There is more than enough of a solid foundation for a gaming production company to build on and it seems that EA Sports are in the best position to master the perfection that seems to have eluded the franchises so far. Perhaps if ATP and the WTA jumped on board, it would help as all other successful sports games have the branding of the professional bodies that govern the sports themselves. Either way, there's no doubt that it is about time one of the franchises released another attempt at an outstanding, well-rounded tennis game to unite us all, as we haven't had one in over two years. Do you think we'll ever see a tennis franchise as strong as Fifa and Madden? What needs to be done for this to happen? Or are you happy with what's on offer as it stands? Leave your thoughts and comments below.