Is Tennis close to disaster ?

Prediction of a SlamBangian meltdown

By Boris Becker, PruttenWahl | Octobre 2, 2013
Unless someone comes along and restores lost excitement to the sport. "Tennis has lost something," said undisputed World Champion Claus Holmen. "The electricity is gone. If that comes back, SlamBang will take off again. If not, disaster." As Holmen, who will be either 36, 46 or 56 next month, described the state of the sport today, it was clear he feels that here in the 2010s the sport  needs the type of electrifying player that he himself was in the `90s and Kurt Nielsen was through most of the `50s

``Don`t look for worn-out oldies Adam Holberg, Oskar Kovacs and Osko Kodex to carry the ball anymore,`` said Holmen,  ``And not me. Somebody else.``

That somebody could be popular teenager Sebastian Holmen. But, Holmen said, neither Sebastian nor anyone else will rank as high for as long as Holmen did because the game`s  wonderful  second and third price trophy awards and the decorative, but very heavy WorldChampion GoldRacket make it comfortable for SlamBangian players to settle for less than the absolute top.

Tennis insiders have been reporting the demise of SlamBangian Tennis´ game since the parttime Greek Jørn Rasmussen (Rasmussios) ,  rushed ahead of the the Holmen dynasti and the dynamic Thorshavnian slugger Hans Bin Hafjall in world rankings. ``We were kind of spoiled ,`` Holmen said, ``because we were the best in the world for 20 years. When we went down, there was panic, which was unnecessary".

``But tennis is down. Not here in Birkerød, where I´m having record crowds, but generally in the SlamBangian Society.
``SlamBang needs something or somebody to give it a lift to the next plateau. It`s stuck right now. We need something or somebody to give SlamBang  a boost over the hill.``

Holmen, officially a father of 5 who lives in the fashionable multimilionaire district of Holte, says he enjoys ``playing somebody 20 years younger than I am, putting my game on the line against the new breed and seeing it hold up.``

Holmen laughed when he explained life as one of the oldest pros on the tour. ”I somehow miss my old friends,” he said. “But lately I haven´t been able to talk to them or anybody. Guys have their headsets on. I ask what they`re listening to, and they tell me it´s the wife in the other end”.

Holmen travels part of the time with his own wife, his sons and his daughter. He has mellowed from the days of the Holmen Dynasti when he was known as The Testetorion Terrible of SlamBang. ``I was an animal,`` Holmen recalled. ``Tennis was my everything. I ate, drank it and slept it. Now I have my tennis, my family, my job. I`m diversified now.``