In the end, it was a case of two young stars ruling the Court Philippe-Chatrier, as the French Open came to a thrilling end. Coco Gauff and Carlos Alcaraz emerged triumphant, defeating Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner, respectively, in the summit clash. While it was Gauff’s maiden win here, Alcaraz successfully defended his title. Their wins were widely celebrated in not only the tennis world but also the sporting world, as tennis saw two established stars of the next generation walk on the path of success. As a result, American star Chris Eubanks felt that the sport was in safe hands.

Over the past few years, tennis viewership has been declining continuously. Some of the reasons for it are the growing popularity of pickleball and paddle tennis and poor coverage of tennis. However, the recently concluded French Open was an exception as Gauff and Alcaraz’s victories became a talking point on social media, with fans of other sports also being involved.

Thus, Eubanks felt that it was a significant moment for tennis, and he took to Threads to make a reassuring statement about tennis. Eubanks wrote, “The fact that for the last 2 days, my entire feed has been nothing but Sinner/Alcaraz and Coco from both tennis fanatics and non-tennis fans tells me that the sport is in a great spot.”

With Eubanks’s statement, fans of the sport can catch a breather. Earlier this year as well, the Australian Open saw an 11% drop in ratings despite American star Madison Keys lifting the title. As the tournament progressed, the viewership kept on declining, with the ratings dropping by 20% from the quarterfinals. Even Gauff’s ex-coach, Brad Gilbert, cited why tennis was on a decline.

Coco Gauff’s ex-coach debunks why tennis is losing popularity

Last year, Netflix announced the end of the tennis documentary, Break Point, after two seasons. With major television networks shying away from broadcasting tennis, the sport has been in continuous decline. Explaining this situation of the sport, Brad Gilbert revealed why tennis was falling behind other sports.

He said, “Biggest difference between golf and tennis show is that every weekend, when there’s a major golf tournament, especially the PGA Tour, it’s on network television. Right now, this tournament has exclusives in the States only on Tennis Channel, which doesn’t have a massive cable subscription.”

Further, he also added, “They don’t pay any TV rights to be on right now. So that’s something in the near future that needs to happen. Tennis needs to be at big terms, especially the Indian Wells and Miami, need to be on major networks to take tennis to the next level.”

Although stars like Federer, Nadal, and Serena Williams have called it quits, there are many young starlets emerging in the sport. While they need time to develop, tennis is surely in safe hands, with the likes of Gauff and Alcaraz ruling the tennis world.