Monday Night Tennis?

Could tennis compete on Monday night? Are you ready for some Monday Night Tennisssss? That’s been the main catch phrase used to promote Monday Night Football over the past couple of decades, and might be the right promo and recipe to reverse a ratings decline for the US Open men’s final. Moving the US Open men’s final from its usual 4 pm EST start on Sunday might seem to be a bit bold to some traditionalists given that it might have to compete with the tried and true institution that’s Monday Night football, but there’s no question that the late Sunday afternoon spot isn’t producing magical numbers anymore and something must be done to stir up a new and wider audience. The move is not going to happen anytime soon due to current TV contracts, but the idea has been discussed in high USTA circles. Perhaps when the USTA renegotiates its contracts with CBS and ESPN the next time around, it might have to seriously consider it, because TV ratings continue to get worse and worse and the sport can’t afford to lose viewership year and after year and hope to remain relevant. Only a little over two million watched…