Do you know about Wimbledon?
   It’s the world’s biggest tennis match that only allows chosen players to participate. Tennis players from all around the world admire and dream about Wimbledon. It is one of the four Grand Slam tournaments along with the French Open, the Australian Open, and the US Open. Japan’s representative tennis player, Kimiko Date, was able to make a comeback not too long ago. She was born in Kyoto, and fulfilled being the first Japanese to be ranked in the world’s top ten in 1994. This record still has not been broken and there are probably many young players who are baffled by her activities and are practicing hard. After announcing her comeback, people are expecting more than before.
   But we can’t deny the fact that the tennis population in Japan is limited. It is said that the financial conditions made an effect on this. If the economy falls, so does the tennis population. This was caused by the financial conditions of the supply makers, schools, clubs who stood in the position of providing an environment to play tennis. One reason may be because compared to soccer and basketball it is not a sport that can be easily held. When I was ten years old, I started taking tennis lessons because I always felt a close connection. But there were only few elementary players, which made it difficult to have tennis matches. Though in the last few years, The Prince of Tennis and other comic books became popular among kids and influenced them to start playing tennis, which have increased the population little by little.
   We can do nothing but to hope for someone talented like Kimiko Date who can actively perform in the tennis world.