It's no big deal,'" opined former French Open doubles champ and current Syracuse women's coach Luke
Jensen. But the stats don't lie, and there's no doubt that over the past 40
years, the number of Americans in the top 100 has declined dramatically - by about
75 percent on the men's side and more shockingly, by some 87 percent on the
women's side. Open. "You need an unbelievable sense of drive, like the Williams sisters had,
but they also had a pathway opened up to them and then earned it. On
the men's side, since Federer and Nadal took over the landscape in '04-'05, the U.S.
While in Europe, they don't have the same geography and can play all these tournaments
and the cost isn't as great. And it continued through the '80s and '90s. Now
I talk to the top players in our country and I say point blank, 'How
many days a week do you practice?' 'You know, four or five.' 'Four or five?
What are your tennis ambitions?' These are elite players. So many of the parents in
the European countries, they'll send the kids away. So someone found something inside of Nadal
that's remarkable. They're just kind of getting to base camp...When do the Americans show up
at the practice courts? When do the Russians show up? The Russians are the first
ones there and they're the last ones to leave. If you look at the American
kids in general - I don't think we have a style...When you look at players
from South America, from Europe, they play pretty much the same. There are a slew
of young pros with top-50 potential, but almost no one with clear top-10 stuff, outside
of the athletic 17-year-old CoCo Vandeweghe, and even she's posted uneven results.There's no question that
the game has increasingly gone global with each passing year and, in many ways, that's
a good thing, as more standout players from more countries add flavor and fresh personalities
to the sport. "Look at Nadal and Federer; they come from Mallorca and Switzerland. That's
why it's not surprising that a lot of top players come from areas of the
world where they have to fight like a dog to survive. You have a fallback
position. As you get better and better, more of the cost has to be taken
over by the USTA or outside sources, so it becomes less expensive for you to
reach a certain level, but you've earned the right to have your expenses paid for.
Open, only one member of his generation has even reached a Slam semi - Georgia's
Robby Ginepri, at the '05 U.S. It's not that easy. Those are two perfectly good
upbringings, and they're the best in the world. "We have to treat our junior girls
as equally as we do our junior boys."Common wisdom has it that the Americans aren't
as hungry as the Eastern Euros, who often have to scratch and claw to make
a living for their families. It's hard to find an analyst who thinks that this
isn't at least part of the reason for the decline - that the nation is
simply being outworked. And when that occurs, there's a lesser chance that someone might break
out of the pack and become an elite player."It's absolutely been a decline," said Pam
Shriver. In '08, America ended the year in a curious position - with only eight
men and five women in the top 100. fans to mope and moan when thinking
about what is to come for the rest of '09.But by the time the new
decade rolls around, there may be good reason to panic. There's 30 percent unemployment. They
aren't vested 100 percent. In the old days Nike Requin our kids maybe had a little bit
more of that mentality...If they want to become great players, it doesn't come for free
and it doesn't happen just trying once every other day or once a week. In
short, America has become too soft."I think this Y generation, or what we call this
E generation - the entitled generation, says 'I want to play soccer and be a
lifeguard in the summertime and if things don't work out I'm just going to go
home to Dad. Afterall, who doesn't like the charismatic Serbians?But it's also important for the
U.S. coaches would be hard pressed to name a surefire impact player. Providing private coaching
and travel for a competitive junior over a 10-year period costs well into the six
figures."If IMG and Nick Bollettieri hadn't helped Monica [Seles], she couldn't have done it and
would have just vanished," Loehr said. It surprises me that there are a lot of
U.S. In '08, Roddick and Blake weren't on anyone's list of favorites at the majors.
If we get the right people, it should just be a matter of time. The
women's side is different, as the Williams sisters have combined to win 17 majors between
'99 and the first two months of '09, but since Lindsay Davenport became a mom,
our soloists have had no sizeable choir to back them up.There are dozens of reasons
why other nations have gained on America and there are still those who believe that
the U.S.' gradual decline is little more than an expected down-cycle. None of the Russians
are looking to get autographs. It's all up to how badly you want it and
we're going to want it more than the Russians and the South Americans and everybody
else. What you do want is hard work, delayed gratification, a dream worth working for
and to show that it's good for you to push the opportunity to extraordinary limits.
If it were, then everybody would be great. That's 1,850 miles a year. "I think
we can say for sure that the days of having a large volume of players
is over, but that doesn't mean we can't have quality players. "The Russians can't go
home. Parents have to support and push at times, but do that in more than
just tennis, like Tigers Woods' father did when he said it's not just about being
a great golfer, but a great human being and Tiger used golf as an extraordinary
field of force to grow up in and become an extraordinary person."Jose Higueras, now the
Director of Coaching for USTA Elite Player Development under Patrick McEnroe and the former tutor
of Slam champs Courier, Michael Chang, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer, says he has his
work cut out for him in designing new USTA programs at the Home Depot Center
in Carson and Boca Raton, but says that good days could be ahead. Open, and
given his follow-up results, that might be viewed as a fluke.On the women's side, no
U.S.-born player outside of the Williamses and Davenport have reached even a Slam semi since
Jennifer Capriati at the '03 U.S. The game has changed where the athletes are better,
they play more from the back court, meaning that you have to be a better
mover, understanding the game better, and that may be why we're pulling back a little.
juniors who get to top 10 in the ITF and then get to the pros
and fall off. By contrast, the tennis factory that is Russia has had three different
Slam champions and eight overall semifinalists during the same period."When the number of talented U.S.
"The quality of players have gone down, but it's not just tennis that's facing this.
The chaussures puma U.S. Are we here to win? Are we here on vacation or are we
here to win? Every one of my kids runs five miles every day. "If you
come from highly affluent family and there's no real urgency to accomplish extraordinary things to
survive, you're not going push yourself to endure a lot of pain. When we do
find athletes who are gifted, they can't pay the tab for coaching and to travel.
It may not be too soon to panic.Four Americans secured spots in the year-end top
10 - Venus and Serena Williams, Andy Roddick and James Blake - and the sizzling
sisters have won the last three Slam titles, so there's little reason for U.S. If
you look at golf and why the South Koreans are dominating the LPGA, it's because
they have a work ethic that's beyond comprehension. used to have that in the '60s
and '70s with Gonzalez, Ralston, Kramer and Trabert. I think you could look across the
board at all sports and see the number of Americans dropping. We need to try
to get better athletes in our sport."Loehr said that in Federer and Nadal's case, it
wasn't their economy that mattered so much, it was how their parents and/or extended families
handled their approach to sport."You can still make it if you're affluent or middle-class, if
you have parents who are connected and understand hard work and don't try to buy
their way into the finals...Not enough parents understand how to create the right conditions at
home."Loehr argues that the greatest obstacle the U.S. women has dropped so dramatically, we really
need to look at whether our junior girls are receiving the best coaching from the
most talented people out there," Shriver said. For the U.S., which is the most successful
tennis nation in history, having four players in the top 10 might be the bare
minimum and, really, having four major contenders at the Slams is even more important. You
have got to make it. What you don't want is parents living off the child.
It puts a different dynamic on things when you're playing tennis to find a way
out of the country as opposed to playing for fun."Loehr says that Roddick is an
exception because he had the proper parenting and didn't receive free emotional handouts."It's 100 percent
because his parents instilled in him that tennis is the most important thing he will
ever do and they started that from the age of four. "That's one of the
things that lacks when you see the young American players. to maintain a critical mass
of elite players who the nation's youth can look up to. We don't have a
definitive style or way of teaching."Jensen said that his Syracuse team is defining itself by
its work ethic, its style of play and that the rest of the country should
do the same."When I say Russian tennis, Spanish tennis, Australian - you have a definition
of work ethic, of style of play. South America, Argentina - there's no economy, there's
no future. hasn't grabbed one major crown. Part of it is internationalization, and another part
of it is a lack of talent and desire and the breakdown of the competitive
framework."Consider this: since Roddick won the '03 U.S. In this country, playing tennis is very
expensive. And if that doesn't work, if hard work doesn't work, I don't know what
else there is."Higueras, who in his day was known as one of the tour's most
dedicated grinders, said that many of today's players are nurtured in the wrong environments and
lack the mental stamina of a Sampras, Courier or Chang."I don't think our kids are
exposed on a daily basis to what it takes to become a champion," he said.
There's a big chance of burnout, but they don't have the fallback position. They're here
to win. The right environment is always key."Just because someone was hungry and was in
the middle of a war zone in Serbia doesn't mean that that's the only way
to get a champion in tennis," he said. It will make it possible for those
who aren't affluent to get to the top."Shriver isn't sure if there is a true
fix. It's a hunger and work ethic that seems different there."But that doesn't explain why
Austin, Davenport or Jim Courier, all who came from upper-middle-class or wealthy backgrounds, made it
big; or why Roddick, who comes from a similar economic class, has been the U.S.'
top male performer over the past five years; or why Blake, who's also from a
middle- to upper-middle-class background, has been a consistent top-15 performer.There's a little doubt that busting
out of the poor confines of Compton encouraged the Williamses to salivate for glory, but
what doesn't make much sense is why so many other African-American players who followed -
like Jamea Jackson, Shenay Perry, Asha Rolle, Scoville Jenkins, Levar Harper Griffith, Phillip Simmonds (and
more) - haven't had a real impact, or why Asian Americans like Vania King, Kevin
Kim, Cecil Mamiit or Meilen Tu haven't ascended to the top."There's no substitute for hard
work," said Roddick. In the U.S., the only people who can afford it are affluent
and it's a perk and a status symbol. There was a style, which was big
serve, big volley. " If you go to Europe, it's pretty simple: the kids work
four to five hours a day and it's a grind. It comes by trying every
single day."As John McEnroe says, being an impoverished player who is supporting an extended family
is no automatic key to success. They do 500 crunch sit-ups, 100 push-ups every single
day. But Higueras, like Jensen, emphasized that a defined American style must come to the
forefront."I don't think our kids are dumber than anybody else," Higueras said. The same thing
with Monica Seles - neither of her parents worked and Monica was out on court
knowing she was fighting for the survival of the whole family."Tracy Austin, now a USTA
coach who didn't exactly grow up queuing up in breadlines but became one of the
most driven competitors of her era, added, "It's all about who works harder and what's
in the gut. While just playing the sport at public parks, buying rackets, balls and
shoes and paying for a few clinics isn't prohibitive, top juniors require a whole lot
more. It's such a large country and you have to cross it to be recognized
and get to the highest level and there are serious financial barriers. "They're as good
as anybody in the world. faces is that the sport has become too expensive for
most families to afford. They want to play D1 tennis. They're not even thinking to
the peak of Mount Everest. You don't have a choice. They're betting the whole farm
on the kid. You have to succeed."Preeminent sports psychologist Jim Loehr agrees and says that
spoiled kids don't make for great champions in anything."Affluence undermines drive," says Loehr. More significantly,
only two top-50 players - 21-year-old Sam Querrey and 24-year-old Bethanie Mattek - are under
the age of 26, and an argument could be made that the Williamses, Roddick and
Blake have peaked.The future doesn't look all that bright as U.S. It's a matter of
setting up the right framework and pathway for success and finding the correct way to
do that in this society isn't going to be easy."From the April 2009 issue of
Inside Tennis Magazine http://www.insidetennis.com/2009/03/american-tennis-soft.
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