J. McEnroe: American men lack passion that othe...

i do not know what the underlying casues are.....but the decline of tennis in the US is all about losing ground in the development of players.  Any country that dominates a sport has the best "junior" system in the world.  If you do not have the best system.....time to travel to the best system.  The simple example is canadian hockey.  We have the most competitive system and best development (i realize that this is because no one else cares).  We debate how many international players are allowed to come and play junior hockey in canada.  Protectionism to keep other kids from getting a leg up via our system and our money.....but still allowing enough superstars into the system to make it more competitive for our own kids.

The US used to have the dominant tennis academies (bolliteri etc) and the USTA etc.  It might be time to start thinking (if you were a rich parent) to move the kids to spain academies and serbian academies (if they allow.....pretty sure they would if murray and rafa were at same academy) for a few years to play against against the best juniors.  Europe is where it is at now.

we need some american stars to turn around the media and the interest.  maybe then, the competitive environment gest fired up again.  right now, looking at the junior slams etc.....american tennis is circling the drain......shame really.  i miss the excitement of the coverage and rivalry when american stars are in the mix.  


oh well.....less late nights checking out the AO.  Mens should be good final 8......but dare i say, even i am getting tired of "the big 4".....whatever that means. 

It might be time to start thinking (if you were a rich parent) to move the kids to spain academies and serbian academies (if they allow.....pretty sure they would if murray and rafa were at same academy) for a few years to play against against the best juniors.  Europe is where it is at now.

Respectfully Maccam..you are kinda late on that one.  USTA doesn't like to focus on it, but this is precisely what some parents have done.  They have moved their kids to these academies.  Such is the story of the 5 year old kid who went to one of the academies but from my understanding went kind of sadly back to Cali.  I personally know 3 competitive Juniors in the 12s who have gone overseas to train.  

Maybe it's time for USTA to adopt more change than just the soft balls and smaller courts to the 10 and unders, which I partially agree with.  I think that they should only enforce these rules on the Novice and Intermediate Tournaments..and NOT on the Open (Advanced/Championship) tournaments.  I personally know a handful of 8 and 9 year old kids who can hit the regular tennis ball on a regulation court quite well.  Why must they be forced to step up to 12s to play on a regulation court? 

Again, in the U.S., tennis is a rich man's sport

I agree, but this is the same system that has existed for decades. So why the drop off during the past 15 years? Tennis acadamies in other countries could explain it. Yes, American kids have many more choices, but again, it has been that way for decades also.

They were always busy, with a wait list to use the ones at the park almost all the time. The town was not very affluent then, just your average middle class NY suburb. 30 years later, the town is very affulent now, but the tennis courts at the park are seldom used

Yep, I had the same experience. I remember when I first started playing tennis as a kid..........like 10,11,12 years old (this would of been 1976,77,78). We would have to wait an hour just to get on a tennis court. Today, that would not be a problem. In fact, many courts have fallen into a state of disarray.

These kids don't go out. They sit in front of their computers and TV's and the closest thing these kids come to getting tennis elbow is suffering from Smart Phone Thumb. It's a different country today. We played tennis because it was something to do. A couple of kids from my graduating class went on to play tennis at the collegiate level, and one of those played in the US Open one year. The only electronic games that existed was Pong and Atari. We had no computers, nobody had TV's in their bedrooms and only 4 or 5 kids in my graduating class of 500 had cars.

Yep. Pong, I remember playing that. Kids today would laugh at that. This really ties into my earlier statement about this country getting lazy over the past 20 years (and most people are fat). Most of that is attributable to technology. To be fair, if what existed today, existed when we were kids, I am sure we would of been lazy too. It just so happens that we actually had to go out and entertain ourselves.

What happened to the days when kids played more than one sport and developed a healthy balance and more skills? 

You mean like myself in High School? I played football, baseball, and wrestled. The same thing that is causing kids to focus on one sport by the time they get to High School is probably the same thing motivating parents to stick a football or baseball or basketball in their kids hands as soon as they are able to walk................money. In 1975, the average major league baseball player made $45K per year (just using baseball as an example, it could be any sport). Today, the AVERAGE major league baseball player makes over 3 million per year. Today's upsurd sports salaries are pushing kids (parents) to focus on one sport, usually the one they would be most likely to make it as a professional.

we need some american stars to turn around the media and the interest.  maybe then, the competitive environment gest fired up again.  right now, looking at the junior slams etc.....american tennis is circling the drain......shame really.  i miss the excitement of the coverage and rivalry when american stars are in the mix. 

I agree. What if Federer had been American. Can you imagine how much more tennis interest there would be? We would be watching a lot more tennis and a lot less golf for sure. Ironically, it might take something like an American Federer or Rafa to rekindle interest in this country. How that is going to happen within our current system/interest level, I don't know.

John, it's not passion, it's a lack of talent. Mardy Fish? Are you kidding me? There is no one around who is even decent outside of Roddick and he's fading into obscurity. James Blake is a great dude, but he's mediocrity warmed over. Americans have abdicated the sport to the Europeans.

John Isner? If it wasn't for his epic match agaisnt another nobody, no one would even know who he is.

Tennis is pretty much confined to areas like Florida and California. However, few truly gifted athletes go into tennis. They play baseball, football or even lacrosse instead.

I don't agree with McEnroe on this one. How do you measure passion on the court? By yelling at officials and fans? By acting like a complete jackass on the court? Pete Sampras had plenty of desire and passion to win but you would never have known it by his court demeanor. I was impressed with the way that Andy Roddick played hurt against Lleyton Hewitt. Dude was obviously in pain and had little to no chance to win, but stuck it out for three sets before having to default. The reason there's no US players left is lack of talent, not passion. Go away McEnroe M

Whatis, I do agree with what you're saying. What I'm saying is that maybe 30 years ago, we had the rich kids and their parents helping to churn out tennis players, and we had some middle class kids who pretty much just starting playing tennis on their own, liked it, were good at it, and only then did their parents get involved.

Now, it seems like if there were no parents hustling their kids into tennis academies, getting them private coaches etc, there would be no or very few kids becoming tennis players today in America. We're missing out on a huge part of the talent pool.

Much as I hate to say this, today it seems the parents are putting their kids into tennis academies with private coaches because they all want the next Andre Agassi. They can't give birth to a tennis star, but they want to build one. It's more about that than the enjoyment of the sport. I think that's why we no longer have kids playing multiple sports and the healthy balance you refer to.

It's pretty sad. Tennis is a great sport, and a lot of fun. It's depressing to see what has happened to it.

I think this has been a great thread with some terrific insight. One other thing I was thinking about today that I think is probably a part of it is maturity. I don't know if this is more of a cultural and societal thing or what, but it just seems like the young kids from these other countries mature mentally so much earlier than the players here. You watch kids like Tomic or Raonic, and they don't play or act like they are 19 or 21. Tomic has remarkable composure for someone his age. You look at guys like Del Potro and how mature he was at such a young age. He really started playing a lot of events early on and it took his ranking longer to improve than Murray or Djokovic becuase he had some really tough draws at a lot of events, and as I recall, he didn't play a whole lot of challenger events. It never phased him though and he took all his experience and just built off of it. You could argue Djokovic was not as mature in his teens, but he really figured it out quickly. He worked hard and dedicated himself not only to his game, but to his behavior. I think to some extent he was misunderstood about some things as well, which are sort of more cultural things again, but that's another story.

But compare to our young players, and they just seem to take much longer to come into their own from a mental and emotional perspective. While Tomic has assumed a ton of pressure from his country since his performance a few years back at the Australian Open seamlessly, we have people like Ryan Harrison who throws tantrums and threw his racquet into a tree at the French Open. Donald Young's progress is pretty well documented, and he understandably had it rough because his progression was forced along very rapidly. It's unfair to expect a child to play with men from a psychological perspective, even if he didn't have much to prove on the junior circuit. It seems like the Twitter incident may have served as a wake up call for him, and both he and his game have matured quite a bit within the last year. But while it has taken him this long to mature, the other guys his age that have risen to the top did so years ago. Querrey is very laid back, and while that doesn't necessarily mean he lacks maturity, he is one guy I think McEnroe's comments could probably apply to. Isner, while a great competitor and a unique talent, you have to think could have matured a bit earlier as well. Of course, he went to college where he got some of that maturity, bu he played a game where he wasn't really pushed to ever improve his game, so he didn't, and he relied on his serve. To his credit, he has made great strides from when he came onto the pro tour, working on his groundstrokes and his fitness, but had he done so earlier, perhaps he could have taken off much sooner than he did. Even look at Mardy Fish. It took him all those years and health issues to finally decide to eat right and get fit. To finally make that decision in your late 20s is a shame. Better late than never, but he's just another on the list of American players who just don't mature very quickly. 

Sonny, I do agree. I know for sure that if I had an X-Box when I was a teenager, I'd have spent far more time indoors. I had this issue with my son, who is almost 24 now. My wife and I had to constantly badger him to go outside and get off the video games and computers. The hardest thing about that was dealing with the fact that he'd always tell us he had no one to play sports with...because all his friends were playing video games. It was true. It's more the parents today than the kids, so I don't blame the kids.

Ultimately, sports now have to compete for a kids time with all these things that didn't exist for you and me.

Yes, that is why I am not that hard on them. People want to makeit a generational debate, but really it's just a matter of timing. Any generation, even our Grandparents, would of done the same thing if the technology existed at the time. Modern technology just isn't affecting sports, it's affecting things like social skills. People, especially younger people, spend more time interacting with other people using things like texting and chatrooms than real, live interactions. It would be interesting to see how this plays out a few generations down the road. Maybe we will be one of those kids, with new names and a different body.

i think everyone is talking common sense.  I think another factor is the current structure of the ATP and WTA.  American tourneys do not matter in the schedule anymore.  Tennis is unique in that they start off basically with a major (which I love) but then they hit a strange hardcourt mini session that lacks focus and punch.  don't get me wrong, indian wells and miami are fantastic tournaments, but it does not allow tennis to hit the mainstream in the US.  (did rafa say he is skipping this whole deal this year?).  Then the tour basically goes to europe for the clay season with at least one too many masters events in my opinion, the french and wimbledon etc.  

Again the tour comes back to the North america basically for cinci and TO/Montreal.....but players are trying not to get hurt before the USO and then.....poof.  gone again to asia and europe for end of season special events.  

How do you sell that against baseball/football/basketball/golf/e
tc etc etc?

back in the day, events in the USA week to week were more important.  Big names showed up for vermont style clay events and indoor events at MSG etc.  The global village/travel and the ATP ranking of schedules has made europe the dominant locale for all things tennis.  It is not that this is not fair.....i am not trying to rile people up......it just makes bringing american TV and marketing back to tennis very problematic.  I would not sink my money into that venture and this makes less kids at home likely to drop the wii racket and pick up a real one.

btw....it you think tennis courts are empty in US, check them out in the great white north.  road hockey all day without even an argument now.  some places do not even put up the net! 

Honestly, I would thank the global nature of tennis would attract young people. Football, Basketball, and Baseball just travels around America. Could you imagine being 21, 22, 23 years old, traveling the world and picking up hot foreign chicks?  I would find that appealing.

sonny:

one of my all time faves is marat.  he lived a life few sports stars and few people could ever have......paris/montecarlo/london/m
oscow/ and A list parties in all of them.  left a lot of titles on the table because of the partying.  he could not quite pull off the tomba act.

for that reason, i think the elite tennis guys have it better than the golfers.  (the middle golfers make a ton of cash tho')

but we are talking about engaging 6-9 year olds.  their range is not that broad/wordly.  they need to see someone from where they are from winning big time tourneys....

american golf is not that far behind.  subtract tiger and phil.......looks a lot like the atp at that point.

so many factors.....just can not see a quick fix. 

Oops, I meant think, not thank. I think you meant worldly, not wordly. I honestly think I might enjoy being a top tennis player than any other sport. Tennis is much bigger in other countries than it is here now and like I posted earlier, being young, traveling the world, picking up hot foreign chicks................be close to being a rock star. A few can still win and party, hell look at Borg. He would party at Studio 54 during the U.S. Open  (I think Johnny Mac did also).

All righty...please tell me I'm not the only person that noticed Nadal's problem throughout the ENTIRE match w/ Federer.  He had to have had the most uncomfortable drawers on of ALL-TIME!!!  I know it sounds a little weird to have obsessed about it, but he must have picked his wedge at least a hundred times.  And every time he did, he rubbed his nose.  **** is that about?!?  He even picked it during the post match interview w/Courrier.  For his sake (& mine), I hope he switches to boxers, or a jock-strap.  Has he always had this problem?  I never noticed before...LMAO!!!

I apolgize if somebody already made this point because I didn't read every post. But I think a huge reason is based on the fact that the national media, (ESPN in particular) only mentions tennis while the four grand slams are being played. And even then, there's nobody on Sportscenter breaking down the fed/nadal semi-final, like they do for every NFL playoff game. The average sports fan has no idea what a Masters 1000 event is. If ESPN would add Indian Wells and Miami, and then maybe two or three other tournaments it would go a long way to making the game more popular here

CuseFan, I noted that very same thing yesterday on another messageboard.  I'd add that there is slight coverage during the US swing in March (the two tourneys you'd noted), and the late summer hardcourt season, but other than those and the Slams?  Yep - the media here in the US treats tennis as a lower second-class sport at best.

Unless the media's level of coverage ever changes, the American public will never even come close to adopting tennis as a sport to be followed.