Tennis in America is not run right, or taught right, and so not doing well.
Did you ever wonder who gave the AMA the right to license doctors? I mean, who are they? Did you ever wonder who gave the USTA it's power? I mean, who are they? It is a private enterprise, who with its sidekicks like USPTA etc, run tennis in America.
And if tennis in America was doing well, you wouldn't listen to me complained. But we all know it isn't.
Are there any women in the top 50 except the Williams sisters, who by the way, avoided the USTA in their formative years?
And the men... Roddick, if he couldn't serve he'd never win a match. Okay, not that bad. Eisner is that bad. Blake, now there's a bright guy who plays dumb tennis. Fish? Not worth mentioniing. Ginepri, okay I mentioned him, Donald Young, trained by his parents.
So what's wrong. Like everything else in America, the money is all at the top. In Spain, you can play in a local money tournament almost every week, and since Spain isn't large, the upcoming kids get to make enough to support themselves. In America, if you aren't rich or get support (corporate or USTA) you are finished. College? Don't be ridiculous. Tennis graveyard. Eisner learned to serve in 4 years (hopefully got an education). Name all the other great pros to come out of college. College is like advanced juniors.
In the past 3 weeks there have been 17 futures played in Europe. In the US ZERO! How is someone suppose to rise if their country has no futures? By corporate means! Who wants some young kid to come out of nowhere, who is under contract to no one? Not the sponsors. Not the USTA.
As for instruction, I am trained (phd) in sports psychology, and I can tell you that other nations are beating us because their mental training is superior. I have offered to teach a traiining workshop for the USPTA and somehow everytime my application was sent in, it got lost. Finally, I was told (secretly) that those workshops are "the goose that lays the golden eggs" and only higher ups and the well connected get to teach them. Well, that's one way to stifle the sport.
So in conclusion, American tennis will continue to struggle until it is truly opened up to everyone. If 1 million dollars of prize money from the US open was spread around to maybe 50 tournaments with $20,000 prize money each, then maybe some kid from nowhere could find his way to one and show the world what he can do. (Do you think anyone would skip the US open if it cut the winner's money to JUST A MILLION?)
Concentration of wealth and power has struck at every fiber of this society, and tennis has not escaped.
And if tennis in America was doing well, you wouldn't listen to me complained. But we all know it isn't.
Are there any women in the top 50 except the Williams sisters, who by the way, avoided the USTA in their formative years?
And the men... Roddick, if he couldn't serve he'd never win a match. Okay, not that bad. Eisner is that bad. Blake, now there's a bright guy who plays dumb tennis. Fish? Not worth mentioniing. Ginepri, okay I mentioned him, Donald Young, trained by his parents.
So what's wrong. Like everything else in America, the money is all at the top. In Spain, you can play in a local money tournament almost every week, and since Spain isn't large, the upcoming kids get to make enough to support themselves. In America, if you aren't rich or get support (corporate or USTA) you are finished. College? Don't be ridiculous. Tennis graveyard. Eisner learned to serve in 4 years (hopefully got an education). Name all the other great pros to come out of college. College is like advanced juniors.
In the past 3 weeks there have been 17 futures played in Europe. In the US ZERO! How is someone suppose to rise if their country has no futures? By corporate means! Who wants some young kid to come out of nowhere, who is under contract to no one? Not the sponsors. Not the USTA.
As for instruction, I am trained (phd) in sports psychology, and I can tell you that other nations are beating us because their mental training is superior. I have offered to teach a traiining workshop for the USPTA and somehow everytime my application was sent in, it got lost. Finally, I was told (secretly) that those workshops are "the goose that lays the golden eggs" and only higher ups and the well connected get to teach them. Well, that's one way to stifle the sport.
So in conclusion, American tennis will continue to struggle until it is truly opened up to everyone. If 1 million dollars of prize money from the US open was spread around to maybe 50 tournaments with $20,000 prize money each, then maybe some kid from nowhere could find his way to one and show the world what he can do. (Do you think anyone would skip the US open if it cut the winner's money to JUST A MILLION?)
Concentration of wealth and power has struck at every fiber of this society, and tennis has not escaped.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Kevin on
-
Exactly! This guy Chris posts a thread attacking a player trying to grind it out on the tour. I am a High Performance Coach. Coached on tour for a bit and have been working with top juniors for 20 years. Clint is exactly right! When tour players or college players come by at our club, we are pleased to have them jump in our top junior program. We would never, ever dream of charging them. They bring so much to our daily practices. Really, we should be paying a player like Clint to hit with us. We are lucky they stopped by and feel they can get a workout in with our kids. I won't even go into how much a player like Clint adds to our kids motivation that day he is here. I lived in Spain for a while and if a pro stopped in to workout or hit, the same thing that happened in Paris happens there, too! Clint, just scratch off that club in Dallas as a future facility to work out at. If you are ever in Cincinnati, stop by to see us. Good luck in pursuing your dream!!!!!
-
Permalink Reply by CHRIS MICHEALS on -
Clint your an idiot your telling me im all about money, when in fact you are the one crying about not getting everything for free. You guys love to point the finger at the USTA, or coaches, or some other lame excuse. Why dont you blame yourself and realize that hey maybe I am just not good enough.
ini Ghidirmic I really dont think I am missing the point 30-40 top 100 players per year is not only unrealistic its just dumb. In that case china should have 80 players in the top hundred because there population is 1 billion.
My point stop blaming everyone else. All this site is, is a way for people to bitch about why their washed up asses didnt make it
-
Permalink Reply by ini ghidirmic on
-
Neither China nor India, for that matter, have the resources...yet. Spain has 11 players in top 100. Not bad for only 45 million people. In the 90s, Sweden had at least 8-9 players in top 100. Again, not bad for only 9 million people (size of LA basin).
-
Permalink Reply by Tennis Aficionado on
-
I'd like to elaborate on your comment :"College? Don't be ridiculous. Tennis graveyard. Eisner learned to serve in 4 years (hopefully got an education). Name all the other great pros to come out of college. College is like advanced juniors.":
A lot of great tennis players have gone to college, american and international. I think you should do a little better research before speaking up.
-
Permalink Reply by Robert Soloway on -
Really! Name them. I am not familiar with foreign college, but the comment I made was on American tennis. Defend your comment. Name them! I looked up NCAA champions for the last 40 years and only recognized a couple and most of those didn't graduate.
-
-
Well, yesterday I read a very interesting article, but yet, not good enough about college players playing pro tennis. In my opinion, every player should go to college, get an education, and improve their tennis skills. I was at the Orange Bowl last year and saw a great level of tennis. However, out of those players maybe a hand full make it to the pro level every year. If all of those players were to go to college at 18 and play over 150 matches over a period of four years and turn pro at 22, their changes of "making it" will be much greater. At 22 they will be more mature, 5 or 10 lbs heavier, stronger, etc. etc. Not too mention they'll have a lot less pressure becuase they'll have a "plan B" with their degree in hand. After saying that, I will mention a few names that come to the top of my head of some players that have gone to college and had succesfull carrers in the pros. Again, this is without doing any research at all. Todd Martin, Washington, McEnroe Brothers, James Blake, Bryan brothers, Jeff Tarango, Martin Blackman, Bryan Shelton, Kenny Thorne, Rusell, Merklein, Van Emburgh, Weiss, Ho, Cannon, Kinnear, Isner, Anderson, etc, etc. The last two, made an immidiate impact on the tour just on their first year of their playing carrer and every summer college players play pro events around the world with major succes. If a player is not going to make it into the top 100 in his first year as a pro, he should go to college and his chances of making it four years later will be a lot greater. There are plenty of resources, good coaches, good programs, good schools to choose from. Kids, go to college!
http://www.itatennis.com/AboutITA/News/CollegePlayersInThePros.htm
-
Permalink Reply by Robert Soloway on
-
I think of that whole list only 2 have graduated. Some I never heard of, so I don't know if they graduated, but even if they did, who are they?
I'm not saying players shouldn't go to college, but college tennis, and they play more than 150 matches over the 4 years, does not produce champions. These schools recruit the best playing kids from High School and then few go anywhere in the sport.
-
-
even a half-way decent junior could play 100 matches a year on the futures circuit. if you want to be good, you have to play against the best. unfortunately, the best players are on the tour. besides, the chances of the #6 guy from some hack school playing against #1 guy from a good school are pretty slim. doing it day-in and day-out are even more slim. on the circuit, you get a shot at playing people of all levels. and that's how you get better. if you want to be a tennis player - play tennis. you can bluff your way through college after your tennis-playing days are through.
-
-
Well, let's start with Stan Smith, Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Mickael Pernfors, The Bryan Brothers, German Davis Cup players Benjamin Becker and Benedikt Dorsch, Flach/Seguso (one of greatest doubles team on ATP Tour and Davis Cup), James Blake, top 30 Derek Rostagno (sp?), and those are just off the top of my head in a 1 minute reply.
-
-
ok, but even you could come up with 20 college payers per calendar year who fare fairly well on the tour (200-300), the fact remains that during the same year there are a couple hundred other players who do just as well without having played in college. in addition, there are a number of college players who "make it" only after having spent considerable time on the tour - in which case, their ATP results are most likely a result of "the tour" rather than college tennis. and then, there are a number of players who probably would have been good enough to play on the tour straight out of juniors.
i don't have anything against college tennis. actually, i think that most people are better served by going to college... i certainly had a lot of fun. but one has to understand that college tennis is not exactly a launching pad for the tour. taking all other factors out of the equation, if your life revolves around tennis, you have more to gain by playing pro tournaments day-in and day-out.
-
Permalink Reply by Clint Boling on
-
well said.! people need to understand this and stop clinging to the small percentile of players that played in college and then went out on the tour after school are playing well now.
-
Permalink Reply by Andy Forsyth on -
What mental training techniques are the other nations using that the US is not. Why in this month’s Tennis Magazine article "Court Dreams" The author says the foreigners skip the Bollitieri provided sports psychology sessions and the Americans don't. Tell us more about foreign sports psycology and how it differs from American?
© 2008 Created by West Nott
