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re: McEnroe: We are forcing Americans out of college tennis
Posted on 5/4/26 at 3:17 pm to Kingpenm3
Posted on 5/4/26 at 3:17 pm to Kingpenm3
quote:The LHSAA tennis tournament isn’t a serious event at all for tennis. Using those numbers don’t represent much
I was at the Louisiana High School tennis tournament last week. There are 2200 high school students that played this year. I bet 5 make a college roster next year because there are so few opportunities for them.
I was in 5a, and lost I think 2 games before the finals……
Realistically there should only be a handful of college tennis players a year in Louisiana. That’s the only amount that treats it serious enough to warrant that
This post was edited on 5/4/26 at 3:20 pm
1
Posted on 5/5/26 at 7:43 am to lsupride87
I generally agree with it but I wonder what US junior tennis might look like if we had more college tennis opportunities for American players. I didn’t play tennis growing up but have kids that play competitively so I am learning as we go. I wonder if it is a talent issue or a developmental issue.
Posted on 5/5/26 at 7:50 am to saltybulldog
It’s a multitude of issues. The main ones being below from my experience :
1. American kids that are athletic enough to make it in high level tennis aren’t willing to give up what it takes to be elite. It’s a sport that requires you to miss a shite ton of things around your friends and you are traveling the nation or world alone. You miss out on a ton of the traditional American youth experience
2. A lot of kids that do actually take tennis serious and try and play aren’t that athletic. They chose tennis because they weren’t that great at the more popular sports and they know tennis is a way for them to be successful in high school
1. American kids that are athletic enough to make it in high level tennis aren’t willing to give up what it takes to be elite. It’s a sport that requires you to miss a shite ton of things around your friends and you are traveling the nation or world alone. You miss out on a ton of the traditional American youth experience
2. A lot of kids that do actually take tennis serious and try and play aren’t that athletic. They chose tennis because they weren’t that great at the more popular sports and they know tennis is a way for them to be successful in high school
Posted on 5/5/26 at 9:49 am to lsupride87
Good points.
I can’t help but wonder if part of our problem is the incentives that end up being created when you disproportionately give scholarship money and roster spots to international kids. Why improve development programs regionally when you don’t to?
I can’t help but wonder if part of our problem is the incentives that end up being created when you disproportionately give scholarship money and roster spots to international kids. Why improve development programs regionally when you don’t to?
Posted on 5/5/26 at 10:22 am to Colonel Angus
quote:
The problem with American tennis started in the late 80s and exponentially got worse in the 90s and early 2000s. The WSJ or Time had an interesting piece on this about 10 years ago. Once soccer rose in popularity in the U.S. among kids, it took young players away from tennis. In other words, per the article, the kids who would have been taking tennis lessons and been playing tournaments, were now on the soccer fields. I will try to find it, but it was a good, interesting read. Basically, soccer fckd U.S. tennis.
I would count that as an improvement. Soccer compared to tennis allows more kids to participate and it should be cheaper than tennis with it's lessons and racket. What you have to appreciate about soccer is that any kid can excel at it without the expense of travel ball and lessons, but let's hope soccer doesn't get like travel baseball and stays more like basketball.
Posted on 5/5/26 at 10:37 am to teke184
quote:
Hardly new from what I know.
I agree. I played tennis in HS, and the best player in our district said the same thing. Foreign players got most of the scholarships. This was in the mid 80's
Posted on 5/5/26 at 11:50 am to crash1211
quote:
I agree. I played tennis in HS, and the best player in our district said the same thing. Foreign players got most of the scholarships. This was in the mid 80's
Because the foreigner was better. So he earned the spot, not just a spot given to him.
Posted on 5/5/26 at 1:34 pm to saltybulldog
It's a combination of both. Tennis is a game for athletes.....running.....hand eye coordination paired with a certain amount of upper body strength.....see guys like Lendl or Roscoe Tanner who had big serves.
I think the poster who mentioned soccer may be onto something, though because despite the two sports not looking the same, there is a lot of commonality in skills minus the racket. Endurance, quick reaction time and overall quickness with side to side movement, etc.
A Europen friend had remarked to me a few years ago that the US by and large were really bad at uncovering tennis talent so a lot that could be developed never are.. ..anymore at the key age of 14 -16 especially on the mens end for the junior circuit. Guys like Agassi, Chang. Sampras and Courier were identified at young ages ....12-13 and were in the thick of the junior programs around 15-16 before they turned pro around 18 19 years old. Schools like Stanford would scoop up the rest and continue to develop and a lot of them went pro as well and did really well like John McEnroe and Roscoe Tanner in the 70's
Plus the West Coast schools like Stanford, USC and UCL A very much dominated , guys like Arthur Ashe (UCLA) Jimmy Connors (UCLA), but west coast tennis has suffered over the past decade .
I think the poster who mentioned soccer may be onto something, though because despite the two sports not looking the same, there is a lot of commonality in skills minus the racket. Endurance, quick reaction time and overall quickness with side to side movement, etc.
A Europen friend had remarked to me a few years ago that the US by and large were really bad at uncovering tennis talent so a lot that could be developed never are.. ..anymore at the key age of 14 -16 especially on the mens end for the junior circuit. Guys like Agassi, Chang. Sampras and Courier were identified at young ages ....12-13 and were in the thick of the junior programs around 15-16 before they turned pro around 18 19 years old. Schools like Stanford would scoop up the rest and continue to develop and a lot of them went pro as well and did really well like John McEnroe and Roscoe Tanner in the 70's
Plus the West Coast schools like Stanford, USC and UCL A very much dominated , guys like Arthur Ashe (UCLA) Jimmy Connors (UCLA), but west coast tennis has suffered over the past decade .
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