re: Why has the US fallen so far in tennis?

Tennis just might be the hardest sport in the business. Walk out on that 115 degree heat court today and let me know what shape you’re in about an hour later. There’s no passing the ball, rotating with a player(s), extended timeouts, taking a “break”, climate controlled or covered buildings, etc.
so I don’t even know if this generation is tough enough, especially mentally.

You have to push a kid hard and early on. I wouldn’t do it to my kids.

US men’s will get a star player soon enough. No clue who that will be though. I’ve been watching since the mid 80s and it’s a let down in this time era for sure.

quote:

---

US men’s will get a star player soon enough. 

---

I agree.

For decades tennis was dominated by USA, Australia and to an extent Sweden. Many more countries are producing world class players now.

Also I think the greatness of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic is acknowledged but maybe not fully appreciated. One could argue they are the 3 greatest players of all time. I think it is just a coincidence they are all playing at the same time and are all from Europe. It's been almost impossible for anyone else to win a major the last 15 years.

I ask myself this question:
Do I want to go out there and lob tennis balls towards my kid during the hot arse summer months?

Or do I want to load up the golf clubs and the ice chest of beer and play a round of golf with him?

quote:

---

But why start this thread right now?

---

I'm just confused why we don't have more "just good" players

The US track team doesn't always have the fastest sprinter but we're still the best in relays because of the depth
of athletes that we have.

The US tennis team can't even get out of the quarterfinals anymore

quote:

---

The US tennis team can't even get out of the quarterfinals anymore

---

The combination of 3 of the greatest players of all time + Andy Murray when he was healthy made it so difficult. Then on the outside of that you had Wawrinka and Del Potro.

I think the French would have been the easiest to make, but we suck on clay.

It has to do a lot with coaching. American juniors primarily learned to play on hard courts. Thus we’ve been taught big forehand bid serve, no backhand and crap volleys, ala Jack Sock, Isner, Roddick. The Europeans learned primarily on clay, a much slower surface where they learned patience and an all court game. The Europeans also have used a junior program called quick start for thirty years, which to me is the huge difference. US juniors just started with this over the last 10 years, hence the new generation having a backhand.

quote:

---

I'm just confused why we don't have more "just good" players

---

Saw this mentioned a couple times, and I have to post some numbers so people don't get the wrong idea. There's currently 21 Americans in the ATP top 200, the most in the world. France is next with 17. You could make the argument that we "should" have the most, but it's not like there's a huge drought.

ATP Rankings By Country

Davis Cup is kind of a mess, and I wouldn't use it in any kind of comparison. The rounds are spread out throughout the year, and you never know who is available and how motivated they will be. Plus everyone seems to choose clay as the surface when they face us.

As others have mentioned, it's just sort of a fluke. For example, Switzerland has 2 of the top players in the world, but really nothing else beyond that.

ETA: Spain also has 17, thanks to clay.

I don't believe the European program is called quick start. That was a USTA program/initiative for 10 and under players. However, the implication from your post that other countries have been starting younger players on smaller courts, with appropriately sized equipment for years/decades before that started in the US is correct.

In theory it seems very logical. The truth is that many parents and pros try to advance players from the 36' court using red balls to the 60' court that utilizes orange balls and then to full court with yellow balls way too soon. Players should be learning very specific aspects of play at each level....for example, the 36' court should be used to teach players side to side movement and the 60' court is a great way to learn up and back movement. The "race to the yellow ball" has been a negative aspect of this initiative.