German tennis in turmoil says Wimbledon great Becker
German tennis in turmoil says Wimbledon great Becker-- I thought I'd link to this story and the one above today for what it says about the respective countries tennis prospects. Becker throws out a name--Philipp Petzschner--that I'd never heard before, so I did some research on him (thanks ITF juniors website) and two years ago he was NOT the best junior in the world. Two years ago, he was 19 and no longer eligible in juniors. Three years ago, he won two ITF Grade 1s and lost to Nadal in the quarters at Wimbledon, reaching a high of 8 in the world junior rankings. Never having seen him play (has Becker?), I don't know if he should be labeled as some sort of emblem of national failure. If your hopes are riding on a player whose resume is this undistinguished, however, it probably is the system. But the ages of 16-20, where Becker says "something is going wrong" is not the problem. It's much deeper and earlier than that.
1 comments:
I believe 12-14 is the age when tennis talent needs to be identified and nurtured by the top minds and facilities and competition a country has to offer.
I don't know if you read my post in early March about my experience in Germany, but it was shocking how little anyone cared about tennis there. It seemed possible to me that young athletes with superior hand-eye coordination were being channeled to handball rather than tennis, so submerged was the interest in the sport there. At least Becker is talking about it.
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