Agassi's Retirement Announcement Gets Sportswriters Thinking About Tennis
And that's a good thing, right? After the host of "why aren't Americans any good on clay?" comes the "who do we have to replace Agassi?" columns, one of which I linked to in yesterday's post. This new one, in the Seattle Post Intelligencer, is pretty good actually, because instead of the usual self-satisfied rant, Ted Miller actually: a)does some research; b)talks to someone who actually knows something about the topic--Eliot Teltscher; and c)admits the whole exercise he's engaging in is hardly original: "This frown and disappointed head shake after taking the pulse of U.S. tennis is a semiannual ritual of drive-by sports journalism."
But his crimes, except for the unfortunate error of giving Andy Roddick's meaningless "ATP Race" ranking (no. 15) instead of his actual points ranking (no. 5), don't reveal any real animosity for the sport, and most of what Miller writes is hard to dismiss. (Except for maybe that provincial mention of Matt Hasselbeck as the football quarterback kids most want to emulate.)
The Australians are also in the throes of explaining why they no longer produce champions with the regularity they once did. This recent article neatly describes both the Australian problem, and the British dearth of talent. In Steve Wood and Roger Draper, the recently hired heads of Australian and British tennis, respectively, the countries have CEOs willing to make changes. Whether this will have a significant effect on those countries' tennis fortunes remains to be seen.
But I know things can turn around in a hurry in sports. Hey, I'm watching it happen right now as a Tiger fan. But I agree that "the days of U.S. domination are over."
3 comments:
Collette,
It is interesting, in the article you linked to and others I've read, that little to no mention is made of the role parents play in producing top level tennis players.
While it is essential that there be an infrastructure in place to accommodate budding players and allow them to progress through the ranks, the most vital element (and the first link in the chain) is the parent. If the parent(s) don't have a love of the game - even if they are just your average club hacker- then we have no Agassi, Young, Becker, Cash, Edberg, McEnroe, Roddick, Rosewall, Hoad, Laver, etc, etc. To the parents of those players the game was the thing. Out of their love for the game, which they then passed on to their children, we all got lucky.
Eliot Teltscher is, in a way, perfectly correct when he says that the best thing is to "have the haystack" but, before you can separate the wheat from the chaff (sorry, I couldn't resist)you need the parents planting the seed.
America has suffered - in terms of tennis- because the sport has lost popularity with the general public (who are, in effect, the mothers and fathers of potential champions). Why exactly, I don't really know, although I would suggest that one reason is the failure of the generation just passed to promote the sport as a source of national pride. Certainly, the great individual will inspire many people but the great individual playing for his, or her,country will inspire even more. That is something alluded to but not explored in Miller's article.
The challenge for American tennis, in its hopes of producing the next crop of champion players, is to inspire the parents. Do that and you'll fill the void at the junior, collegiate and professional levels.
AndrewD
"The challenge for American tennis, in its hopes of producing the next crop of champion players, is to inspire the parents. Do that and you'll fill the void at the junior, collegiate and professional levels."
Yeah let's inspire more psychotic parents who live vicariously through their children. Have you ever been to a junior tournament?
I don't have the current US census, but there are plenty of juniors playing tennis in the US right now.
"I wonder how much the expenses involved in junior tennis and lower tier professional tennis is killing off its attractiveness to gifted athletes and parents of gifted athletes."
You don't have to wonder. How much does it cost traveling around the world year round for junior itf points cost? Is something wrong with kids competing against each other for most of the year in their backyard? How often are the top 50 US ranked juniors in this country playing in the same USTA event? I'll tell you the answer ZERO
"Agassi's passion and love for the game was nurtured from a young age by his father."
Wake up man there was no "NURTURING". It was tunnel vision for Agassi's father. That man rode Andre all the way. Have you ever heard Agassi say once he was nurtured, or any other endearing term, by his father?
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