Image problem~~Can the USTA fix American tennis? Or is it all talk?
Sports Illustrated writer Scott Price and I have had several discussions about the USTA development initiative while I've been here in New York and his article (online only) covers just some of what we've talked about. The underlying question in all of this is what role a country's tennis federation should play in development. As I've said before, I believe every champion is an exception. The prudent way to spend the vast amounts of money produced by the US Open is to distribute it widely to parents and coaches for use in travel and instruction, and host a few camps to bring the best of the best together.
When things calm down later this month, I'm planning a post that will be entitled "If I Ran USTA High Performance I'd....." and I'm just going to start off with my answer. I hope it will spark a forum for productive suggestions from all of you. So start thinking how you would finish that sentence.
10 comments:
Read the SI article and it is right on target. Sam Querry summed it up how the USTA picks a few kids at an early age when its a crap shoot as to long term results and throws thousands and thousands of dollars at them each year. The USTA ignores many very talented kids and expects struggling parents to do it on their own. It's ironic that they have a lousy record at actually producing any world class players. I agree that they need to spread their investment around. A venture capitalist invests in a bunch of companies hoping one will make it. The USTA invests thousands and thousands in a few kids and goes bust. With their 1991 boys and girls it seems they pay for 100% of all the developmental expenses, travel to at least 20 tournaments a year, not to mention camps to prepare for the tournaments , for three players for each gender and do not expect their parents to sacrifice anything while the rest of us are struggling to give our top kids 20% of the opportunities. What happens is private coaches who do not have the resources end up working for a fraction of what they get paid to help out these super talented kids that the USTA ignores. There is so much resentment out there on how the USTA pays for few of their favorites and this long-term will hurt the sport because parents will not want to support . Go to any ITF in the US or Mexico and you see the USTA coaches with their kids, who are all very arrogant, and its galling for the rest of us with top national kids who are spending thousands of dollars at a great sacrifice. I am not saying I wanth my child to travel with the USTA, I wouldn't, but I could use a little support to make it happen for her. No wonder US tennis is in a crises. Looking forward to your column on what would I do.
Hello, Ryan Sweeting is not an American but was named as a practice partner for the UNITED STATES Davis Cup. And, Kryvonos, who also was named, has been an American for only a year, yet, has been treated better by the USTA than young athletes who were born in this country. The USTA loves multiculturalism and then they wonder why we have no YOUNG AMERICANS coming up the ranks. DAHHHHHHHHHHH.
It seems obvious to me that the USTA should seek synergy with the NCAA and use the resources of D-1 college programs help develop young players. Why the adversarial relationship b/w the USTA and college tennis ?? I know for a fact a number of high ranking junior players that are considereing the college route only to be told in no uncertain terms that if they go to college, they will not get USTA support. WTF ? When a high school football or basketball player foregoes college and jumps to the pros, it creates controversy. For every LaBron James, there are score that fall to the slag heap and end up with no career AND no education. How many tennis players forego an education for the academy life and the grind of the future and challenger circuit only to end up giving lessons at a local club without a college education. Needless to say, the vast majority of these players would be better served as student athletes. What am I missing here ?
A couple of comments. Boy did Sam hit the nail on the head when he said, "not alot of action on the Carson courts". I have been there and seen them empty for hours, they remind me of the town from the movie, "Cars".."Radiator Springs"! And then the article touched on what I have always stated on this blog..the USTA cares NOTHING about developing weapons. They want rankings, and results, and they want them at a very young age. In addition, they want kids playing as many USTA tournaments as possible, especially the large ones. They care little about kids out there that may have these "weapons", whether it be speed, timing etc..Weapons that take time to develop, instead, they may notice these kids self-destruct against their prize select players, and just ignore them..but those select players WIN. They win NOW, and they will WIN in the successive age groups. But will they be PRO's? What is frustrating is that for parents who do not have the knowledge, or finacial resources, but may have talented kids, the PRESSURE if they want any assitance is to tell their kid, "dont go to net"..and "keep balls in play". Now look, we all know that at some point, winning is the objective, but does every kid need to develop as fast as the best Bolletteri kids..you know the ones who are contending for Orange Bowls at 9-11?! These are the kids that dont even play USTA events, because the "weapons" that have been developed would embarrass any player in USTA High Performance. But the good news is that academies do not have ALL these kids. Many Sydney Bell's are out there? Will the USTA find them? Will they want contenders for Gold Balls right away? And if "no", are the ex-touring PRO's there qualified to teach them? I'm afraid that the hype for the new training facility (Evert) is just going to be a glorified gathering top 5-10 in the diff age groups to play against each other all the time. IMO, a recipe for College/Futures, or top 100 at best. And this reflects the insane emphasis on US junior rankings at the younger age groups.
apologies to DOMINIQUE Bell, not "Sydney"!
High Performance is a joke and should not even be put into effect until kids get to the 16's at least. 1997 final rankings...
Boys 18s: #17 Jeff Morrison, #15 Robert Kendrick, #7 Taylor Dent, #1 James Blake
Top Guys: #2 Rudy Rake not on tour, #3 Rafael Demesa not on tour, #4 Andrew Park not on tour(med school i heard)
Boys 16s: #26 Mardy Fish, #27 Andy Roddick, Robby Ginepri & Bobby Reynolds outside top100
Top Guys: #1 Scott Lipsky, currently #402 on tour, #2 Lesley Joesph currently #362 on tour, #3 Stephen Moros not on tour
Boys 14s: none in top200
Top Guys: #1 Ytai Abougzir, playing for FSU, #2 Travis Rettenmaier currently #582, #3 Alex Bogomolov currently # 204
Girls 18s: #8 Laura Granville
Top Girls: #1 Jessica Lehnoff not on tour, #2 Jackie Trail not on tour, #3 Whitney Laiho not on tour
Girls 16s: not currently in top200
Top Girls: #1 Ansley Cargill currently #210, #2 Lindsay Dawaf not on tour, #3 Jenny Hopkins currently #501
Girls 14s: #26 Ashley Harkleroad
Top Girls: #1 Erin Burdette not on tour, #2 Jennifer Langer not on tour, #3 Macey Breece not on tour
The people listed as "Top Guys" and "Top Girls" are the people that are supposed to be the current top Americans on the pro tour. Not exactly reality now is it. Maybe the USTA should make you earn it after the age of 14 to prove you deserve their money. Blake is playing like his old self right now unfortuantely.
The USTA has rightfully earned the animosity of almost all parents of top juniors outside their clique. I could not agree more with the first blog that it is wrong to spend thousands and thousands of dollars at a few hand picked players at an early age and let the rest of us fend for ourselves financially even though some of our kids have better results and game styles than their chosen few. I have been going to a lot of ITFs over the past few years and run into the same USTA coaches with the same kids who get all this travel and opportunity to develop their game for free when there are too many other kids who get nothing, I mean not a penny, who are competitive with them. And what is worse is that these team USTA kids walk around like they are the future of US tennis at these events and in reality they are probably not. As Scott Price pointed out their record is laughable. The sense of entitlement these team players have is appalling. Even look at the oldest crop of USTA kids. Despite all the money the USTA has thrown at the current oldest crop, not one has come close to winning a grand slam singles junior title or probably has the goods to go pro. Most usually lose by the second round. I am not including Donald Young in that group because he is more IMG than USTA. In short, I have talked with so many tennis friends recently who feel that we would not have done tennis again. There is no financial support from the USTA, the kids either have to miss a lot of school or home school, and if you are not good enough for pro, which 99.9% are not, college scholarships for boys are hard to get because our schools take foreigners. That is a whole other issue, . So what is the point. The USTA fuels that feeling by its complete arrogance toward many of its top juniors.
I concur with everyone's comments and agrre with Austin that the USTA is wasting their time before the 16s. In tennis, you have no idea what your have until the 16s. I wish the USTA would stop obsessing about catching the early Michael Jordan at a young age and geting them to excel in tennis. It's all a political sham and a total waste of $$$. Get rid of the Level 3 Nationals where players are buying their rankings, those are all weak field regionals! Four Supernationals and the team zonal events are enough to gather the top players. Also cut the draws from 192 back to 128, the play is getting diluted all in the quest for more money. Someone has got to start making sense at USTA High Performance. Do you hear us Billie Jean?
Just info, but Ryan Sweeting is an American by birth. His mother is from Connecticut and he has an extended family in the US. He was born in the Bahamas but has lived in Florida since age 12.
Ryan Sweeting is red, white and blue with apple pie. Look out because US tennis is on the move. And so are the Florida Gators
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