Megan Moulton-Levy Blogs About Casting Couch in Dubai; Lansdorp Decries "Enormous" Cheating in Junior Tennis
This isn't one of those days when tennis is going to be shown in its most favorable light. A couple of months ago, I mentioned that Megan Moulton-Levy, the former college star at William & Mary, was maintaining a blog chronicling her adventures on the Women's ITF circuit. Always funny and candid, Moulton-Levy's entries centered around her own game and the internal struggles she coped with as a new professional. That was before she traveled to Dubai and India last month, where the culture shock was profound, and gains equal footing with her tennis as a topic of conversation. In her post on Dubai, she reveals that her traveling companion Audra Cohen, the 2007 NCAA champion, had been singled out by the "boss," the owner of the resort where the Dubai tournament is held. Every day he would invite different girls from the tournament to come and play with him. After our tennis match he asked us to join him for dinner. Again at the time the only thing we knew about him was that he owned the hotel. My initial thought was what an honor and he must be such a kind gentlemen—which in some respects he is. Dinner consisted of a group of 10-15 other people who I will call his entourage. By his request Audra sat next to him and he spoke to her throughout the whole dinner.
Moulton-Levy goes on to add:
Now let’s pause. What would you do if a billionaire offered to ensure that your dreams would come true and it would all be paid for only if you were to be his girlfriend? The next morning this is exactly what he proposed to Audra! The word around the street was that this was the tournament to come to if you were willing to sleep with someone of high rank for one year of an all expense paid sponsorship. Upon doing more investigation we realized that this is not uncommon at all. “The boss” often made these kinds of propositions, and for his chosen few he gives them a gift—a bag with a tiffany’s pen and a necklace. I only received one because I was rolling with Audra.
Moulton-Levy's experience in India was of a different variety, and not just because she reached the doubles final and singles semfinals. She spares no details of the shopping experience that went awry despite her preparation, which is only funny in retrospect, I'm sure.
So for any juniors or college players looking to join the tour, this is required reading, and you couldn't ask for a better guide to that world.
Moulton-Levy is from Monroe, Michigan and her local newspaper the Monroe News published this story about her life on the tour(minus the Dubai casting couch, of course) a couple of days ago. For Moulton-Levy's recent results, visit her player record at the ITF Women's Circuit site.
Bob Larson's Tennis News contained a link to legendary coach Robert Lansdorp's denunciation of the prevalence of cheating in junior tennis and the responsibility of the USTA to do something about it. Any of us who attend tournaments regularly know that there is nothing far-fetched about his examples, and can cite our own horror stories. I couldn't agree more that the USTA needs to insist on an adequate number of officials at every tournament, and I think they should pay those officials from a separate fund that is earmarked from the entry fee. In fact, there are very few parents who wouldn't pay something extra if they could designate the amount for on-court officials.
14 comments:
I've received two interesting comments about cheating, but they are anonymous, so I will not post them.
Please use the Name/URL selection when you comment. A name of some kind is all that is necessary.
Cheating is condoned and practiced by a handful of players, parents and coaches. Some of the cheaters are highly ranked and get into great schools so college coaches who desperately want to win overlook the dubious character of the players thay are recruiting. The players know who they are and know what they are in for when playing on of these players. Cheating is worse in the 12s and get progressively better in older age groups but is always there I remember that the #1 player (2 handed boh sides) in the 12s in the coutry was the most notorious cheater, I have him on film hooking me blatantly on big points at nationals. I called the linesmen but after he left, the kid kept cheating. The USTA doesn't do nearly enough to curtail this activity. I agree with taking a "no tolerance" approach. The refs don't even follow the 3 strikes rule, they let kids cheat continuously. It's appalling. There's a notorious cheater in FL that the Fl kids warn about and he's going to play for an Ivy Lague schoolnext all. So as long as the USTA does not enforce a stricter code of honor, these kids get away with cheating and attend great schools.
I found Lansdorp's article a little bit hysterical. Clearly there is cheating going on in junior tennis and clearly we all wish there was less of it. Lansdorp should stop for a second and think about the literally millions of junior tennis points played every year, the thousands of matches that are completed with out incident and the many many calls players make against themselves when they are not sure or late etc and the many example of fair play by a lot of the kids. There is so much positive to focus on it's a shame someone as prominent as Lansdorp chooses to focus on the negatives. Unfortunately he comes off as a grumpy old man.
I couldn't agree more with Lansdorp. I think a huge issue with the credibility of junior and even college tennis is officials and lack thereof. I'm not sure if another sport exists that has as much "unofficiated" play as tennis does. I think it's only going to get worse as we get fewer and fewer people willing to put the time in to become an official. I can only wonder what the average age of a USTA official is and you rarely hear of someone in their 20s or 30s who aspires to become one. It's hard enough to get your kid into tennis with all the costs associated and I can only imagine how frustrating it must be when the "pay off" is the chaos that can occur on the court when no official is present.
I believe that in a backhanded sort of way, the USTA believes in cheating. Perhaps even Nick B. These "higher ups" I feel believe that if a child can handle this type of dishonesty in the juniors, it "toughens them up", and helps them handle the pressures that go along with upper levels of competition. Some parents encourage their kids to cheat, and MANY at least encourage their kids to reciprocate if it happens to them.
I love tennis, but this is the aspect that I absolutely despise.
Colette,
I'm surprised that, after Megan Moulton-Levy's blog post regarding Dubai, there hasn't been a response by the WTA and the ITF. Perhaps I'm not really surprised but I would have thought those two bodies, the WTA in particular, would consider they have a duty of care for their members and/or anyone playing in an event sanctioned by them.
Surely there should at least be a response from the WTA. Surely there should also be a response from the media, especially those journalists/writers/pundits who focus on tennis.
Cheating is widespread in Florida. Issues like Lansdorp describe are typical and often take place with FLORIDA REFEREES ON THE COURT because their training and capabibilities are generally abysmal. For example, at any tournament you can typically see referees lose track of the score while standing on the court.
The USTA Florida has let down the children and players. They have failed. Lansdorp is correct. Listen to the real experts. One visit and he sees the issues.
tennisforlife, are you kidding me? This is a very real issue that is hurting the sport we love. The least the USTA can do is to go with the 3 strikes, point, game, and default beginning with the 2nd overrule. You have players out there gaming and pushing the system and never getting penalized. They just look to destroy their opponents concentration and rhythm. In the current system there is no recourse against known cheaters.
haha, hilarious story from Moulton-Levy. Hope there is a follow-up to that story.
Cheating is not easily confirmed. Is it cheating or part of learning to concentrate on 12 different things at one time? I have watched juniors call out balls in and in balls out in the same match. This also happens in my adult matches and given that this is a "sport of a lifetime" I lean toward tennisforlife's perspective of '99% are honest' and Nick B's 'toughen up' approach. It may be best to learn how to deal with this issue early on. For example, teach juniors how to challenge, how to be respectful.. yet firm. As with most tennis lessons, they apply to our every day life as well.
Austin -- your comment is "haha, hilarious story......"??
i personally don't see anything funny about it......your comment comes across as flip and insensitive.....or maybe you're Howard Stern posting as "Austin".
Tennis Tough, 90% of the kids are honest but we can't condone the other 5-10% from blantantly cheating. There is no recourse against a known cheater who hooks on big points because there are not enough linemen. You can say all you want about calling a linemen but when he's not there and you get hosed on set or match point, there is NO recourse. Just ask Evan King at Clays 2 years ago. The USTA needs to get tougher on the known bad apples. It's niave to think that it all washes out in the end, it doesn't and cheating continues to sully this great sport.
I personally have had a very hard time with this topic since my kids started junior tennis. When it happened to me in college, I went up to the net and sternly told the opponent that this was her warning and if she didn't stop, I'd make the same kind of calls. (Woo, I bet she was scared of me--not!) I don't really know if I would have though because in the long run, you have to do the right thing. The right thing is to be honest and God will get those who cheat.
Now my older daughter plays all over nationally. It has taken everything I can to not tell her, "Get the point back and then go get the linesman", but I have not said that. I can't. I am a parent and my job is to teach the right way. The right way is to not cheat back. Amazingly enough, she still doesn't even think to do that. I am proud of that trait in her but I admit that inside it makes me mad sometimes.
How will I survive my younger one going through this tennis experience? (Oh yes, the younger one whose basketball games have 2 referees for each game--for 8 year olds!!)
love-tennis
you are in the minority, by far especially in florida. However you are doing the right thing. Once you let your child become like most of the rest you have stopped their real development as a player and as a person. The poster above is correct. The academies and the USTA promote and support this behavior mistakenly thinking it toughens the kids while also leading to hightr " youth rankings". They are ignorant. It ruins the tournament experience for those few players and children that have a real chance of advanced development as players and people. Cheating and gamesmanship has become a crutch for most US players and thus their development will cease-whoops already has.
For example, notice how many of the accomplished players quickly call the ball out when they are unable to prepare for a fast deep ball. Rather than playing everything (as Macci and Lansdorp likely teach) these players do not work on their preparation but rely on the crutch the USTA has provided for them. That becomes the greatest ability of many US youth players. The ability to call the ball out. At higher levels this ability is not even part of the game but that is what those parents are developing. I could go on and on about the destructiveness of the USTA environment for children. They do not care and they know little about child development and just as little about tennis development
You keep being a good parent.
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