The Future of Tennis

Where Do We Go From Here?

Tennisheads have been following the actions of England’s Lawn Tennis Association over the past few months with a mixture of amusement and concern. The Brits first got everyone’s attention over the summer when they went after emerging star Novak Djokovic to change his nationality and play for them. Needless to say Novak’s parents, always concerned for the well being of their child, used the Brits offer to leverage a better deal from Serbian tennis officials and little Novak stayed put. That seems to have been the LTA's only failure. Brad Gilbert, Peter Lundgren and others soon joined their stable and everyone is now wondering when they will once again put players on the world stage capable of making the top ten.

They aren’t the only ones who have been busy. Bulgarian teen Mariyana Levova will acquire an Irish passport and play Fed Cup for Ireland in 2007. Tennis Australia is in flux as well. First McNamee, long a fixture in tennis circles was kicked to the curb and replaced. Roger Rasheed will now coach DC for Australia in 2007. Jason Stoltenberg has called the men who run Tennis Australia's National High Performance Academy unprofessional saying they weren’t preparing the up and coming kids for the ATP tour but rather for college play. He quit the Academy in October. Not to be left out Jamaica is looking to up the ante by setting up a structure that will have some of their players hit both main tours, ATP and WTA. Their National Director Douglas Burke is working closely with officials from Canada but admits that Jamaican players are at a disadvantage on the world stage.

“Jamaican players also face cultural challenges in terms of how they play their tennis, as according to Burke, while the locals are doing extra lessons preparing for their CXC exams, teens their age in the rest of the world are not focusing on school.

‘They see tennis as we see school. We are up against professionals at 14, 15, 16 years of age. These kids are playing 40 hours a week and touring the world and school is not a focus.

‘We need to get the financial support that is required to help our players make the transition to the professional level. It will cost between US$70,000 to US$100,000 a year, Burke explained.”

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sports/html/20061222T230000-0500_116987_OBS_TENNIS_JAMAICA_CHARTS_NEW_COURSE_.asp

While all of this is taking place the USTA seems to be taking a two pronged approach:

Men- focus is on the home grown. Sam Querrey, Donald Young and several other young American men are being groomed for prime time.

Women – Blond and Russian seem to be the preferred flavor. Tarpishev, Russia’s Fed and Davis Cup coach recently admitted that Russia only develops a player up to a point and then send them out to be “finished” in Spain or the United States. He pointed out that most of these players, mostly women, continue to play for Russia and never give up their Russian citizenship. We aren’t hearing about too many American women coming up behind Venus, Serena or Lindsay right now. Madison Brengle one of the promising US juniors recently got a Wild Card into the Oz draw but I wonder if she’ll be thrown under the bus known as Maria Sharapova in an early round?

Why are small countries like Jamaica, Serbia and Croatia fighting to develop their players and build their own systems while the so called “major tennis powers” have to go outside of their borders to find youngsters, and coaches, who can help what they are admitting by doing so, their ailing programs? Why is Tony Roche coaching Roger Federer instead of an Australian up and comer? Why is Brad Gilbert working with the Brits and not with up and coming United States talent? Gilbert openly begged for a chance to work with Rafa Nadal earlier in the year but there was no way that was happening. United States tennis officials openly laughed at Spain a few years ago when that country set itself on a course to develop top players for the ATP. No one is laughing now.

Part 2 Will Focus on the United States and the USTA.