USTA Elite Development

[Tom C]

According to John McEnroe, brother Patrick is trying to get Jose Higueras aboard the USTA Elite Player Development... any thoughts?

[Tom C]

Btw, do you feel it's the USTA's job (responsibility) to produce american tennis player's? Sampras to Agassi to Courier to Davenport to the William sisters (to name a few) were not USTA produced...

[10isDad]

I feel it's the USTA's responsibility to supply funding, equipment, low cost coaching to the masses rather than spending large amounts of money supporting a few kids who may or may not amount to anything at the pro level. Many of the kids at the Elite facility are inordinately wealthy already. The USTA should spread the wealth and try to get more kids interested in tennis. The larger the pool of players, the more chance the next superstar will appear.

[TennisCoachFLA]

I feel it's the USTA's responsibility to supply funding, equipment, low cost coaching to the masses rather than spending large amounts of money supporting a few kids who may or may not amount to anything at the pro level. Many of the kids at the Elite facility are inordinately wealthy already. The USTA should spread the wealth and try to get more kids interested in tennis. The larger the pool of players, the more chance the next superstar will appear.

We have disagreed on things in the past, but this post is flat out 100% on the money.

You hit my pet peeve with the USTA. They keep taking a few top ranked kids and pouring money into them. As you said, the money needs to be used to generate more interest, a bigger pool of tennis playing kids.

Page 3 of this story mentions how much they are putting into the very few select players...crazy, crazy money.

http://nymag.com/news/sports/49288/

[Tennisprov1]

The real problem with USTA is that they do not have a proven, organized system in place to develop the players. The French have a tiered system that increases the amount of money spent per player and efforts into those players as they get older and prove themselves on court.

The USTA hand picks a few kids that reach the top of the national rankings in the lower age divisions playing the style of game that gets them to that level, but will not allow them to be successful on the tour.

They also spend way too much on national coaches. Most of the coaches are former tour players, some just off the tour, who do have great experiences to share with players about life on the tour and what it takes, BUT they have little or no experience in coaching top level players. Coaching a future pro at the age of 12 or 14 is a huge challenge. You have to know the basic philosophies in sport psychology, physiology, and even how to work with their different personalities. How many of our USTA national coaches have taken a player from the beginning to being a top level player?

The USTA national coaches were earning upwards of $100,000 to $125K per year. Not to mention all of their expenses were paid for. With as many as 20 coaches at one time, that is a huge amount of money.

Another issue is the levels of service provided by USTA. It does have the Competition Training Center (CTC) program at the local level, BUT each CTC is run completely different and most are not about identifying local talent and providing sport science components that are useful tools for parents and players. They typically only provide matchplay opportunities for local players. Even if the CTC's did identify local talent, what is the next step? There is no other step other than the USTA National Academy for the top juniors in the country or maybe a special camp they offer once in a blue moon.

If the USTA were SERIOUS about developing top juniors, it would develop a three tier program. Keep the national academy for the top national players ages 14 & older. Develop regional academies with assistance from the sections (and very detailed stipulations to the sections as how to select and run the program) and hire regional coaches for players ages 14 & under that have experience in developing solid technique, dependable strategies, and understand the intricacies of developing top level talent at that age. At this level the USTA needs to provide parent and player education so that everyone understands the principles involved and what it takes to reach the top levels of the game. At the local level, allow the existing programs at clubs, public parks and other institutions to do what they do. Introduce tennis to the masses. Even give them an incentive program that compensates the coaches for each player that is chosen to attend the regional academies.

Too many players and parents are caught up in the "rat race". They are chasing points for sectional and national rankings. Many 12 & under parents do not understand that there is a much bigger ocean out there than their local or state tennis arena. There are also those parents that do not understand what it takes to travel that "long road" to the top levels of the game, that one match out of the 10,000 they will play in their lifetime is not the "end of the world", but should be used to guage their improvement and rewrite the player's goals to work on for the next tournament.

Until the USTA begins to make a more concious effort at developing talent at the regional level, nothing will change.The true problem with USTA is that the power of USTA does not lie with USTA national, but with the 17 sections, much like our own Congress. When you have different sized sections falling on opposite sides of issues, it is hard to have a concensus and full support for any program.

It's one big mess.....one question to end on: Can it be changed?

[BradBaughman]

According to John McEnroe, brother Patrick is trying to get Jose Higueras aboard the USTA Elite Player Development... any thoughts?

what credentials does he have with developing "juniors"? not pro's advising them, juniors!!

[TennisCoachFLA]

what credentials does he have with developing "juniors"? not pro's advising them, juniors!!

Exactly. I would also extend this same question to Patrick McEnroe. How does being an analyst, half decent pro, and a team coach/cheerleader of already successful professional players translate into running a junior development program?

Not much the USTA does give you any confidence in their elite program.

[BradBaughman]

to build and elite junior player it takes the right parents with the right kid and then you start adding on as needed hitting partners, outside coaching can be a help to critique the work the parents are doing and so on! sometimes the right coach with the same vision can be a real plus and be added on ,

[BradBaughman]

Exactly. I would also extend this same question to Patrick McEnroe. How does being an analyst, half decent pro, and a team coach/cheerleader of already successful professional players translate into running a junior development program?

Not much the USTA does give you any confidence in their elite program.

on the other threads "chase b."the guy from the usta even admits they are guessing at what they are doing!!

[Julieta]

So many great posts here, I hope someone from the USTA reads this.

In addition to the great ideas other people have posted, I think the USTA should up the prize money in futures/ITFs for our own players. Meaning that if you are a US citizen and you win a $10K, for example, you get a "bonus" prize money amount from the USTA. This would help developing players stay on tour longer. It doesnt do any good to develop players if they cant afford to stay out there and actually play. Then rather than just spending a ton of money on players who "might" make it they are helping out those who are actually getting results. Also help with injuries and insurance the way the FFT does it would be a good idea.

[tacticaltennis]

hats is Pat Mcenroe going to wear?????

Now he is working with Roddick and his wife is about to have twins...

Davis Cup, refuses to move to Florida , wife has a big career in NY and now a family, coach of Roddick, where is the time to develop this great Elite Program?

Thoughts????

[pennc94]

People, it is all about money. If being a tennis player paid what a players in the NFL, NBA, MLB or even golfers make, then tennis would attract more interest.

The question is, what will increase prize money in tennis? More appeal and better marketing. What will bring this about? Does spreading the USTA to a wide base do it? I don't know. Does having the USTA polish the cream of the crop to generate that stuperstar do it? Not sure either. It seems like spreading the USTA to a wide base might not generate stars, but the current approach might. A tennis equivalent to Tiger Woods might turn things around.

[10isDad]

^^^Quite true. In looking at the PGA Tour's list of tournaments, the majority of tournament winners received over $1 million per tournament. The lowest prize money of any normal PGA tournament for the winner was $540,000.

On the ATP tour, there are several events where the total prize money doesn't come up to that amount.

On the PGA tour, the top 125 keep their tour card. Current earnings for the #125 world ranked player is $617K. The equivalently ranked ATP player is at $164K

[SoCal10s]

^^^Quite true. In looking at the PGA Tour's list of tournaments, the majority of tournament winners received over $1 million per tournament. The lowest prize money of any normal PGA tournament for the winner was $540,000.

On the ATP tour, there are several events where the total prize money doesn't come up to that amount.

On the PGA tour, the top 125 keep their tour card. Current earnings for the #125 world ranked player is $617K. The equivalently ranked ATP player is at $164K
PGA is a different animal all together because of Tiger Woods... go look at how much the LPGA makes... the TV audience doesn't care about tennis,especially in the US... now that Tiger is hurt no one cares about PGA golf... the seniors make more than most of the LPGA ... it's all about mass marketing,how much is your product worth? a few years ago when Kournikova was on the scene,everyone was interested in the WTA because of her attractiveness and not her tennis,now WTA is hurting big time and they still get equal pay as the mens.... I hate watching WTA this year because the woman just don't take care of business...

[ClarkC]

In looking at the PGA Tour's list of tournaments, the majority of tournament winners received over $1 million per tournament. The lowest prize money of any normal PGA tournament for the winner was $540,000.

On the ATP tour, there are several events where the total prize money doesn't come up to that amount.

On the PGA tour, the top 125 keep their tour card. Current earnings for the #125 world ranked player is $617K. The equivalently ranked ATP player is at $164K

Golf has very expensive equipment. The vendors are willing to be top dollar sponsors as a result. I don't think the USTA can be blamed for not turning tennis into the financial equivalent of golf.

Also, golf is played on beautiful courses that have a visual, pastoral appeal. Tennis courts are ugly by comparison. A lot of people will tune in to watch a big golf tournament on TV even though they never play golf. I have played 9 holes of golf in my entire life, on one day at age 10. But I have tuned into some golf tournaments. How many TV viewers of tennis tournaments have never even played a tennis match?

Again, I don't think these factors can be laid at the feet of the USTA. The USTA is only in the USA. The national tennis federations of other countries have also not succeeded in turning tennis into a major sport in their countries, despite a variety of marketing and development approaches worldwide.

[ClarkC]

I have a lot more experience in soccer coaching and youth development than tennis, so let me describe what happens in soccer development and others with more experience in youth tennis coaching can comment on the similarities and differences.


Lots of kids participate early, with wide range of athletic talent.
Among those with good coordination, touch, and athletic ability, some are early bloomers and some are late bloomers.
The early bloomers are those who hit puberty, growing streaks, etc., earlier in life.
The early bloomers start to physically dominate during critical development years.
The expensive development resources go to the early bloomers.
By the time the players are all graduating from high school, the physical advantage of the early bloomers has dissipated. Others have caught up physically. Formerly great players are now just good players like a lot of others. Parents and coaches wonder what happened to so-and-so, he used to be the star.
The early bloomers were complacent about skill development, because they could dominate without it. Hence they are caught or surpassed by players who did not even have the development resources lavished upon them.
Coaches were also complacent about skill development of the early bloomers, because Johnny is a star and the team is winning at age 12 or 13, so what else matters?
Those who are perceptive about all of this wonder how far some of the late bloomers could have gone if development resources had been spread around to them.
Most coaches and parents repeat the above cycle over generations without ever noticing what is going on.