Next batch of Pros

[TennisCoachFLA]

Originally Posted by tenniscrazed

So If I have this right, the USTA President in 2008 received 2.5 times the amount of the ENTIRE Spanish federation budget???? and that's just one employees pay for that year.

WOW we are screwed up no matter how you slice it.

This does fall in line with the old saying "those that have too much don't care", "those that have too little don't care", but "those that have just enough really want more".

I'm so disappointed and deeply saddened. Really kids and parents of tennis kids, forget tennis, this country and the USTA could care less about your tennis.

Quit now while your young and take up a sport where the powers that be aren't so selfish.

It really is disgusting the guy got $9.3 million, mostly incentives, based partly on the magical milestone of 30 million tennis players in the US....a figure that the organization he led compiled based on a secret formula. And a figure that nobody with half a brain thinks is remotely accurate.

And I love that he takes credit for the US Open attendance. I guess Federer, Nadal, Williams sisters, Sharapova's anticipated come back from injury, Clijster's widely anticipated come back , and the large last minute walk ups to see Oudin had nothing to do with the extra 50000 spectators this year? Yeah, must be the brilliant CEO who made those extra people show up.

Give me a break. Had Federer, Nadal been injured. Had Sharapova announced a no show. Had Oudin flopped in round 1. Attendance would have been down sharply. It was about the players and circumstances, not the CEO.

That $9.3 million was pure corporate greed, at the expense of money that should have gone to junior tennis.

[Ash_Smith]

Originally Posted by boris becker 1

what great british prospects(15-16) are there????

why are 99% of the spanish pros from Barcelona and not Madrid,seville,valencia(with the exception of Ferrer and ferrero)

GB has a good team of 14-16's (and traditionally always has - we just can't turn them from juniors to seniors) - players like Evan Hoyt, Kyle Edmund, Luke Bambridge and Lloyd Glasspool are all in the top 10 of their respective Tennis Europe age groups.

As for tennis in spain it is more spread out than you might think, but the sheer number of academies in Catalunya means you are more likely to find players training in this area than other parts of Spain. That said Verdasco is from Madrid (as is Ruano Pascual), Robredo from Girona, Ferrer and Ferrero are from Valencia (although Ferrer did spend time with the Catalan Federation in Barca), Rafa is from Majorca (as is Moya and Llagostera Vives) and Almagro is from Murcia.

Many of them may have spent time training in Barca or the surrounding area because of the sheer number of academies and quality coaches there - top players attract more top players. Which is why Murray, Kuznetsova, Muller, Hantuchova, Ivanovic, Tipsarevic, Dimitrov have all worked with Sanchez-Casal at some point in their development.

[tenniscrazed]

I'm just irritated at the $9M. For $1 per year I can get you this entry list and fill seats. That is not rocket science. What is rocket science is how do you consistently produce the next batch to replace the old batch (Simon and Monfils is the the replacement for say Santoro), Chandry is the rising stock, where Santoro is the retired stock etc. This is where I think we haven't gotten our $9.4M worth.

1 Federer, Roger SUI 1
2 Nadal, Rafael ESP 2
3 Murray, Andy GBR 3
4 Djokovic, Novak SRB 4
5 Roddick, Andy USA 5
6 Del Potro, Juan Martin ARG 6
7 Simon, Gilles FRA 7
8 Tsonga, Jo-Wilfried FRA 8
9 Verdasco, Fernando ESP 9
10 Gonzalez, Fernando CHI 10
11 Soderling, Robin SWE 11
12 Davydenko, Nikolay RUS 12
13 Monfils, Gael FRA 13
14 Cilic, Marin CRO 14
OUT Nalbandian, David ARG 15
16 Robredo, Tommy ESP 16
17 Blake, James USA 17
18 Wawrinka, Stanislas SUI 18
19 Stepanek, Radek CZE 19
20 Haas, Tommy GER 20
21 Berdych, Tomas CZE 21
OUT Fish, Mardy USA 22
23 Ferrer, David ESP 23
24 Kohlschreiber, Philipp GER 24
25 Karlovic, Ivo CRO 25
26 Troicki, Viktor SRB 26
27 Tursunov, Dmitry RUS 27
28 Andreev, Igor RUS 28
29 Sela, Dudi ISR 29
30 Gasquet, Richard FRA 30
31 Hanescu, Victor ROU 31
32 Chardy, Jeremy FRA 32
33 Melzer, Jurgen AUT 33
34 Kiefer, Nicolas GER 34
35 Ferrero, Juan Carlos ESP 35
36 Kunitsyn, Igor RUS 36
37 Querrey, Sam USA 37
38 Lopez, Feliciano ESP 38
39 Mathieu, Paul-Henri FRA 39
40 Almagro, Nicolas ESP 40
41 Acasuso, Jose ARG 41
42 Hewitt, Lleyton AUS 42
43 Santoro, Fabrice FRA 43
44 Montanes, Albert ESP 44
45 Becker, Benjamin GER 45
46 Seppi, Andreas ITA 46
47 Zverev, Mischa GER 47
48 Monaco, Juan ARG 48
49 Petzschner, Philipp GER 49
50 Vassallo Arguello, Martin ARG 50
51 Serra, Florent FRA 51
52 Beck, Andreas GER 52
OUT Vliegen, Kristof BEL 53
54 Safin, Marat RUS 54
55 Chela, Juan Ignacio ARG @54
56 Nieminen, Jarkko FIN 55
57 Garcia-Lopez, Guillermo ESP 56
OUT Moya, Carlos ESP 57
59 Rochus, Christophe BEL 58
60 Mayer, Leonardo ARG 59
61 Phau, Bjorn GER 60
62 Istomin, Denis UZB 61
OUT Minar, Ivo CZE 62
64 Lu, Yen-Hsun TPE 63
65 Ljubicic, Ivan CRO 64
66 Gulbis, Ernests LAT 65
67 Golubev, Andrey KAZ 66
68 Youzhny, Mikhail RUS 67
69 Benneteau, Julien FRA 68
70 Kendrick, Robert USA 69
71 Tipsarevic, Janko SRB 70
72 Bolelli, Simone ITA 71
73 Fognini, Fabio ITA 72
74 Hernandez, Oscar ESP 73
75 Gabashvili, Teimuraz RUS 74
76 Daniel, Marcos BRA 75
77 Greul, Simon GER 76
78 Stakhovsky, Sergiy UKR 77
OUT Muller, Gilles LUX 78
80 Crivoi, Victor ROU 79
81 Koellerer, Daniel AUT 80
82 Schuettler, Rainer GER 81
83 Gicquel, Marc FRA 82
84 Capdeville, Paul CHI 83
85 Massu, Nicolas CHI 84
86 Gimeno-Traver, Daniel ESP 85
87 Gil, Frederico POR 86
88 Rochus, Olivier BEL 87
89 Alves, Thiago BRA 88
90 Hernych, Jan CZE 89
OUT Ancic, Mario CRO 90
92 Kim, Kevin USA 91
93 Martin, Alberto ESP 92
94 Korolev, Evgeny RUS 93
95 Starace, Potito ITA 94
96 Ginepri, Robby USA 95
97 Isner, John USA 96
98 Gonzalez, Maximo ARG 97
99 Darcis, Steve BEL 98
100 Cipolla, Flavio ITA 99
101 Odesnik, Wayne USA 100
102 Pavel, Andrei ROU @100
103 Granollers, Marcel ESP 101
104 Ramirez Hidalgo, Ruben ESP 102
105 (Q) Bellucci, Thomaz BRA
106 (Q) Zeballos, Horacio ARG
107 (Q) Yani, Michael USA
108 (Q) Ilhan, Marsel TUR
109 (Q) Ouanna, Josselin FRA
110 (Q) Witten, Jesse USA
111 (Q) Kindlmann, Dieter GER
112 (Q) Falla, Alejandro COL
113 (Q) Polansky, Peter CAN
114 (Q) Berrer, Michael GER
115 (Q) Brzezicki, Juan Pablo ARG
116 (Q) Ball, Carsten AUS
117 (Q) Chiudinelli, Marco SUI
118 (Q) Lapentti, Giovanni ECU
119 (Q) Young, Donald USA
120 (Q) Devvarman, Somdev IND
121 (WC) Britton, Devin USA (2009 NCAA champion)
122 (WC) Buchanan, Chase USA (2009 Kalamazoo champion)
123 (WC) Dent, Taylor USA
124 (WC) Evans, Brendan USA
125 (WC) Levine, Jesse USA
126 (WC) Sweeting, Ryan USA (replaces Ram)
127 (WC) Llodra, Michael FRA (FFT)
128 (WC) Guccione, Chris AUS (TA)
(LL) Luczak, Peter AUS (replaces Vliegen)
(LL) Machado, Rui POR (replaces Fish)

Alternates
IN Navarro, Ivan ESP 103
IN Beck, Karol SVK 104
OUT Nishikori, Kei JPN 105
IN Lapentti, Nicolas ECU 106
IN Cuevas, Pablo URU 107
IN Ram, Rajeev USA 108
1 Mannarino, Adrian FRA 109
2 Ouanna, Josselin FRA 110
3 Berrer, Michael GER 111
4 Guccione, Chris AUS 112 (WC to MD)
5 Zeballos, Horacio ARG 113
6 Machado, Rui POR 114
7 Ventura, Santiago ESP 115
8 Levine, Jesse USA 116 (WC to MD)
9 Bellucci, Thomaz BRA 117

That is not rocket science. What is rocket science is how do you consistently produce the next batch to replace the old batch (Simon and Monfils is the the replacement for say Santoro), Chandry is the rising stock, where Santoro is the retired stock etc. This is where I think we haven't gotten our $9.4M worth.

[TennisCoachFLA]

Originally Posted by tenniscrazed

I'm just irritated at the $9M. For $1 per year I can get you this entry list and fill seats. That is not rocket science. What is rocket science is how do you consistently produce the next batch to replace the old batch (Simon and Monfils is the the replacement for say Santoro), Chandry is the rising stock, where Santoro is the retired stock etc. This is where I think we haven't gotten our $9.4M worth.

1 Federer, Roger SUI 1
2 Nadal, Rafael ESP 2
3 Murray, Andy GBR 3
4 Djokovic, Novak SRB 4
5 Roddick, Andy USA 5
6 Del Potro, Juan Martin ARG 6
7 Simon, Gilles FRA 7
8 Tsonga, Jo-Wilfried FRA 8
9 Verdasco, Fernando ESP 9
10 Gonzalez, Fernando CHI 10
11 Soderling, Robin SWE 11
12 Davydenko, Nikolay RUS 12
13 Monfils, Gael FRA 13
14 Cilic, Marin CRO 14
OUT Nalbandian, David ARG 15
16 Robredo, Tommy ESP 16
17 Blake, James USA 17
18 Wawrinka, Stanislas SUI 18
19 Stepanek, Radek CZE 19
20 Haas, Tommy GER 20
21 Berdych, Tomas CZE 21
OUT Fish, Mardy USA 22
23 Ferrer, David ESP 23
24 Kohlschreiber, Philipp GER 24
25 Karlovic, Ivo CRO 25
26 Troicki, Viktor SRB 26
27 Tursunov, Dmitry RUS 27
28 Andreev, Igor RUS 28
29 Sela, Dudi ISR 29
30 Gasquet, Richard FRA 30
31 Hanescu, Victor ROU 31
32 Chardy, Jeremy FRA 32
33 Melzer, Jurgen AUT 33
34 Kiefer, Nicolas GER 34
35 Ferrero, Juan Carlos ESP 35
36 Kunitsyn, Igor RUS 36
37 Querrey, Sam USA 37
38 Lopez, Feliciano ESP 38
39 Mathieu, Paul-Henri FRA 39
40 Almagro, Nicolas ESP 40
41 Acasuso, Jose ARG 41
42 Hewitt, Lleyton AUS 42
43 Santoro, Fabrice FRA 43
44 Montanes, Albert ESP 44
45 Becker, Benjamin GER 45
46 Seppi, Andreas ITA 46
47 Zverev, Mischa GER 47
48 Monaco, Juan ARG 48
49 Petzschner, Philipp GER 49
50 Vassallo Arguello, Martin ARG 50
51 Serra, Florent FRA 51
52 Beck, Andreas GER 52
OUT Vliegen, Kristof BEL 53
54 Safin, Marat RUS 54
55 Chela, Juan Ignacio ARG @54
56 Nieminen, Jarkko FIN 55
57 Garcia-Lopez, Guillermo ESP 56
OUT Moya, Carlos ESP 57
59 Rochus, Christophe BEL 58
60 Mayer, Leonardo ARG 59
61 Phau, Bjorn GER 60
62 Istomin, Denis UZB 61
OUT Minar, Ivo CZE 62
64 Lu, Yen-Hsun TPE 63
65 Ljubicic, Ivan CRO 64
66 Gulbis, Ernests LAT 65
67 Golubev, Andrey KAZ 66
68 Youzhny, Mikhail RUS 67
69 Benneteau, Julien FRA 68
70 Kendrick, Robert USA 69
71 Tipsarevic, Janko SRB 70
72 Bolelli, Simone ITA 71
73 Fognini, Fabio ITA 72
74 Hernandez, Oscar ESP 73
75 Gabashvili, Teimuraz RUS 74
76 Daniel, Marcos BRA 75
77 Greul, Simon GER 76
78 Stakhovsky, Sergiy UKR 77
OUT Muller, Gilles LUX 78
80 Crivoi, Victor ROU 79
81 Koellerer, Daniel AUT 80
82 Schuettler, Rainer GER 81
83 Gicquel, Marc FRA 82
84 Capdeville, Paul CHI 83
85 Massu, Nicolas CHI 84
86 Gimeno-Traver, Daniel ESP 85
87 Gil, Frederico POR 86
88 Rochus, Olivier BEL 87
89 Alves, Thiago BRA 88
90 Hernych, Jan CZE 89
OUT Ancic, Mario CRO 90
92 Kim, Kevin USA 91
93 Martin, Alberto ESP 92
94 Korolev, Evgeny RUS 93
95 Starace, Potito ITA 94
96 Ginepri, Robby USA 95
97 Isner, John USA 96
98 Gonzalez, Maximo ARG 97
99 Darcis, Steve BEL 98
100 Cipolla, Flavio ITA 99
101 Odesnik, Wayne USA 100
102 Pavel, Andrei ROU @100
103 Granollers, Marcel ESP 101
104 Ramirez Hidalgo, Ruben ESP 102
105 (Q) Bellucci, Thomaz BRA
106 (Q) Zeballos, Horacio ARG
107 (Q) Yani, Michael USA
108 (Q) Ilhan, Marsel TUR
109 (Q) Ouanna, Josselin FRA
110 (Q) Witten, Jesse USA
111 (Q) Kindlmann, Dieter GER
112 (Q) Falla, Alejandro COL
113 (Q) Polansky, Peter CAN
114 (Q) Berrer, Michael GER
115 (Q) Brzezicki, Juan Pablo ARG
116 (Q) Ball, Carsten AUS
117 (Q) Chiudinelli, Marco SUI
118 (Q) Lapentti, Giovanni ECU
119 (Q) Young, Donald USA
120 (Q) Devvarman, Somdev IND
121 (WC) Britton, Devin USA (2009 NCAA champion)
122 (WC) Buchanan, Chase USA (2009 Kalamazoo champion)
123 (WC) Dent, Taylor USA
124 (WC) Evans, Brendan USA
125 (WC) Levine, Jesse USA
126 (WC) Sweeting, Ryan USA (replaces Ram)
127 (WC) Llodra, Michael FRA (FFT)
128 (WC) Guccione, Chris AUS (TA)
(LL) Luczak, Peter AUS (replaces Vliegen)
(LL) Machado, Rui POR (replaces Fish)

Alternates
IN Navarro, Ivan ESP 103
IN Beck, Karol SVK 104
OUT Nishikori, Kei JPN 105
IN Lapentti, Nicolas ECU 106
IN Cuevas, Pablo URU 107
IN Ram, Rajeev USA 108
1 Mannarino, Adrian FRA 109
2 Ouanna, Josselin FRA 110
3 Berrer, Michael GER 111
4 Guccione, Chris AUS 112 (WC to MD)
5 Zeballos, Horacio ARG 113
6 Machado, Rui POR 114
7 Ventura, Santiago ESP 115
8 Levine, Jesse USA 116 (WC to MD)
9 Bellucci, Thomaz BRA 117

That is not rocket science. What is rocket science is how do you consistently produce the next batch to replace the old batch (Simon and Monfils is the the replacement for say Santoro), Chandry is the rising stock, where Santoro is the retired stock etc. This is where I think we haven't gotten our $9.4M worth.

Exactly....tell me you could not have taken $4 million and given it to Miley Cyrus and the other $5 million to LeBron James to say how much they love tennis and do as many promos for tennis as they have time for. (Just examples, insert whoever is popular with kids at any given time)

You would have had a million kids bugging parents to play tennis, every court in the US filled. Attendance at all tournaments would skyrocket.....hmmmm....a cycle of more and more revenue to be put back into growing tennis.

Then take the money you put into high performance and Pat Mac and make tennis as affordable as possible. Lots of inexpensive local tournaments.

Thats how you grow the game and drastically deepen the talent pool.

By the way, when is the last time you have seen a currently popular figure doing TV commercials for tennis? How much air time could that $9 million have purchased?

[cmb]

Originally Posted by tenniscrazed

Based on what I've read, the key here in the U.S. which the USTA can be of great assistance is furthering our existing club and park / recreation infrastructure. Where there is inter location competition.

What has to happen is you have to "require" to an extent that all kids play to insure a high level. To do that there has to be motivation, the motivational trigger can be various wild cards. Make the events one age group round robins, team events can have a form of draft system so all the top and bottom players get distributed evenly. Regardless of the format, participation is key. This can be done by the USTA through reduced entry, and required participation.

I certainly hope someone up there hears us as it were????

You have some good ideas, and you do understand that we have a lack of affordable competition for professional players in our country. But in my opinion your ideas of a draft, 1 age group round robins, this is way to complicated and confusing.

It really does not have to be complicated at all. First thing that needs to change is one national ranking list, where everyone plays it, pros, college players,juniors. On the same list. Now, I would prefer a level system rather then 1-1000, but either way it can work.

Next, you need to have every tournament that is played counts to the single ranking list.

Now you have the problem of motivating pros, coaches,college players to play such tournaments....this is where you need to have prize money in every tournament. Why would a pro waste his time playing such tournaments if he is going to lose money over the weekend? Why would a teaching pro waste a weekend of lessons if he is just going to lose money playing the tournament.

[Spinz]

Originally Posted by cmb

You have some good ideas, and you do understand that we have a lack of affordable competition for professional players in our country. But in my opinion your ideas of a draft, 1 age group round robins, this is way to complicated and confusing.

It really does not have to be complicated at all. First thing that needs to change is one national ranking list, where everyone plays it, pros, college players,juniors. On the same list. Now, I would prefer a level system rather then 1-1000, but either way it can work.

Next, you need to have every tournament that is played counts to the single ranking list.

Now you have the problem of motivating pros, coaches,college players to play such tournaments....this is where you need to have prize money in every tournament. Why would a pro waste his time playing such tournaments if he is going to lose money over the weekend? Why would a teaching pro waste a weekend of lessons if he is just going to lose money playing the tournament.

+1. Paying money has to happen, not only at the open level, but also at the junior level. Also a decent ranking system based on who you beat, not how much money you have to travel around and play tournaments. Other countries have it figured out, not sure why it is so difficult for the US.

[cmb]

I try to keep it the simple, the easier it is to understand, hopefully the more people can look at it without pointing out what they think are negatives

[tenniscrazed]

Originally Posted by cmb

I try to keep it the simple, the easier it is to understand, hopefully the more people can look at it without pointing out what they think are negatives

K.I.S.S. is a great philosophy. Keep It Simple, and Stupid is a menu for success in a lot of endeavors.

Best holiday wishes

[tenniscrazed]

Originally Posted by tenniscrazed

I was intrigued by the idea of predicting where the next batch of mens touring pros might come from so I did a bit of research.

Using the ITF juniors top 500 rankings, the US holds 48 spots, and Europe (ex Spain, Italy), FRA, GBR, GER holds a whopping 67 spots. Further, in the top 100 the US holds 14 spots, while Europe (ex Spain, Italy) holds a whopping 19 spots.

Interestingly, , Eastern Block 48 spots, while they only consumed 6 spots of the top 100.

Some areas that were a bit impressive although hardly many was India @ 23, and Argentina @ 12 of the top 500. It will be interesting if more Argentinian juniors enter these ranks going forward. An important note on Argentina is that of the 12, 5 are in the top 100.

Some surprises, Spain only 7 in the top 500, and 1 in the top 100. (The USTA maybe a bit late in the game on this one if they're trying to imitate training technique).

So my prediction is the crop of touring pros forthcoming will be British, German, French, Americans and Argentinians.

The future of the top 100 touring pros will likely have a similar ratio breadown although the names maybe different their Nationalities will likely be the same.

I decided to take this one step further and give look out names.

1) Agustin Velotti --- Argentina
2) Jason Kubler --- Austria
3) Gianni Mina -- France
4) Pierre Herbert -- France
5) Kevin Krawietz -- Germany
6) Filip Horanski -- Slovakia
7) Tiago Fernandez -- Brazil
8. ) Evan King -- USA
9) Jordan Cox -- USA

Don't mean to quote myself but the above, particularly Gianni Mina are doing quite well.

[TnsMan2]

Originally Posted by tenniscrazed

K.I.S.S. is a great philosophy. Keep It Simple, and Stupid is a menu for success in a lot of endeavors.

Best holiday wishes

Merry Christmas to you also , but i don't like that your telling us the exports don't have as good as chance as the regular people to take someone to the top cause the menu doesn't call for them lol kiss

[bieker]

Evan King used to come to my club for one tournament a year for his Grandmas birthday. Pretty cool to see if he'd drop a single game the whole tournament lol.

[TnsMan2]

Originally Posted by bieker

Evan King used to come to my club for one tournament a year for his Grandmas birthday. Pretty cool to see if he'd drop a single game the whole tournament lol.

He seems to be a nice kid but they had him play to much on the defence and thats what his game became.

[groundbreaker]

Originally Posted by tenniscrazed

I decided to take this one step further and give look out names.

1) Agustin Velotti --- Argentina
2) Jason Kubler --- Austria
3) Gianni Mina -- France
4) Pierre Herbert -- France
5) Kevin Krawietz -- Germany
6) Filip Horanski -- Slovakia
7) Tiago Fernandez -- Brazil
8. ) Evan King -- USA
9) Jordan Cox -- USA

I've never met him, but his older brother played for my high school as an exchange student a couple years back, and he went to state quarterfinals in doubles and lost his singles match to go to states. I thought HE was good, but the younger one is way better from what he's said. Keep an eye on the Brazilian. Another one of his childhood friends is currently at my school (exchange program), and he heard that Tiago's worked with Kuerten a bit. Hope I can meet him sometime.

[gunnd5000]

Originally Posted by Spinz

+1. Paying money has to happen, not only at the open level, but also at the junior level. Also a decent ranking system based on who you beat, not how much money you have to travel around and play tournaments. Other countries have it figured out, not sure why it is so difficult for the US.

believe me the lta is more screwed than the usta