The sad downfall of swedish tennis

[gunnd5000]

US UK Sweden France Germany.

Not the tennis powerhouses of old.

Meet Argentina Spain and Serbia

[BeHappy]

Originally Posted by gunnd5000

US UK Sweden France Germany.

Not the tennis powerhouses of old.

Meet Argentina Spain and Serbia

Argentina, Spain and Serbia aren't producing anyone anymore either.

Argentina just have Del Potro, a few years ago they had Nalbandian, Coria, Gaudio in the top ten at the same time and Felix Mantilla.

Spain hasn't produced a new top player in 10 years.

Serbia hasn't produced a top player in 7 years.

Australia's decline is the worst. Remember when Rafter, Philipoussis and Hewitt were all top players in 2000?

[djones]

Originally Posted by BeHappy

Argentina, Spain and Serbia aren't producing anyone anymore either.

Argentina just have Del Potro, a few years ago they had Nalbandian, Coria, Gaudio in the top ten at the same time and Felix Mantilla.

Spain hasn't produced a new top player in 10 years.

Serbia hasn't produced a top player in 7 years.

Australia's decline is the worst. Remember when Rafter, Philipoussis and Hewitt were all top players in 2000?

Mantilla is Spanish

[BeHappy]

Originally Posted by djones

Mantilla is Spanish

Well I was wrong about that, I always thought he was Argentinian.

[slowfox]

Originally Posted by Fedex

Even the pensioners were hot.

MILF heaven? Or shall I say GILF...

Originally Posted by tommyfr

The reason for swedish downfall in tennis is

a) lack of courts during indoor season sep - april

b) the tennis schools lack ambition and high performance profil, no try outs, no selection, all should play, no one should lose, good players should not go to elite group etc, tennis should just be play up to age 14, not serious sport....therefore strong athletes dont get challenged in that environment, and go to other sports

c) related to a and b above, not enough practice in terms of hours, a couple of hours per week is not enough when there are kids over the globe that practice 3-4 hours per day

d) homeschooling not allowed by swedish government/dept ed regulations

e) a bit passive people at Swedish tennis association

On the positive side is Good to Great tennis academy founded by Magnus Norman, Kulti, Bergstrom 3 years ago. They have sponsors and majority of swedish top juniors are training there. Ymer brothers for example and the 16 year older brother is ranked top 10 ITF, ang the younger brother top europe 14 U

What did they do before to produce Borg, Edberg, Wilander et al?

[The-Champ]

Gone are the days when we could proudly say "we are a great tennis country". Borg, Wilander, Edberg, Enqvist, Larsson, Järryd, Johansson, Penfors, etc. Today, we have nothing.

Gone are the days when we could send prisoners to the Bahamas for vacation as part of their rehabilitation. Prisoners no longer riot due to not having enough cream on their strawberry dessert. Gone are the days when we could leave our motorcycles, bikes and cars on the streets unlocked. Gone are the days when we could proudly say we have the best health care system in the world. Gone are the days when our state could provide a handicapped child 2 nurses to attend its needs on a daily basis.

What we have today: Influx of illiterate immigrants whom when granted citizenship do not even want to be a part of the Swedish society. They refuse to learn the culture nor the language. The school is free yet they refuse to attend one. Instead they stay at home with 10-15 kids and get 30000 SEK a month while having all their bills paid. Swedish police and justice system is too weak to counter the new types of crimes perpetrated by immigration. Don't get me wrong, I don't blame these immigrants for coming to Sweden, I blame our politicians. For me immigration per-se is a good thing because of the cultural mix but it has to be managed well. Having said that, not all immigrants are "parasites" as the racist Sweden Democrats want us to believe. Many second and third generation immigrants have been very productive parts of our society and they come from everywhere: former Yugoslavia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East. As an ethnic Swede (not really, my ancestors moved to Sweden in the 15th century from Belgium), I'm worried about the future of my country because of how badly managed it is both economically and socially. I'm sure many Western European countries are in the same situation.

[El Nino]

Maybe tennis needs Zlatan?

[Flash O'Groove]

Originally Posted by The-Champ

Gone are the days when we could proudly say "we are a great tennis country". Borg, Wilander, Edberg, Enqvist, Larsson, Järryd, Johansson, Penfors, etc. Today, we have nothing.

Gone are the days when we could send prisoners to the Bahamas for vacation as part of their rehabilitation. Prisoners no longer riot due to not having enough cream on their strawberry dessert. Gone are the days when we could leave our motorcycles, bikes and cars on the streets unlocked. Gone are the days when we could proudly say we have the best health care system in the world. Gone are the days when our state could provide a handicapped child 2 nurses to attend its needs on a daily basis.

What we have today: Influx of illiterate immigrants whom when granted citizenship do not even want to be a part of the Swedish society. They refuse to learn the culture nor the language. The school is free yet they refuse to attend one. Instead they stay at home with 10-15 kids and get 30000 SEK a month while having all their bills paid. Swedish police and justice system is too weak to counter the new types of crimes perpetrated by immigration. Don't get me wrong, I don't blame these immigrants for coming to Sweden, I blame our politicians. For me immigration per-se is a good thing because of the cultural mix but it has to be managed well. Having said that, not all immigrants are "parasites" as the racist Sweden Democrats want us to believe. Many second and third generation immigrants have been very productive parts of our society and they come from everywhere: former Yugoslavia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East. As an ethnic Swede (not really, my ancestors moved to Sweden in the 15th century from Belgium), I'm worried about the future of my country because of how badly managed it is both economically and socially. I'm sure many Western European countries are in the same situation.

Beside your senseless general political babbling, I find it funny that you mention immigration (though without directly blaming it) in a thread about the downfall of a nation in sport, when a good part of the best sportsman comes from the immigration in all the rich countries. Henrik and Zlatan can tell you.

[WhiskeyEE]

Originally Posted by Flash O'Groove

Beside your senseless general political babbling, I find it funny that you mention immigration (though without directly blaming it) in a thread about the downfall of a nation in sport, when a good part of the best sportsman comes from the immigration in all the rich countries. Henrik and Zlatan can tell you.

This thread is more about the downfall of Sweden in general. And a lot of that can be blamed on immigration.

[m2nk2]

Originally Posted by WhiskeyEE

This thread is more about the downfall of Sweden in general. And a lot of that can be blamed on immigration.

Only ignorant fools will blame the downfall of Sweden on immigration. Sweden used to be a socialistic democratic country for 4-5 decades up until the 90's when the population decided that they instead want capitalism. That's the root of the downfall if anything.

Don't forget that the top 5% in Sweden are much richer now compared to the late 80's. This happens almost everywhere in the western world.

Anyway, this probably doesn't have that much to do with the state of swedish tennis. At least sweden has 4 juniors atm who's got the potential to become top 50 in the next 10 years. And should they do well in the grand slams, then surely the swedish public service (the swedish BBC if you will) is gonna start to broadcast French Open, Wimbledon, Stockholm Open, Swedish Open etc like they just to do in the 80-90's. And that will spawn more interest etc etc

[dominikk1985]

Originally Posted by m2nk2

Only ignorant fools will blame the downfall of Sweden on immigration. Sweden used to be a socialistic democratic country for 4-5 decades up until the 90's when the population decided that they instead want capitalism. That's the root of the downfall if anything.

Don't forget that the top 5% in Sweden are much richer now compared to the late 80's. This happens almost everywhere in the western world.

Anyway, this probably doesn't have that much to do with the state of swedish tennis. At least sweden has 4 juniors atm who's got the potential to become top 50 in the next 10 years. And should they do well in the grand slams, then surely the swedish public service (the swedish BBC if you will) is gonna start to broadcast French Open, Wimbledon, Stockholm Open, Swedish Open etc like they just to do in the 80-90's. And that will spawn more interest etc etc

didn't sweden have ridiculously high taxes at one Point?

I heard that Astrid lindgren once had a tax bill of 101% of her income.

[sureshs]

Is it true all this I hear about Swedish bikini models?

[rolliges]

The-Chump: What an idiot!

As for Zlatan AND if you have a sense of humor (and understand Swedish), then Google (youtube) "zlatan" and "tennis"

For you political junkies: Sweden is now a model for the right. Educate yourselves and take the discussion to another forum.

[WhiskeyEE]

Originally Posted by m2nk2

Only ignorant fools will blame the downfall of Sweden on immigration. Sweden used to be a socialistic democratic country for 4-5 decades up until the 90's when the population decided that they instead want capitalism. That's the root of the downfall if anything.

Don't forget that the top 5% in Sweden are much richer now compared to the late 80's. This happens almost everywhere in the western world.

Anyway, this probably doesn't have that much to do with the state of swedish tennis. At least sweden has 4 juniors atm who's got the potential to become top 50 in the next 10 years. And should they do well in the grand slams, then surely the swedish public service (the swedish BBC if you will) is gonna start to broadcast French Open, Wimbledon, Stockholm Open, Swedish Open etc like they just to do in the 80-90's. And that will spawn more interest etc etc

It's the dance of chicken and egg my friend. The fact is that immigration has all but destroyed Sweden. Blame it on capitalism if you want, but, last I checked, Uncle Sam doesn't go around raping women.

[m2nk2]

Originally Posted by dominikk1985

didn't sweden have ridiculously high taxes at one Point?

I heard that Astrid lindgren once had a tax bill of 101% of her income.

Yeah, but it was just an error. It was more than 101% btw

Sweden has really high taxes, but the wealth they had up until the 90's was really good and spread even. Free world class health care, free education incl. uni, safest roads, cleanest water etc, the list goes on and on. Then the right wingers came...

Sweden has had a pretty huge amount of immigrants coming to Sweden ever since the early 60's. It's never been an issue.

Anyway, this is a bit off topic, sorry.

I think these things goes in cycles anyway, no country can be on top forever, not even the 320 million pop. USA. Also we can't expect Sweden to get back to how it was in the 80's when they had 7 players among the top 20, with a population of 7-8 million.

[Rock Strongo]

Shall we stop the politics now so that this thread doesn't get deleted aswell?

[BeHappy]

Now that I think of it, there are no young prospects at all right now so really everyone is doing equally badly.