Sam Querrey's really dissappointing quote

I'll be honest--a lot of guys on the tour work harder than I do. I think I can work harder, and I will in the future. But I don't put my pressure on myself because there's no rush. I obviously want to get higher--as high as I can and as fast as I can. But I want to feel my way and enjoy the process.

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bank5 said:

Is anyone else bothered by this quote by Sam Querrey in Tennis Magazine:



I stopped reading the article and pretty much lost hope in the guy after reading that quote.

I think the biggest problem with American tennis is too many kids are playing video games and eating twinkies (or driving their parent's porche) while kids in other countries are growing up poor with nothing but a tennis racquet and work ethic.

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Jonny S&V said:

No, I think this quote made me follow him even more. The US has had the majority of teen phenom burn out, and this way I don't think he is going to be one of them.

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saram said:

Once anything is not fun, you lose interest--including tennis. If this is what Querrey needs to progress at his rate--then so be it.

We as fans possess no right to push a player to do anything they want. American tennis sucks--face it....I have.

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tennispro11 said:

...........LOL!............. But so true though.

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saram said:

Japan and Thailand will surpass us shortly with better and more players on tour....I am glad we don't declare wars based on our depth of tennis players...we'd be homeless and hungry here in the states....

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35ft6 said:

That quote doesn't bother me that much. There's more to life than tennis and maybe he's equally concerned with those things.

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federer envies me said:

i think the future of american tennis will be john isner or donald young

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35ft6 said:

That quote doesn't bother me that much. There's more to life than tennis and maybe he's equally concerned with those things.

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saram said:

Once anything is not fun, you lose interest--including tennis. If this is what Querrey needs to progress at his rate--then so be it.

We as fans possess no right to push a player to do anything they want. American tennis sucks--face it....I have.

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bank5 said:

I really hope he just said it to take some pressure off himself, but if he can't handle the pressure he's not going to be #1 or even close.

Maybe the "US phenom burn out" relates back to the work ethic thing.

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rrhstennis said:

If by "American tennis just sucks" you mean that it only has 2 slams in the last 5 years as opposed to Spain's 4 and Switzerland's 11, then yeah I guess it does blow. By most country's standards, that's not too shabby.

If you honestly think any of the current American lot - Roddick, Blake, Isner, Querrey, Young, whoever, have half the talent and skill of Nadal or Federer, I think you're mistaken. I don't think it's just a hunger gap, I think it's a heck of a lot more than that.

Now, if you're saying that Querrey's quote is what will keep him from being a slam champ when Fed and Nads are gone, then you might be right. But right now, he can fight all he wants, and so can Roddick or whoever else for that matter, and they're still going down.

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bank5 said:

I don't think American tennis sucks - made it at least to the semis for the Davis Cup and have two guys in the top 10.

I guess it's easier to lose interest when you're driving your Mom's Porche growing up compared to the kid who goes to the court to get away from a war going on in his backyard.

I'm not trying to bash the guy, he can do whatever he wants...just trying to figure out why American tennis is heading downhill.

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tennispro11 said:

So two slams in five years. Who won before or after Roddick's 2003 US Open? I think you contradicted yourself in a few of your statements.

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tennispro11 said:

Thanks. I couldn't remember for the life of me. I don't think you contradicted yourself. My fault.

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35ft6 said:

That quote doesn't bother me that much. There's more to life than tennis and maybe he's equally concerned with those things.

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rrhstennis said:

But I bet France wishes they were us!
Edit: Actually, France probably wishes they were Spain the last 3 years!

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Rhino said:

I can absolutely guarantee you that France does not even for one second wish they were America.

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Rhino said:

I agree. I really don't think Sam Q is going to care less whether some American tennis fan looking for bragging rights on an internet forum is losing hope in him... he'll be too busy enjoying life and success at his own pace.
Meanwhile the insanely hungrey Roddick can look forward to a slamless future.

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saram said:

It is easy--look at our school systems. Our tennis courts deteriorate every year. Coaches are hard as can be to come by. Schools do not want to fund tennis. There are no concessions to be made from tennis, etc.

American schools want football, baseball, basketball, and wrestling. They want anything that will profit. No school can profit via tennis--only lose money as they have to pay for travel, coaches, etc. Schools make money from packed stadiums selling tickets, hotdogs, burgers, popcorn and soda.

None of the schools or programs that surround schools prior to high-school offer tennis. Kids do not learn about tennis until they enter high-school. Only those that have parents that play are shown the in's and out's of tennis.

Communities will always build a bigger gymnasium, football field, baseball field, etc, with tax dollars. We have been trying for years to improve our tennis facilities in town and the only grants we can get are via the USTA.

No one outside of the USTA has funded tennis in our community in over five years...

THAT...is the demise of American tennis...NO ONE CARES.

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tennispro11 said:

And every year the French go, "He is on chemicals." And I'm going, "It's chemotherapy, you little toad suckers." "Okay, he has one testicle, he's aerodynamic. Everyone, cut off your balls. You'll be quicker. Do it. Don't be afraid."

Robin Williams

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bank5 said:

hahahaha....that's awesome. I think that's the funniest thing I've read on here. Is that on YouTube?

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rrhstennis said:

LOL at the Robin Williams quote!

Yes, I'm well aware France doesn't want to be America. I was only referring to tennis, in which they're starving for a champ even on Roddick's level

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bank5 said:

I strongly disagree with this. School sports (including tennis) are FAR bigger in the US than any other country. Not only that, but on the college level there's even a bigger gap (especially with tennis).

America also has a lot more public tennis courts than other countries. I was talking to a guy from England the other day and he said that golf is bigger than tennis over there because tennis is too expensive (there aren't any public courts). I played a guy from Japan last week and he said you have to drive over an hour just to get to a private court over there. Within a half hour from where I live there's over 100 courts.

As far as access to courts and playing in schools, Americans have the biggest advantage in the world.

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bank5 said:

I strongly disagree with this. School sports (including tennis) are FAR bigger in the US than any other country. Not only that, but on the college level there's even a bigger gap (especially with tennis).

America also has a lot more public tennis courts than other countries. I was talking to a guy from England the other day and he said that golf is bigger than tennis over there because tennis is too expensive (there aren't any public courts). I played a guy from Japan last week and he said you have to drive over an hour just to get to a private court over there. Within a half hour from where I live there's over 100 courts.

As far as access to courts and playing in schools, Americans have the biggest advantage in the world.

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tennispro11 said:

Ok their is a huge difference in how other countries run their tennis programs compared to ours. Yes high school and college tennis are bigger than anywhere else in the world. But they do it differently. For example, say France has an up and coming junior what would they do. They would automatically send him to their academy that they have for all promising juniors and they would get a scholarship as well to make it less expensive for the family. We don't have that in the US. Not even close. It is getting better. But we are still a long way off. Say if a Frenchman wanted to play tennis that had gone to the academy but wasn't good enough to go pro, where would he go? He of course comes to America to go to college. He will get a full ride to play tennis at a four year university. He will be better than 80 percent of the Americans he plays because he went to an academy when he was 12 or 13. I am speaking from experience. I played all four years in college and that was how it was.

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bank5 said:

I strongly disagree with this. School sports (including tennis) are FAR bigger in the US than any other country. Not only that, but on the college level there's even a bigger gap (especially with tennis).

America also has a lot more public tennis courts than other countries. I was talking to a guy from England the other day and he said that golf is bigger than tennis over there because tennis is too expensive (there aren't any public courts). I played a guy from Japan last week and he said you have to drive over an hour just to get to a private court over there. Within a half hour from where I live there's over 100 courts.

As far as access to courts and playing in schools, Americans have the biggest advantage in the world.

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Jonny S&V said:

That is true, however, if you get kids who are mainly going to mainstream sports (such as Baseball, Basketball and Football), you get mostly non-athletic kids (at least where I live) that don't have a lot of talent. The only hope I think we have is to raise our kids in the future playing soccer and tennis. I don't know what it is about those 2 that intertwines them, but even at the high school level, a lot of good tennis players play soccer too (for example, 7/10 of my top 10 at school play soccer in the fall and tennis in the spring, 5/6 of the top 10, me being the only one who doesn't). I also find that kids that play tennis are usually pushed by their parents, which in turn makes them want to be their own individuals and go a different path. I picked up tennis at a older age for a kid (13), but I have the drive to play because I know that I picked up the sport on my own, and my parents could care less what I do (which is both a good thing ($), and a bad thing (grades)).

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bank5 said:

I strongly disagree with this. School sports (including tennis) are FAR bigger in the US than any other country. Not only that, but on the college level there's even a bigger gap (especially with tennis).

America also has a lot more public tennis courts than other countries. I was talking to a guy from England the other day and he said that golf is bigger than tennis over there because tennis is too expensive (there aren't any public courts). I played a guy from Japan last week and he said you have to drive over an hour just to get to a private court over there. Within a half hour from where I live there's over 100 courts.

As far as access to courts and playing in schools, Americans have the biggest advantage in the world.

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saram said:

American parents are so fat, lazy, etc., that taking their child to a public court to hit a few would just suck. A parent would have to miss Survivor 8 or Lost to head to the courts with their child.

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bank5 said:

I think the biggest problem with American tennis is too many kids are playing video games and eating twinkies (or driving their parent's porche) while kids in other countries are growing up poor with nothing but a tennis racquet and work ethic.

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bank5 said:

I guess it's easier to lose interest when you're driving your Mom's Porche growing up compared to the kid who goes to the court to get away from a war going on in his backyard.

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Frenchie said:

Oh please... Doesn't get more schmaltzy or melodramatic than that does it? I can't think of one professional tennis player who was raised anywhere near a war. Djokovic was up in the mountains during the 3 year Bosnian War and Ljubicic promptly relocated when fighting broke out.

On the other hand, the Williams Sisters faced constant drive-by gang shootings during their youth training. One such shooting killed their sister for god's sake! Seems to me it's the American tennis champions that have a war in their backyard. Please avoid such sweeping cultural generalizations in the future.

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Frenchie said:

Oh please... Doesn't get more schmaltzy or melodramatic than that does it? I can't think of one professional tennis player who was raised anywhere near a war. Djokovic was up in the mountains during the 3 year Bosnian War and Ljubicic promptly relocated when fighting broke out.

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bank5 said:

Is anyone else bothered by this quote by Sam Querrey in Tennis Magazine:



I stopped reading the article and pretty much lost hope in the guy after reading that quote.

I think the biggest problem with American tennis is too many kids are playing video games and eating twinkies (or driving their parent's porche) while kids in other countries are growing up poor with nothing but a tennis racquet and work ethic.

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J-man said:

I agree that he should be working hard now. But he is a young guy. He's got time to improve and mature and I'm sure he will.

By the way as a sidenote Querrey doesn't drive a Porsche. He drives an old beater.

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bank5 said:

I think the biggest problem with American tennis is too many kids are playing video games and eating twinkies (or driving their parent's porche) while kids in other countries are growing up poor with nothing but a tennis racquet and work ethic.

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tangerine said:

I'm more bothered by your quote that generalizes 300 million hard-working people than by anything Sam Querrey said.

Eating twinkies all day, speak for yourself.

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tennispro11 said:

You have no idea what you are talking about. As I recall Ljub had a gun held to his head and Djoker had to relocate to another COUNTRY so his whole FAMILY woudn't be KILLED! You need to think before you type.

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Rhino said:

Gasquet humiliated Roddick at Wimbledon and will be top 10 soon. France has 7 men inside the top 50 to only 2 Americans (who are both on their way down).

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35ft6 said:

That quote doesn't bother me that much. There's more to life than tennis and maybe he's equally concerned with those things.

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