Obesity is certainly a problem in the US, but it's a growing problem in certain European countries as well. Terrible diets and also general inactivity are big problems that are certainly not restricted to the U.S. though. Even the United Kingdom and Germany have obesity rates above 60%. The US is at 74% per this study cited.
http://www.forbes.com/2007/02/07/worlds-fattest-countries-forbeslife-cx_ls_0208worldfat_2.html
At the same time, in the US there are also many elite athletes. Look at the Olympics for example, which country tends to win the most medals at the Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics? So, it's not as if the U.S. can produce elite athletes. Then look at professional sports, high school athletics, and college sports in the US. It's misguided to think that the US does not have a great sports culture. It's just that the biggest and most popular sports in the US are different than the ones in Europe and the rest of the world. Soccer is a prime example. I don't think many outside the U.S. appreciate just how "big" pro basketball, pro football, and pro baseball are here in the US. They
dominate ESPN coverage for example. Every major city spends hundreds of millions on sports venues. So many youngsters grow up playing those sports, just as their fathers did, so those other sports have very rich histories here. In the same way, many Americans have a difficult time appreciating just how big pro soccer, pro cricket, and now pro tennis is in other countries. This is all relative and also cyclical. Overall, no nation has won as many major tennis titles as the U.S. It's not even close, though of course, countries like Spain and France are making great progress and are now producing great players at an astounding rate. Yet, tennis is not a "dying" or "dead" sport in the U.S. It's just not as popular overall as it was in the late 1970's for example, when it reached its apex as far as that goes (total players, focus on the pros, general interest). Yet, it has made a resurgence here especially after 2003, so there is a rebound. The U.S. has the facilities and resources to crank out many top players in the future, so I don't think there's any doubt that there will be top players once again from the U.S. The Bryan brothers, the Williams sisters, and Roddick may be the "old guard", but it's just a matter of time. As a final point, notice how many European players enjoy staying and training in the U.S. So, yes tennis could be better in the U.S., but let's keep things in perspective. The U.S. is not only filled with overweight and lazy folks, though obesity is a huge problem. There are many folks with such issues, but let's not paint with only a broad brush. There are also plenty of phenomenal athletes with abundant resources and great training environments as well.
