Well there is still an American citizen there (Haas)
In the US, there's only mainstream interest in tennis when there are American champions. It's the same reason Basketball/Baseball are very popular here, whereas soccer(football)/tennis are not at the moment.
Actually, soccer is more popular in America than it has ever been. The national team has more depth than it's ever had, with several players playing in top leagues abroad.
Also, NBC just bought the rights to show English Premier League matches next season, and the Seattle Sounders are expecting a sellout crowd of about 66,000 to see Clint Dempsey's first game after transferring back to the US.
I'm starting to wonder if soccer is draining talent from the same pool that tennis relies on. In many parts of the country (though not all), both sports have similar demographics. Also, the rise of US soccer seems to correlate with the fall of US tennis.
Sorry, I guess I wasn't accurate. But I will point out that this does support the effect I'm talking about. When Americans have top players in a sport, then they have more interest in it (which is natural). Since as you say, currently there are more top American soccer players, interest in the sport goes up and more athletes choose soccer. So the popularity feeds itself.
In the past decades, tennis had more American top players so interest in the sport was higher in the US and more quality athletes went into tennis. However, after Sampras/Agassi became less dominant, US interest in tennis dropped and less quality athletes entered the sport. And without new top American players emerging to boost interest, the effect will continue.
Well there is still an American citizen there (Haas)
Didn't realise the 3rd ranked USA player is Jack Sock.
It's unfortunately a compounding effect. In the US, there's only mainstream interest in tennis when there are American champions. It's the same reason Basketball/Baseball are very popular here, whereas soccer(football)/tennis are not at the moment.
Because the US has so many opportunities for athletes and offers such excellent resources for sports, the best athletes will naturally go towards sports that are more popular in America. So as a result, less top-quality athletes end up in tennis.
So basically: No top american tennis players means lack of interest in the sport. Lack of interest in the sport means less quality athletes will choose tennis.
I have seen this in the media about there being no American man in the top 20. Why is not Haas included in 'American Men'? He is an american citizen. Surely that is enough. Well there may be those who say, well he was born in Germany...well so was John McEnroe. Still others will say, well he wasn't developed in America...but.....where is bolleteri's again?
Can't understand why Haas isn't listed as an American. (Yes he has dual citizenship - but so do a lot of people)
I have seen this in the media about there being no American man in the top 20. Why is not Haas included in 'American Men'? He is an american citizen. Surely that is enough. Well there may be those who say, well he was born in Germany...well so was John McEnroe. Still others will say, well he wasn't developed in America...but.....where is bolleteri's again?
Can't understand why Haas isn't listed as an American. (Yes he has dual citizenship - but so do a lot of people)
It's unfortunately a compounding effect. In the US, there's only mainstream interest in tennis when there are American champions. It's the same reason Basketball/Baseball are very popular here, whereas soccer(football)/tennis are not at the moment.
Because the US has so many opportunities for athletes and offers such excellent resources for sports, the best athletes will naturally go towards sports that are more popular in America. So as a result, less top-quality athletes end up in tennis.
So basically: No top american tennis players means lack of interest in the sport. Lack of interest in the sport means less quality athletes will choose tennis.
It's unfortunately a compounding effect. In the US, there's only mainstream interest in tennis when there are American champions. It's the same reason Basketball/Baseball are very popular here, whereas soccer(football)/tennis are not at the moment.
Because the US has so many opportunities for athletes and offers such excellent resources for sports, the best athletes will naturally go towards sports that are more popular in America. So as a result, less top-quality athletes end up in tennis.
So basically: No top american tennis players means lack of interest in the sport. Lack of interest in the sport means less quality athletes will choose tennis.
It always goes in cycles though. Sweden in the 80s with a population of 6-7 million had 7 players among the top 20 and won Davis Cup a number of times as well as some 25 Grand Slams.
Now our best player is ranked around 500...
It's unfortunately a compounding effect. In the US, there's only mainstream interest in tennis when there are American champions. It's the same reason Basketball/Baseball are very popular here, whereas soccer(football)/tennis are not at the moment.
Because the US has so many opportunities for athletes and offers such excellent resources for sports, the best athletes will naturally go towards sports that are more popular in America. So as a result, less top-quality athletes end up in tennis.
So basically: No top american tennis players means lack of interest in the sport. Lack of interest in the sport means less quality athletes will choose tennis.
Haas is German and he plays for Germany always has, always will.
I don't think that "better" athletes, whatever that means in this context, choose other sports over tennis.
I do think that more young people choose other sports over tennis for many reasons, some of which you have touched upon.
With tennis in particular it's a numbers game. All it takes is 2-4 great players from the US and tennis would be super hot here. If you have a large base of people playing tennis, your odds increase tremendously that you end up with a couple outliers who reach the highest levels.
I don't think that "better" athletes, whatever that means in this context, choose other sports over tennis.
I do think that more young people choose other sports over tennis for many reasons, some of which you have touched upon.
With tennis in particular it's a numbers game. All it takes is 2-4 great players from the US and tennis would be super hot here. If you have a large base of people playing tennis, your odds increase tremendously that you end up with a couple outliers who reach the highest levels.
Also, keep in mind that football in particular, but also baseball to a degree, are largely American (or North American) sports, which means that the majority of the players and the stars are also American. When it comes to sports, Americans are a bit odd in that most of them don't have a true love for the particular sport. They tend to like a combination of (i) the very highest levels of the sport plus (ii) domination of the highest levels by Americans.
Actually, soccer is more popular in America than it has ever been. The national team has more depth than it's ever had, with several players playing in top leagues abroad.
Also, NBC just bought the rights to show English Premier League matches next season, and the Seattle Sounders are expecting a sellout crowd of about 66,000 to see Clint Dempsey's first game after transferring back to the US.
I'm starting to wonder if soccer is draining talent from the same pool that tennis relies on. In many parts of the country (though not all), both sports have similar demographics. Also, the rise of US soccer seems to correlate with the fall of US tennis.
I agree with that, but how does it explain the states of tennis in USA? What was the popularity of tennis in Switzerland before Hingis and Federer? It was so low, it had so few practicants that I never had the idea to interest myself in it when I was a kid. Soccer, hockey, skiing, basketball, volleyball, martial arts, cycling, I tried because I knew people who were doing them. But tennis? I had to wait to have my grandmother being crazy about Hingis and Federer to pay attention to it and finally get into it.
So I garantee you that tennis is not big in Switzerland, and it was even less before Hingis and Federer. Yet, Federer, Hingis, Schnyder, Wawrinka, have emerged.
I believe it's even worse than here in Serbia and Spain. I would like to know the opinion of the serbians and spanish about it. Maybe I'm completely wrong and simply come from a social class who isn't interested in tennis.
BTW and regarding the topic, way too much hc in usa, no variety of surfaces leads to disaster.
What the hell is soccer? It is called FOOTBALL.
The word "soccer" dates back to the 1860's and was invented by the English (who, by the way, invented the sport). It's a slang version of the word "association" and was created to differentiate what is now simply called football from other games that also had "football" in the name, mainly Rugby. In those days, the two were officially referred to as association football and Rugby football, or soccer and rugger for short.
Nowadays, it's mainly Americans and Australians who use the word "soccer" since they also have other games called "football" (Aussie Rules and American football). So, in a conversation with participants from around the world, including a number of Americans and Aussies, I find it's easier to use the word "soccer" for the sake of clarity.
My Gawd... Markus Eriksson, #487. I never realised it was that bad. The Borg effect has well and truly vanished.
I remember reading about how Sweden had loads of indoor tennis facilities in the '80s because of the boom in the sport ~ something like four times as many as the UK, even though we had about 10x the population. Do you know what's happened to all of them?
Regards,
MDL
Due to Isner's early loss in Canada, he'll fall out of the top 20 starting on Monday.
I wonder how long the American drought will last now that Roddick's gone.
I'm fairly certain I'm correct about the "athlete thing" and how the best natural talents in the US may not be picking tennis because it is just not popular right now. Naturally athletic people are capable of excelling in multiple sports, so it is important that Americans pick tennis. Simple proof of this is that both Federer and Nadal were very talented football players as well at a young age, and they both had to make a decision whether to pursue football or tennis as a profession. Thankfully for us they both chose tennis.
In the world, tennis is the 4th most popular sport after Football, cricket, and hockey. That is just a fact, but in the USA, tennis is behind almost everything in popularity. So, globally, young, naturally athletic kids will be interested in picking up tennis because it is a bigger sport, but in the US, its likely that potentially great athletes are not picking tennis because of the popularity issue.
I live in the United States and I can say for a fact that the US is just not as interested in global sports competition as other countries are; it prefers to focus on "american" football, basketball, and baseball. Even now that there is a rising increase in Soccer (football), its still nowhere close to American interest in its domestic sports. So I stand by my belief, that without American tennis players to cheer for the popularity of tennis in the USA will remain low, and if it remains low then young talents will not go for tennis in America.
I think we might be saying the same thing.
If you're saying that, because very few kids in the US play tennis, we have way fewer of the top 20% ability kids playing tennis who might progress to being champions, then I would say I agree with you.
If you are saying that there are only a few top athletes and that those athletes would be elite in any sport, and it just so happens in America that the LeBron James' and Aaron Rodgers' of the world aren't picking tennis, then I disagree with you.
Actually, soccer is more popular in America than it has ever been.
...
I'm starting to wonder if soccer is draining talent from the same pool that tennis relies on. In many parts of the country (though not all), both sports have similar demographics. Also, the rise of US soccer seems to correlate with the fall of US tennis.
I think this isn't so much an American problem as it is a world problem. There is no real young talent developing. Outside of Spain and France most countries are not doing all that well either. Tennis as a whole is having a problem. Janowicz was praised for making it to a semi final of a major at 22. Where as Novak Djokvoic was being criticized for having only won one major by 22 and people were wondering if he ever would again? Hewitt won his last major before he even turned 22! Federer was a major winner and top 5 player. Roddick was approaching the top ranking as well. Safin had already been number 1 and won a major at that point. Sampras was a major champ as was Agassi. I mean personally I'm sure if Roddick was still playing he could be clawing his way into the top 20 with motivation due to lack of depth and consistency among the young crowd.
Tennis youth is hitting a dry spell. People get excited for Christian Harrison and Filip Pewilo winning main tour matches at 19, when these guys aren't even ranked in the top 200. Back 5 years ago success was judged if a player had made the top 100 by 18. Just look at Novak, Rafa, Roddick, Federer, Murray, Hewitt, Safin, Guga, Agassi, Sampras, Becker, Courier, Lendl etc. etc. Find one who wasn't at least top 100 by 18 and top 30 by 19 and top 10 by 21. Not sure what is nowadays but these problems are apparent.
It will last as long as the training methods of the past 15 years stands as the forced model. In other words, the one-dimensional baseline obsessed / no understanding of the entire court will never lead to the giants of American men's tennis seen from the 90s and earlier.
I think this isn't so much an American problem as it is a world problem. There is no real young talent developing. Outside of Spain and France most countries are not doing all that well either. Tennis as a whole is having a problem. Janowicz was praised for making it to a semi final of a major at 22. Where as Novak Djokvoic was being criticized for having only won one major by 22 and people were wondering if he ever would again? Hewitt won his last major before he even turned 22! Federer was a major winner and top 5 player. Roddick was approaching the top ranking as well. Safin had already been number 1 and won a major at that point. Sampras was a major champ as was Agassi. I mean personally I'm sure if Roddick was still playing he could be clawing his way into the top 20 with motivation due to lack of depth and consistency among the young crowd.
Tennis youth is hitting a dry spell. People get excited for Christian Harrison and Filip Pewilo winning main tour matches at 19, when these guys aren't even ranked in the top 200. Back 5 years ago success was judged if a player had made the top 100 by 18. Just look at Novak, Rafa, Roddick, Federer, Murray, Hewitt, Safin, Guga, Agassi, Sampras, Becker, Courier, Lendl etc. etc. Find one who wasn't at least top 100 by 18 and top 30 by 19 and top 10 by 21. Not sure what is nowadays but these problems are apparent.
Mark Rosset was a very good player.I agree with that, but how does it explain the states of tennis in USA? What was the popularity of tennis in Switzerland before Hingis and Federer? It was so low, it had so few practicants that I never had the idea to interest myself in it when I was a kid. Soccer, hockey, skiing, basketball, volleyball, martial arts, cycling, I tried because I knew people who were doing them. But tennis? I had to wait to have my grandmother being crazy about Hingis and Federer to pay attention to it and finally get into it.
So I garantee you that tennis is not big in Switzerland, and it was even less before Hingis and Federer. Yet, Federer, Hingis, Schnyder, Wawrinka, have emerged.
I believe it's even worse than here in Serbia and Spain. I would like to know the opinion of the serbians and spanish about it. Maybe I'm completely wrong and simply come from a social class who isn't interested in tennis.
As an American I think this is a disgrace. I am going to quite my job, practice hard, and make the top 20 ATP just to show up the current no good crop of American ATP players. Wait, I'm 56 years old and I don't this will work. It is kind of like when I told my wife I was going to work as a gigolo when I retired to earn extra income. She said we are going to starve if that's my retirement plan.
Hopefully, there's some American talent on the way up. Geez, come on American youth. Tennis is way cooler than football, basketball and baseball and you get better looking girls too. Look at Berdych's and Tipsaravic's lady friends - very nice incentive there.
It's unfortunately a compounding effect. In the US, there's only mainstream interest in tennis when there are American champions. It's the same reason Basketball/Baseball are very popular here, whereas soccer(football)/tennis are not at the moment.
Because the US has so many opportunities for athletes and offers such excellent resources for sports, the best athletes will naturally go towards sports that are more popular in America. So as a result, less top-quality athletes end up in tennis.
So basically: No top american tennis players means lack of interest in the sport. Lack of interest in the sport means less quality athletes will choose tennis.
I'm fairly certain I'm correct about the "athlete thing" and how the best natural talents in the US may not be picking tennis because it is just not popular right now. Naturally athletic people are capable of excelling in multiple sports, so it is important that Americans pick tennis. Simple proof of this is that both Federer and Nadal were very talented football players as well at a young age, and they both had to make a decision whether to pursue football or tennis as a profession. Thankfully for us they both chose tennis.
In the world, tennis is the 4th most popular sport after Football, cricket, and hockey. That is just a fact, but in the USA, tennis is behind almost everything in popularity. So, globally, young, naturally athletic kids will be interested in picking up tennis because it is a bigger sport, but in the US, its likely that potentially great athletes are not picking tennis because of the popularity issue.
I live in the United States and I can say for a fact that the US is just not as interested in global sports competition as other countries are; it prefers to focus on "american" football, basketball, and baseball. Even now that there is a rising increase in Soccer (football), its still nowhere close to American interest in its domestic sports. So I stand by my belief, that without American tennis players to cheer for the popularity of tennis in the USA will remain low, and if it remains low then young talents will not go for tennis in America.
...I think it's also due to today's top players being more mature physically and mentally than most of the juniors coming up (example: Tommy Haas).
But...I'd tend to agree, not a lot of young guys (women, different story...) who look like the next #1...or even #10. My guess? None of the young guys coming up are hungry enough or don't believe enough to become #1. Outside of the top 100 or so, it's only a so-so living. But if you get as high as the top 20 or 30 in the rankings, you can make a lot of $$$$, with a lot less risk of serious injury than even, say, soccer. So I'm making a good buck, traveling the world, and I didn't even have to go to college or find a real job...who cares if I ever make it to the top?
cricket? Hockey? geez where did you take that?
Worldwide speaking, after football or soccer, it comes basketball,Atheltics and tennis.Car racing and golf are lower.IMo.
Geographical distribution-wise or population-wise? Population-wise, cricket, table tennis and badminton are way up there.
very sad news but a good wake-up call for american tennis and mr patrick mcenroe who is destroying the usta