USTA and FFT (French Federation)..a few thoughts..

[Felix le chat]

I have dual citizenship ( France and US of A ), been living in SoCal since 1987.

Been playing 20 years: recreational at first, only these last 4 years I've put

much more time and effort into the sport: playing 3/4 times a week ( 2 hrs+),

trying to improve the weak parts of my game ( BH, serve, volley )..and

playing club tourneys oversea where my folks live ( 25 miles north of Paris ).

Mostly because I have no family here and my mom being close to 90, I now

spend almost half of the year in France (2 1/2 months around Xmas and

same in late spring..).

I played some tournaments here around L.A. in the late 90's without much

success....I compiled some numbers:

Licence cost:

US: $ 44.00 ...............France: $ 28 ( 21 Euros )

Tourney entry fee ( Open Senior ):

US ( greater Los Angeles ): $ 43.00 to $ 80.00

France: $ 24.00 to $ 29.00

Tennis importance compared to other sports ( media coverage, number+quality of facilities, number of license holders...):

US: # 7 ???? ( after the 4 majors,golf and soccer...? )

France: # 2 ( after soccer )

Could not find a number for USTA license holders, FFT has: 379.000

Courts / facilities:

US ( here in Hollywood, CA ): public parks, hard courts, free on weekdays. about $ 6.00 / hr on week/end

France ( my hometown, 30 mns north of Paris ): 2 hard courts 3 mns away, free.....hometown tennis club (7 clays, 2 hard, 2 indoor Greenset), membership is $ 300.00/year.

Rankings:

US: has approx. 10 ( 2.5 to 7.0 ?? )

France: has 25.

Getting ready for my "indoor" season, have 6 tourneys down, mostly greenset.

In late spring, there are so many club tournaments there, I'm able to pick up

7 or 8 all on the red stuff, and within 15 mi. radius.

Replies, comments, questions all welcomed, Cheers.

:mrgreen:

 

[mmk]

I'm in Maryland. All the public courts within 5 (and probably more) miles of my house are free, and there are dozens. They are, of course, hard courts. The club I belong to has 13 har-tru courts outside, plus 2 hard courts outside, and 6 indoor hard courts. Membership is around $100/month, which gets you use of the outdoor courts as available, but you pay for time on the indoor courts. The membership also includes a really nice gym, indoor pool, and 5 racquetball courts that are free. Additionally, 4 of the har-trus are bubbled during from October through the spring, and you pay for time on those, the rest of the outdoor courts have the nets taken down when the weather turns cold.

I've spent a total of about 6 months in Sydney NSW, and while there were a fair number of courts, both hard court and artificial grass, they were almost all pay to play. I did find a couple of free courts, but one was on the navy base I was working at, so the general public couldn't access it. The other one was associated with a community rec center that you had to borrow the net from to play. Neither were very good courts, but it was better than paying at least $20/hour.

 

[Felix le chat]

Here in SoCal, I'm pretty lucky to have TWO public parks ( each one has 8 hard courts ) next to my place: 1/2 block and 2 blocks.

I just walk there, which is almost illegal here in Lalaland..

Also lucky with the weather, playing outdoors yearlong...it can hit 90 + in mid january.....and dry, no humidity.

 

[beernutz]

I have dual citizenship ( France and US of A ), been living in SoCal since 1987.

Been playing 20 years: recreational at first, only these last 4 years I've put

much more time and effort into the sport: playing 3/4 times a week ( 2 hrs+),

trying to improve the weak parts of my game ( BH, serve, volley )..and

playing club tourneys oversea where my folks live ( 25 miles north of Paris ).

Mostly because I have no family here and my mom being close to 90, I now

spend almost half of the year in France (2 1/2 months around Xmas and

same in late spring..).

I played some tournaments here around L.A. in the late 90's without much

success....I compiled some numbers:

Licence cost:

US: $ 44.00 ...............France: $ 28 ( 21 Euros )

Tourney entry fee ( Open Senior ):

US ( greater Los Angeles ): $ 43.00 to $ 80.00

France: $ 24.00 to $ 29.00

Tennis importance compared to other sports ( media coverage, number+quality of facilities, number of license holders...):

US: # 7 ???? ( after the 4 majors,golf and soccer...? )

France: # 2 ( after soccer )

Could not find a number for USTA license holders, FFT has: 379.000

Courts / facilities:

US ( here in Hollywood, CA ): public parks, hard courts, free on weekdays. about $ 6.00 / hr on week/end

France ( my hometown, 30 mns north of Paris ): 2 hard courts 3 mns away, free.....hometown tennis club (7 clays, 2 hard, 2 indoor Greenset), membership is $ 300.00/year.

Rankings:

US: has approx. 10 ( 2.5 to 7.0 ?? )

France: has 25.

Getting ready for my "indoor" season, have 6 tourneys down, mostly greenset.

In late spring, there are so many club tournaments there, I'm able to pick up

7 or 8 all on the red stuff, and within 15 mi. radius.

Replies, comments, questions all welcomed, Cheers.

:mrgreen:

Clearly you should move back to France permanently.

 

[EP1998]

Clearly you should move back to France permanently.

I would consider it. I love the US but between the tennis, fashion and cuisine, France is a nice place! Summer in France every year would be fun with US the rest of the time.

 

[Felix le chat]

Clearly you should move back to France permanently.

I will.....within 3, 4 years.

But I'll still be able to spend a couple months in the harsh South. California winter.

 

[Felix le chat]

I would consider it. I love the US but between the tennis, fashion and cuisine, France is a nice place! Summer in France every year would be fun with US the rest of the time.

Actually near Paris where my folks live, spring and fall are great....From mid-nov to early march, the

lack of sun and the rain really gets on people's mood, it usually snows maybe half a dozen times.

 

[Overdrive]

I would consider it. I love the US but between the tennis, fashion and cuisine, France is a nice place! Summer in France every year would be fun with US the rest of the time.

It pretty much ends it there for the country of France (and a lot of other countries). The countryside is much better than the nauseating metros.

 

[crazyups]

Hi Felix, do you know how the refereeing is in european junior tennis? Is it limited like it is here in the states where we have cheating as a big problem?

 

[Avles]

If you included the cost of tennis balls in your analysis would that change things?

Sounds like a pretty nice setup for you in France though...

 

[Felix le chat]

Hi Felix, do you know how the refereeing is in european junior tennis? Is it limited like it is here in the states where we have cheating as a big problem?

I can only speak about that stuff in French tourneys...I don't get to watch much Junior matches but the thing is there are a LOT of

clays courts there, you got to be real talented to cheat on calls on the red stuff, even indoors on greenset you can spot a mark...

But I'm sure in Juniors you may see some really pushy parents like in the US.

In France, you can enter a senior Open tournament the day of your 16th birthday...dunno if it's the same deal here with USTA..

I don't have the exact numbers but let's say for a whole year of tourneys, it's 60% clay, 20% indoor carpet/ greenset and 20%

hardcourt.

Also I like the way they do the rankings, tennis year/ license / rankings run from Nov.1st to late october but they update the

rankings and points twice ( feb.1st and july 1st ).....that reduce sandbagging among other things..

 

[Felix le chat]

If you included the cost of tennis balls in your analysis would that change things?

Sounds like a pretty nice setup for you in France though...

You nailed it....the price of balls there is OBSCENE...count $ 8 or $ 9 for a can of 4....:shock:

Smuggling as much as I "can" when flying there.

 

[mikeler]

You nailed it....the price of balls there is OBSCENE...count $ 8 or $ 9 for a can of 4....:shock:

Smuggling as much as I "can" when flying there.

Pressurized cans of balls are not legal on flights.

 

[Overdrive]

Pressurized cans of balls are not legal on flights.

Mhmm.

He could stock up on those balls and mail them back home.

 

[Rjtennis]

Pressurized cans of balls are not legal on flights.

I've never had a problem. I didn't know. Guess Ive been lucky.

 

[Rob_C]

Pressurized cans of balls are not legal on flights.

I don't think they're illegal, I think it just cause them to lose pressure. That's why I dont carry cans on flights, the balls are dead when I get wherever I'm going.

 

[mikeler]

The online retailers will only ship balls via UPS ground.

 

[Govnor]

I live in the Mid -west and within about a 10 minute drive of my house there are about 40 courts I can use (mix of schools and parks). Free of course.

Can't do much in the winter though, indoor courts are very expensive here because there are so few of them.

 

[dominikk1985]

I have dual citizenship ( France and US of A ), been living in SoCal since 1987.

Been playing 20 years: recreational at first, only these last 4 years I've put

much more time and effort into the sport: playing 3/4 times a week ( 2 hrs+),

trying to improve the weak parts of my game ( BH, serve, volley )..and

playing club tourneys oversea where my folks live ( 25 miles north of Paris ).

Mostly because I have no family here and my mom being close to 90, I now

spend almost half of the year in France (2 1/2 months around Xmas and

same in late spring..).

I played some tournaments here around L.A. in the late 90's without much

success....I compiled some numbers:

Licence cost:

US: $ 44.00 ...............France: $ 28 ( 21 Euros )

Tourney entry fee ( Open Senior ):

US ( greater Los Angeles ): $ 43.00 to $ 80.00

France: $ 24.00 to $ 29.00

Tennis importance compared to other sports ( media coverage, number+quality of facilities, number of license holders...):

US: # 7 ???? ( after the 4 majors,golf and soccer...? )

France: # 2 ( after soccer )Could not find a number for USTA license holders, FFT has: 379.000

Courts / facilities:

US ( here in Hollywood, CA ): public parks, hard courts, free on weekdays. about $ 6.00 / hr on week/end

France ( my hometown, 30 mns north of Paris ): 2 hard courts 3 mns away, free.....hometown tennis club (7 clays, 2 hard, 2 indoor Greenset), membership is $ 300.00/year.

Rankings:

US: has approx. 10 ( 2.5 to 7.0 ?? )

France: has 25.

Getting ready for my "indoor" season, have 6 tourneys down, mostly greenset.

In late spring, there are so many club tournaments there, I'm able to pick up

7 or 8 all on the red stuff, and within 15 mi. radius.

Replies, comments, questions all welcomed, Cheers.

:mrgreen:

Is that so?

I always had the impression that the tour the france, handball and rugby get more attention but I'm not sure. the FO are certainly very big although france does not have a lot of top players.

 

[Beacon Hill]

France does not have a lot of top players?

 

[nu7z0r]

what city do you live in in france?

 

[Felix le chat]

what city do you live in in france?

L'isle Adam, about 25 miles north of Paris.

 

[Felix le chat]

Is that so?

I always had the impression that the tour the france, handball and rugby get more attention but I'm not sure. the FO are certainly very big although france does not have a lot of top players.

Tennis is definitely the #2 sport in France ( after soccer ).

Huh....Also France is tie with Spain with the most players in ATP's top 50 ( 8 each....)

#9 Gasquet
#10 Tsonga ( would be around 6 without the knee injury )
.
#19 Simon
#26 Paire
#31 Monfils
#34 Chardy
#35 Benneteau
#50 Mahut

:roll:

 

[TennisCJC]

It's great that tennis is so inexpensive in FR. I live in Atlanta, USA and I have these options all with 10-15 minutes of my house by car:

1. Public Park: 3 free hard courts available at public park with a practice wall,
2. Public Facility: 12 clay and 12 hard courts all lit - senior rate (55 years or >) of $4.88 for 1.5 hours of doubles on clay, and hard court is a little less expensive. Full club house, lockers and showers with nice viewing veranda with rocking chairs and stands on court 1.
3. Public school: 3 hard courts without lights but available to public in evening or weekends after school hours.
4. Private school: 16 hard courts without lights. Public can drop in after school hours - courts are very nice as it is a ritzy private school
5. Private club: 2 hard courts lit. I play on teams here for $25 per season for 2 month season including 10 scheduled practices, several pick-up practices during the season and 3 or 4 home league matches.

It is very inexpensive. I don't have access to indoor courts unless I want to drive 25 minutes and they would be too expensive. 80% of the time, it is warm enough to play outdoors even in the winter months.

I think the fact that tennis is #2 sport in FR and #6 or more in USA explains why FR has 8 players in ATP top 50 while US has 2 or 3. We need to get the top athletes in the USA into tennis in order to improve performance. This also explains why USA women do better than USA men because US women have fewer options for pro sports.