Why American Men Have Not Succeeded in Tennis

SonnyT

Legend
Australia and America led the tennis world during the serve and volley phase. Both find it very difficult adjusting to the new game. Interesting to see which one will figure it out first. One thing in America's favor is its population is about 10 times Australia.
 

Bartelby

Bionic Poster
Tennis was a game of the empire that did spread to Europe and elsewhere, but the sport is now truly global so the competition is no longer guided by the red thread of kinship.
 

Bartelby

Bionic Poster
The fact is that tennis was less expensive and required a lot of community-based, grass-roots activity. Free coaching on cheap courts made Evonne Goolagong's career possible.

Now you have expensive coaching, expensive courts, expensive clothes, etc., so it's a mostly comfortably middle class sport and such kids/people tend to want real careers at some point.
 

ND-13

Legend
Sandgren and Paul have some potential .They do not belong to the Opelka, Isner , Querrey, Tiafoe, Johnson , Fritz mould.
 

Rosstour

G.O.A.T.
I don't think that's true.

You see echoes of Agassi's game in Rafa and Novak to a degree. Not completely, but some.
Agassi was an aggressive baseliner that had excellent all-court skills. He was a mover, he was a grinder, he could attack and defend. He built an effective serve, but it was not dominant.

Most current American players have a big serve and a big forehand.... and that's it. Everything else is mediocre.

We train our players in the Agassi Roddick mold, and today that no longer works.

Fixed it for ya.

I was going to amend my post to include Courier--another Bollettieri protégé. That's a much better example, as is Roddick.
 

flanker2000fr

Hall of Fame
I've been trying hard to understand the reason why US tennis is so poorly represented in the men's top 100 while being so successfully represented in the women's top 100.

The only logical explanation I could find is financial:
- there is a ton of money in basketball, US football, baseball and ice hockey, so that's where the best athletes tend to go. That, and the fact that these are team sports where personal financial investment is low, i.e. travel expenses are generally covered by colleges. So if you take the net earning through an entire career, starting from junior, the upside is on average much higher than tennis, where most players struggle financially
- on the women side, there isn't nearly the same amount of money involved into team sports, be it basketball or soccer, as there is on the men's side. So relatively speaking, tennis is a more financially attractive option, especially now that the prize money involved has increased to match the men's side in pro tournament

Dies anybody else think this makes sense?
 

James P

G.O.A.T.
I've been trying hard to understand the reason why US tennis is so poorly represented in the men's top 100 while being so successfully represented in the women's top 100.

The only logical explanation I could find is financial:
- there is a ton of money in basketball, US football, baseball and ice hockey, so that's where the best athletes tend to go. That, and the fact that these are team sports where personal financial investment is low, i.e. travel expenses are generally covered by colleges. So if you take the net earning through an entire career, starting from junior, the upside is on average much higher than tennis, where most players struggle financially
- on the women side, there isn't nearly the same amount of money involved into team sports, be it basketball or soccer, as there is on the men's side. So relatively speaking, tennis is a more financially attractive option, especially now that the prize money involved has increased to match the men's side in pro tournament

Dies anybody else think this makes sense?
Money is probably a big factor. It's hard to make more money in sport as a woman than tennis. It really is one of the top sports for them. Men, on the other hand, if you don't reach the absolute pinnacle, it's pretty mediocre pay as far as professional athletes go.
 

blablavla

G.O.A.T.
once again you have outdone yourself in terms of not reading what my post is about. it is obvious that i am speaking about the CURRENT (current means “right now”) state of American’s men’s tennis. This is before the obesity epidemic in the US that obviously has somewhat carried over to our male players. i know this will be difficult for you, but please FINISH reading my post before you go crazy with a counter-comment next time. thanks babe

actually not.
you ask why American Men did have not succeeded and you got the answer that your question is wrong.

what you mean and what you ask are 2 different questions.
 

blablavla

G.O.A.T.
It is absurd to try and compare the variety of nations in Europe with the variety in US states.

oh really?
do you perhaps want to tell me that US has same weather everywhere?
do you perhaps want to tell me that every city and village in the US it as same level of economic development?
how many time zones are there in the US?
how many laws and rules are there, that are applicable in 1 state, and not applicable in other states?

tell me please that I won't notice a difference if I somehow teleport myself from California straight to Louisiana.
 

Lavs

Hall of Fame
Because of food and no discipline whatsoever. Exception - Steve Johnson, John Isner.
And because of lack of traditions. You can't compare tennis history in Europe and America.
 
oh really?
do you perhaps want to tell me that US has same weather everywhere?
do you perhaps want to tell me that every city and village in the US it as same level of economic development?
how many time zones are there in the US?
how many laws and rules are there, that are applicable in 1 state, and not applicable in other states?

tell me please that I won't notice a difference if I somehow teleport myself from California straight to Louisiana.
I've lived and worked all over the US and in numerous European countries. The difference in culture, traditions, education, social attitudes, political traditions etc between California and Louisiana are minuscule compared to the difference between, say, Greece and Sweden, or England and Albania.

it is just silly to try and claim there is any comparison.
 

SonnyT

Legend
The reason might be very simple: tennis has moved on, and those who refuse to will be left behind.

If tennis is still ruled by the serve-and-volley game, it's probable that Americans and Australians still dominate, and Europeans are marginal! So I'd say tennis culture is the reason.
 

zaph

Professional
Lol google swiss then bulgaria or moldova. You americans are very ignorant to say the least when it comes to countries haha.

I'm British, not American. If you're right explain why Spain and France have managed to produce quality players, when both have very wealthy world class football leagues; which are major draw for sporting talent?
 

zaph

Professional
It's very simple. The top athletes in America don't play tennis. They play basketball or football.

In Europe they play football. In the UK we have cricket, football and rugby to take the top player. OK we are dog s**t at producing top players but that has a lot to with useless grass courts.
 
Maybe the change in the nature of the game from an attacking, finish the point as quickly as possible sport to a defensive, draw out the rallies as long as possible sport simply doesn't suit the American male psyche?
 

LeftyMagic

Rookie
Plenty of “slow courts” down in Florida and indoors around the country. Endless hardcourts. Tons of facilities/weight rooms/academies/coaches....we have an amazing platform for talent in the usa. not every facility in europe is amazing as we all know. a majority of euro players come from less than desirable conditions. But then you have the Coco Gauffs and many other “americans” who go and train at morotoglou academy in france.
In the end it doesnt matter where in the world you practice tennis. americans dominated, now europeans dominate.
what is the special sauce that players need? the mental game is never mentioned anymore, passion, hunger, etc. Besides tactics.
maybe thats what the europeans bring to the table - instead of chasing sports that make the most money, they follow the passion for the game. a common USA excuse, our kids wont play tennis bc you cant make as much money. netflix isnt an excuse, video games, junk food....its all existed forever in diff forms. more fake excuses.
Also usa tennis receives plenty of athletes. comical to say we dont field “the best” athletes in this country for tennis. neither did golf and we still dominate there. baseball doesnt have the best athletes either. i could go on. you dont need a ton of amazing athletes to get back on top in the USA, you need ONE. i think thats the issue, we dont even have ONE who can crack the top 10 without being a giant with a massive serve.

Someone above joked that bollitieri retired....probably right. someone with intense passion for winning and a killer instinct might be missing from the usta staff.
someone with discipline who created a fighting mentality. hes not perfect, but hey it worked.
The issues are obvious, we make tons of excuses, hand everything out on a silver platter, claim its a rich mans sport, other sports are more interesting, blame our courts, and always focus on money....when a kid stops caring abt those excuses and meets a coach who agrees you’ll see the next sampras agassi courier mcenroe connors roddick etc.....


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rabidranger

Rookie
I'll add that the big three have dominated this sport for it seems like 20 years. Once Fed, Djoker, and Nadal are off the scene what will we really have? I think tennis overall is in for a rude awakening.
 

keith2020

New User
This is my perspective on why US tennis stinks on the ATP level. It really boils down to why does US junior development stink.
1. So damn expensive to play and become a top junior. Lots of air travel crisscrossing across the country to play regional, then national tournaments (MI, CA, FL, AL, AZ, etc), lots of hotel stays, and not to mention ITF travel around the world. Meanwhile in EU tournaments/high level competition is in easy reach. Plus, why in the hell are all the USTA junior tournaments $85+ and national level $100s++ for tournament entry?? It doesnt go to the refs/officials b/c there are none.... Lines the pockets of the fat cats on top and not recycled back to help juniors become pros. And frankly why limit the draws to select few. Let anyone who wants to play play. You never know who the best are if there are these damn "USTA select few" golden tickets which are really based on playing tons of other tournaments to point chase (of course also lines the $$$$ pockets of the USTA with the outrageous tournament fees). Makes others feel like they are notworthy trash if they dont have the points but have the skill... This is why UTR is better in many ways. Its not about collecting "points" but about measuring skill.
2. USTA Player Development is trash. McEnroe had good intention but really just destroyed kids. Effectively the USTA stole "promising" kids from their coaches who brought them up to the level they were and then wrecked them with new coaches who completely changed their technique/play. Further once these kids got worse, the USTA quickly kicked them out the door. Next! WTF is that.
3. Academies. All these damn US academies are in fact tennis factories whose sole purpose is to produce mediocre level players. Not the best, not the worst, but "college" level b/c that sells. That doesnt cut it in the pros. Academies are in it to make money which means focus on the masses and not making the best.
4. US tennis is too individual. The European model is much better to develop top level. In the US its my peers are all my competition and we all are ranked on a "national rank list". It doesnt foster improving together. Why should I help my competition that I'm going to play in the next tournament?? It fosters a bad mentality to help each other. Meanwhile in Europe the kids are all on teams who all work together to improve b/c the goal is to beat other teams and not each other. Much better development model.

I could go on but I think the above are the key reasons. Yes, also the US is too focused on serve and forehand and could use more clay. Like others say. But frankly those are red herrings and not the real reason for juniors not developing into top pros. See Canada as a data point. All indoor, no clay. Yet top juniors who become top pros....
 
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Mainad

Bionic Poster
In Europe they play football. In the UK we have cricket, football and rugby to take the top player. OK we are dog s**t at producing top players but that has a lot to with useless grass courts.

Hardly. Even back in the era when grasscourts were the norm we were still dog **** at producing top male players. Between Perry and Murray there was a gap of more than 70 years of producing a top ranked male Slam champion.
 

LeftyMagic

Rookie
This is my perspective on why US tennis stinks on the ATP level. It really boils down to why does US junior development stink.
1. So damn expensive to play and become a top junior. Lots of air travel crisscrossing across the country to play regional, then national tournaments (MI, CA, FL, AL, AZ, etc), lots of hotel stays, and not to mention ITF travel around the world. Meanwhile in EU tournaments/high level competition is in easy reach. Plus, why in the hell are all the USTA junior tournaments $85+ and national level $100s++ for tournament entry?? It doesnt go to the refs/officials b/c there are none.... Lines the pockets of the fat cats on top and not recycled back to help juniors become pros. And frankly why limit the draws to select few. Let anyone who wants to play play. You never know who the best are if there are these damn "USTA select few" golden tickets which are really based on playing tons of other tournaments to point chase (of course also lines the $$$$ pockets of the USTA with the outrageous tournament fees). Makes others feel like they are notworthy trash if they dont have the points but have the skill... This is why UTR is better in many ways. Its not about collecting "points" but about measuring skill.
2. USTA Player Development is trash. McEnroe had good intention but really just destroyed kids. Effectively the USTA stole "promising" kids from their coaches who brought them up to the level they were and then wrecked them with new coaches who completely changed their technique/play. Further once these kids got worse, the USTA quickly kicked them out the door. Next! WTF is that.
3. Academies. All these damn US academies are in fact tennis factories whose sole purpose is to produce mediocre level players. Not the best, not the worst, but "college" level b/c that sells. That doesnt cut it in the pros. Academies are in it to make money which means focus on the masses and not making the best.
4. US tennis is too individual. The European model is much better to develop top level. In the US its my peers are all my competition and we all are ranked on a "national rank list". It doesnt foster improving together. Why should I help my competition that I'm going to play in the next tournament?? It fosters a bad mentality to help each other. Meanwhile in Europe the kids are all on teams who all work together to improve b/c the goal is to beat other teams and not each other. Much better development model.

I could go on but I think the above are the key reasons. Yes, also the US is too focused on serve and forehand and could use more clay. Like others say. But frankly those are red herrings and not the real reason for juniors not developing into top pros. See Canada as a data point. All indoor, no clay. Yet top juniors who become top pros....

spot on, lot of great points. i didnt target junior tennis enough in my answer.


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giantschwinn

Semi-Pro
1. So damn expensive to play and become a top junior. Lots of air travel crisscrossing across the country to play regional, then national tournaments (MI, CA, FL, AL, AZ, etc), lots of hotel stays, and not to mention ITF travel around the world. Meanwhile in EU tournaments/high level competition is in easy reach. Plus, why in the hell are all the USTA junior tournaments $85+ and national level $100s++ for tournament entry?? It doesnt go to the refs/officials b/c there are none.... Lines the pockets of the fat cats on top and not recycled back to help juniors become pros. And frankly why limit the draws to select few. Let anyone who wants to play play. You never know who the best are if there are these damn "USTA select few" golden tickets which are really based on playing tons of other tournaments to point chase (of course also lines the $$$$ pockets of the USTA with the outrageous tournament fees). Makes others feel like they are notworthy trash if they dont have the points but have the skill... This is why UTR is better in many ways. Its not about collecting "points" but about measuring skill.
2. USTA Player Development is trash. McEnroe had good intention but really just destroyed kids. Effectively the USTA stole "promising" kids from their coaches who brought them up to the level they were and then wrecked them with new coaches who completely changed their technique/play. Further once these kids got worse, the USTA quickly kicked them out the door. Next! WTF is that.

Agreed. The tournaments entry fees are too much. This does not only apply to USTA tournaments, I am seeing UTR fees creeping up as well. Soon only the rich kids get to play tennis.
I think parents need to wise up and stop entering tournaments. You can get your match playing experience by arranging your own ladders with local competition. You can even pay college players to hit with your kid.
 

clout

Hall of Fame
Marvelous thread... Why American Men have not Succeeded in Tennis....

These guys say Hi. 37 major titles between them all.
connorsmcenroe-1436187394-500.jpg


pete_andre.jpg
And nearly all of them were won before 9/11 and Y2K. American men’s tennis has been all downhill in the last 20 ish years now.
 

Miki 1234

Semi-Pro
I'm British, not American. If you're right explain why Spain and France have managed to produce quality players, when both have very wealthy world class football leagues; which are major draw for sporting talent?
Their main goal in life is not to earn money just to get rich , but also to enjoy and play the game .Most American do nothing if there is no money in it.
I know quite a few ranked guys from balkan even up to ex top 200 atp working as coaches for les they 1k dollars per month on black market .
No one will do that in america
 
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Jack the Hack

Hall of Fame
Interesting watching the Brandon Nakashima/Alexander Zverev match. Nakashima has a nice serve and return game. Best looking backhand for an American player in years. But ironically, his forehand needs more work to become a top level weapon. The stroke mechanics are there, but the power level needs to increase.
 

blablavla

G.O.A.T.
This is my perspective on why US tennis stinks on the ATP level. It really boils down to why does US junior development stink.
1. So damn expensive to play and become a top junior. Lots of air travel crisscrossing across the country to play regional, then national tournaments (MI, CA, FL, AL, AZ, etc), lots of hotel stays, and not to mention ITF travel around the world. Meanwhile in EU tournaments/high level competition is in easy reach. Plus, why in the hell are all the USTA junior tournaments $85+ and national level $100s++ for tournament entry?? It doesnt go to the refs/officials b/c there are none.... Lines the pockets of the fat cats on top and not recycled back to help juniors become pros. And frankly why limit the draws to select few. Let anyone who wants to play play. You never know who the best are if there are these damn "USTA select few" golden tickets which are really based on playing tons of other tournaments to point chase (of course also lines the $$$$ pockets of the USTA with the outrageous tournament fees). Makes others feel like they are notworthy trash if they dont have the points but have the skill... This is why UTR is better in many ways. Its not about collecting "points" but about measuring skill.
2. USTA Player Development is trash. McEnroe had good intention but really just destroyed kids. Effectively the USTA stole "promising" kids from their coaches who brought them up to the level they were and then wrecked them with new coaches who completely changed their technique/play. Further once these kids got worse, the USTA quickly kicked them out the door. Next! WTF is that.
3. Academies. All these damn US academies are in fact tennis factories whose sole purpose is to produce mediocre level players. Not the best, not the worst, but "college" level b/c that sells. That doesnt cut it in the pros. Academies are in it to make money which means focus on the masses and not making the best.
4. US tennis is too individual. The European model is much better to develop top level. In the US its my peers are all my competition and we all are ranked on a "national rank list". It doesnt foster improving together. Why should I help my competition that I'm going to play in the next tournament?? It fosters a bad mentality to help each other. Meanwhile in Europe the kids are all on teams who all work together to improve b/c the goal is to beat other teams and not each other. Much better development model.

I could go on but I think the above are the key reasons. Yes, also the US is too focused on serve and forehand and could use more clay. Like others say. But frankly those are red herrings and not the real reason for juniors not developing into top pros. See Canada as a data point. All indoor, no clay. Yet top juniors who become top pros....

Dude, have a look at Europe. It's as big as US.
What makes you think that traveling and hotels in Europe are free of charge?
Not to mention different languages and currencies involved and different level of economic development.
An average family from France doesn't have easier time growing a tennis kid as opposed to an average US family
 

King No1e

G.O.A.T.
I have heard this excuse before and the problem with it is Americans are acting as if Europeans don't have other sporting options, when they do. Football is huge in Europe and sucks in a lot of potential tennis players. Yet Europe still manages to produce decent players.

My take on it is the American game is too dependent on power. European players are brought up on clay courts and are simply better from the back of the court than their American equivalents.
/thread.
Everyone's just trying to be a clone of Roddick. The only notable exception in the young generation is Brandon Nakashima, who has a great return game and clean strokes.
 

Miki 1234

Semi-Pro
Plenty of “slow courts” down in Florida and indoors around the country. Endless hardcourts. Tons of facilities/weight rooms/academies/coaches....we have an amazing platform for talent in the usa. not every facility in europe is amazing as we all know. a majority of euro players come from less than desirable conditions. But then you have the Coco Gauffs and many other “americans” who go and train at morotoglou academy in france.
In the end it doesnt matter where in the world you practice tennis. americans dominated, now europeans dominate.
what is the special sauce that players need? the mental game is never mentioned anymore, passion, hunger, etc. Besides tactics.
maybe thats what the europeans bring to the table - instead of chasing sports that make the most money, they follow the passion for the game. a common USA excuse, our kids wont play tennis bc you cant make as much money. netflix isnt an excuse, video games, junk food....its all existed forever in diff forms. more fake excuses.
Also usa tennis receives plenty of athletes. comical to say we dont field “the best” athletes in this country for tennis. neither did golf and we still dominate there. baseball doesnt have the best athletes either. i could go on. you dont need a ton of amazing athletes to get back on top in the USA, you need ONE. i think thats the issue, we dont even have ONE who can crack the top 10 without being a giant with a massive serve.

Someone above joked that bollitieri retired....probably right. someone with intense passion for winning and a killer instinct might be missing from the usta staff.
someone with discipline who created a fighting mentality. hes not perfect, but hey it worked.
The issues are obvious, we make tons of excuses, hand everything out on a silver platter, claim its a rich mans sport, other sports are more interesting, blame our courts, and always focus on money....when a kid stops caring abt those excuses and meets a coach who agrees you’ll see the next sampras agassi courier mcenroe connors roddick etc.....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Funny how americans think they are never hard core enough.
All people i know that went there on college said that their tennis is way more proffesional and way harder then ours.
And i come from 2 small countries which have at least 5 separate slam winners in singles.
Tennis is a simple sport , you need bunch of people same place at all ages and all trying to reach their peak. So juniors look at guys with atp points and kids looking to juniors and learning from each other every day. And keeping each others in check every day.
Coaches are irrelevant except to arrange sparrings in a way that you play against lower , same and better opponents .And same time have opportunity to watch guys you are not ready to play yet, no school tho and work like this every day after 10 years you will have a slam winner if bit lucky.And many top players .
Kids learn from watching and playing not listening to coaches
This needs to be on regular basis coz most kids are stupid and will lose the edge if not under pressure from other players all the time
 
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European players have the opportunity to play money tournaments and club tennis which are very lucrative financially from a young age, and are able to play against seasoned pros in these events - American teenagers play junior tournaments against other juniors with the same playstyles, and are making a loss from a very early age, as well as only being exposed to one kind of opponent
 

Shaj

Semi-Pro
It has to do with hunger and drive more than anything else..Just look at Roddick,he was potentially around 5 Grand Slam winner but how much did he win? Just one..His retired early,got burn out and what not..All have a good financial parachute and safety net below them so why will they ever take a plunge?

Bow compare these guys with Novak...A kid barely 10,each day running away from bomb strikes in his city and each day looking for a different empty swimming pool where he can practise..

Roddick is the typical American prototype of what went wrong with American Tennis..
 

blablavla

G.O.A.T.
It has to do with hunger and drive more than anything else..Just look at Roddick,he was potentially around 5 Grand Slam winner but how much did he win? Just one..His retired early,got burn out and what not..All have a good financial parachute and safety net below them so why will they ever take a plunge?

Bow compare these guys with Novak...A kid barely 10,each day running away from bomb strikes in his city and each day looking for a different empty swimming pool where he can practise..

Roddick is the typical American prototype of what went wrong with American Tennis..

well,
1. I wouldn't call Roddick in such negative lights. He reached the #1 in ranking, he won a GS. That's quite an achievement.
2. He was in top 10 for some insane amount of years
3. Safin, Nalbandian, Hewitt, and many others retired at similar age
4. What Federer, Nadal and Djokovic show us, is an extraordinary exception, it is not the norm
5. just because some keyboard warriors call Roddick a mug, journeyman, pigeon, etc,. doesn't mean he is. He is an exceptional athlete, who reached some amazing milestones, that put him apart from 99.999999% of athletes worldwide.
 

dr325i

G.O.A.T.
Easy. America’s best athletes don’t play tennis, that’s why we don’t dominate. Every sport we take “seriously” we are by far the best in the world at. (Football, Basketball, Baseball, Swimming, etc) Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
I think it is more complicated than that. We do have great tennis athletes, just not complete... There is no strategy or plan how to compete
Football is played nowhere else in the world. We are good/best swimmers, but not best Waterpolo players
We invested heavily (i.e. took it "Seriously") in soccer and men got nowhere....
 

Sparlingo

Hall of Fame
The Canadians have had a lot of success with their model and a lot of luck. Their model is 1) hire a bunch of top level French coaches, 2) create a centre of tennis excellence, 3)identify young promising players, 4) concentrate on them and pour resources into them by providing complete training including school.

Mind you, Canada has been more than lucky at getting some prospects from children of immigrants from countries where tennis is popular. In Aliassime and Shapo's case their parents played tennis. Regardless there must be similar kids to invest in, in the United States. A focused "own the podium" strategy might work just as well in the U.S. I'd note that there already 4 Canadians through to the second round of the US Open and Canada retains high hopes, the USA not so much.

The other thing is to invest in tennis courts in inner cities and tennis programs including free equipment. It might well surprise one what could come from even modest investments there.

If the emphasis is on developing kids at college for tennis then due to their advanced age of >= 18 - then that boat will continue to sail away with no fanfare along with tennis as a USA sport.

All the USA needs to ignite interest is tennis is one slam winner who regularly contends, that's all. Surely there is someone to invest in, somewhere in the 320 Million people versus Canada's 37 Million. How I'd love to see a Canadian/American rivalry in this beautiful sport.
 

Jack the Hack

Hall of Fame
I'm watching JJ Wolf's match right now. I've seen some college highlights of him on Youtube, but this is the first professional match of his I've seen. Interesting look:

mullet2.jpg


Eg3PUcAWkAUn6nj.jpg


With that mullet, earrings, and necklace, he kinda' looks like he should be driving an old Camaro and antagonizing the kids in an upcoming season of Stranger Things.

Comes from an athletic family and has a thick body:



The future of "Merican tennis?
 

sureshs

Bionic Poster
Mind you, Canada has been more than lucky at getting some prospects from children of immigrants from countries where tennis is popular. In Aliassime and Shapo's case their parents played tennis.

That is the main reason. Also, these immigrants were from countries which produce tall men. A short Raonic would have not achieved much.
 

SinneGOAT

Legend
I'm watching JJ Wolf's match right now. I've seen some college highlights of him on Youtube, but this is the first professional match of his I've seen. Interesting look:

mullet2.jpg


Eg3PUcAWkAUn6nj.jpg


With that mullet, earrings, and necklace, he kinda' looks like he should be driving an old Camaro and antagonizing the kids in an upcoming season of Stranger Things.

Comes from an athletic family and has a thick body:



The future of "Merican tennis?
I honest to God hope so. He is so fun to watch, has a flair about him, but like every next gen, we will wait and see.
 

Phoenix1983

G.O.A.T.
Then learn English grammar and your problem is solved.

Your thread read:

Why American men have not succeeded in tennis.

So actually I did read "what your post is all about," and exposed it as the asinine non-grammatical nonsense it is. Is you wanted to restrict your thread to current players, then take a course in first grade English grammar and change your thread to:

"Why American men are not succeeding in tennis."

Present and past tense in English are generally covered by the first grade. Good luck!

You're right from a pedantic grammatical point of view, but I'm fairly sure you knew what the thread was actually about.
 

Sparlingo

Hall of Fame
That is the main reason. Also, these immigrants were from countries which produce tall men. A short Raonic would have not achieved much.
You may be right but personally I don't think it's all just luck. Are there not immigrants arriving in the USA from countries that produce tall men?
 

Jack the Hack

Hall of Fame
I honest to God hope so. He is so fun to watch, has a flair about him, but like every next gen, we will wait and see.

Well, Wolf has had a good run so far in this US Open. Taking out the #29 seed in the first round and getting a routine straight set win over a Spanish jouneyman in the 2nd round today. Next up, it will likely be Medvedev... so we'll see where his real level is at.

The other day, one of the commentators (maybe Jan Michael Gambill) was saying that if you watched almost anyone in the top 100 practice, you'd see that they hit the ball just as well as Nadal or Federer. However, when it gets into the heat of the matches, the difference is primarily in the mind with the slightest of margins.

One of my favorite players of all time is Mats Wilander. What always struck me is that Wilander's power wasn't exceptional, nor was the fact that he could run or was fit - plenty of guys were just as fast, strong, and hit harder. But Wilander was able to win 7 Slams in singles (and Wimbledon in doubles), while more talented players never stepped up. What was the difference? Even at 17 years old, it seemed Wilander had a belief that he belonged with the best and he established himself as a top 10 player right away. And after he won 3 of 4 Slams and reached #1 in '88, his fall was just as fast after he lost motivation, showing how important the mental aspect of his game was.

Where does this confidence come from? One of the previous posters in this thread talked about how some European countries have had pockets of several elite players rise up at the same time, pushing each other into Hall of Fame careers. Certainly, Wilander had that experience, following in the footsteps of Borg, and being part of a juniors group in Sweden that included Stefan Edberg, Anders Jarryd, Joakim Nystrom, (all of whom won singles or doubles Slam titles) and several others. Wilander practiced and played countless matches against these guys as a kid and was the top of the group back then. When he was a success, it allowed the others to believe in their abilities as well. (I saw in an interview where Edberg was saying that he knew that he would be able to make it as a professional when he took a set off of Wilander in a tournament.) I think a similar thing happened in American tennis in the late 80s when Chang, Agassi, Sampras, and Courier came up. They all knew each other, and when Chang broke through, they all believed that they would win Slams.

Whether it's an American or not, I think the flood gates could open up for the Next Gen/Wonder Gen if one or two of them broke through and started winning Slam titles.
 
Well, Wolf has had a good run so far in this US Open. Taking out the #29 seed in the first round and getting a routine straight set win over a Spanish jouneyman in the 2nd round today. Next up, it will likely be Medvedev... so we'll see where his real level is at.

The other day, one of the commentators (maybe Jan Michael Gambill) was saying that if you watched almost anyone in the top 100 practice, you'd see that they hit the ball just as well as Nadal or Federer. However, when it gets into the heat of the matches, the difference is primarily in the mind with the slightest of margins.

One of my favorite players of all time is Mats Wilander. What always struck me is that Wilander's power wasn't exceptional, nor was the fact that he could run or was fit - plenty of guys were just as fast, strong, and hit harder. But Wilander was able to win 7 Slams in singles (and Wimbledon in doubles), while more talented players never stepped up. What was the difference? Even at 17 years old, it seemed Wilander had a belief that he belonged with the best and he established himself as a top 10 player right away. And after he won 3 of 4 Slams and reached #1 in '88, his fall was just as fast after he lost motivation, showing how important the mental aspect of his game was.

Where does this confidence come from? One of the previous posters in this thread talked about how some European countries have had pockets of several elite players rise up at the same time, pushing each other into Hall of Fame careers. Certainly, Wilander had that experience, following in the footsteps of Borg, and being part of a juniors group in Sweden that included Stefan Edberg, Anders Jarryd, Joakim Nystrom, (all of whom won singles or doubles Slam titles) and several others. Wilander practiced and played countless matches against these guys as a kid and was the top of the group back then. When he was a success, it allowed the others to believe in their abilities as well. (I saw in an interview where Edberg was saying that he knew that he would be able to make it as a professional when he took a set off of Wilander in a tournament.) I think a similar thing happened in American tennis in the late 80s when Chang, Agassi, Sampras, and Courier came up. They all knew each other, and when Chang broke through, they all believed that they would win Slams.

Whether it's an American or not, I think the flood gates could open up for the Next Gen/Wonder Gen if one or two of them broke through and started winning Slam titles.

I remember hearing that too. Reminds me of watching the qualifiers at a Masters 1000 tournament a few years back. I thought every player there had the game to succeed at the top levels of the pros. They could hit every shot, had no fundamental weakness, and were all extremely fit. The reason they lost though, was they would try low percentage shots(that weren't necessary to try) at critical times and wouldn't(naturally enough) make them.
 

Pmasterfunk

Hall of Fame
I remember hearing that too. Reminds me of watching the qualifiers at a Masters 1000 tournament a few years back. I thought every player there had the game to succeed at the top levels of the pros. They could hit every shot, had no fundamental weakness, and were all extremely fit. The reason they lost though, was they would try low percentage shots(that weren't necessary to try) at critical times and wouldn't(naturally enough) make them.
I remember seeing Flavio Cipolla practice with a top 20 player (can't actually remember who) maybe 10 years ago, and he was smoking him. His shots were unbelievable, and nothing got past him. Then I saw him in match play, where he folded like an overdone soufflé.
 
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