Why is the turnover rate so low in tennis?

[Golden Retriever]

Agassi has been out there for over 12 years and still number 2 in America. Philippousiss has been playing for maybe 8 years and he is still no.2 in Australia. Do you see something wrong with this picture? I find it hard to believe that during all these years with so many eager and talented young people out there working their asses off, the turnover rate in men's tennis is still so low.
I think tennis is overly internationalized which robs the young talents from the opportunities to attend the real events that count. It simply costs too much in terms of travelling cost and national pride for the promoters to take a chance on the young people. Of course there are local events but the ones that really count are all international and it is simply too difficult to break into the international circuit. Even if you had the talent you wouldn't be able to overcome the costs and the redtapes involved.
The big irony is that in order to make tennis a more popular sport worldwide, actually they have to take a big step backward and turn it into a more localized sport so that they could promote more local talents. ESPN would probably give tennis a much bigger share of the broadcast pie if there were US only tennis tournaments. They wouldn't have to show Williams only matches anymore.

 

[BigboyDan]

Turnover rate is actually fairly high, with the exceptions of the English speaking countries. Kinda' odd.

 

[Camilio Pascual]

Low turnover rate compared to what standard? You mention 2 very well known players, what about the vast majority not in the Top 200? For every Roger Clemens, Jim Rice, or Andre Agassi in their sport, there are dozens or even hundreds with short careers.

 

[@wright]

I don't know about Flipper even being no.2 in Ozzieland. He's lost 7 straight first round matches. I bet there is another Aussie who is ranked higher than Flipper.

 

[mileslong]

john newcombe should be ranked higher than flipper...

 

[ibelieveinliquidmetal]

Fish should be able to get up and try and keep up a good rivalry with Roddick

 

[@wright]

I'm gonna call Rod Laver the no. 2 Aussie, he could probably pick up a wood racquet from a garage sale and beat up on flipper right now.

 

[borisboris]

Go retrive. Why are you making an argument against the truth. Go to www.atptour.com and look at tournaments-see all the SAT tourneys in the USA??? We have more exposure than almost any country. Overly internationalized? How many sports are offer in the US? Have you been to Europe and been in a sporting goods store? There's not too many options. As far as turn over your - well I won't say but you must be aware if you haven't made by the age of 25 your basically looking for a new career. The turnover is quite dramatic - in a global sport can you name 5 male players in the 100 - 200 rankings or 250-500???