RE: [Scoop] How American Tennis can alter its course from mediocrity
We had this conversation in the Chris Lewis article and my thoughts have not changed since then, so I am pasting my comment here:
RE: How to develop New American Tennis Stars
I agree with Chris in that nothing good can come out of something "nationalized" and centralized, except a blueprint that might or might not work with any given player, or a coach. Tennis is an individual sport and I am a huge believer in individualism . Everyone is different.
I think , especially at the beginning, it is up to the parents. Look at Agassi's father, driving around Vegas to find a lot big enough to build a tennis court. Look at Connor's mother developing and shaping Jimbo's career. Or countless other parents relocating to places where they think their kid will have a better chance of improving...I don't want to get into parenting and deeper issues here, but it seems to me that none of these parents subscribed to the more laid back philosophy of " My kid will be whatever he wants to be...we will not force anything on him"...Guys like Agassi were almost already pros before they realized they had other choices in life.
Another thing is the competition from other sports that are more popular. It is tough to compete with baseball and basketball and etc. in the US. One reason is the pay structure in those sports. In tennis , the only way you make money is if you win. In baseball or basketball, you get paid guaranteed money, AND THEN you play. Sure, one might say you work really hard to get that contract and I am not disputing that, but a tennis player works just as hard , has to travel from place to place out of his own pocket, stay in the crappiest places and still end up with no money in his pocket . A basketball player on the other hand, playing high school ball, travels with a coach, a therapists and does not pay out of his pocket to travel. All he has to do is play basketball, nothing else to worry about...That is really tough to compete against when you are a parent that wants his kid to play a sport somewhat seriously.
Another thing that I believe to be true is a totally personal observation and I am sure reasonable people might disagree with : The decline of personal responsibility and individual accountability in the US. To me it seems like everyone is looking to blame someone else for their shortcomings and people are looking to the government or other places more and more to hold their hands as opposed to getting things done. That type of thinking lends itself way better to team sports where you can easily blame your teammates for failure..not so in tennis. In tennis, you are all alone in the court, you against the world, and as Sampras said "There is no place to hide, you cannot pass the ball".
In a nutshell, it is the parents and the kids themselves that will get it done, not a national program, IMHO, unless you put together a program that recognizes each individual, develops them in a way that does not mold the kids into one style.