Discussion of the Article “How to Develop New American Tennis Stars”

The previous article “How to Develop New American Tennis Stars”  that was written by Chris Lewis attracted a lot of attention. It has been discussed on the blog and many social media sites and forums. I thought that the article will be criticized heavily, but I was wrong. Moreover I did not find any comments which support USTA’s approach for developing of junior tennis players.

I asked USTA officials through their site and Facebook account to give their opinion on the article and the discussion. I did not receive any answer yet. I hope, they will express their opinion soon because any discussion is fruitful and useful only if both sides express their points.

Now we have an interesting situation. I counted about 90 feedback on the Internet on the article from tennis coaches and enthusiasts from around the world. Among them are Oscar Wegner, Kim Warwick, Alex Yep and many others.  All these opinions are very skeptical about a possibility of USTA to develop the next generation of American tennis champions. A one tennis coach said: “The problem is USTA truly does not understand what to do”. You can find some very interesting feedback in the “Comments” section at the previous post. Here I posted several comments which appeared  on the other Social Media sites.

Ted Murray, Founder, Tennis From The Heart:

“When has the USTA ever developed star players? Haven’t most of the US stars been developed either by fanatical parents or by exceptional coaches along with an occasional boost from a tennis academy where competition is readily available? There has never been a comprehensive plan by the USTA for player development. I agree with Alex that most US tennis coaches are still just teaching strokes to young players instead of developing athletes who know how to play the game and love the challenge of tough competition.”

Oscar Wegner, tennis coach and TV commentator on ESPN International:

“The results for the decline of US top players is very simple. Tennis has been made complicated unnecessarily. Few players are not affected by the maze of false technical data. You could tell a million reasons why a player does not make it, but what is lacking is the simplicity and natural trends of operation of the human composite (body, mind, spirit) that helps you become the best you can be. Proof? Look at the list of countries where Modern Tennis Methodology has made an impact. I won’t mention names here, but starting in 1973 and through the 80s and 90s these techniques became more and more popular around the world, and foreign countries have been producing outstanding pros in more and more numbers. And that breeds tennis popularity. Of course there are other factors in developing good players, but the basic problem is lacking simple and natural technique.”

Alex Yep, Founder and Instructor of Physio Technical Tennis:

“There are many issues that had affected USTA’s ability to create tennis stars. One of my major concern is how USTA is using their funding to develop players. I’d gone to Home Depot Center, Carson with my player countless times by invites from players training at the facility, also, not necessary the USTA program. We have practice with players in the USTA program and players not in the program. There are other programs that runs out of the Home Depot Center. I have watch USTA trained many juniors in their program at the facility. They have pour so much money into players that should not be trained in an elite program. In addition, I know many of these juniors and they
come from very well off families and are able to affort their own coaching. During that period when my player was competing, I know almost every junior boys/girls top 200 ranked in 18’s on what type of game they played. Some of these junior players USTA were training had competed against my player and they had been blown away by my player in tournaments. I had approach USTA many times for funding to play ITF for my player and just got the cold shoulder. That is why I’ve been disgusted with USTA and had taken my player ITF without the help from USTA. We did with what we had and had produced some amazing results. When knowingly how USTA is just pouring funds down the drain and the players being trained will never get to the pro-circuit is just beyond comprehension. We must see a change in USTA and the way they allocate and structure funds for players. We must definitely change the training selection process. It should not be who you know! The future of our tennis juniors are at stake. USTA have ignore the great young players long enough and their disadvantage is ” FUNDS “.

Let’s continue to discuss the topic. We need to remember that there is no American men in top 20, and US men’s tennis is only #8 in the world ranking.

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