The Future of American Tennis and The Role of USTA
We want to share with you our discussion with Aaron Gross, Head Men’s Tennis Coach at University of Portland. We had a talk about the situation with American tennis and the article “McEnroe’s Successor at U.S.T.A. Needs to Hit the Court Running” in The New York Times.
TC: Actually, no serious analysis was made why USTA PD with $17 million annual budget has failed in producing new American tennis stars.
I think that big salaries of Patrick McEnroe ($1million) and his staff definitely have discouraged them from taking risks.
They need to put a new USTA PD manager on $100K salary plus bonuses for developing top players. But I doubt that it will be done.
Aaron Gross: Why the pressure for champions to be “produced” by federations. Did the USTA really have much to do with Connors, McEnroe, Agassi, Sampras, Courier, Chang, Roddick, Williams Sisters, Davenport, etc, etc? Maybe a few little extra perks here and there, but 99% of the work was done by the players, parents, coaches of these players. Uncle Toni deserves credit for Rafa- not Spanish federation. The Djokovic family seemed to have sacrificed everything to help Novak make it- not the Serbian tennis federation. I guess we are all looking for the USTA to justify the money they blow through. But, really do we expect them to be producing these incredibly special players?
TC: Remember, initially the name of USTA PD was Elite Player Development and goal was producing new American champions. And $17 million budget is more than enough for supporting 170 talented tennis players every year if count $100.000 for one junior player. The issue is that USTA does not know what to do and how to do. They have no plan and no ideas. So, they have chosen the easiest way: create one more bureaucracy with huge salaries and an incompetent boss.
Aaron Gross: I think we are saying the same thing basically. I don’t feel that money is justified in high performance player development. Take that $17 million and build some big outdoor facilities in LA, Miami, Houston, anywhere with good weather and lots of population. Don’t build these facilities out in the suburbs. Find a place close to the bulk of the population. Get as many kids possible playing tennis at an early age. The goal doesn’t have to be to make them champions. Just get them interested in tennis with a good experience with the game initially. Maybe they will decide to play HS tennis. Maybe someday they will have kids of their own and decide to push them towards some of the opportunities available for people that don’t have tons of money to maybe get them to a point where they can earn college scholarships. Imagine a serious grass roots initiative starting now and how important that could be for the game of tennis in 5, 10, 15, 20 years.
Instead of trying to find that “one” 6’5 fifteen year old with the 125 mph serve that may be an eventual top 100 tennis player. Lets try and get 10,000 new players from the age of 5-15 through affordable opportunities close their houses. It wouldn’t take long to pay off. Tennis equipment sales will blossom, TV ratings will go up, and as the generations grow through this love of tennis from the cradle- the sport will no longer be cyclical. There will be enough people in the US from 5-10 simple facilities with enough equipment to serve people that aren’t rich to the degree that they can learn the game correctly, possibly play some tournaments, and gain a fondness for the game that has not been accessible to them in the past. Scrap all of the high performance coaches and budgets. Put it all into growing this game to a robust, recession proof place. Forget about “American” tennis champions. Some will come and some will go, but most likely not produced by this initiative. How many people go to Giant Stadium to watch to soccer teams play against each other that aren’t even American. American’s like to watch great sports. It is a bonus if we are watching American’s when it comes to tennis. Give me Federer v Nadal any day over Isner v Johnson.
We just have to cultivate more people in this country that can appreciate the beauty of the sport- no matter what country the players are from. The 10,000 hard core tennis fans in the US probably watched Nishikori v Cilic. And the tennis fans that tune in for Fed, Rafa, Djokovic probably didn’t watch. Lets create an interest in tennis that teaches people how to play correctly from a young age, how to appreciate the dignity of the sport, the diversity of the sport, and an appreciation that no matter what a players race, creed, color, religion, economic standing- that he/she can make it. With tens of thousands of tennis enthusiasts “getting it” finally at that point- tennis will officially be back in the US- irregardless if there are US champions or not.
TC: I like your vision much more than an idea of spending money for a few people – “champions”. But I doubt that it will be turned into reality.
Aaron Gross: I agree. Just a voice in the dark.
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Amen! It’s not too late to scrap the FL plan! If that plan goes forward, US PD is ruined for generations– it’s repeating the same mistakes just different venue! The voices in the dark need to be heard. As a strategic planner my vote for a vision is “Make tennis Affordable, Reliable and Accessible in communities throughout America utilizing the knowledge and resources in the trenches with support from USTA PD. “. It’s that simple! Pinning hopes on a few physical gifted players is just sick! The current vision is :” “Pick a few then hope and pray and ignore the masses by putting up real barriers to development”. How can anyone get paid a large salary for that kind of vision! ?! The USTA PD house needs to be cleaned and replaced with folks who actually understand the true barriers in the current market. And we all know most of those barriers were created by the current leadership!
I completely agree with Aaron. The NY Jr Tennis and Learning model should be replicated throughout the country. NYJTL and Skip Hartman have brought tennis in NYC to the schoolyards where the kids are located and have developed thousands of players with a true love of the game by neighborhood pros who understand the diverse cultures represented in the 5 boroughs. Teaching elementary and middle school children racquet skills as a part of regular physical education and then supporting them with after school programs at schools and parks year round so that eventually the “cream will rise to the top”. Not only will we develop a new generation of tennis players but we will create safe havens for children living in tough urban areas.
Yes, I believe that USTA can help players by giving them money; not be forcing them to join the team and be done for years! If you want to help, just let the players train with their coaches and support them with money, wild-cards and maybe some practice opportunities
First thought: My pick for the new head of USTA player development, Ivan Lendl, if given the resources (and total control) do you think he will be able to deliver results?
Second thought: was on the phone yesterday with a top junior coach in Florida, he was telling me the USTA center in Boca Raton is always empty, no top juniors are interested in practicing there due to the USTA’s meddlesome incompetence. The solution? Big a bigger new center in Orlando, so that you can have a bigger empty development center?
Time to clean house…
I completely agree that the whole USTA PD and its current management have failed in producing current or potential “champions”. To be fair, there is little that can be done on an organizatonal level to achieve that result. Using that budget to build stadiums in urban areas to attract the maximum possible number of new players is a great idea. That probably also won’t produce champions, since the unfortunate truth is that you have to have money to play tennis, Almost all top players have had a close long-term relationship with a particular coach, and that is very expensive over time.
Constantine, there is so much the USTA could be doing to make Player Development more affordable. I agree they may not be able to produce the next star but they certainly can put systems in place to help instead of hurt. Player in other countries develop on much smaller budgets because systems are in place where young players can acquire basic skills at affordable rates, from knowledgeable coaches. In many places in the US it costs a min. of $80 to $100/hour for a lesson with an unskilled coach who really doesn’t know how to teach basic fundamentals — most were just decent players at one time. What passes for junior clinics in most places in this country is a crime! In the cold regions of the country a junior player must not only pay a (poor quality) coach $100+/hour, but also pay indoor court fees. Many parents are asked to pay up-front (thousands of dollars) for coaching and court fees. Really anyone can say they are a high performance coach and ask for this kind of money because they know they can find a wealthy unknowing parent who will pay it. If the USTA put together a comprehensive educational program (min one year) to certifying dedicated coaches, while educating parents to become good consumers, we could at least start to have reliable skill progression among our young players. Instead we have very enthusiastic, athletic young players (and parents) who get burnt-out because they are trying so hard (and spending countless hours (and dollars) on court) but just can’t get the proper instruction to progress to the next level! The USTA PD could also help to subsidize players and coaches who progress to the regional, national and international levels — help with coaching fees, court time etc. If some very basic programs were put into place, we would see great players coming from so many regions in the country. I believe your comments let the USTA PD off the hook much to easily. They need to be held accountable for providing basic leadership and stewardship and should not be allowed to make the same multi-million dollar mistakes over again — i.e., creating a mega center in FL!
Well said, Lisa. But I am afraid that nothing of that will be implemented into reality. Any bureaucracy, without a strong public control, works for its vested interest.
Remember what they said: “David A. Haggerty, the chairman and president of the U.S.T.A., said McEnroe had done a “fantastic job.” The U.S.T.A.’s executive director, Gordon A. Smith, echoed the sentiment, saying that “Patrick has created a great staff.” Smith added, “It’s going to be hard to replace Patrick.”
No any comments needed.
I know — when I heard those comments regarding Patrick etc. I was sickened! It’s one thing to point out his contributions, but it’s an outright lie to say he did a great job and will be hard to replace. I don’t know why there isn’t more public outcry — I really don’t! There are a lot of passionate, knowledgeable tennis folks out there and it seems so many, especially those who might actually be heard, just go along or try to cozy up to the USTA brass! And to make matters worse, some of the more prominent tennis faces –outside of USTA PD– go unchallenged when making outrageous and out-of- touch comments. I don’t get it! For instance, Brad Gilbert wrote a recent article about how our young players just don’t want to travel to Europe and play on red clay and that is why they are not developing. He went on to say they are afraid to experience new cultures and if they were willing to travel, American tennis would be back on track! I don’t think anyone (with the exception of myself) wrote in to disagree with that article. Is he for real? How out of touch are those statements? He has no idea what is really going on in the tennis trenches. So many very talented promising young players cannot afford to train in the US, let alone travel to Europe, especially young college players trying to train and play futures during in the summer, but Brad says they just don’t want to go and he gets away with it. Then we have an article by Nick Bollettieri saying parents need to just “shut up and step aside” and there wasn’t outrage. Patrick and many of the prominent faces influencing tennis in the US continue to blame parents and player and they remain so very out of touch with the tennis trenches. We all know what is going on with US tennis is wrong but what I genuinely don’t understand is the relative silence within our tennis communities. I believe if we had more organized voices, we could change the tennis landscape, but it seems most people feel it’s hopeless! That, in fact, is the most sickening part of it all!
One very famous coach told me that “many are just afraid to criticize USTA because it is too powerful.” It is easier and safely to blame parents and junior players than the top management of USTA.