US Tennis: Out

In the Nineties, we had Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. The 60s and 70s were dominated by Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors, and John McEnroe. And in the early 1900s, Bill Larned, Bill Tilden, and Don Budge brought home a total of 23 Grand Slam titles for the USA. Now, of the top 50 international tennis players, there are four Americans, who have won a combined ONE Grand Slam. James Blake and Mardy Fish, ranked 17th and 25th in the world, respectively, have never made it past the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam. And then there’s Andy Roddick. He became the poster child for American tennis following his 2003 US Open victory; he was supposed to take the torch carried by Agassi and Sampras during the previous decade. He is a thrill to watch (big serves, hard forehand, vicious temper, and good looks) which as undoubtedly contributed to his somewhat underserved popularity. Yet, he’s faded since his 2003 triumphs (he was ranked No. 1 for 13 weeks), as he has appeared in only three more Grand Slam finals. I must acknowledge his Davis Cup success, however, as he has the 2nd most tournament wins among US players. Finally, ranked at 47 in the world, the fourth American in the ATP top 50 is Sam Querrey. He has a sub .500 singles record for his career, has never made it past the first round of a Grand Slam, and has but one minor title to his name. And it doesn’t look like any American will break through the forcefield at the top of the ATP rankings. The top four players—Nadal, Federer, Murray, and Djokovic—appear to be quite capable of fending off any and all challengers for the time being.

On the women's side, we have the Williams sisters to root for. Serena and Venus are #2 and #3, respectively, behind Russia's Dinara Safina. Since Serena's injuries bumped her out of the top 100 in 2006, she's had to prove herself once again, which she did by winning the 2007 Australian Open, despite entering the tournament ranked #81. Since then, she has fought her way back into the top 3 in the world. Venus too struggled with injuries for a few years leading up to her own comeback in 2007, when she won Wimbeldon. And the Williams sisters are a dream team as a doubles team. They won the gold medal for doubles at the 2008 Olympics in China, and are defending Wimbeldon and Australian Open champs. Then, there's...well...Bethanie Mattek (#57) and Jill Craybas (#90), who are more doubles specialists than anything else. In the end, when you turn on Wimbeldon this week, you'll see Serena and Venus mixed in with Elena Dementieva, Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic, and all sorts of other -ova's, -eva's, and -vic's. The women's tour is becoming the battle of the Eastern Europeans. Like men's tennis, the days of American supremacy in women's tennis--Billy Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova--seems to be at an end. Since 1991, not including Venus and Serena, only three women--Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati, and Monica Seles (who played most of career for Yugoslavia)--have ever won a Grand Slam.

USTA general manager of elite development, Patrick McEnroe, attributes the lack of American success in tennis to the unending media hype that young stars face in America. Enormous expectations are heaped upon US tennis players from their teenage years; when they find themselves unable to live up to these expectations, their confidence plummets and they don’t know what to do with themselves. In 2005, at age 15, Donald Young was the #1 junior tennis player in the world. He was all the rave, and prematurely turned pro in 2004. After reaching the 3rd round of the 2007 US Open, Young has not made it past the first round in any Grand Slam, and has a career singles record of 10-33. In April 2008, Young was ranked #73 in the world, but has since fallen out of the top 100. Unfortunately, I see the story of Donald Young becoming more the rule than the exception for junior American phenoms. It will take a youngster not only with astonishing talent and skill, but also one with an extraordinary ability to endure the national spotlight to find himself playing at Arthur Ashe Stadium in front of 24,000 for the US Open finals.