Tag: USTA Player Development Program

American Men Out in First Week of Australian Open

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Week one of the 2015 Australian Open has come and gone – and so have all of the American men.

Sad to say, their performance supported the comments made by Pete Sampras at a recent IPTL press conference. He stated that he doesn’t see any American men on the horizon who are capable of breaking into the top ten. Sampras was asked to comment on the reasons for the demise of the American me. He was diplomatic and mentioned there were a lot of reasons.

Many in the industry would say the crux of the problem is the inept USTA Player Development program. Without any star American men, young boys don’t aspire to be tennis players, much as they did when Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras were at the top of their games.

In addition, some feel that American kids have too many options. The sport has enjoyed growth around the globe and young players from other countries are motivated than you Americans.

This year there were only 7 men in the Australian Open, compared to 12 last year. Fortunately Tim Smyczek and Michael Russell qualified, otherwise there would have only been five Americans.

John Isner is the constant for the American men. He was seeded in 19th and he held his seed. He won two matches prior to bowing out in the round of 32. Steve Johnson was also 2-1.

Denis Kudia, Sam Querrey, and Michael Russell were first round losers.

Donald Young and Tim Smyczek both won a match before losing in the second round. To Smyczek’s credit, he took Rafael Nadal to five sets before bowing out.

Overall the men won six matches and lost seven.

The Grand Slams are much more fun to follow when there are American men playing during the second week of the tournament!

USTA Player Development Program – Quantity not Quality

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As the U.S. Open approaches, the USTA press corps will be out in force to brag about the great crop of young American women produced by the USTA Player Development program.

Unfortunately for the Americans and the USTA, other countries are producing players who can actually win in the Grand Slams. To date, the USTA Player Development program has produced a contingency of players who will be eliminated by the third round. Quantity will be the mantra for the young American women in the 2014 U.S. Open, not quality.

The August 18th WTA rankings show the USA is at the top of the leader board for the greatest number of players in the top 50. There are 22 countries with players ranked in the top 50:

  • USA – 8
  • Czech Republic – 5
  • Italy – 4
  • Russia – 4
  • China – 3
  • Germany – 3
  • Serbia -3

The following countries each have two players ranked in the top 50:

  • Australia
  • France
  • Kazakhstan
  • Slovakia
  • Spain

The following countries each have one player ranked in the top 50:

  • Belgium
  • Canada
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • Japan
  • Kazakhstan
  • Poland
  • Romania
  • Ukraine
  • United Kingdom

A closer look at the rankings shows that Serena Williams is at the top of the list. Her sister Venus is ranked 20th. Sloane Stephens is ranked 22nd and Madison Keys is 28th.

The remaining four American women are far from being world-beaters. They are ranked between 39th and 48th and include Coco Vandeweghe, Christina McHale, Alison Riske, and Lauren Davis.

The Americans other than the Williams sisters are 19 to 24 years old. Contemporaries of this group include Halep, Kvitova, Bouchard, Wozniacki, Krunic, Cornet, and Bencic. Elite players who are slightly older include Radwanska, Cibulkova, and Azarenka. None of the young Americans have demonstrated the ability to compete against these players with success.

Most of the top 50 American women are young. Time will tell if they will mature and improve or if they continue to be cannon fodder for the world’s elite players.

 

USTA Player Development Program – Subpar Performance of American Juniors at French Open

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The pattern of subpar performance of American open junior was evident at the 2014 French Open – yet another sign of the ineffectiveness of the USTA Player Development Program.

Some argue the issue is the clay at Roland Garros, not the leadership within the USTA. American players have not fared as well at the French Open as other Grand Slam events. The American men have only won the event four times in the open Era  (47 years) while the women have won it fourteen times (Chris Evert won it seven times).

The seven American boys started the 2014 French Open on a positive note winning their first round matches (Francis Tiafoe, Noah Rubin, Alex Rybakov, Michael Mmoh, Stefan Kozlov, Henrik Wiersholm, and Taylor Harry Fritz). Unfortunately, Kozlov was the only player to advance beyond the second round.

Kozlov eventually won three matches before bowing out in the quarterfinals. With the strong first round performance, the American Boys won nine matches and lost eight.

The performance by the girls was the weakest in years. Katrine Steffensen, Tornado Alicia Black, Sofia Kenin, Riveena Kingsley, and Dasha Invanova all lost first round matches. Usue Maitane Arconada won a match before exiting in the second round and Catherine Bellis won two matches before bowing out in the third round.

Overall, the girls won three matches and lost seven.

At best, the USTA Player Development Program has been ineffective. By comparison a player from Spain has won the men’s French Open fourteen times in the past 21 years, i.e. the Open Era. During this period players from Spain have not been in the finals on only six occasions (1995 to 1997, 2000, 2004, and 2009).

On four occasions both finalists were from Spain on four occasions (1994, 1998, 2002, and 2013). Rafael Nadal played in only one of those four all-Spanish finals.

The Spanish women have won four French Opens during the open era. Despite the increased popularity of tennis around the world, It seems like the Royal Spanish Tennis Federation has figured out a way to produce world-class tennis players. Hopefully, the leaders of the USTA Player Development Program have taken notice.

 

American Men and Women Have a Weak Showing at 2014 French Open

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Another Grand Slam event has passed and no American players were serious contenders for the title. What is the USTA Player Development Program doing?

Rafael Nadal won another French Open. Rafa has now won nine French titles.  Since the first tournament in 1891, Americans have won the event a total of 11 times. Four of those victories have come during the open era.

On the women’s side Maria Sharapova captured her second French Open. She defeated 20-year old Simona Halep in a knockdown-dragout match that lasted for more than three hours.

With the exception of John Isner and Sloane Stephens, the American players had a lackluster performance. After Isner, the highest ranking American male was ranked 64th.

In the men’s draw Bradley Klahn (71), Michael Russell (98), and Robby Ginepri (279) lost in the first round.

Sam Querrey (67) and Steve Johnson (64) won their first round matches, but lost in the second round.

Donald Young (79) and Jack Sock (75) won two rounds before bowing out in the third round.

John Isner (11), seeded 10th, held his seed by winning three matches before being defeated in the round of 16.

Overall, the American men won 9 matches and lost 8.

On the women’s side, tennis enthusiasts got a sneak peak of American tennis without the Williams sisters. Fans anticipated seeing the players face off in their third round; however, both Venus and Serena lost in the second round.

Only Taylor Townsend and Sloane Stephens advanced beyond the second round. Townsend won two matches before losing in the third round and Stephens won three before she was defeated in the fourth round.

In the last six Grand Slams she has reached the fourth round. In four of those tournaments she was the last American in the bracket. That sounds good, on paper, but….

The following American women fell in the first round: Grace Min, Lauren Davis, Christina McHale, Vania King, Shelby Rogers, Anna Tatishvili, and Madison Keys.

In addition to the Williams sisters, the second round losers included Varvara Lepchenko, Coco Vandeweghe, and Alison Riske.

At the moment Serena Williams is the only elite American male or female player. Although John Isner has been consistent, it is unlikely he will win a Grand Slam event.

Stephens has shown that she has the potential to play in the upper echelon. Time will tell whether there are too many players such as Simona Halep, Eugenie Bouchard, Belinda Bencic, and Garbine Maguruza, who will prevent her from being an elite player.

Another Grand Slam has passed and there is no evidence the USTA Player Development Program is having an impact on American tennis.

Is it Fair to Bash the USTA for their Men’s Player Development Program?

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Is the USTA Player Development Program getting the job done?

A quick look at the January 6 ATP rankings shows that 32 countries have players ranked in the top 100. They are:

  • Spain 14 players
  • France 11 players
  • Germany 8 players
  • USA 8 players
  • Argentina 6 players
  • Russia 5 players
  • Australia 4 players
  • Czechoslovakia 4 players
  • Columbia 3 players
  • Croatia 3 players
  • Italy 3 players
  • Kazakhstan 3 players
  • The Netherlands 3 players
  • Poland 3 players
  • Serbia 3 players
  • Canada 2 players
  • Switzerland 2 players
  • 15 countries have 1 player

Tennis is an international sport, but the combined total of ranked players from Croatia, Kazakhstan, and Serbia is greater than the U.S. total.

A closer look at the men’s rankings shows the following for the American men:

  • 14 John Isner
  • 46 Sam Querrey
  • 89 Tim Smyczek
  • 91 Michael Russell
  • 95 Bradley Klahn
  • 96 Donald Young
  • 99 Ryan Harrison
  • 100 Jack Sock.

If you asked 1,000 people to name the top American male tennis players in the U.S., they most likely couldn’t name one of these individuals. In fairness to the USTA, part of the problem is the popularity of tennis in many foreign countries. Some in tennis also feel that the best American athletes play sports other than tennis.  Still others will say that American youth lack the work ethic to be world class tennis players.

These factors play a part in the lack of dominant American tennis players; however, the major source of the problem is USTA Player Development. Pancho Gonzalez, Jack Kramer, and Arthur Ashe have to be rolling over in their graves at the state of American men’s tennis.