for american men, long road to dominance

5/25/2014 For American Men, Long Road to Dominance - NYTimes.com

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TENNIS

For American Men, Long Road to Dominance

MAY 25, 2014

On Tennis

By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY

PARIS — Believe it or not, American men’s tennis may not have struck

bottom. Look at the once-dominant Australians, who have no men in the

top 40 of the ATP rankings. Look, if you can bear it, at the once-dominant

Swedes, who have no men in the top 300.

But for a tennis nation that has sustained excellence across decades

and cultural shifts, one glance at the rankings as the French Open began

Sunday was more than enough to elicit a wince.

American men have won 51 Grand Slam singles titles in the Open era,

more than twice as many as any other nation. But for the moment, there is

only one American man, John Isner, in the top 60 and none in the top 10.

“That is really extreme, and I certainly hope for better,” said Jim

Courier, a former No. 1 who is now the captain of the United States Davis

Cup team. “I think the one thing that hopefully it does is wake up our fans.

We should let go of this sense of entitlement that Americans deserve top

players. We don’t deserve it. We have to earn it like everybody else.”

Courier and other coaches and former players see a lack of world-class

work ethic and toughness in too many of the young Americans.

“There are plenty of talented players who are not getting the most out

of their talent,” Courier said, declining to name them.

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Jose Higueras, Courier’s former coach and the director of coaching at

the United States Tennis Association, would not argue.

“We try to show them what it takes, but they are not really that

interested, at least for now,” said Higueras, who at 61 called this the

toughest job he had ever held. “The animal is so big; believe me, it’s a lot

easier to coach somebody individually. Actually, a piece of cake, to be

honest.”

Some, like the former leading American player Tim Mayotte, ascribe

part of the problem to persistent holes in technique. Others point to a lack

of the early emphasis on point construction that comes with playing often

on clay, a situation the U.S.T.A. is addressing. Still others focus on a lack

of supreme athletes who can compete with the likes of Rafael Nadal and

Novak Djokovic.

It is a complex subject, but the U.S.T.A. cannot be accused of

standing idly by. This month, it announced plans for a new tennis center in

Orlando that would be one of the biggest public tennis facilities in the

world and a new, multisurface base for player development. Patrick

McEnroe, the general manager of player development at the U.S.T.A., has

spent recent months meeting with coaches and experts around the country

in a series of conferences intended to build communication and repair

bruised feelings.

There is already more formal outreach to college coaches and players,

viewed as critical in an increasingly physical sport in which professionals

are breaking into the top 100 later. Higueras and McEnroe both said they

saw coaches’ education as critical, as entry requirements to the profession

in the United States are lower than in some European nations.

Still, the world rankings remain all too easy to read. Although the

United States still has seven men in the top 100 and seven more in the top

200, placing it third, behind France and Spain, it is weak — historically

weak — at the top.

“The numbers are really the worst they’ve been since I’ve been here,

the top 100 numbers, but I’m actually more encouraged than I’ve ever



been,” McEnroe said.

His increasingly exposed post makes him the most visible target, but

McEnroe, who has been on the job for five years, and the U.S.T.A. are

certainly not the only ones to blame for the tailspin. Other factors include

private coaches and academies, as well as the rise of Europe and the

growing profile of other sports that continue to attract talented Americans.

But this drought has been a long time building.

In May 1984, there were 24 American men in the top 50 and six in the

top 10. In May 1994, there were 11 American men in the top 50 and four in

the top 10.

But the great generation so ably led by Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi,

Courier and Michael Chang, who combined to win 27 major singles titles

between 1989 and 2003, gave way to the generation led by Andy Roddick,

which managed to win just one, when Roddick prevailed at the 2003

United States Open.

Roddick, a fixture in the top 10 who also reached four other major

finals, retired in 2012. The leaders of the next wave of American men,

Isner, 29, and Sam Querrey, 26, have yet to reach a Grand Slam semifinal.

Although the 11th-ranked Isner and the 67th-ranked Querrey each

won in straight sets in the first round Sunday, the French Open — played

on red clay — would hardly seem the most likely place for a turnaround.

No American man has reached the tournament’s fourth round since Robby

Ginepri in 2010.

It is not American tennis as a whole that is weak. The American

women, led by the top-ranked Serena Williams with her 17 Grand Slam

singles titles, are faring relatively well and had more players in the main

singles draw in Paris (14) than any other nation, including France.

“I think there are a lot of American guys that are a lot better than their

ranking,” Isner said. “It’s up to them to go out there and keep playing

hard.”

The top-ranked Americans under 25 are Steve Johnson, Bradley

Klahn, Jack Sock, Donald Young, Denis Kudla and 22-year-old Ryan

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Harrison, who was once ranked as high as 43rd but is now 125th. He lost

in French Open qualifying.

Francis Tiafoe, a 16-year-old from Maryland playing in the junior

event at Roland Garros, has a compelling back story, as the son of an

immigrant from Sierra Leone who worked as a handyman at a tennis club.

Tiafoe is also undeniably precocious, the second-ranked junior in the

world.

But the early focus on Tiafoe is, above all, a result of the American

tennis community’s increasing uneasiness about the present and future.

“I’m worried the next great American player to break through on the

men’s side will be so showered with money and attention that it will be a

problem for them,” Courier said. “My hope is that the next one comes

through with a group, like I was lucky to be a part of, and be able to share

some of the burden of the expectation and the money, which to be honest

can be demotivating.”

Tiafoe does seem to be part of a strong group, which includes Stefan

Kozlov and Michael Mmoh. But the path to the top is strewed with

outstanding juniors who never became outstanding pros.

“It’s not pretty at the moment, but the cavalry is coming,” McEnroe

said.

The cavalry had better hurry.

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