June 20, 2012

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Theme of show is “Achieving America’s Last 20% of Tennis Growth” Today’s show is a condensation of those critical areas that American tennis needs to make growth in order to move the many American players that are currently in the top 1000 players to the top 100 and even the top 10 in the world. The program is approached from many fronts. The first point of view is that there are close to 70 male players in the top 1000ATP rankings and there are 97 Women in the top 1000 of the WTA rankings. This is a dominant amount of players for any nation in the world to have within striking distance for the top100 rankings. The obvious question to address is ‘where is the ball being dropped’ in the development of Our Nations talent. There are plenty of good players in our ranks, but most drop off at about the 80% mark. Areas discussed are: College tennis as the Necessary connection or ‘synapse’ between junior tennis and professional ranks. College tennis has failed over the last 15 years to develop and produce championship players that are ready for the professional tour. The overregulation of the USTA is talked about as well as their ‘Top Down’ management system has a tendency to maximize motivation of coaches and players. Titlle IX is talked about briefly as well as it is referred to as “a good rule that has been incorrectly implemented.” It is stated that most of scholarship opportunities are not currently being distributed evenly as most money goes to foreign women; followed by foreign men; thirdly by American women and least amount goes to American men. Title IX was not set up to protect women from other countries but rather to protect women from the USA. An appeal is made for coaches to stand up and speak out, but to stay professional and address issues that are not right for the development of American tennis.