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Jimmy Connors discusses 2010 U.S. Open and state of American tennis
19 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
Jimmy Connors, one of the greatest champions in tennis history, has some pointed opinions about the American slump in the ATP rankings.
An American male player has not won a singles grand slam since Andy Roddick conquered New York in 2003. Connors thinks he knows what part of the problem is.
“The U.S. is spoiled and they’ve been very spoiled,” Connors told the media via a conference call this week to promote his second consecutive appearance as a commentator/analyst for The Tennis Channel’s coverage of the 2010 U.S. Open. “They’ve had the best players in the world for so many years and now all of a sudden they don’t have people in the top 10 for a week or two and there’s instant panic. It shouldn’t be instant panic – it should be there already.”
Without pointing the finger directly at the USTA, Connors stated that American player development has failed in recent years and suggested the decision-makers are not always open to outside ideas.
“Obviously it hasn’t worked out,” Connors said. “Whoever is out there making the decisions needs to maybe make a change – a change is in order. If a company is going under you don’t keep doing the same thing and getting the same result. It’s the definition of insanity. I know how I’d go about it, but it’s like talking to my foot. I’d get a better response from my foot.”
Research by the USTA and TIA reveals that tennis player participation topped 30,000,000 for the first time in the U.S. last year. But Connors, never one to shy away from controversy, questioned the legitimacy of those numbers – based on his personal observation.
“All I know is when I fly into someplace or go someplace where there are public courts there, they are empty. I want to know where the stats are coming from. Tennis might be growing in a way I don’t know,” said the man who won five U.S. Open titles. “I would like to see the kids out on the court crowded standing in line waiting to play like they were 30 and 40 years ago like they were in the heights (of tennis popularity).
“Somebody is to blame. It’s a matter of who is to blame. Why don’t the kids want to go out and play tennis? They do, but we get them too late. They go through soccer, basketball and baseball and by the time they come to tennis they’re 16 and 17 years old and it is too late. We need to figure out a way to get the kids when they’re young, eight and nine years old.”
Looking ahead to the 2010 U.S. Open, Connors selected ATP #1 Rafael Nadal, five-time U.S. Open champion Roger Federer and 2008 finalist Andy Murray as the favorites to take home the championship title. Connors also likes the chances of the American contingent, specifically Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish to possibly do damage deep into the draw.
“Federer and Nadal (are the favorites) and I think Murray has a good chance, (it) depends on how he handles certain situations,” Connors noted. “To be honest, I think Mardy Fish has a good chance if he can handle the three out of five sets in a two-week period. Andy, I don’t think you can ever count Andy Roddick out because he’s got too many big weapons and the experience, to count him out.”
Novak Djokovic has been quiet through most of the American hard court season and Connors says he does not regard the ATP #3 and 2007 finalist here as a top contender at this time.
“I don’t know about Djokovic, the jury is still out with him as far as winning a U.S. Open and everything it takes. Not just on the court. If he would win that would be a surprise to me.”
There have been plenty of surprises lately in the world of tennis, especially from the American perspective. The 2010 U.S Open should be no exception.
Jimbo says "Change is in order."
Sakhi · August 26, 2010 at 5:43 am
Interesting piece, but I don’t particularly see Mr. Connors saying anything remarkable here, except lamenting the loss of U.S. tennis hegemony. Might be useful to hear how Johnny Mac’s new tennis academy will work given its newly inspired teaching philosophy and such. Also, isn’t it possible for tennis to grow in the U.S. and for Americans to still NOT be in the top 10? I live in California and play tennis regularly on the Los Angeles public courts and from where I sit, tennis is a much-beloved and growing sport. EXCEPT, we’re a country of immigrants and so all kinds of folks train here and may not decide to play for the U.S. even if they happen to live here.
NAME · August 26, 2010 at 6:13 am
“Andy, I don’t think you can ever count Andy Roddick out because he’s got too many big weapons and the experience, to count him out.—
Too many = one. Serve. But you’re not allowed to count him out if you are being paid to do commentary.
Scoop Malinowski · August 26, 2010 at 12:05 pm
With the way U.S. tennis is, to some degree, struggling right now on the men’s side (despite the 2007 Davis Cup win it’s been only mediocre results) it’s interesting to hear what the past American champions have to say about the issue, especially a guy like Connors. As well as champions like Chang, Courier, Agassi, Sampras, Martin. All their input should be sought out. John McEnroe shared a lot of his philosophy in a big story in the recent New York Magazine by Larry Platt. IN a nutshell JM said he wants his Center on Randall’s Island to be a place where players develop but not necessarily a place where they devote theie entire lives to be tennis champions. He wants them to play other sports, go to school, lead normal lives. Which would be a reflection of his development at Hopman. It’s a very good read. Hard to tell at this point, if Johm McEnroe is right or wrong. He does have a strong team in place and hopefully it will be successful in creating top players in a few years.
I do agree that tennis popularity is very high in the U.S. At the courts I play at here in North NJ it’s always crowded, and there are other groups I know of who play every day at other courts – Filippinos and other Asians. And the love of the game is not going to drop off if Roddick or Fish don’t win any more slams. Can’t really say how the game is doing in the heart of the country, but in major cities, it seems tennis is as big as ever.
ahacker · August 26, 2010 at 2:49 pm
Never was a Connors fan and this just adds more. How does Connors justify the opinion American men’s tennis a disaster when no country except Spain has more players in the Top 25? Actually, shouldn’t it be the USTA’s job to promote play for as many as possible, not simply funnel money into a few. BTW, what did the USTA do for him, Sampras, Chang … Kramer, Gonzalez, Tilden, etc. that they are the bad guys now? Connors had game; he has opinions; now, if he wants to get back together with Chris Evert and they have a reality show together that would be worth hearing him on.
Dan markowitz · August 26, 2010 at 10:33 pm
Connors has always been a bit of a prick. Maybe bigger than a bit. But he backed up his egomania with his game. So he knows a thing or two about tennis and developing champions. And I do think that it hps to havethat knowledge and no. 1 pedigree.
For instance, spadea hit with djokovic yesterday and he said he told djoko a few thing s about what he’s doing wrong and djoko was interested. Vince said doko was overhitting his bh approach and he told him to shorten his followthrough. V said he’s swinging Like Agassi but Andre just put away the short ball on bh, he didn’t try to approach.
I said to v,you’re telling the guy w one of the best three bh in the game how to hit it and v said, I have a better bh than him. And he was only no. 18. All these guys have big egos. Connors’ is bigger than most
Andrew Miller · August 27, 2010 at 12:27 am
From watching tennis clips of the U.S. juniors, sheesh I certainly hope someone says something. I really wonder if the UK will produce the next champ before the U.S. does. The UK, via LTA, paid the big bucks to the biggest U.S. coaches (Annacone and Gilbert included). I havent seen much outside Laura Robson, who has got some game! Hope she stays fired up to do well.
Andrew Miller · August 27, 2010 at 4:05 am
I think folks can judge for themselves. Here are clips of the U.S. top prospects prior to the US Open. Below those are clips of Nadal and Federer hitting. Nadal and Federer hit clean as a whistle. That’s what seems to be required to win a major these days.
Jack Sock, Kalmazoo Champ 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_CuVxyyOR4
Brad Klahn, NCAA Champ (has a 135 mph serve)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcRul3SAp_E
Nadal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojzfPud_mvo
Federer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_yWePjInF8&feature=channel
Who knows. But one thing is clear: it will take a LOT of professional effort for the U.S. future players to develop the feel for the game that a Nadal or Federer had…at age 16.
vinko · August 27, 2010 at 4:05 am
The USTA spends too much money on luxury boxes and too little effort on getting youngsters onto the tennis court. When you go to the Open you see layers upon layers of luxury boxes in Ashe Stadium. How about spending a little of that money on public tennis courts and a little less of that on catered lunches for TARP funded executives? Jimmy is onto something. If we had a real outreach program to youngsters we would have alot more people playing tennis.
Scoop Malinowski · August 27, 2010 at 12:22 pm
Jimmy has an opinion like everyone, I like to hear what he says. American tennis is not as weak as some imply, it just so happens that two of the greatest players of all time have sprung up out of Switzerland and Spain. When their era ends, I think we will see a wider range of make slam winnes. There is a lot of hard work being done by US coaching now and we will see the dividends eventually.
Andrew Miller · August 27, 2010 at 9:29 pm
I believe Skip like Jimmy has a good point. Federer is definitely an anomaly. And Rafa, as much as he is from a tennis-rich country, is from an island and developed his game along the lines of a Venus and Serena Williams and a Monica Seles: “away” from systems (even if they mooched off those systems for free court time, coaching, etc and took all the credit!).
Dan markowitz · August 27, 2010 at 10:52 pm
It’s scoop, Andrew, not skip. He’s very touchy about this kind of thing.
Andrew Miller · August 28, 2010 at 12:47 am
I apologize to Scoop. In the spirit of dialogue, I think Scoop is right. Nadal and Federer ARE anomalies – as much as Sampras and Agassi. Maybe Nadal grew up near a system, but he also grew up outside the system, honing his game against the likes of Carlos Moya, who he practiced with – as not even a teenager! Maybe they (Federer and Nadal) did not compete in juniors together (given the age gap) as Sampras and Agassi did, but neither did Sampras and Agassi compete all that much in juniors – Agassi took off for the pros as soon as he possibly could, in part to escape Bolletieri’s camp (though not Bolletieri). Sampras is the youngest US Open winner, so he wasnt much for juniors either.
Scoop Malinowski · August 28, 2010 at 12:58 am
Don’t mind being called Skip, it happens quite a bit actually and actually happened this afternoon from one of the Tennis Channel producers when getting ready to do those “Best of” interviews.
I think the USTA should do research and collect data by interviewing all the American greats like Courier, Connors, Chang, Agassi, Pete, Martin, Roddick, etc. and ask their input opinions and ideas and compile them all in a publication. Different voices and inputs should always be welcome.
vinko · August 28, 2010 at 12:51 pm
I don’t think there will be a major revival of American tennis success until we get kids playing from a young age and doing it because they enjoy the game. Right now they know football and basketball but mention tennis and they shrug their shoulders or assume you mean wii tennis. At the public courts I use in a municipal park the basketball court is filled with local kids but the tennis players are either old timers like me or immigrants who learned the game in their native countries. The USTA needs to stop worrying about getting shrimp salad to a corporate luxury box and start worrying about getting kids onto tennis courts.
Scoop Malinowski · August 28, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Vinko, SOmeone from the USTA said the USTA is making a big push to get the young kids to play tennis with the small racquets, sponge balls and smaller courts. Like T-ball in baseball. I think it’s a Fantastic idea. They want to just get the kids to play, let them play, instead of drilling and teaching before they play. I think the kids will love that kind of tennis where the court is tailor made for them and the racquet is not too heavy and the net too high. She said other countries have been doing this for years. It’s a great idea. Tennis is just too hard and frustrating for very small kids, this will make it much more fun.
vinko · August 29, 2010 at 2:16 am
This is good news. I hope they follow up on it. If they can get kids on a court and let them have fun they will have lifelong tennis players. On the public courts I use we get kids who wander over from the basketball courts and ask if they can try hitting a tennis ball. Alot of them have never held a tennis racket and their schools do not have any tennis in phys ed. These kids can be good players if they have access to equipment and get exposed to tennis.
Oliver Chettle · September 2, 2010 at 12:12 am
It is routinely overlooked that America has consistently been over-represented at the top end of the rankings relative to its overall strength in depth depth – and it still is, but this may not continue.
In terms of strength in depth, American has not had ups and downs over the last three decades, it has only had downs and flat periods. The number of Americans in the top 100 at the year end has progressed as follows:
Late 70s to mid 80s: low 40s
Then fell right through the 30s very fast
Late 80s: High 20s
Then another slump. Below 20 for the first time in 1991
Stayed at approximately 20 for three years.
And another slump. Single figures for the first time in 1998
Stayed at approximately 10 for six years.
Hasn’t been in double figures since 2004
The decline of American tennis happened WHILE Americans were dominating the grand slams. The fundamental decay was masked by the exploits of a handful of men. For decades things have been much worse than was generally supposed.
America is very lucky to have 4 in the top 25 at the moment. It has none in the second 25. Based on its overall strength, there might easily be a time quite soon when it has none in the top 25.
Oliver Chettle · September 2, 2010 at 12:16 am
And of course the same thing is happening in the Williamses in the women’s game. After Oudin’s loss tonight, the Williamses will probably be the only American women in the top 50 after the US Open. Unless things change very suddenly, after Venus and Serena retire people will start talking about how American women’s tennis has declined since their retirements, but the decline actually happened while they were racking up the grand slams.
Jan · January 22, 2011 at 5:56 pm
USTA Player Development still wants to choose its stars instead of helping those who have earned it. If you are a coaches kid or a coach likes your family you are pushed and supported by the USTA area programs. I totally understand why Richard Williams did it his way. After experiencing this up close and in person I would never advise anyone to put thier kids thru the USTA system.