American tennis

American men's tennis was pretty much done since 1961 . You had revival with Ashe, Connors, McEnore and then the Brat pack of Chang, Courier, Agassi, and Sampras. Then lesser players like Todd Martin and Mal Washington during the 1990's. I believe that was due to pros not being able to play Grand Slam events like Gonzales, Trabert, and McKay until 1968. Pros started playing their own events with Jack Kramer into the picture in 1947 when it was just him and Bobby Riggs then Pancho Gonzales and Pancho Segura. After awhile, it was Gonzales, Trabert, Hoad, Rosewall, Segura, and others.



Tennis is a tough sport to get into and really easy to get out of. The problem I see is the coaching in early elementary school levels. You have to send kids to academy's at an early ages. Who can afford that? Americans do play the sport with USTA, K-Swiss, and others with great numbers. Another factor is players on the otherside who can make you better; Winning is emphasized too much. So if I lose, I tend to want to quit then improve my game particularly if I have to play the same gloating opponent unlike in basketball and other team sports, you are one of many. So a player like a T.O or Dominique are actually tennis players who play a team sport because they never seem to vibe with teammates well because they were constantly working on their game for themselves and not how it would help their teammates like Dr. J was.



Everyone is looking at Donald Young, John Isner, and Robbie Ginepri. I thought the best one was the player from Virginia, Brian Vahaly. He went to my brother's high school. I thought he had the mental toughness and the competitiveness but the commitment of playing the pro-grind weak to weak really got to him it seemed particularly when he knew he couldn't be the best unlike in college. He wasn't content on being a top 10 or top 20 players. He was great academically so tennis was to pay for his graduate school.

I look at Roddick and Blake both good solid players but lack quickness to beat top players in tough situations. They are fast and powerful but they have to really get on top of their opponents to win those type of matches like Magic Johnson and his Lakers in the early 80's with his passing that destroyed teams early. However, teams figured if they could hang around, they can put doubt until Magic developed the outside shot and the baby hook to win games in tough situations in 1987 and 1988. They were in the Finals in 1989 and 1991. That is what you are seeing in Blake and Roddick do, getting better and better in their approach shots and volley. Will it be enough?