What’s Causing American Tennis’ Historically Poor Performance at Wimbledon 2014?

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: June 30, 2014

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LONDON — Madison Keys took her leave Monday without hitting a single shot. Her left leg was too sore, so she withdrew. She was the last American woman at Wimbledon. Bye-bye, Miss American forehand.

A short while later, John Isner departed, losing a four-setter to one of this summer’s better players, Feliciano Lopez. Isner was the last American. Period. Sing a few bars of the “Star Spangled Banner,” and it will serve as a requiem.

Wimbledon, the oldest one, the biggest one, the last of the four Grand Slam tournaments still played on grass, will be moving into the fourth round without an American, male or female, for the first time in 103 years—1911 according to the International Tennis Federation.

The United States is a surprise in soccer because it is playing so well in the World Cup. The United States, give or take an aging Serena Williams, is not a surprise in tennis because it was not playing that well at Wimbledon.

The great question, is why? Why can’t a nation of more than 300 million produce someone with the talent and desire to make it deep into one of the four major tournaments?



Why are all the U.S., players on the sideline, or more accurately on a plane across the Atlantic, when Lopez, Nick Kyrgios of Australia, Simona Halep of Romania and Milos Raonic of Canada are on a roll?

Is it a matter of American kids failing to put forth the effort, as Lindsay Davenport and Tracy Austin, a couple of former champions told Bill Dwyre of the Los Angeles Times?

Or is it simply an issue of time and place, that because America had Michael Chang and Jim Courier, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, there’s no legitimate reason they should have Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal. That’s the argument of Brad Gilbert, who once was No. 4 in the men’s rankings, then coached Agassi and Andy Murray and now is an analyst for ESPN. Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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