Why Is American Tennis Dying?

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: November 21, 2013

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American tennis is dying.

It's dying a slow death brought on by complications from several contributing causes. 

Don't be fooled by rosy reports of increased participation among kids. American tennis is declining where it counts—at the college and professional levels, on television and in popular culture.

The demise of tennis in the U.S. is puzzling because the sport thrives in other parts of the world. Prize money for premier events continues to increase, and top tennis players enjoy remarkable wealth. Roger Federer is second only to Tiger Woods among the highest-paid athletes. Four of the five richest female athletes are tennis players, according to Forbes magazine. 

Clearly tennis is alive and well elsewhere, but there are no American men ranked in the ATP's Top 10. The U.S., which dominated Davis Cup in the 1970s, hasn't won since 2007. Television ratings for the U.S. Open are a fraction of what they used to be in the era of Chris Evert, Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe. 

So why is a sport that is growing world-wide struggling to survive in America? 

Many factors contribute to the deteriorating state of tennis in America. They include the dearth of Americans playing college tennis, the decline in American-based tennis tournaments and the absence of an American male superstar. 

There was once a time when crops of fresh tennis talent came from the ranks of the NCAA. College tennis served as a training ground for John McEnroe (Stanford), Jimmy Connors (UCLA), Arthur Ashe (UCLA) and John Isner (Georgia).

Isner, No. 14, is the highest-ranked American male. Lisa Raymond, who played at Florida in the early 1990s, is the last former women’s college player to break the top 20 in singles. Raymond, 39, continues to play doubles. 



These days it's tougher to find Americans on colleg...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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