Tennis Server
HOME PAGE

Do You Want To Be A Better Tennis Player?

Then Sign Up For A Free Subscription to the Tennis Server INTERACTIVE
E-mail Newsletter!

Tom Veneziano You will join 13,000 other subscribers in receiving news of updates to the Tennis Server along with monthly tennis tips from tennis pro Tom Veneziano.
 
Best of all, it is free!

Tennis Features Icon TENNIS FEATURES:

TENNIS ANYONE? - USPTA Pro John Mills' quick player tip.
 
TENNIS WARRIOR - Tom Veneziano's Tennis Warrior archive.
 
TURBO TENNIS - Ron Waite turbocharges your tennis game with tennis tips, strategic considerations, training and practice regimens, and mental mindsets and exercises.
 
WILD CARDS - Each month a guest column by a new writer.
 
BETWEEN THE LINES - Ray Bowers takes an analytical and sometimes controversial look at the ATP/WTA professional tour.
 
PRO TENNIS SHOWCASE - Tennis match reports and photography from around the world.
 
TENNIS SET - Jani Macari Pallis, Ph.D. looks at tennis science, engineering and technology.
 
MORTAL TENNIS - Greg Moran's tennis archive on how regular humans can play better tennis.
 
HARDSCRABBLE SCRAMBLE - USPTA pro Mike Whittington's player tip archive.
 
TENNIS EQUIPMENT TIPS.

Tennis Community Icon TENNIS COMMUNITY:


Tennis Book, DVD, and Video Index
 
Tennis Server Match Reports
 
Editor's Letter
 
Become a Tennis Server Sponsor

Explore The Tennis Net Icon EXPLORE THE TENNIS NET:

Tennis News and Live Tennis Scores
 
Tennis Links on the Web
 
nodot
TennisBiz Banner
 
Green Dot
 
Tennis Warehouse Logo
 
Green Dot

 
nodot
The Tennis Business Discussion Forum Archive

[tennisbiz] Re: Mens Tennis in the USA

From: Kjell Petterson <kjell_at_ec.rr.com>
Date: Thu 27 May 2004 06:39:22 -0400

John,

May 26th, as the last of ten American guys was eliminated from the
French Open - Wednesday of the first week!! - gave a pretty good
illustration to what the problem is.

Whoever in the USTA killed the clay court circuit here and also, later,
decided it would help their numbers game to make team-leagues virtually
the only form of recreational tennis is guilty.

If you create a culture where players grow up thinking that tennis is
only based on big serves and knock-out forehands, you are at a
disadvantage, especially on slower surfaces, to players who have learned
to construct points. During Roddick's match against Mutis, the
commentators used the expression 'red clay' over and over again as an
excuse for Roddicks failure to handle the 125th ranked Mutis. They also
marveled at how many times the French guy won easy points at the net,
"by coming in at the right time".

Well, that's it. Someone who has learned to play tennis on clay has a
solid foundation from which they can also adapt to playing on hard
courts, like so many of the Spanish players have shown. The opposite
does not work quite as well. Especially in the last two sets, yesterday,
Roddick tried to come to the net by hitting a hard shot from the
baseline and advancing as far as the service line only to be passed by
Mutis' returns. On a hard surface, that 'approach shot' may have
overwhelmed the opponent, but not here.

In our country, recreational clay court tennis is mostly played by an
aging group of players, and that does not produce the future world class
players. Unfortunately, as American players can't compete
internationally, the fans lose interest and the game is choking.

Is there someone up there in the tennis bureaucracy who can correct the
situation? Is it too late?

Kjell Petterson

 
Received on Thu Jun 03 2004 - 14:56:00 CDT


Subscribe to TennisBiz and Join the Discussion

Green DotGreen DotGreen Dot


nodot
Google
Web tennisserver.com
nodot nodot
The Tennis Server
Ticket Exchange

Your Source for tickets to professional tennis & golf events.
 
Terra Wortmann Open - Halle, Germany Tickets
 
Wimbledon Tickets
 
Infosys Hall of Fame Open Tickets
 
Atlanta Open Tickets
 
Hamburg Open Tickets
 
Mubadala Citi Open Tennis Tournament Tickets
 
National Bank Open Women's Tennis Canada Tickets
 
National Bank Open Men's Tennis Canada Tickets
 
Cincinnati Open Tickets
 
Winston-Salem Open Tickets
 
Tennis In The Land Tickets
 
UTS - Tennis Like Never Before Tickets
 
US Open Tennis Championship Tickets
 
Laver Cup Berlin Tickets
 
Erste Bank Open - Vienna, Austria Tickets
 
Dallas Open Tickets
 
BNP Paribas Open Tickets
 
Miami Open Tickets
 
Laver Cup San Francisco Tickets
 

 

Popular Tennis books:
 
Winning Ugly: Mental Warfare in Tennis-Lessons from a Master by Brad Gilbert, Steve Jamison
 
The Best Tennis of Your Life: 50 Mental Strategies for Fearless Performance by Jeff Greenwald
 
The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey
 
Most Recent Articles:
 
October 2022 Tennis Anyone: Patterns in Doubles by John Mills.
 
September 2022 Tennis Anyone: Short Court by John Mills.
 

 

 

 

"Tennis Server" is a registered trademark and "Tennis Server INTERACTIVE" is a trademark of Tennis Server. All original material and graphics on the Tennis Server are copyrighted 1994 - by Tennis Server and its sponsors and contributors. Please do not reproduce without permission.

The Tennis Server receives a commission on all items sold through links to Amazon.com.

 

Tennis Server
Cliff Kurtzman
Editor-in-chief
791 Price Street #144
Pismo Beach, CA 93449
Phone: (281) 480-6300
Online Contact Form
How to support Tennis Server as a Sponsor/Advertiser
Tennis Server Privacy Policy