The decline of tennis in the USA

Deadlift

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I thought that James Blake had retired from tennis.. but I guess not!

Baghdatis defeated Blake in the 1st round of Wimbledon competition.
 

Matra2

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For anyone interested the USA v Spain (without Nadal) Davis Cup tie is on right now and most of the evening. (At present Mardy Fish and Feliciano Lopez - the guy who beat Roddick at Wimbledon - are in a tough battle. Fish just won the 4th set so they now go to a 5th). I believe it is on the Tennis Channel in the US.
 

Quiet Speed

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For anyone interested the USA v Spain (without Nadal) Davis Cup tie is on right now and most of the evening. (At present Mardy Fish and Feliciano Lopez - the guy who beat Rod**** at Wimbledon - are in a tough battle. Fish just won the 4th set so they now go to a 5th). I believe it is on the Tennis Channel in the US.

You definitely posted this under the appropriate topic. Spain, minus Nadal, whipped the USA on home turf (hard courts - should never happen). The number one ranked doubles team in the world, the Bryan brothers, are the best thing you can say about U.S. tennis at the moment.
 
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Tennis is sort of out of style now. In the 1970s we had a huge tennis boom, with lots of baby boomers participating at the club level, and introducing their kids to the sport. These "echo boomers" kept U.S. tennis strong through the 1990s, but now they're retired from competition. Tennis just doesn't have the popularity it once enjoyed among the general public, and this trickles down to the juniors and high school ranks.
 

Porthos

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Tennis is sort of out of style now. In the 1970s we had a huge tennis boom, with lots of baby boomers participating at the club level, and introducing their kids to the sport. These "echo boomers" kept U.S. tennis strong through the 1990s, but now they're retired from competition. Tennis just doesn't have the popularity it once enjoyed among the general public, and this trickles down to the juniors and high school ranks.

Yes. When I play (once a week or so) I only see "older" guys at the courts - 40 and older. There are almost no teenagers and kids playing tennis. I guess media made it look "uncool" for the new generations as it is not enough multi-culti and it sends too much "white country club" signals...
 

Matra2

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The whole "white country club" spin by the media is absurd. How many of the top players come from that background? Very few I'd say. Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic lost their main practice facilities and had to practice in an abandoned swimming pool thanks to NATO terrorist strikes against Serbia. Not exactly country club facilities. The media used that country club image (that they are responsible for creating) to boost the image of the Williams sisters with ordinary Americans. When I read articles about the Williams sisters the words Compton and country club always come up.
 

Matra2

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Tough loss for John Isner to Tsonga in the semi-finals of the Paris Masters. The good news though is that Isner now has a complete game. I thought he was going to be someone who would have to rely entirely on his serve. He's now looking like the best American prospect for the future in the sport.
 

foobar75

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Looks like the long awaited great American hope in men's has emerged at last, and drumroll please........

He's an African from Sierra Leone. Here's the NYT profile on Francis Tiafoe and his room brightening smile:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/24/s...nter-and-it-shows.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=sports

Also, if I recall correctly, the next women's "star" is an obese 17-year old Serena Williams clone who's coming up the ranks.

And to think, the American men and women were dominating the sport in the 80s and good part of 90s. In less than one generation, American Whites have vanished from the world of tennis. This is extremely depressing and confusing for me.
 

icsept

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None other than renowned tennis trainer Nick Bollettieri goes cuckoo:

Will the next American champion please stand up?

Same old BS, "if only LeBron James and Kobe Bryant played tennis..."

The last time I checked, Djokovic, Nadal and Federer look nothing like LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. Unlike basketball, in tennis there is no inherent advantage for abnormally tall people. Tennis requires tremendous agility, quickness, endurance, coordination, and mental toughness. Kobe and LeBron would look like gangly fools on a tennis court, much the way Michael Jordan appeared on the baseball diamond. The article lists Bolleteri's proteges: Agassi, Courier and Sampras. No resemblance to LeBron and Kobe, yet this old fool has been brainwashed by the jews.
 

Matra2

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I hate to be unkind to the elderly but the key line in that article was:

As a man a month shy of his 81st birthday

All you have to do is look at how everyone tries to play super tall players like John Isner - they keep slicing it in with backspin with the ball staying low forcing him to bend down for every shot. It's almost impossible for a very tall player to hit winners from low bouncing balls and it is even awkward and taxing for them to return the ball so they end up in long rallies in which they are unable to use their size to their advantage. Given the lack of stamina of basketball players they'd be run ragged by the second set.
 

Zeus

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The article lists Bolleteri's proteges: Agassi, Courier and Sampras. No resemblance to LeBron and Kobe..........

I know right? LOL

This is what happens when stupidity, propaganda and arrogance have lost any measure. It's not a coincidence that the "chosen" people are always exposed and hunted down in the end (Egyptians, Romans, Spaniards, Russians, Germans, it seems like Americans are the only people not waking up).

Their arrogance and propaganda stinks like garbage when they are in their peak of their craziness and they always ending up being the victims in the end. Those people are not as smart as they claim to be, if they were that smart, they would have learned from their past mistakes.
 

Matra2

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On Monday August 12 for the first time in 40 years there will be no American in the top 20 as Isner is about to drop out. There's a Canadian now in the top 10 and another in the top 50 and Canada is in the Davis Cup semi-final (they play Serbia next month). So things are now so bad for American tennis that Canada, with a tenth the population and not much of a tennis tradition, has now surpassed the US. Mexico next?
 

BeyondFedUp

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On Monday August 12 for the first time in 40 years there will be no American in the top 20 as Isner is about to drop out. There's a Canadian now in the top 10 and another in the top 50 and Canada is in the Davis Cup semi-final (they play Serbia next month). So things are now so bad for American tennis that Canada, with a tenth the population and not much of a tennis tradition, has now surpassed the US. Mexico next?

Yes, things are that bad in the USSA. It seems that the sport is not nearly promoted either as it was in the 70's and 80's when everybody wanted to go grab a racquet and at least try to play. It's still predominately a White sport which is likely a reason the tribe doesn't like to see it in the forefront unless of course its making money, which it still does to some extent. I hope some great players come up thru the ranks here in the states and get on fire. We could use it to squelch the caste system and the Williams' crowd and their mindless devotion.
 

Quiet Speed

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Besides the decline in players, I’ve noticed disinterest by the US population is increasing. The attendance has been pathetic for tournaments in US this summer. A British announcer for Euro Sports could not get over the lack of people in attendance for matches at the Southern California Open the week before last. A semi-final match between Azarenka and Ana Ivanovic had maybe a mere 10% of the stands filled, and it was a very small and intimate setting. I realize no US player was competing, but come on.
 

Matra2

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In today's NY Times:

"Francis Tiafoe Is Ready To Win the US Open and Make Tennis Cool"

I guess tennis won't be cool because he's not winning this tournament.
 

Bucky

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In today's NY Times:

"Francis Tiafoe Is Ready To Win the US Open and Make Tennis Cool"

I guess tennis won't be cool because he's not winning this tournament.
Lol agreed. Maybe he can do the haka as he enters the matches.
 

SneakyQuick

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I read somewhere once that the trajectory of interest in tennis mirrored the ages of the baby boomer generation. Now that the overwhelming majority of them are too old to play anymore, interest in the sport has waned.

Personally I only like the women’s game even a little bit to see a handful good looking russians, or Camilla the Italian.

One thing id bet on- Tennis is not going to attract inner city talent any time soon. There may always be some successful black tennis pros but as a mainstream sport it’s simply viewed as too white to be cool by inner city kids. Even if they played more I’m not saying they’d succeed, but the odds are just super low.
 

booth

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I believe Pickleball will overtake tennis in popularity. In this dried-up town, I live in, they are installing Pickleball courts.
 
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