In the late 1990s, American tennis was at its pinnacle. The sport went straight from John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors dominating the men’s game into Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi setting seemingly incomprehensible records, some of which still stand.
American women’s tennis had seen better days with champions like Chris Evert and Billie Jean King, but future hall of famers Lindsay Davenport, Monica Seles and Jennifer Capriati were in their primes. Not to mention, Serena and Venus Williams were starting their streak of dominance in the sport.
Statistically, there should be a wave of children who grew up around the turn of the century who found an interest in the sport, and take it seriously to the point of elite competition and success.
This is not the case.
According to the Collegiate Committee of the United States Tennis Association (USTA), 24.95 percent of Division I collegiate tennis players are international residents. It’s so noticeable, the aforementioned committee has a public FAQ list about the amount of international tennis players and its impact on United States collegiate tennis.
Bradley’s women’s tennis team, which is coming off its best season in program history, has one American sprinkled in on a roster of seven. The other six student-athletes are natives of Serbia, Canada, Spain, Bolivia and Hungary.
Building great players starts with creating an interest in tennis for kids at a young age. Only recently has the USTA began adjusting equipment, rules and regulations to accommodate children who are not big enough or strong enough to use full size tennis racquets and balls.
“I think the way the USTA has changed the progression of tennis is more conducive to producing some kids.” head coach Matt Tyler said. “I think that will start to bear fruit in a couple years.”
Bolivia, Hungary, and Serbia are three of the most booming tennis countries in the world. They produced four of the seven members that make up Bradley’s women’s tennis team.
As of the 2017, the three countries have a population that combines to less than one tenth that of the United States.
Floridian Nikki Perlwitz is the lone American on the team, and came up through the USTA system that may have failed many young talents.
With the premise that, based only on population, the U.S. should have more college tennis players than most other countries, why is that not the case?
The USTA has youth programs in all 50 states, as well as designated competitions for kids as early as 12 and under. The infrastructure for producing talent is evident, which means there has to be excessive money at the USTA’s disposal.
Perlwitz thinks the issue is more related to the lack of incentive in competition, rather than the quality of services the USTA provides.
“At the end of the day, the USTA can host all these tournaments and provide all these opportunities to move up in the sport and the rankings, which you need if you want to play college tennis and go anywhere [in the sport], but people actually have to want it.” Perlwitz said. “Just because these tournaments are offered doesn’t mean people are actually going to go to them. Kids actually have to want it.”
With many athletes not taking the next step from recreational player to elite competitor, along with Perlwitz’s confidence in the infrastructure and opportunity the USTA has provided, the lack of talent in NCAA tennis seems to be more a culture issue.
Whether this proves to be true relies largely on the forthcoming impact of the rule changes. Should the ease and accessibility of tennis to kids have a large-scale impact, and more Americans start making college tennis teams, than the USTA found the solution they have been looking for.
However, if no real change in demographics are recorded over the next several years, all the effort the USTA put into developing talent may have been counterproductive.
