Davis Cup 2014

[Corbon]

Well, Isner defeated on clay

And the joke was that Switzerland chose Clay as a surface. Yet both Federer and Wawrinka lost their matches

[Coolhand Texas]

I Stil am not convinced that USA would not have done better verse great britain on clay. granted when donald young is playing, its an automatic two losses

[Murderface84]

Donald Young is a markass buster.

[Moralspain]

why did he play? WTF is going with USA guys?, can't wait to see good americans players fighting to get big titles, i miss Sampras, Agassi etc, such a big country and with so many people playing tennis compared to Spain, France etc, you need new coaches, new programs etc.
Only for once you should copy what Spain-Frances are doing in sports, because the talent is there. I would like to hear your opinion about it american friends

[Pepe Bradock]

You can't lump together Spain and France about what they are doing in sports abd the way they drive their sports policy.

Though sports is quite important in France, it's not a political weapon like in Spain (which helps to keep people calm enough though their economical situation, etc...) in the name of which every institutional powers (executive, legislative and judiciary) are used to turn a blind eye to sensitive files, or even to stifle them...

[Moralspain]

You can't lump together Spain and France about what they are doing in sports abd the way they drive their sports policy.

Though sports is quite important in France, it's not a political weapon like in Spain (which helps to keep people calm enough though their economical situation, etc...) in the name of which every institutional powers (executive, legislative and judiciary) are used to turn a blind eye to sensitive files, or even to stifle them...

do you live in Spain or you just say that because the media in your country says that? just curiosity. Because that statement is completely false, trust me, and please don't bring up the mafia drug theory AKA the reason for our good results in tennis, basketball, handball, football, cycling, F1, motorbikes etc. ( i bet the newspapers in my lovely France also say that as well), btw not saying we're not in drugs but i can guarantee that if spanish players are in drugs then the rest of countries are in drugs too.
But not having a political-economical discussion a tennis forum

Anyway i still think USA should get better results in tennis, such a big countries with so many players, i do believe they're doing something wrong, and they know about drugs more than Spain so….

[Coolhand Texas]

sorry for the late reply xavi but the answer boils down to there is no interest in tennis when compared to other sports in America. Football, Basketball, Baseball and soccer all are above tennis. plus tennis much more expensive to play than the other above mentioned sports.

there is no big push in interest for tennis at the local level. The USTA is trying to encourage more to play but it has having little effect that I see right now. kids want to play a sport where they will get more recognition from and right now in the US that is not tennis

[djarvik]

Hard to say,

Tennis is expensive sport in USA and severely "underpaid" compared to other options. You can make more money sitting on the bench of any NBA team and not playing a single game then being top 100 in the world, hell, maybe even top 50.

It is not popular in schools, where it should be. The younger kids have all the baseball playgrounds, all the basketball courts they want, but a tennis court is a rarity. This means that kids are simply not exposed to it unless their parents expose them to it outside of school environment. That is not productive enough as the kids who DO have athletic potential end up wanting to be in other sports, because of the schools pressure.

Not sure how it is in Spain or France thought.

Tennis is also an individual sport, something that little kids tend to not want to do, they rather be with their friends, team sports. The "team" concept is something that is being pushed on them in schools hard and the fact that Football and Baseball and Basketball are all so popular doesn't help.

Another part is the tennis development programs. They tend to "push" their idea of a tennis player as opposed to seek out and nurture individuality in each player. Just look at our US pros, damn, they all play the same.

I think it will take a major US Tennis star to shift things around now, we need a talented player, that was pushed by his Parents (cause we know he will not come from school system) to become a multiple GS winner AND AND AND be a charismatic individual, good looking if you will, cool. YOUNG! (not Donald Young, just young lol)

[BrushedBigJJ]

America is fine the way we do things in sports overall. We won the most medals over all and/or most golds at the last however many summer Olympics. The Chinese go through their schools pluck kids out. They mostly stop schooling and there only objective in life is to be good at the sport. Could you imagine if America did that at tennis or any other sport?

Once a child/young adult picks a sport there is plenty of money behind it so that gives us part of the edge. Some of these countries put so much pressure on their athletes to win it no longer becomes sport but a national dishonor if they lose at a sporting event. No such pressure is put on American athletes, and each person is given the choice of their own sport and can quit if they don't like it. Win or lose I would say most Americans are happy with the way we do things. Unfortunately we have been mostly losing in men's tennis lately .

[BrushedBigJJ]

But really America is only doing bad in men's singles. We are doing well in all the others, women's singles, men's doubles, and women's doubles. As long as 4 out of the 5 matches in Davis cup are men's singles, we're sunk. Anything else we got a fighting chance .

[Moralspain]

But really America is only doing bad in men's singles. We are doing well in all the others, women's singles, men's doubles, and women's doubles. As long as 4 out of the 5 matches in Davis cup are men's singles, we're sunk. Anything else we got a fighting chance .

In my book USA should have at least 2 guys at the top 10 in men's tennis, it's been a long time since Agassi and Sampras quit (we miss you guys!!), and still no sign for hope. Admitting that tennis is not the main sport in America you still have more licenses than Spain, Italy and France all together (haven't checked but i'm pretty sure), so it's not a problem about people loving and playing the sport in USA but about getting good results.

[djarvik]

Ignore BrushedBigJJ's patriotic post see mine instead. jk

We should have 2 players in top 10, we should have around 10+ in top 100 if you ask me. But we do no not. As big as we are, there too many "distractions", obstacles as far as tennis concerned. I have seen plenty of young tennis player give up for various reasons. Some of them are very talented too. Very few stay the course and it's not an easy one anywhere in the world, including US. It takes a good 12 year to groom a tennis Pro. 12 years of complete dedication, built on talent, that might not be there to begin with or be very limited potential wise, something that can be seen only after a few years. It is a big investment by all standards for very little return. Financially, potentially, young athletes can do better investing in tons of other sports.

I have a feeling that the best way to draw kids into tennis would be young champions, and best way to draw US Ratings would be US men in QF, SF and Final. That's when the ratings are going to jump and more interest born.

[Coolhand Texas]

or ignore al's and brushed's post and just read mine. well me and Al pretty much agree on the same thing.

[djarvik]

Well yeah true.

[BrushedBigJJ]

In my book USA should have at least 2 guys at the top 10 in men's tennis, it's been a long time since Agassi and Sampras quit (we miss you guys!!), and still no sign for hope. Admitting that tennis is not the main sport in America you still have more licenses than Spain, Italy and France all together (haven't checked but i'm pretty sure), so it's not a problem about people loving and playing the sport in USA but about getting good results.

Well Roddick and Blake floated in the top 10 together for a while, but what real chance did they have of beating Federer in a grand slam? Yes Roddick came close a few times. But when you look at legacy it's about how many slams you win. They have 1 more than the current group of American men. Consistency is nice but slams are better.

And what do you mean by license? Like a deal with a clothing and/or racket company?