Alan Siegel
BOSTON — As America's most visible spokesman for tennis, John McEnroe has a tough job. In this country, where tennis is becoming increasingly less relevant, selling the game isn't easy.
"It seems like the opportunities are shrinking," he said. "We need to change that."
First, an admission: I love tennis. I played as a kid. I still do. So when I heard McEnroe and several other greats were coming to town for a Champions Cup event, I figured I'd find out what they had to say about the state of their sport.
Is the American tennis player an endangered species? The ubiquitous McEnroe (he's in All-Bran cereal commercials now) doesn't think so. Not yet at least. He did cite a three-headed monster of issues.
"It's the age-old problem of accessibility, affordability and availability," the 49-year-old said. "It comes into play where I live in New York. There's less facilities, so that's going to translate into less opportunities for kids to play.
"I've talked about the National Tennis Center for many years as a place where there should be a great tennis academy, not only for aspiring tennis players, but just for kids that can't afford it."
The image of tennis as a country-club sport is hard to shatter. I was a white kid from the suburbs of Boston. There was neither ethnic nor economic diversity among my tennis-playing peers.
The United States Tennis Association is trying to change that. Like Major League Baseball, it has pledged to invest in inner-city youth.
"You have to do more of that," McEnroe said. "Certainly it's an uphill battle, just like for baseball."
Jim Courier, another former world No. 1 here last week, is convinced it can be done. Great athletes, he said, are everywhere.
"The Williams sisters didn't come from great wealth," he said. "I didn't come from great wealth. Andre Agassi didn't come from great wealth."
Good points, but are they the exception or the rule? And even if given the opportunity, it's unlikely a grade schooler would choose tennis over basketball, football, or any other sport for that matter.
"We have a lot of other options, obviously," McEnroe said. "So we need to do more."
...
What we do have now is limited.
Eight of the top 100 men's players in the world are American. Of those eight, two, Andy Roddick (No. 6) and James Blake (No. 8), are in the top 10.
On the women's side, eight Americans are in the top 10. Again, of those eight, two, Serena (No. 6) and Venus (No. 8) Williams, are in the top 10.
The Williams' sisters, Blake, and Donald Young, who's ranked No. 77, are all African-American. It's a step in the right direction, but as a whole, American tennis clearly needs work.
Courier argues that the numbers are somewhat misleading. Top players from around the world still relocate to the United States to train and be coached.
"Maria Sharapova plays for Russia in the Fed Cup, but her tennis evolved in America," Courier said. "She's more of an American tennis player than a Russian. She's just Russian blood. There are several examples of that."
In time, he expects more Yanks to make a dent in the rankings.
"We should start to see more players eventually pop through," Courier said. "I think people look and say, 'Well, there aren't many people in the top 100 from America as there used to be. Is tennis declining?'"
At the moment, nobody knows the answer to that question. What's clear is that the days of McEnroe-Connors and Sampras-Agassi are over. All-American tennis clashes used to make for television gold. Not anymore.
"Obviously in a one-on-one game, you need more rivalries," McEnroe said. "That goes with out saying."
Playing styles have become homogenized. The serve-and-volley game, which McEnroe utilized to perfection, is all but extinct.
"Obviously in any sport, say boxing, if you have two counterpunchers it doesn't make for as interesting a fight," McEnroe said. "There's truth to that in tennis as well."
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have developed a great rivalry, but they're not American. They don't inspire casual sports fans to tune in to tennis, at least not as much as in the past.
"I think that the (best) rivalries don't necessarily involve Americans," Courier said. "With Federer and Nadal, you've got an incredible rivalry."
That's one. The public needs more to chew on.
"Hopefully a couple other guys will get into the mix," McEnroe said. "Hopefully it will change."
As a tennis fan, I hope he's right.
Alan Siegel is an Eagle-Tribune sportswriter. E-mail him at ASiegel@eagletribune.com.
