Trevor McGowan

UWRT 1103
21 July 2015

Inquiry Synthesis Paper

Americans like to believe that we are the best at everything this world has to offer, but
there is one thing America has not been the best at for a long timemens tennis. Tennis is
currently in the midst of a relaunch in terms of gaining interest among young players. Hard to
believe, because tennis seems to be popular but successful players just arent coming out of
America.
A Grand Slam tournament has not been won by a mens American tennis player since
2003, but between 2000 and 2003 6 of those 16 Grand Slams were won by American men
(ESPN). Americans dominated professional tennis up until the 1990s and clearly into the early
2000s by popular players that even non-tennis fans knew like Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, and
Andy Roddick. There currently isnt one American mens tennis player in the top 15 of the world
rankings, and only John Isner is even in the top 35 (ATP). My point is that there isnt a polarizing
American mens tennis player for fans to get behind and support. This is just one of the many
reasons I feel American mens tennis is in such a bad slump, the American fan base has become
bigger fans of most European players than even Americas best tennis player.
The USTA (United States Tennis Association) has had a Plan for Growth implemented
now for just over a decade. This plan is designed to not only have tennis courts and equipment
available to public parks, but to have events for young players to learn how to play and
ultimately to get them interested. This USTA Plan for Growth initiative has been in effect since
1998 causing a rise in tennis popularity in many communities throughout the states over the

Trevor McGowan
UWRT 1103
21 July 2015

years that many believe will truly make American tennis successful very soon (Adams). But
even with ideas like this European tennis players grow up with an advantage.
The majority of tennis courts in America are asphalt, known as hard courts, the type of
courts that you see at every park and country club in America. In Europe the most common
surfaces are clay courts. Clay is a lot more difficult to move around on than hard courts.
European kids grow up on clay courts which gives them the advantage obviously on clay courts.
It also benefits them on hard courts, because moving from clay to asphalt is very easy. Two of the
four Grand slams are played on hard courts (U.S. Open and Australian Open), one is played on
clay (French Open), and the other is played on grass (Wimbledon). This really became an
advantage when tennis equipment drastically improved around the late 1990s. This new
technology made tennis on clay courts very difficult, and for many young Americans they didnt
grow up playing on clay, leaving Europeans a clear path to take over the game, which they did.
There is hope though, more and more tennis academies are adding clay courts for young
Americans to practice and become more comfortable on. Adding more clay courts across
America is just one step headed in the right direction towards at least one dominant American
tennis player (Rodenberg).
Tennis is clearly far behind other sports in America in terms of interest and participation.
It is obvious that the American sports world, youth and professional, revolves around football,
basketball, and baseball. Tennis is the 7th most popular sport in the U.S. with sports like soccer,
golf, and hockey ranking more popular (Sporty Ghost). American sports fans love attending
sporting events, but recently tennis sporting events have begun to disappear. The ATP
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Trevor McGowan
UWRT 1103
21 July 2015

(Association of Tennis Professionals) is the equivalent of the NFL when it comes to tennis. The
ATP hosts a yearly circuit of tennis tournaments that include the worlds best tennis players. In
2012 there were only 12 ATP tournaments in the United States compared to any point in the
1980s when the ATP would have up to 36 tournaments in the states. The 20 or so other
tournaments have since been moved all across South America and Europe. South American
tennis has immensely improved over the past 20 years, while American tennis has dropped off,
coincidence (Bergman)? As a fan of sports there is nothing more exciting than going to a
sporting event, and if tennis events are slowly disappearing then so will the fans from America,
and consequentially so will the interest in tennis from the youth. Comparatively in golf, a sport
of similar stature and culture to tennis, young and old Americans are currently dominating golf
globally. The main professional golf tour, PGA, is hosting 44 tournaments across the states this
year and has been around 40 a year for quite some time now (PGA Tour). If a sport has many
opportunities for fans to attend it will only increase popularity and therefore will increase
participation among the youth, which will inevitably create successful and talented players, no
matter what the sport is.
In the end though all it takes is a young star to burst onto the scene for tennis in America
to get back to where it used to be. And good news for American tennis fans is that a young star
might not be that far into the future. The 2015 Wimbledon Boys Championship finished last
weekend and was won by a 17 year old American, Reilly Opelka. The Wimbledon Boys
Championship is where the worlds best youth players compete for the title of worlds best youth
tennis player. Not only was the winner American, there was another American in the semi-finals

Trevor McGowan
UWRT 1103
21 July 2015

and two more in the quarterfinals (Slover). Although this is a tournament between just young
boys, all of these youth players will be the future of the game, and if Americans are dominating
the youth circuit there is a lot of hope that were only four or five years away from seeing
another American male tennis player come close to winning a Grand Slam.
American mens tennis is without a doubt at an all-time low and has been for about a
decade now. This is due to the variety of reasons I mentioned above, but changes are being made
for improvement and I, along with other American fans, am hopeful for American men to
hopefully soon at least compete for Grand Slam titles. Certainly tennis is not dead in America,
but if an American man can get to the top, soon tennis popularity will once again be much higher.

Works Cited

Trevor McGowan
UWRT 1103
21 July 2015

Adams, Jodie. "A Perfect Match." Parks and Recreation. 10th ed. Vol. 33. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 72-77.
Print
Araton, Harvey. "Talented Bulgarian Leads Youthful Assault on Big 4." The New York Times.
The

New York Times, 25 June 2014. Web. 14 July 2015.

"ATP World Tour | Tennis | Tennis Singles Rankings - Tennis - ATP World Tour." ATP World
Tour. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 July 2015.
Bergman, Ben. "Game, Set And Match: U.S. Tennis Tournaments Move Abroad." NPR. NPR,
n.d. Web. 14 July 2015.
"Men's Grand Slam Title Winners." ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, n.d. Web. 14 July 2015.
Rodenberg, Ryan. "Conspiracy String Theory: How New Technology Killed American Men's
Tennis | VICE Sports." VICE Sports RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 July 2015.
Slover, Ray. "American Teen Reilly Opelka Wins Wimbledon Title; New Wave
Arrives." Sporting News. N.p., 12 July 2015. Web. 14 July 2015.
"Top 10 Most Popular Sports in America." Sporty Ghost. N.p., 02 Feb. 2015. Web. 14 July 2015.
"2014-15 Schedule." PGATour. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 July 2015.