At first glance you might think this is an anti-tennis campaign, but as you read, you may discover that it is quite the contrary.
In the 70's it was quite common for a tennis player to develop their skills in college as a precursor to turning pro, usually at the age of 21. I actually utilized my college tennis experience (Arizona State and San Diego State University) to prepare for the pro tour. Nowadays, players are turning pro between the ages of 14 and 18. Coming out of college to join the men and women's tour (without the help of the USTA) is quite an oddity peculiar only to Americans. We are rapidly becoming the archaic dinosaur of the tennis world. Our system just doesn't cut it anymore.
Europeans are dominating the sport. The USTA is trying to push our players through artificially with an abundance of U.S. wild cards. A U.S. national team player may be given as many as 20 wild cards in major tour events in their career. Contrast this with only one or two wild cards for other up and coming players from other countries and rarely in major tour events, because other countries do not have many major tour events.The U.S. has approximately 35 major tour events and 45 Satellite events per year. The U.S. holds the cards (no pun intended) for major and satellite tour event opportunities overwhelming other countries with the ability to use the wild card to aid U.S. players in our own events. This does not help the sport of tennis or the popularity of American players. Remember the Spirlea - Williams bumping incident at the U.S. Open? Spirlea was so filled with rage at the unfairness of having to deal with the heavily wild carded and Reebok millionaire Williams who never walked the walk she walked. Spirlea (after being allowed to leave her native Romania in 1990 after the prime minister was overthrown, actually killed) had to work her way through by playing Qualifying rounds in Croatia at the $10,000 level. She paid her dues. I know because I met her there and know what she and other Romanians (i.e. Dragomir and Cristea) had to go through. It was brutal and they all had very little money to begin with. They never got any real help and practically no wild cards. They had to work their way through having to pass through 4-5 rounds in the Open Qualifyings before they could get into the main draw of a $10,000 event just to make a $100 and get .6 points!, then do this two more times to come onto the computer with rankings in the 700's to start. Now days results like this will land you in the 1,000's for an opening world ranking. Eva Majoli (at 13 years), Tatiana Ignatieva, Nedjedly sisters, and Asa Carlson were also there (just to name a few of the stars), along with countless others all playing those tough $10,000 - $25,000 Eastern European Satellites. Most spent about 5 years working their way through to the major tour. Most Americans don't even know what these Europeans as well as the rest of the world have to go through. They don't even know that the rankings for women are down to about 1,500 and the men are down to about 2,500.
By throwing our American players into the arena with no substance creates animosity towards us by other players, not to mention our players having a general lack of preparedness. As mentioned, it usually takes 5 years for a player to work their way from the pro satellite tour to the major tour. This is usually done between the ages of 14 - 18 years. Almost all players with the exception of Americans follow this path.
Despite these "advantageous" wild card efforts, tennis in America is on the decline for producing top young new players. Why is this?
I believe the true culprit is American college tennis. Foreign players have previously benefited in two ways by playing on the pro tour as well as taking part in our tennis scholarship system. They tried their guts out on the tour from ages 14 - 20 and usually the foreign player would set a goal to be in the top 200 in the world by age 19 (women) or 20 (men). If they did not attain that goal, they came over and got a free education in America via the tennis scholarship. Now this rule has changed and foreign players will no longer be allowed to come running over here as much after they quit their pro careers. They must lose one year of eligibility for every year they are on the tour. This is in effect for 1998 (reference: Tennis Magazine article by Brian Cleary).This will only further weaken the quality of American tennis as our main competition will be gone.
If American players would turn pro at 14 or 15 years of age they would be able to start earning money for their efforts (top players throughout the world are competing regularly in pro events from the age of 14 years on). Motivation would increase as our young players would seek out the prize money events available here the U.S. and Europe as well as attain early preparation for their pro careers by playing men and women's pro qualifying events which helps the player attain a world ranking as well as money to help further their careers. Some would also receive sponsorship money to help pay expenses. Some players would be picked up by management companies which would also help their careers.
In Europe there is a vast training ground for young tennis players in the form of team tennis (unlike the club format and the team tennis we have in this country) as well as numerous pro tournaments. There are 8 levels of teams in Germany, the top three paying many of their players for participation. There are also different levels of teams for Juniors, as well as their own sanctioned Junior tournaments throughout Germany. It is not uncommon for Juniors to play on a Junior team as well as an adult team at the same time. Boris Becker and Steffi Graf also participate in German Team Tennis. It is not uncommon to see 15 - 18 year-olds receiving money for their efforts in German Team Tennis. Recruitment for players is not uncommon in Europe. The young American player cannot get recruited until after college (23 - 24 years old).
Because our college players are constantly trying to maintain amateur status, they literally watch their pro tennis careers pass them by.
It is against NCAA rules to compete in German Team Tennis while participating on a college team, or before competing on a college team.
Europeans are beginning to earn money by the age of 14 if they are especially talented. This increases the motivational level of the player whereas players in America are actually demotivated. They can't earn money, they are only playing to get that scholarship so mom and dad won't have to pay. Teaching pros will even say as a pitch to the parents to spend $20,000 with them for lessons and save $60,000 in college fees via the scholarship. The truth of the matter is you probably don't need to spend so much with "the pro" if the kid would just get out and practice 3 or 4 hours a day on their own and play in as many tournaments as possible. We just have some unmotivated kids who either never really outgrew the day care environment and/or our antiquated system is killing them. The cushy workouts that these kids go to are disgusting, why don't they just pick up the phone and organize their own workout. Whoever heard of paying to practice, only a money hungry teaching pro lacking in ethics could think up such a thing.
Any possible true motivation is squelched by our archaic system.
If we could get rid of the college scholarship, we will help free up our players to mainstream into the real world of pro tennis instead of this madcap wild card system the USTA has employed which places players in events they have no business being in, much less deserve. All players should be asked to start at the bottom and work their way to the top, in all due respect to the other players of the world, then we might not have to see anymore incidences with Spirlea trying to knock over Williams on the changeover.
Here are the main points to remember when trying to decide if the college scholarship is hindering the future tennis stars of America.
- Collegiate athletics serve as training grounds for the NBA, NFL and MLB because it is rare to draft someone if they are still under 21. This is not the case for tennis.
It won't take long before the American fling sisters and brothers are back home again realizing they are outclassed and too old.In conclusion, college, instead of being a motivational training ground for pro tennis as it is for the NBA, NFL, and MLB, has become a holding ground for former European pros and those junior players being put out to pasture, or those never really desiring to play pro tennis. (Why should the colleges and universities waste money on this?)
I think the college tennis scholarship serves no real purpose for anyone and furthermore, I believe it harms the future of American pro tennis.
Sincerely,
Janice Combs--a former pro player and advocate for getting American tennis up to speed before it is too late and we all become extinct.
If you are an athletic director at a college or university and would like to see the tennis college scholarship abolished, please e-mail your opinion to: tennistrainer@tennistrainer.com Subject : College Scholarship. If there is enough interest, a petition will be circulated and legislation to get the ball rolling will begin to abolish the college tennis scholarship. The NCAA has informed me that it is up to the individual universities to propose the idea of getting rid of the tennis scholarship.
