Thursday 24 December 2015

'CONFUSION' ( AND MERRY XMAS )

I wrote the following post Xmas eve afternoon after I heard a news report regarding the Davis Cup tie in Australia next year. I had a few beers in the late afternoon and I was told to never post a chapter after a drink, just in case it makes no sense.
Makes sense, though a lot of what I write could be likened to someone is constantly drunk. So the following chapter is one of those things that I find rather amusing about tennis in this country and when I find something amusing well quite simply I write about it.....

I always do a Christmas message on my site and this year is no different yet perhaps the content of this one may not be the regular 'To all out there who read my site.......etc, etc. Nope this one is dedicated to Tennis Australia who have given me a countless amount of things to write about over the past year or two, or is that three ? Time flies when you are having fun...
Many people call me cynical, many call me an idiot, it's all part of the fun of having an opinion on tennis. I wish more people would call me a genius so I could give up my day job however that may just be asking for a little too much.
All I will say is that as far as light entertainment is concerned well I love writing and I can usually knock up a chapter now days within half an hour as my typing has improved over the years. My mind does not need a first copy like we used to do before the real thing so I just go in the direction that my silly mind takes me. It's not easy being me.
So to my Christmas message and it was magnificent timing to say the least when I hopped into my car and headed to work at an ungodly hour this morning, call it 'sparrow's fart'. The news just came on and when I heard the sports report well it was like an early Xmas present, an unwrapping of a 'gift' a day before the main event. I went to work with a smile on my face, my workmates wondered what I had been doing. So this is it.
Tennis Australia will play the USA in a Davis Cup tie in March 2016 at the KOOYONG TENNIS CENTRE in Melbourne on a GRASS court. Yes that appears to be a fact and Lleyton Hewitt will make the decisions as far as the team line up is concerned as he has officially been announced as the Australian Davis Cup Captain. Goodo. So what's wrong with this and why am I cynical ?
Well it's all about Tennis Australia and what they have in fact done over the last 27 years that contradicts what it set out to do.
The Kooyong Tennis Centre was ageing and on it's last legs admittedly by the time it had staged it's final Australian Open on grass in 1987, the year Edberg beat Cash in five sets in the final. I remember that match as though it was yesterday where Cash took a while to get going yet lead 5-1 in the fourth set after losing the first two.
The biggest factor in that particular match was that Pat did not secure that set easily as he should have and it gave the Swede Edberg plenty of ideas going into the last set despite dropping the fourth 5-7. He broke Cash twice from 1-5 in the fourth and that has to give a player some food for thought. Pat Cash at 5-1 in the fourth had a hand on the trophy, such is life. Back to the facts and figures.
Kooyong was closed and the Australian Open moved away from the 'traditional' grass courts of the early tennis days in this country which saw the likes of Laver, Emerson, Hoad, Newcombe, Roach etc rule the turf not only in Australia but at Wimbledon.
The Aussies it is fair to say knew how to play on grass tennis courts because they could volley, a necessity to the craft of winning on a slick surface.
So once again let's look at the news headline, I do tend to get side tracked with stats. There was a reason apparently that Tennis Australia changed their national Grand Slam from grass to hard yet this is still not totally cut and dried. Was it a cost issue of maintaining the grass or was it because grass is not a surface that can possibly be expected to help a young player develop into an all round player ? Was it both of the above ?
I would say both personally but lean toward the latter as a hard court is an 'equalizer' in tennis. If you can develop a game on hard court then you are well on your way as that requires an almost 'complete' game to be successful on.
So if the grass court tradition was perhaps put aside in favour of a surface that would help Australia's up and comer's become competitive against the baseline robots of Europe why is it that Tennis Australia keep reverting back to grass ?
If a player works on his game in Australia throughout the year then he works on two surfaces, hard and clay, that's it but then he is made to play on grass if he gets selected for Davis Cup. Confusion ??
Surely with Kooyong being put to rest it was making a statement, this country was moving ahead in a different direction in regards to player development and style. The Pat Cash style of serve and volley was no longer the way of the future. Tough to win on hard and clay courts with serve and volley yet is a proven style on grass but how many grass court events are there now days ?
So here we are in 2015, nearly 2016 and even Lleyton Hewitt surely can see that Australia's Davis Cup players are more at home on a hard court than grass due mainly to the hours put in on a hard surface. Or has Lleyton been told by the hierarchy at TA that there is no choice but to play on grass for one reason or another ?
Wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall when these guys get together ? I would love to know the theory behind the one track mind as far as the Davis Cup playing surface in this country is concerned.
Sure there is an argument that a week's training on a surface will get a player grooved enough to be ready for battle but in the heat of a match where will a player's thought process be ? Doesn't a professional tennis player go to the 'well' where all of their training has been over many years when looking for an answer to the many questions an opponent asks.
What if they are looking for that crucial answer at that crucial time in a match yet the surface does not permit that type of play through lack of training on it ?
We could come up with a dozen or so examples but I am already writing a book, this site is just a brief 'point of view'.
No matter how you look at it all Tennis Australia are confused because they are trying to hold onto something from the past but at the same time trying to move ahead.
I guarantee you that the grass court idea for Davis Cup has nothing to do with the players, it is not their choice, it is handed to them by Tennis Australia and they are still obsessed with an old tradition.
Grass court tennis is a once a year event at the hallowed grounds of Wimbledon and the smaller lead up tournaments to it. Apart from that how many players would use that surface to develop their game ? Do you think any ???
Merry Xmas to all, thanks for reading my site and to Tennis Australia thank you for handing me so much dialogue over the years.......
Regards Glenn 

Monday 7 December 2015

'A MONUMENTAL BLUNDER'

Here's an interesting piece of information for you regarding the Davis Cup final of 2001 played at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia, 30th November- Dec 2, between Australia and France. Now you all know my views on Tennis Australia and their lack of faith in their players to win on anything but a grass court but this little chestnut is rather staggering.
It all began at Wimbledon in the same year.
A Frenchman by the name of Nicolas Escude was seeded 24 and took on Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, seeded 5 in the fourth round. Most would have tipped Hewitt to win that particular match but Escude had a rather unique style which was not unlike that of Swede Mats Wilander particularly his backhand which was a magnificently fluent shot.
Escude managed to beat Hewitt in five sets which on paper looked like an upset but anyone who knew just how talented the Frenchman was knew that this win was within his capabilities. The Frenchman went through to the quarters and won the first set off Agassi before losing in four. Let's now fast forward to the US Open of that same year.
Lleyton Hewitt survived a tough five set test in round two against James Blake before going on to beat Roddick in the quarters, again in five, then Kafelnikov in straight and then belted Sampras in straight sets also for the title. Hewitt had hard court form without a doubt. Now let's fast forward to the Davis Cup final of 2001.
The team in Australia comprised of Hewitt, Rafter, Woodbridge and Arthurs. Todd Woodbridge had won his 18th Grand Slam Doubles title with Bjorkman at the Australian Open on hard court in 2001. Todd also had hard court form. Wayne Arthurs made it to the semi finals of the 2001 Australian Open Mens doubles with Zimonjic. So it would be fair to say that Arthurs also didn't mind playing on hard courts.
Pat Rafter had already won the US Open Mens Singles title twice, in '97 and '98. His form on hard court could not be questioned. Rafter in fact won ten doubles tournaments over the course of his career though four of those were with possibly one of the greatest doubles players of all time, Swede Jonas Bjorkman. ( I reckon I may have had a chance to win at doubles with Bjorkman on my side of the net ). Jonas was a doubles genius and he did not require a fellow doubles expert on his side as he proved in a tournament win with John McEnroe in 2006 when Mac was 47.
I believe only one player in the World could have taken McEnroe out of retirement and won a doubles tournament, that was Jonas. Yes Mac was a doubles expert but he had been in retirement for around 12 years apart from the Seniors tour and that is a huge difference from the ATP Tour.
Sorry I have got off track again, as I usually do.
So the Australian Tennis 'brains trust' decided to lay a grass court over the hard court at the home of the Australian Open for reasons unbeknown to anyone but themselves. The above statistics all pointed to a hard court show down against France in that 2001 Davis Cup final. Yet it did not happen and it backfired big time. There was however another monumental blunder in that particular final that didn't get enough air play at the time yet it was the most relevant issue in the final.
Why did Rafter play doubles with Hewitt when these two were not a proven team and they had never won a title together ? Why also did the issue of Rafter's injured arm not get taken more seriously and why was he not just used as a singles player ? Were the Aussies trying to lose this final ??! Why was Woodbridge overlooked for the doubles when he had been Australia's most successful doubles player in the last 40 or so years and one of the World's all time great exponents of the two on two format ?
Wayne Arthurs was no World beater yet he was more than a handy partner for Woody and surely his semi final showing in January at the Aussie Open was more than enough to put these two together for the pivotal doubles. Apparently not.
So to the final; Escude beat Hewitt again in five sets which proved his Wimbledon win against him was no fluke. 
Rafter held his end of the bargain up with a win against Grosjean in straight sets. The little 'Maestro' as he was known Fabrice Santoro, the French doubles genius teamed with Pioline who really had no doubles form to speak of yet it was not a necessity either. Anyone could have won with Fabrice, he was as clever as Jonas on a doubles court, a genius in fact. He was the one player in that doubles match that made the difference.
The Aussies did not do their homework on this final and the amount of blunders in it were nothing short of almost comical. Hewitt did end up taking the tie to the final match with a straight sets win over Grosjean in the first reverse singles yet Rafter could not play the final match due to how bad his arm was after the doubles so Arthurs played it. Escude won that in four sets as everyone expected him to, he was a class above Arthurs who was not a proven singles player.
The whole set of circumstances did not make sense.
Surely if Rafter had issues with his arm then he shouldn't have played the doubles but John Fitgerald as the Captain should not even have looked at him for doubles as Woody was the only man who could match Santoro's genius in doubles.
It actually would have made for a great match, Woody/ Arthurs vs Pioline/ Santoro. For history's sake the French won that match in four sets, 6-1 in the fourth, totally outplaying a team in the end who were dubbed 'the Dream Team' at the start of the match. They were anything but.
This Davis Cup final will go down as one of the biggest 'cock ups' in Australian tennis history for all of the above reasons. Someone should have sent Tennis Australia a 'please explain letter' back then and asked for some answers.
Pity I didn't know how to type back then..........
  

Saturday 5 December 2015

'BRILLIANT'

The win by Andy Murray in the Davis Cup final against Goffin was one of those victories for the smart players of World tennis. Just a week earlier Andy had played and lost a tight two set match to Wawrinka at the World Tour finals in London but did Andy really play to his full potential ? Let's look at it in all seriousness.
The match against Stan was one to put either player into the semi finals against a red hot Federer who is still that hungry for success that it is outrageously silly given his age and record that has ticked all boxes on more than one occasion. Could Andy have beaten Federer ? Perhaps, but could he have beaten Novak ? You do the sums on that one, no one on the planet can beat Novak at the moment in a big final that means dollars and ranking points as well as prestige.
So to the match between Andy and Stan. Yes it was tight however did Andy really need to win it ? If he had won he would have earned the right to play Federer and the Fed just loves playing baseliners at the moment. His penchant for upsetting the robotic style from the baseline is becoming more and more famous by the weeks, months and years.
My theory on the match between Andy and Stan is simple. Andy didn't really care too much about it as he had bigger fish to fry in Belgium a week later. You can't tell me that Murray didn't know he was a red hot chance to win both singles matches and that all he had to do was combine with his little bother Jamie to win the doubles and the title was going back to the Brits for the first time in 79 years.
If Andy had beaten Stan he had a minimal chance of beating Roger and he had no chance of beating Novak though he is no Robinson Crusoe there. So is there an issue here ? Let's do the sums ( once again ).
Apparently the ITF ( International Tennis Federation) run the Davis Cup and the ATP ( Association of Tennis Professionals) run most other tournaments so there are two governing bodies at war here on dates for tournaments including the Davis Cup. So why was the Davis Cup final scheduled just a week after the Tour Finals ? Incompetence may be the word we are looking for here.
Why these two can't work together is beyond me but I find it laughable that the winner of the Tour Finals may have less than a week to recover  physically from playing the Top 10 in the World. They then have around five days to practice on a totally different surface in preparation for the Davis Cup final. Correct me if I am wrong.
In this instance however I am sure that 'common sense' took place and that Andy Murray did the sums on it all and his training plus 'foresight' all played a role. If Andy had made the semi finals in London I believe he was in all sorts of physical danger of not being labelled a National hero once again for putting his country back on the map with a Davis Cup victory.
Andy is a genius in my eyes as he did what he could in London then gave himself enough time to get ready in Belgium. If you know anything about tennis you may just agree with me. If you don't well you may just find me a little bit cynical. Either way I am sticking with my story and I am sure that Andy is sticking with his........

Friday 4 December 2015

'INSPIRING'

Watching my favourite rock band of all time Def Leppard perform in Perth recently gives people like myself an inspiration in life to soldier on despite the grey hair, the slower walk and other factors that are associated with 45 plus syndrome.
What I do take from a concert like that however is a sense of inspiration that I liken to my junior days on court locally when I should have been at school. I have mentioned in an earlier chapter that I used to 'convince' another local player from my school that we were wasting our time at school and that we should focus on tennis (brilliant idea Thommo).
So off we went at lunchtime and played tennis for three hours until the school bell rang. I would then ride the ten kilometres back to my house.
 'How was your day '? Yeah great thanks Mum, was a tough day but I learned a lot, that was the main thing. Lying little prick. I learned a lot from a few tennis drills, that was about it.
My main inspiration back then to hit a ball was the music on the side of the court from my 'ghetto blaster'. Def Leppard 'Hysteria' was possibly one of the most remarkable changes in music from an already established rock band in the history of music. They have always inspired me because they have embraced the times, the environment and have made the changes to accommodate the climate.
Def Leppard could in fact be likened to a baseliner embracing a net game as the years became more challenging and the industry started asking more questions of the player.
I have often written about my love of Glam Rock and how it has motivated me to keep playing, keep fit, keep soldiering on in life despite numerous setbacks and new challenges that at times seem a little hard to overcome. My favourite bands are Def Leppard, Cheap Trick and Bryan Adams among others and the thing you will notice about these bands are that they are still going. Call it longevity.
So why are they still going ? Because they have something of substance to offer.
I have previously written about days gone by and the odd win here and there however anyone who knows a sport like tennis will realise this. If you are still going into your late 40's then perhaps you may just own a desire to keep bettering yourself as opposed to continually looking back on what you did in the game. 'Could I have done it better' ?? 
I am not sure if it is an original comment or not however I was sent a message from a buddy a while back that said ' Thommo  remember buddy it aint how good you were, it's how good you can still become. If you are still fit, still able to hit a ball and still have the desire then what is to stop you from continually improving at a sport that many give up on way too early' ? 
Remember only a pinch of salt reaches their potential at a young age and unfortunately if that potential is not reached by the time it is 'expected' then tennis is given up for good. That's a shame as there are many other options in the sport of tennis once the elite level is not reached.
I am someone who is still inspired by old rock bands who still have the desire to get up in the morning and believe in what they do, what they write or how they perform. The old rockers of the World inspire me to keep on keeping on.
As far as this blog site is concerned, well I am still doing it though I am working on something else on another site currently that I believe in and that I hope will be something positive.
I am still playing tennis, I am still fit , I am still coaching and I am still an argumentative bastard who believes in what he does despite numerous comments I receive on this site that beg to differ.
I am happy to be an individual in life and in a sport such as tennis that is stereotyped in more ways than one. I like the idea of not playing follow the leader and having my own views. I enjoy teaching my way on a private tennis court and charging an hourly rate that does not have head up one's own arse syndrome and self importance written all over the invoice.
We are all inspired in life by different people and different things. Call me old fashioned with my sliced backhand, loopy forehand and love of Glam Rock however it is a mix I am happy with.
Bring back the 80's.........

Wednesday 2 December 2015

THANKS FOR COMMENT

I agree with this write, Glenn Thompson. On top of this, to change the subject, but stay with what is good for tennis, I also believe we could do a lot to improve the image of tennis umpires, most people just don't truest them to make a good call. I was once a Certified USTA Chair Umpire and wanted to take some of the HUGE prize money, hire and train line umpires, but, for some reason, the USTA insist on using volunteers and that is why we have such bad line calling. One last thing; Upon becoming a Chair Umpire and gained access to the 'inner circle,' I learned that many of the chair umpires are drunk when doing a match. Remember Frank Hammond and Lee Jackson, umpires of the 70's and 80's? Both were alcoholics...


Thanks for comment 'baatman74'. I believe Mr Bryan has hit the nail on the head. I posted this a while back but re read it the other day and it deserved another mention. The information you sent is fascinating regarding umpiring. Thankyou very much for tuning in......
regards GT

Tuesday 1 December 2015

'WORTH ANOTHER READ (IT'S FASCINATING )

 I DO BELIEVE THAT THE FOLLOWING STORY IS TYPICAL OF TENNIS TODAY< NOT ONLY IN THE US BUT ELSEWHERE ALSO< A GREAT READ......
Wayne Bryan (center) with sons Bob and MikeThe USTA Florida Game Changer series examines the leading tennis industry products, tips and industry insights. USTA Florida members get first access to the information, and can share using the hashtag #GameChanger. Share your insight in the comment section below.
In the spirit of dissenting opinion and the departure of former USTA head of professional development Patrick McEnroe, USTA Florida asked Wayne Bryan to share his vision on what direction USTA professional development should take.
By Wayne Bryan
What should be done with USTA Professional Development?  If it was my say, it would be time for USTA PD to go.
They have overstayed their welcome.  No results.  No accountability.  Bad feelings everywhere.  Time to try something new.  Let the private sector have a chance without USTA meddling and top-down authoritarianism.
This is America for crying out loud.  Bottom up, not top down.  I like and respect the grossly-overpaid people on the USTA PD staff, I am just against this system that has never worked and never will work.  They have spent well north of $300 million.  Where’s the results?  Try that in the private sector and see what happens.
If USTA PD is to go on?  The philosophy needs to change.
History has shown that champions come from the ground up and not the top down.  Our greatest basketball players don’t come from a National Basketball Governing Body, they come from the streets — they play and learn at their local asphalt court.
The Beatles came from Liverpool, playing in their own garage and out on the street corner, not from being taught by the National Music Academy of England.  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart became perhaps the greatest pianist and composer in history because he learned from his dad, who made the piano and music fun for him from age 3, and he was touring Europe playing concerts to packed royal halls at the tender age of 6.  Note that he was not brought along by the National Music Governing Body of Austria.  If he had been, the world would have never enjoyed the beautiful music of Mozart.  No doubt.
Brian Wilson the famed musical writing and arranging genius of the Beach Boys came from my Hawthorne High School.  Our musical director gave him an “F” for writing “Surfin’,” a song that the Beach Boys later recorded and it went on to sell millions of copies and led to their long and great and still-continuing musical legacy.
We cannot dictate greatness from on high.  Greatness is passionate.  It is creative.  It is enthusiastic.  It comes early.  And it is relentlessly dedicated to playing and practicing each and every day and playing tournaments every weekend and team matches every week.  Greatness learns from the past, but often does things in a new way.   Greatness does things that have never been done before.
Jimmy did not play like Stan.  John did not play like Jimmy.  Pete did not play like John.  Andre did not play like Pete.  Andy did not play like Andre.  Chrissie did not play like BJK.  Tracy did play like Chrissie.  Jennie Cap did not play like Tracy.  Martina did not play like Chrissie.  Lindsay did not play like Martina.  Venus did not play like Lindsay.  Serena did not play like Venus.  McEnroe ‘n Fleming did not play like Smith ‘n Lutz.  The Woodies did not play like Mc-Fleming.  The Bryans did not play like the Woodies.
Greatness is not cookie cutter.  It comes from Main Street, USA, not White Plains, NY.
I laugh to recall how five suits from USTA PD came out to Ventura County a while back and hosted a lunch meeting at a beautiful Westlake Village Hotel.  The speakers from New York gave us a splendiferous Powerpoint presentation with lots of graphs and pie charts about the brilliance of their new U10 Program that featured a bewildering amount of colored soft balls that would soon have hundreds of thousands — even millions — of youngsters flocking to the game.  There would be so many new juniors we were going to have to build more courts.
They told us how us hicks in SoCal had to coach and how we had to send our top players over to Carson when they became good.  They would take them from there.  White Plains was where the Wizard of Oz lived.  They knew everything.  We knew nothing.
When they wrapped up, they asked for questions from the audience.  There were some very unhappy local coaches in the audience who had some very pointed questions.
At the very end,  the coaches sorta looked over at me.  I had promised myself I would keep my mouth shut.  I couldn’t.  I had to bestir myself and I rose to my feet and thanked the suits — most of them friends of mine — for their dedication to tennis and for their mind-boggling presentation.
Then I said that 3/4ths of the United States Davis Cup Team grew up playing within 12 miles of this hotel.  “How many players on the US Davis Cup Team come from your White Plains area?  The next time you come out here, maybe you want to study what we are doing out here with our juniors and not tell us how we have to do it.  Not mandate to us.  Learn about the Junior Team Tennis program that originated here; learn about our Ventura County Junior Tennis Association which hosts some 35 incubator junior tournaments within a 50 mile radius and that said ‘Hell no’ to your Green Ball Mandate and we continue to offer regulation yellow ball tournaments to our U10s; our USTA SoCal series of tournaments and other solid junior programming; and the junior programs these hard working and dedicated and excellent coaches have at their clubs and parks and schools.”
Despite the millions upon millions the USTA spent on 10 and Under Tennis, we have fewer kids playing in the 10s than ever.  It has chilled U10 tennis in SoCal and across the country.  Would Andy Roddick have wanted to play with soft green balls?  The Bryan Brothers?  The Williams Sisters?
Parents ask me everywhere I go in my travels across the country, “Coach Bryan, my child is fired up about tennis and has been playing with yellow balls since they were six and now that they want to play tournaments as an 8 or 9 year old, should I have them go back to playing with soft Green Balls or play up in the 12s and get kicked by the bigger and older and more experienced kids?”
That is where the rubber meets the road and after all my years in junior tennis, college tennis and pro tennis, I have no answer to that Hobbesian Choice.
We have the Alice in Wonderland situation out here in SoCal now where lots of 10s are playing up in the 12s and the 12s don’t want to play the 10s so they play up in the 14s.
We have the situation where young players play with regulation balls all week in their workouts and practice matches and then when they go to their U10 Tournament on the weekend, they are forced to play with soft Green Balls.
More and more I am hearing of parents simply taking regular balls and asking the opponent if they would rather play with them.
Is this any way to run a railroad?
We have fewer men and women in the Top 100 in the world than ever.  We have fewer America kids playing college tennis than any time in our history.  USTA PD, despite huge salaries for our  execs and coaches, despite millions of dollars being spent, has been spectacularly unsuccessful.
If we’re going to move forward with USTA PD we need to:
  • Get rid of the top-down management style.  The arrogance.  The “we know better than you.”
  • We need to value and appreciate coaches all over the country.  We need to empower them.  Thank them.  Encourage them.  Same with parents.  Rather than getting rid of the influence of local parents and coaches, we need to appreciate them. Every great player in American history came from a great local coach or parent or mentor or all three.  The great players we have had all came from a good home-tennis situation.
  • We gotta have more fun and more team tennis.  Less top-down and heavy-handed coaching and more programming and exciting events.  More Jr. Team Tennis, more Zonals team play, more Intersectionals team play.  More doubles.
  • More socialization.  More social events during the tournament, BBQs, trips to amusement parks, miniature golf, bowling, movies, dances, talent shows, inner-tube rides down rivers.  More t-shirts, more bells and whistles. More fun.
  • Fix the broken USTA national tournament schedule.  USTA PD cut down all our great and long-standing “Redwood Tournaments” — the Fiesta Bowl, Copper Bowl, the Westerns, the Southerns, the Texas Open.  The 12s Nationals in San Diego was a wonderful tournament with all kinds of bells and whistles.  They ripped it out by the roots never to return.  What a massive loss to Amercan junior tennis.
  • Fix the broken rankings system.  It is no longer accurate.  No longer fair.  We need less points per round and more Star Computer System with required minimums that rewards the quality of the win or loss.
  • We need a much, much better USTA web site at both the sectionals and national level.  It has got to sing.  It has got to have bells and whistles. Lots of names and pictures and immediate results.  Immediate and accurate rankings.  Look at the ATP web site.
  • We need to give more love and support to high school and middle school tennis.  We need a High School National Championship held during the second week of the US Open.  The top team from each state.  Have some regionals and the top four teams come to the US Open.  Akin to the Little League playoffs system.  Playoffs drive all major sports.  Creates massive enthusiasm!
  • Stop messing with the college format, and return it to AMERICAN college tennis.  College tennis needs more love, more local kids taken on trips to see college matches, to get inspired.  And we have to address the elephant in the room, the fact that more international students play U.S. college tennis than Americans now.  We have lost some 400 programs over the past few decades because when athletic directors look to eliminate programs, they see tennis programs that are mostly international players.  U.S. college tennis should be for U.S. kids — why are American tax payers footing the bill for $60+ million in foreign player scholarships?
  • Spread out the courts.  The USTA is building a 100-court complex in Orlando?  Huh?  “Hey Joey — you go out to court #93 and practice.”  Ugggh. We need 10 courts built in 10 key communities.  Or five courts built in 20 key communities.  Tennis needs way more warm incubators, not some big ol’ sterile concrete laboratory.
  • More doubles tournaments for juniors.  Adults love doubles. Juniors love doubles.  Some kids just love the team thing, and it gives them a second chance at tournaments.  There are more smiles on the doubles court.  It rounds out skills. It teaches additional life lessons.  We need to run the doubles rankings up the flag pole and promote them on a much improved national WEB Site. More mixed doubles for juniors too!  Mixed is a wonderful part of our sport and tennis is one of the few sports that has an important coed part to it.  We need to cherish that and use it!!  Kids love it and it teaches a whole ‘nother set of life lessons.
  • No USTA national coaches, but more coaches conferences where regional and local coaches come together to share ideas, drills, insights.  Not to be pontificated to by national coaches. Leave coaching to the private sector. It has always worked in the past and will work again.
  • The head of USTA PD should not be paid $1.2 million, and they should not use it as a part-time job or have other jobs at the same time, and he or she should go around the country and learn from good programs and good coaches.
  • Less mandates. If someone uses red balls or green balls or purple balls or polka dot balls that is fine.  If someone wants to bring kids along with yellow balls, that should be fine too.  If one Section wants to have U10 Green Ball Tournaments and U10 Yellow Ball Tournaments side by side that is just fine.
To reiterate, governing bodies should not be involved in coaching.  The USTA should be our main frame computer.  Private coaches and parents should be our software.  Governing bodies do not create champions.  Never have, never will.  They stifle creativity and enthusiasm and all the things that are the basic DNA of champions.
In the end, I say get rid of USTA PD altogether.  After spending over $300 million on USTA PD with one regime after another and mandate after mandate and minefield after minefield with nothing to show for it, it is time to go in a completely new direction.  Like John Lennon sang, “All we are saying, is give peace a chance.”  All I am saying is, give the private sector a chance.