John McEnroe believes USA’s best athletes are not playing tennis – Tennis News
American tennis legend, John McEnroe, has said that that USA is not producing any player of world number one calibre because very few athletic youngsters are picking up tennis now.
McEnroe thinks that young generation of European countries are choosing tennis to become professional sportspersons but Americans are going for Basketball and Football.
The former world number one also believes that it is less affordable and accessible for American youth to start playing tennis, as there are not many tennis courts and coaches.
The American was asked in a recent interview that why there is no player from USA among the best ones in the golden era of tennis. He responded by saying, “Some of it is perhaps hunger. We don’t want it enough. The affordability
and accessibility are issues. It’s not as easy to get on a court and get taught well here as it is in other countries, particularly Europe.”
He added, “The best athletes in those countries are playing tennis. Djokovic, Nadal and Murray … they could’ve played any sport. They chose tennis. Here in America, our best athletes are predominantly playing basketball and football.
We’ve got to figure out a way to get tennis a bit more s**y, and get these young kids wanting to play.”
Tennis has been witnessing increased followership and competition in the last decade. Top four players in the world rankings, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray; and Rafael Nadal have completely dominated the sport. The
sport has more fans, sponsors, viewership than ever and it is growing continuously.
However, none of the American players has won a Grand Slam since 2003. Andy Roddick, who recently retired from professional tennis, was the last player from USA to win a major, when he captured the 2003 US Open.
Tennis was once completely dominated by American players. Jimmy Connors, McEnroe, Jim Courier, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and many other players from USA were considered unbeatable at their best but things have changes now.
In 2010, it happened for the first time since the introduction of rankings that there was not a single player in the top 10.
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