Don Budge, Jack Kramer, Gonzales, Sampras...

[klacr]

What you need is a hundred 10splayers over there. You'd have some darn good players then. The problem is coaches as good as 10splayer don't grow on trees.

Tennis players willing to listen, have little ego and enormous heart don't grow on trees either.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[stroke]

I saw much of the match, not all. I knew Murray could win that match any time he wanted by shutting up shop and blanketing the court. He is really tough to beat when he does that. He even did it to an extent against Djokovic in the 2013 Wimbledon final.

It's a shame Murray doesn't have the forehand of the other top three because it would make all the difference, especially when it comes to dispatching the journeymen of the tour, winning against such types would become an easier and more efficient business.

It's a real shame what is happening over there. A country of such immense size and population and with such history in the game. I find it a touch sad.

Get working on it, stroke...kick ass

What you need is a hundred 10splayers over there. You'd have some darn good players then. The problem is coaches as good as 10splayer don't grow on trees.

I've said it before, 10splayer knows his stuff.

[stotty]

I was watching the Davis Cup match of Murray vs Querry. It was one all after 2 sets. Gimelstob, commentating on the match, said that Murray was going to put up a defensive wall, do the work to win the match, and it will be a huge ask for Querry to match him. Querry had the bigger serve and forehand, Murray had the better backhand and certainly movement. Murray just worked very hard and won the next to sets, just took the match.

I saw much of the match, not all. I knew Murray could win that match any time he wanted by shutting up shop and blanketing the court. He is really tough to beat when he does that. He even did it to an extent against Djokovic in the 2013 Wimbledon final.

It's a shame Murray doesn't have the forehand of the other top three because it would make all the difference, especially when it comes to dispatching the journeymen of the tour, winning against such types would become an easier and more efficient business.

It's a real shame what is happening over there. A country of such immense size and population and with such history in the game. I find it a touch sad.

Get working on it, stroke...kick ass

What you need is a hundred 10splayers over there. You'd have some darn good players then. The problem is coaches as good as 10splayer don't grow on trees.

[stroke]

The money to be made in tennis vs swimming or gymnastics really skews things when it is decided some young player is a prodigy, or future champion. It seems to me we just don't have any players in the US that are willing to do the very hard defensive work, the grinding it takes to consistently win matches in today's game. I was watching the Davis Cup match of Murray vs Querry. It was one all after 2 sets. Gimelstob, commentating on the match, said that Murray was going to put up a defensive wall, do the work to win the match, and it will be a huge ask for Querry to match him. Querry had the bigger serve and forehand, Murray had the better backhand and certainly movement. Murray just worked very hard and won the next two sets, just took the match.

[gzhpcu]

I know it shouldn't just be about money, but, unfortunately, I have the impression that is what it all boils down nowadays...

[stotty]

It's also about difficulty, athletic combined with mind, stamina, speed ability. This sport is more difficult to perfect than most, if not all, pro sports. Obsessive discipline and desire don't usually reside in children.

Tennis is very poor at getting young athletes to be disciplined compared to swimming and gymnastics, in my experience. A lot of the young tennis elite are very spoilt in my country. Training before 8am would be out of the question for most.

Swimmers are incredibly regimented by comparison. And as for those young gymnasts in the former Soviet Union...phew.

It shouldn't be all about money as Phil suggests. Young children tend to get captivated by a sport at an age when money is just something for mum and dad to worry about.

I just find other sports are often cheaper to take up and more accessible than tennis, so maybe this is one of the reasons.

[GeoffWilliams]

It's also about difficulty, athletic combined with mind, stamina, speed ability. This sport is more difficult to perfect than most, if not all, pro sports. Obsessive discipline and desire don't usually reside in children.

[gzhpcu]

Sadly, it is probably all about money. In the old days, you hardly made any big money in any sport, so why not play tennis? Nowadays, even though the prize money in tennis is high, in the States, you earn a lot more playing football, baseball, etc., so the talented youngsters are lured to other sports.

[stotty]

Agassi, Connors, McEnroe, Courier...great players...

...but the well seems to have run dry. What's happening over the pond? I don't like to gloat but you just lost to Great Britain in the Davis Cup for the first time in 79 years. You don't seem to have any players of greatness coming through over there. You didn't have Isner but I doubt that would have made much difference.

What on earth has happening to American tennis...the most successful tennis country in the world? Has the well really run dry? Haven't you got anyone coming up?