For the American men, the U.S. Open again looks red, white and bleak.
Patrick McEnroe, in explaining the dreadful fall of the American men, criticized the nation’s coaching and its selection process, pointing out the USTA is in the rare position of not sanctioning coaches in the U.S.
McEnroe, general manager of USTA’s Player Development who recently received a big contract extension, has yet to use the coaching angle as a factor in the massive U.S. men’s decline. There was no U.S. men’s quarterfinalist in any of the first three Grand Slams or any of the slams in 2013. The only fourth-round showing in 2014 was John Isner in the French Open.
“We got to make up some ground — we lost ground in the world of coaching and education and clay courts and the game changing based on playing the backcourt,’’ McEnroe said. “We’d like to improve the quality of coaching. I was at a meeting at the French Open with 30 countries. We’re the only one who didn’t certify the coaches.’’
The USPTA and PRT (Professional Tennis Registry) currently certify American coaches. McEnroe is trying to work closer with those bodies. USTA officials realize it’s more advantageous for McEnroe’s staff to certify coaches to employ a standard philosophy, but isn’t willing to fight that battle because of politics.
The USTA is making changes, including the construction of a mammoth new training headquarters in Orlando for junior players scheduled to open in 2016 that will continue to trend toward clay courts. The key is developing groundstrokes on the slower clay since the serve-and-volley is dying, even at Wimbledon.
“We don’t want to sit back and wait for one great player,’’ McEnroe said. “I don’t think that’s the way to do it. We’d all like to have another Serena [Williams] or Pete [Sampras], but if we can have steady wave of very good-level players, that’s what tennis needs in this country. I want what Spain has. A lot of guys in the top 100 and a [Rafael] Nadal.’’
The only American men ranked in the top 50 are Donald Young and John Isner.
“We’re definitely concerned about it,’’ McEnroe said. “We live this every week. We’re happy Donald Young got back in the top 50 so you can’t write there’s no one in the top 50.’’
The women’s situation is far different. After Serena Williams, the rising prospects include Madison Keys, Taylor Townsend (Williams’ opponent in Round 1) and Sloane Stephens. There’s also top-100 young players in Victoria Duval, Alison Riske, Lauren Davis, Christina McHale, Shelby Rogers and CoCo Vandeweghe.
“Will you agree that the women’s side, we’re doing OK?’’ asked USTA’s top development coach Jose Higueras. “All I would ask is be patient. We’ll get that with the men, too. It’s not a quick fix.’’
Higueras said when he attended the Kalamazoo junior championships in August for 18- and 16-year-olds, he called McEnroe to express genuine enthusiasm.
“For the first time I went there, I was pretty excited about the level of the play,’’ Higueras said of the junior championships, won by Rockville Centre’s Noah Rubin to earn a berth into the Open. “I don’t think you’ve heard me say that before.”
But this Open likely will be another disaster, with Jack Sock, Young and Steve Johnson not close to being semifinal threats. “[A] couple of guys in the second week [quarterfinals] would be nice,’’ McEnroe said.