In 1995, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Michael Chang, and Jim Courier comprised four of the top eight in the ATP Tour yearend rankings.
Twenty years later, the landscape for United States men’s tennis is dramatically different.
Andy Roddick was the last American man to win a grand slam title in 2003 at the U.S. Open.
More recently, John Isner, who finished 11th, landed in the top 20 of the ATP Tour’s rankings at the conclusion of the 2015 season.
“Tennis was a big deal back in the ‘60s and ‘70s and was on prime-time network television. Now, that’s not usually the case,” Dan Martin, former high school tennis coach, said.
Martin said Americans simply do not follow or participate in the sport as enthusiastically as they once did.
“The NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL – the four major sports – have stolen some of tennis’ thunder,” Martin said.
The Nielsen’s ratings support Martin’s argument. In 1980 and 1981, the U.S. Open tennis tournament had a 5.8 percent share of all U.S. households tuning in per telecast.
That number declined significantly to 1.8 percent by 2007. While tennis ratings were dropping precipitously, viewership of the other major sports increased – led by the NBA and NFL.
Memphian David Rose, former United States Tennis Association junior tour participant, was not surprised by the statistics.
“When I was playing tennis competitively, it was the beginning of the internet era,” Rose said. “There were just so many other choices and tennis wasn’t deemed as cool. Most kids wanted to be the next Michael Jordan or Joe Montana.”
Despite the decline in viewership, University of Memphis Men’s Tennis Coach Paul Goebel feels that better days lie ahead for United States men’s tennis.
“The USTA has been pretty interested in junior tennis player development, recently opening a new training center in Florida,” Goebel said.
In years past, some players have burnt out from the rigors of being a professional tennis player, Goebel explained.
He thinks the training centers will better prepare the next generation of young talent coming up in the United States.
“Having all those players training in one location against one another can also help improve the early training with tough competition all based in one spot,” Goebel said.
The U of M men’s tennis team includes nine players – eight of which hail from outside of the United States.
The team currently has a 9 – 7 record as it heads into an important home stand against the likes of Dartmouth and conference foe Temple.
Nineteen-year-old freshman, Felix Rauch is a member of the U of M men’s tennis team. Felix, who is from Germany, said training in America is more strenuous.
“I think that the American methods of practice are harder than in Germany,” Rauch said, explaining how training in Germany focuses more on technique while American training relies more on conditioning and building mental toughness.
