Historically, during major tennis tournaments (Wimbledon, Australian Open, French Open, US Open) invariably the announcers bring up the topic of the US men’s tennis pipeline. How weak it is.
Let’s think about this for a moment…looking at most sports, the primary pipeline for talent is…college.
This is the same for men’s tennis.
But – in the US, at US colleges (div 1 & 2) on average, over half of each team are international players.
This is a problem.
Now, in this pandemic world we have a greater problem.
College tennis is on the ropes right now.
High school seniors hoping to play college tennis have a huge challenge ahead.
Right now, since all the current players get an extra year of eligibility, every team essentially is over manned.
Add to this, the number of programs that have shut down.
Add to this, if football & basketball doesn’t happen, there will be even fewer teams.
We have supply and demand issue…to many players, not enough teams.
USTA has shut down all high level tournaments.
UTR is trying to fill the void, but I’m sure it is a matter of time before they can’t continue doing this.
It is sad to see, but unless the USTA actually get creative, the men’s tennis pipeline will be clogged and unproductive for a number of years to come.
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