Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Tennis is in the News


Have you noticed all the recent buzz about tennis??? For a sport that's mostly niche and one that normally flies under the radar, tennis is in the news --- in a BIG way! Isn't that G-R-E-A-T???

NO - It's not great...and here's why: because our sport is in the news for all the WRONG REASONS.

As you must know, we spend much of our lives in the trenches at junior tennis tournaments and we've watched as some big changes have taken effect over the past 2 years. First we saw the mandatory change to QuickStart (or 10&U or ROG or whatever name is in vogue these days), then we saw the reduction of national open draws to only the top 32, now we're seeing the reduction of sectional draws (and the introduction of waterfalls - whatever that means), we're seeing big changes with the point system, and it seems there's no end in sight because we're hearing about still more changes coming...

We've watched the junior tennis community react to all these change: first with uncertainty, then confusion and general unhappiness, and now anger. If the folks in charge of this are hearing even a FRACTION of the bitching we're hearing EVERY SINGLE DAY, they are getting an earful...but is anybody listening? Hmmm.

As far as I can tell, the USTA is juggling multiple priorities: growing the game of tennis; developing an American tennis champion; arranging schedules to minimize missed school days. I'm certainly not defending them, but it must be difficult to accomplish any or all of these (and many, many more that I'm sure I haven't even considered).

Of course the reason we're watching this is because HIGH-TECH TENNIS is a video company that focuses EXCLUSIVELY on tennis. We have no kids of our own but we have thousands of tennis kids and I hope you know that we truly do care about junior tennis. The very last thing we want to do is generate any controversy whatsoever so we've tried to stay positive (if junior tennis wins, we all win, after all) but we've watched with great dismay as we realize the way the changes affect us. Dealing with the constantly moving target AND don't forget the ballistic parents who assault our integrity with accusations of illegal or immoral activity on our part when we record their kid playing tennis in a public place (WHICH IS PERFECTLY LEGAL IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA) is basically destroying our business. We are seriously looking at morphing into HIGH-TECH SPORTS VIDEO and moving on to other sports (even though tennis is our first love) but business is business and the future really doesn't look that bright, judging from some pretty nasty writing on the junior tennis wall. But the future of HIGH-TECH TENNIS is not the point of this observation... 

The point is this: I spend an incredible amount of time on this topic (o.k., sometimes it keeps me up at night) but I know that most of our customers do not. So I thought it might be helpful to link to some of the most recent tennis news so you can be somewhat aware of all the STUFF that's happening to our sport. I wish it were a prettier picture...but hope this doesn't happen to you:

"Imagine you are driving on the highway at the legal speed limit of 65, and while your foot is on the gas pedal, they change the speed limit. And you get screwed." (Taken from a post on a tennis forum).

In closing, please remember that tennis is a GAME, not rocket science, and junior players are CHILDREN, not mini-professionals. Junior tennis is a journey, not a destination...YOU MIGHT AS WELL ENJOY IT!!! Thank you for your support!

Wayne Bryan Letter to the USTA

Is Tennis Getting Too Soft? Wall Street Journal

Optimism, but Mixed Results, at the Vanguard New York Times

U.S. Tennis Struggles With Generational Divide USA Today

Where Did Talent Go? U.S. Tennis' 'Lost Generation' USA Today

Academy Looks to Bolster Future of American Tennis USA Today

Blogs and Forums

Talk Tennis at Tennis Warehouse

Observations from the Trenches

Parenting Aces

U.S. Tennis Parents

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