Tweet This
The sport of tennis in North America is measured by annual racket and ball sales. Measurable play activity is definitely struggling overall, with adult play in decline among an aging demographic. Looking at indicators of America’s capacity to develop high level players, organized tournament participation is flat or worse at the moment, and elite play as a percentage of total population is quite weak compared to Eastern European, South American and some Asian countries. American tennis needs to do better.
It starts with taking a close look at the development of American tennis players at a young age. According to Sportime Chief Executive Officer Claude Okin, while junior play is showing growth, American kids receive fewer than 50% of the full-ride Division 1 tennis scholarships , with the rest going to foreign players. That poses a great problem for the growth of the game of tennis within the United States.
Sportime, the home of the John McEnroe Tennis Academy (JMTA), is trying to be a part of the re-birth of tennis within the states. It is also affiliated with the Johnny Mac Tennis Project (JMTP), a registered 501(c)(3) public charity whose purpose is to expose young athletes in the greater New York metropolitan area to tennis without regard to their economic circumstance.
"Tennis in the Northeast seems to be doing a little better than in the country as a whole, despite our challenges of seasonality and cost. And tennis in NYC is doing better than almost anywhere, we think, but of course NYC is the greatest tennis city in the world – we have the US Open and John McEnroe!," exclaims Okin. "When John and Sportime agreed to partner to create JMTA in the fall of 2010, the notion was that Sportime was already the largest and most effective multi-site commercial tennis club business in the New York area, having already invested time and capital in first-class, state-of-the-art facilities and staff. John was meant to be the special sauce, with his iconic presence and personal inspiration motivating a larger and more diverse group of young people to learn and play tennis, and, through that process, shaping some future success stories that will help to bring the sport to a higher and more visible level in the States. We believe that we are having the intended impact, and that we can have a material long-term impact, both by stimulating commercial tennis activity at our clubs and beyond, and by creating a group of future American pro players from NY, inspired by John, who can captivate national interest."
The JMTP allows Sportime to train the best young talent, regardless of economic circumstance, from communities and neighborhoods where tennis has been historically inaccessible. The two organizations share in contributing sums to provide scholarships and community programs to the region's youth.
"Commercial tennis is not a particularly lucrative business, though it can be a very solid one, so there are, no question, constraining economic pressures," says Okin. "But we are trying, every day, to raise as much money as possible, so that we can impact as many young lives as possible."
The results are only beginning to show. This year's NCAA finals was the first in decades where three out of four singles finalists were Americans. Two of those finalists were JMTA students Noah Rubin and Jamie Loeb, both of whom received support from the JMTP.
It helps having a name like McEnroe supporting efforts to rebuild the game of tennis. However, other regions across the United States can learn from what Okin, Mark McEnroe and John McEnroe have achieved, which has in turn given American tennis a hope of return from its deep decline.
"It's difficult to point a finger at the problem and say you have to throw money at it," says Mark McEnroe, Managing Director of Corporate Development at Sportime and President of the JMTP. "What we need to do is get our best athletes playing tennis. That's why I think you see in the women's game, largely Serena Williams, doing a lot better than the men because they are among our best athletes. Not a ton of ways for them to make a great living playing athletics. Tennis is one of them. On the boys and men's side, particularly in Manhattan, tennis is not the number one sport that players gravitate to. Our guys doing well now professionally are not classic athletes. What we're trying to do here in Manhattan is to raise the profile of tennis and make kids believe it's the cool thing to do."
The key is in trying to identify kids who run fast, jump high and have innate hand-eye coordination, and then teach them to play tennis. Whether it be in Manhattan or Miami, there is a need to find the next great American champions and bring tennis to the community. It is the only way for American tennis to rebound from a deep decline that has allowed the rest of the world to churn out players that frequent the finals of major competitions.
Darren Heitner is a lawyer and the Founder of South Florida-based HEITNER LEGAL, P.L.L.C., which has a focus on Sports Law and Entertainment Law.
