If you happend to read the Australian Tennis Magazine or even if you read the Tennis forum here on Covers, you'll be faced with the big question; What happend to Australian (or US) Tennis?? What happened and who's going to be the next Sampras, Agassi, Cash, Chang or Rafter of the US and Australian tennis??
The answer to that question looks to be very very grim at the moment. Why is that? Everyone may have some theory or explanation, but mine is that the game has evolved whereas the US and Australian Tennis has not! It's as simple as that!
If you look at the centre court of Wimbledon for example and compare that with the centre court of 6-7 years ago, you'll surely notice a stark difference. The 2008 court is worn on the baseline, whereas the court of 2001 has a straight line from the service line all the way to the net where you'd find no grass at all. Sampras, Becker, Enqvist, Rafter, and Krajicek had made their way one too many times to the net for the grass to be allowed to grow there. Nalbandian, Acasuso, Montanes, Robredo, and Rafa Nadal have "deep respect" for the grass and they wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. However, they don't seem to show much respect to the grass that shows up at the baseline. ....
That my friends is the evolution of the ATP tour. Most of the new up and coming players come and/or train in the slow courts of Sth America or Southern Europe. Love it or hate it 'Trading bricks from the back of line' is the new name of the game. The Jokers', Wawrinkas, Almagros, Kiefers, Gonzos, Andreevs and the Ferrers of the ATP have given the game a new emphasis and new style.
The Anglo Saxon world aka the World of Serve n' Volley has two options: 1- Accept and embrace the change and move on with the times, or 2- get stuck in the past where it's doomed to fail and die. The Bolletieri's and other academies like that, need to adjust their focus and re-evaluate their emphasis. Until we see a paradigm shift there, we won't see much success in the US nor Australian Tennis...
AUSSIE