What Happened To American Tennis?

If you were born in the early 1990s or before, you probably remember that the United States dominated tennis. You had gracious serve and volleyers like Pete Sampras. On the other hand, you would watch aggressive baseliners like Agassi and grinders such as Jimmy Connors. However, this is clearly not the case anymore. The three most popular players in the history of the sport are from Europe. In case you forgot who these are, their names are Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic.

It is clear that pickleball is having a negative impact on American tennis. Pickleball is encroaching on tennis, and I want you to look at something that recently happened in California. Someone declared war in Los Angeles, and it's not looking pretty. Tennis players hate pickleballers, and this conflict took it to a new level with threats, clashes, and even arson.

The biggest pickleball spot, Memorial Park, used to be filled with tennis courts. However, someone literally burned down the pickleball shed, where all the equipment was stored. While I'm not saying a tennis player did this, it seems targeted. I'm opposed to what happened, but you can see the frustration building between tennis and pickleball players.

Solutions

The simple solution is to separate these two sports. If pickleball continues to encroach on tennis, there will be many angry tennis players. But today, we're not going to talk about pickleball. Instead, we're going to discuss an interesting quote from Tommy Paul: "Tennis is probably the 20th most popular sport in the United States. Nobody cares. We still have two players in the top 10, so it's a good thing we're at the top of the game. I mean, all of our best athletes play other sports, so that's our excuse, I suppose."

This was something that Tommy Paul stated in a press conference last summer when Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe were both in the top 10. Fritz had just won the Atlanta Open after a successful spring, while Tiafoe was just cooling off from his first tournament win on grass.

Rankings

Let's start with where tennis ranks in the United States. I made my own top 10 rankings. You might find this accurate, or you might not, and feel free to disagree in the comments. At number one, I place football. At number two, basketball. Number three, baseball. Number four, boxing. Number five, hockey. Number six, soccer.

There are many Europeans and South Americans in the United States who love soccer, which is why I place it at number six. Soccer is quite popular but segmented based on demographics. At number seven, I place golf ahead of tennis. At number eight, MMA, which is incredibly popular. Between number nine and ten, it's a toss-up. Initially, I was going to place NASCAR at number nine, but then I decided to put tennis ahead of NASCAR. So, tennis is at number nine, ahead of NASCAR.

To be fair to Tommy Paul, I think he was exaggerating by saying number 20, but it's true that tennis is not one of the most popular sports. However, when it comes to women's sports, tennis is by far number one in the United States and even worldwide. But today, we're only talking about men's sports. The three most popular sports in the United States are football, basketball, and baseball.

Other GOATS

Next, let's transition to the point about the best athletes playing the big three sports in the United States, which are football, basketball, and baseball. I often hear statements like, "If LeBron James played tennis, he would be the absolute GOAT and win all the Grand Slam titles." It's not that simple. While tennis doesn’t have a strict weight or height requirement, allowing a range of physiques to reach elite levels, there is still an optimal build for a tennis player.

In the ATP top 100, the average height is between 6'1" and 6'2", and the average weight is around 175 pounds. Looking at the greatest players in tennis history, you’ll see a lot of similarities. Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic, for instance, all fit into this optimal height and weight range. Federer is 6'1" and played at 187 pounds, Nadal is 6'1" and 187 pounds, Djokovic is 6'2" and 170 pounds, and Alcaraz is 6'0" and 179 pounds.

Optimization

It's clear that there is an optimal height for tennis. While tall players have improved their movement, tennis is still heavily dependent on agility. Taller and heavier players are generally less agile, which is why I disagree with the notion that LeBron James would dominate tennis. The history of tennis shows that the best players are within a certain height and weight range.

For example, in the NBA, the Average height is 6'6" to 6'7", and average weight is 216 pounds. In the MLB, the average height is 6'2", and average weight is 207 pounds. Lastly, in the NFL, the average height is 6'2", and average weight is 245 pounds.

Given that these are team sports, there are variations in height and weight based on the positions played. While Tommy Paul is right that many of the best athletes are in the big three sports, it's a bit more nuanced. For example, Steph Curry, at 6'3", might have made a great tennis player.

On the other hand, players such as Reilly Opelka and John Isner might have ended up being better basketball players. Both are around seven feet tall and, in my opinion, if they were able to move around a tennis court, they would be able to move around a basketball court and score dunks after dunks.

Final Thoughts

Finally, Tommy Paul's point about people not caring that there are American players ranked in the top 10 is 100% correct. In the United States, people are accustomed to having great champions, so they don’t get excited about players ranked in the top 10 unless they are winning major tournaments.

During the era of Boris Becker and Steffi Graf, Tommy Haas and Nicolas Kiefer were phenomenal players, but no one cared much because they were used to having Grand Slam champions. The same is true in the United States. People were still critical of Andy Roddick, despite his success, because they compared him to Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi.

So, while tennis fanatics are excited about the current American players, the general audience will only get excited when these players start winning Grand Slams. For example, countries like Japan, which don’t have a history of Grand Slam champions, would get incredibly excited about having a player ranked in the top 10. If Tommy Paul were Japanese and ranked where he is, he would be a superstar. But being American, he has to deal with the fact that only incredible success will satisfy the general tennis audience in the United States.