Timber

Returning Serve Lesson #1: looking up helps

"Why do Americans suck at tennis?"

I posed this question to my friends last week in the early goings of the Isner-Hewitt match. And while none of them follow tennis nearly as obsessively as I do, they knew that American tennis is no longer what it once was. Gone are the yesteryears of Sampras breaking records and Agassi's badassery and blonde locks. Gone even is Andy Roddick, the big-mouthed kid brother of the aforementioned legends. Yeah, we gave him a lot of well-deserved crap, but until this year, he was the only one carrying any sort of Grand Slam for the U.S. on the ATP.

Roddick departed suddenly-ish, but we were already hopping on the bandwagon of another American stud. His name was John Isner. Big John, Mr. 70-68, was supposed to proudly take the torch of passed down by Sampras and the like and lead us into the promised land (and by promised land I mean someone's trophy cabinet). He was surging at this point in 2012: finalist at Indian Wells, Davis Cup hero (on clay!), and recent addition to the Top 10 and the "player-none-of-the-Big-Four-want-to-face" list. Unfortunately, Johnny took that glowing torch into a wet, dark cave and farted on it.

The end of his 2012 season was quite the letdown. A disappointing result at Roland Garros, first-round loss at Wimby, and a lackluster, second-week-less U.S. Open have all bled into 2013 where he is now 6-6 with losses against the always-hard-to-take-down Eduardo-Roger Vasselin and Dennis Istomin (note: they are not always hard to take down).

We are now faced with the reality of having no American men in the Top 20 of the ATP rankings since...ever. Our new guy at the head of the pack is Sam Querrey, who owns only one title of ATP 500 calibur. Sam might be better in the return game and is a little harder to break down in rallies, but he's not particularly "threatening" to the guys in the ATP penthouse. Sam did just get engaged, however, and Janko Tipsarevic said it has improved his game tremendously. Still, can we honestly rely on that Serbian magic? Americans hate marriage! And Janko hasn't been playing all that well so far this year...

We're doomed.

Joking aside, it's time we figure this out or men's tennis will be done for in the United States. Yes, more and more countries are participating in the sport, but something about our dedication to developing talent has been surpassed by our European competitors. Is it that America doesn't care about tennis all that much? Is tennis too expensive of an outlet for families and their kids? Is it too socially taxing for young athletes to want to participate in it? Tennis is quite a lonely sport and that doesn't lend well to our culture, whereas other cultures have a strong sense of family where a player can thrive being surrounded by their team of supporters constantly.

Digging a little too deep there, but clearly the problem is multifaceted and won't be figured out overnight. What do you think of our substandard men's game in America? Minor dip? Major issue? Leave a comment for your thoughts, especially if you have any semblance of a solution. Miami up next for both circuits! Quick turnaround for everyone, don't know if I'm ready!