Guest Author - Eric T. Coursey

As American’s we are never satisfied being second best or even worse than that. Our desire to be number one is overwhelming and it is ingrained in our heads from a very early age. Being number one is a lofty goal and one that we should always aspire to but we need to realize that there is only one number one tennis player in the world and it can’t always be an American.

We have become so comfortable over the years sitting on the top of the rankings that we have come to expect it. Bill Tilden, Don Budge, Jimmy Connors, Jim Courier, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi are just a few of the great American tennis legends that have moulded the state of tennis in the United States. Women’s tennis has been just as great with players like Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Jennifer Capriati and Lindsay Davenport.

Women’s tennis was looking fantastic with the William’s sisters and Lindsay Davenport but the past couple of years have been disappointing and there are no longer any Aerican women in the top ten. Against all odds, Serena has begun the 2007 season very strong with a convincing win over the World’s number one Maria Sharapova to take the Australian Open. If Serena can keep herself in good health we may have a few more years of American dominance in the WTA.

Men’s tennis is really not as bad as we make it out to be, with two American’s in the top ten. Andy Roddick and James Blake have represented The United States very well. The big question is, can either of them catch Federer and take over the number one spot. Blake has a ways to go but Roddick on the other hand is probably closer than you might realize. The Australian Open was looking good for Roddick until he was humiliated by Federer. Right now Federer is virtually untouchable but it was only a few months ago at the Masters Cup that Roddick was within two points of beating him. With Connors in his corner, Roddick may be able to narrow the gap and close in on the number one position.

Roddick has improved tremendously over the past year even though the stats don’t overly show it. We can’t be too hard on him for losing to Federer, who may be the most talented player of all time. Even if Roddick never recaptures the number one rank, it will be inspiring for American tennis if he can give Federer a challenge and create a rivalry with him.

We do focus on singles tennis, maybe a little too much. If you take a look at Bob and Mike Bryan then we would see how good the state of tennis really is in America. The Brian Brothers have been dominating the doubles circuit for the past couple of years now. They began the 2007 season off with another Grand Slam win at the Australian Open and are looking to continue their dominance throughout the year.

The state of tennis in America is actually looking pretty good. The USTA is taking steps to develop young players through partnering with the Evert Tennis Accademy. They need to continue working on their player development and promotion of the game so that we can create new American legends.