Shortly after Ryan Sweeting won the Junior (18-and-under) boys' title at the U.S. Open, Colette Lewis of Zootennis came back to the media center, happy as a clam. “Guess what,” she said. “Ryan's a great kid and he’s going to go to college instead of turning pro. He’s going to attend Florida. Isn't that refreshing?”
When I saw Colette again a few hours later, she was crestfallen. In Sweeting's press conference, the surprise winner (not only was Sweeting unseeded, he survived five match points in his first-round match) declared that in light of his Big Win he would now rethink his plans about the immediate future.
Poor Colette. She lives and dies by—and with—these kids, and really wants what’s best for them.
Here’s more proof: No sooner did I put up my "Whiners and Closers" post than Colette writes a comment taking me to task for including Sweeting with the U.S. players, when he has dual citizenship (his mother is American, his father, Bahamian) but has only represented the Bahamas in national competition (including Davis Cup).
It seems that Sweeting has made some calculated decisions about the flag he plays under, based less on deep emotional attachments than what’s best for his tennis career. As he said after winning the junior title:
There's nothing wrong with that, is there? Given the needy state of American tennis, though, it’s hard to imagine that Ryan won’t end up playing for the U.S. when—or, rather, if—his game becomes world class. There are a zillion good reasons for this (how about the fact that Ryan has been living in the U.S. for the last six years?), which means that some people are bound to scream bloody murder if it comes to pass.
But in playing for the U.S., Ryan would be exercising the same right as Mary Pierce (born and raised in the U.S., plays for France) or Greg Rusedski (born and raised in Canada, moved to England and was saying ’arts right, mate and bollocks! before the ink was dry on his passport).
Critics may complain of poaching, but most American don't care about such things. In fact, we are surprisingly indifferent to such issues, and our attitude on nationality is both odd and misunderstood.
The typical American would accept Sweeting, just like he or she happily accepted Monica Seles and Martina Navratilova (Ivan Lendl was a bridge too far). For Americans are broadly patriotic, yet at the same time very flexible in their definition of what constitutes an individual American. Essentially, all you need to do is want to be an American, find a legal way to get over here, and, (and this part is no longer true, sadly) embrace the basic values of the American Way.
Consider that American crowds at tournaments or Davis and/or Fed Cup ties only recently began to wave flags, scream, and unleash that awful chant, U-S-A! U-S-A! (Sorry, folks, but the chant is ugly and crude; I prefer something lighter, perhaps with a touch of humor, and certainly more expressive of the fun everyone is supposed to be having at a sporting event—something the Swedes and Swiss have down to a science.)
In fact, before around, oh, 1980, American tennis crowds were the model of dispassionate, polite spectatorship. The flag-waving didn’t really get rolling in athletics until the athletes and U.S. promoters of international competitions kept whining and complaining about how Americans show insufficient support for their own. Eventually, the accusation got to people and now you can't tell a gang of American stockbrokers at the U.S. Open from a pack of unemployed British football hooligans at an England vs. Italy friendly.
In any event, if Sweeting becomes a Top 10-caliber player, does anybody really think he’d be content playing Davis Cup for the Bahamas—especially in light of the fact that he’s an English-speaking U.S. citizen, has spent the bulk of his last six years here (according to Colette), and, as I write this, is working on his game at the San Antonio tennis camp run by John Roddick (Andy’s brother)?
I am hereby declaring Ryan Sweeting an American (you can do this kind of thing when you have your own blog!). If he gets good enough, he will play Davis Cup (and compete in the Olympic Games) for the U.S., and anyone who doesn’t like it can go jump off a bridge. On the other hand, if he’s struggling at the journeyman level, he can play the “B” card and slip into a cozy niche as a big fish in a small pond.
Any questions?
P.S.—Questioned on whether she felt more like an American or French woman during the U.S.Open, Mary Pierce got back up on the tighrope she has walked very adroitly for years now. She said she liked many things about France, and many things about the U.S.,and missed either nation when she was in the other:
Gee, thanks, Mary.