USTA Player Development chief Patrick McEnroe responds to notable coach Wayne Bryan’s much-circulated letter that criticizes new junior tennis initiatives and USTA Player Development for a myriad of reasons. Bryan is the coach of the world No. 1 doubles team of Bob and Mike Bryan, whom McEnroe was the captain of during his 10 years as Davis Cup captain.
"It’s easy—and frankly, it’s long been fashionable—to cast a blanket indictment against the USTA,” McEnroe wrote. “That’s neither new nor notable. I think all of us at the USTA would agree that a lot of past criticism has been deserved, but Mr. Bryan’s scattershot attack is so full of holes, hearsay, and half-truths that I feel compelled to address it."
Bryan’s letter is over 5,300 words long and goes over a large landscape, but one of his primary criticisms is that "USTA PD has been and continues to be the biggest impediment to the growth of tennis in this country and also the creation of champions. Each regime issues one harmful mandate after another, only to then be overturned by the next regime."
Bryan criticizes the national junior tournament schedule as having draws that are too large; accuses the USTA of trying to get rid of the influence of parents and local coaches; and says that there is no magic place or bullet to increase the number of top pros.
?McEnroe stated that Americans don’t dominate tennis the way they once did because of globalization, which is the case in most other sports. "Mr. Bryan likes to point out that the USTA has never developed a Top 10 player. I would ask him, 'Who has, from start-to-finish?' The USTA has, for years, played a vital role in the development of many top professionals, but the idea that any one person is responsible for the development of any individual player is ludicrous. Players evolve, players change, players progress. It’s an ongoing process and always has been. The coach or parent who got a player from point A to point B may or may not have the tools or know-how to help take the player to the next level. What’s more, the economics of tennis almost always come into play for most coaches, who often have to decide whether to stick with a player or with a full-time job at their club or academy. That’s a tough call, and an important one, both for the coach and the player. Whatever the scenario, whatever the need, we’re there to lend our support to both the coach and the player so that the player can progress."
Bryan also stridently argues against the new USTA 10-and-under initiative, which uses larger colored balls (sometimes green) and sets up smaller nets, and courts on smaller surface areas.
"Right now there is not one pro player on the ATP or WTA that grew up playing competitive tennis with green balls in the U10s and the last time I looked there were some pretty dadgum good players out there,” Bryan wrote. “And bingo, the USTA is mandating (and the ITF to be fair) that you must do it this way only. Bet: You give me 100 kids and let me do my thing from age 6 to 10 and let me do the whole program with JTT and trips to college matches each week and tournaments each weekend and team events against other clubs—and you take 100 kids and keep them on the soft colored balls until they are 11 and then track both groups on out until they are all 18 and see who has got the goods. I know where I would put my money."
McEnroe argues that the rule change in 10-and-under competition has actually opened the door for more kids to get involved in junior competition. "Two years ago, fewer than 10,000 kids were involved in tournament play and in the USTA’s Jr. Team Tennis program. Now, that number has risen to more than 32,000. We’ve still got a long way to go, admittedly. We’ve only begun to scratch the surface of our potential. But more kids are trying tennis, and we feel confident that this rule change will open the door for more kids to get involved—and stay involved—in our sport. And that’s a good thing.??The idea that the more-talented or more-accomplished kids are somehow being held back or hampered by the rule changes that include shorter courts, properly-sized racquets and slower-bouncing balls is absurd."