BRYAN BROTHERS LOSE IN PARIS, SO DOES SLOANE STEPHENS, THAT LEAVES THE ONLY AMERICANS LEFT @ THE FRENCH OPEN ARE THE COMMENTATORS

Written by: Staff on 2nd June 2014

French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros

BRYAN BROTHERS LOSE IN PARIS, SO DOES SLOANE STEPHENS, THAT LEAVES THE ONLY AMERICANS LEFT @ THE FRENCH OPEN ARE THE COMMENTATORS

epa04236675 Sloane Stephens of USA returns to Simona Halep of Romania in their fourth round match during the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 02 June 2014. EPA/ETIENNE LAURENT |

Why?

By Cheryl Jones

The final Monday of Roland Garros arrived and all of the Americans were gone. There are no US players in the mix at Roland Garros anywhere; not in the singles and not in any of the vast combinations of doubles. The three who remained Monday morning have bombed out.

Stephens is an American who has the goods, but early this afternoon she lost to Simona Halep, a Romanian with promise aplenty. And earlier, former Roland Garros champions Bob and Mike Bryan fell to a Spanish duo, and then there were none.

The Bryans are often the only US contenders remaining when the rest have faded from the competition and vanished from the venue; usually sitting in economy class aboard the red-eye, heading home to the states. Today, the usual didn’t happen for the twins. In a little under an hour and a half, (one hour and twenty-nine minutes, to be exact), the court that hosted the Bryans was being groomed for the next match on the docket.

In their sixteen-year career, the 36-year-old identical twins have risen to the top of the all time doubles charts. But, today really wasn’t their day. They played looking tired. The usual intensity of their performance, complete with belly bumping as a sign of mutual congratulations after every match victory wasn’t there – because they lost. Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez, who both hail from Spain came out swinging and didn’t stop until they had a victory, 6-4, 6-2.

Sloan Stephens lost her match against Simona Halep, of Romania, 6-4, 6-3. Halep is ranked fourth in the world and it would have been correct to assume, on paper at least, that Stephens should have lost to the more highly ranked player, but the way that she has been playing in Slams over the past two years should have tilted the odds more than slightly.

The subject of why the Americans have made such poor showings over the past several years has been examined and dissected repeatedly. It’s a conundrum. The US has huge numbers of youngsters in the various Junior programs. There are well over three hundred thousand children participating and some have real potential, but they disappear as quickly as they come on the scene,

Questions are being directed to the leaders of player development, but few answers have ever been forthcoming and the reality is, there probably aren’t any clear-cut solutions to the issues, because the issues have no clarity either. Individuals have bad days, but it seems that the good days are few and far between and when a youngster comes through with a win or two, hopes are heaped on them. They are children. Adults are supposed to solve their problems, not heap more expectations on the few youngsters that do perform well.

The USTA has tried and failed to bolster training programs but it would seem that a one size fits all regimen is not the answer. It is apparent that trying to pigeonhole children isn’t working. Why aren’t the powers that be pouring more thought into how best to grow a good player? The money most likely is there and it isn’t being utilized to produce the kind of players that have the goods. It is a rarity to find a young person who has a “stick with it” attitude, but often if they are singled out, they are overburdened with expectations and hype that either drives them away or inflates their fragile and yet maturing egos to the bursting point. Instead of pushing, it seems we should look at the youngsters that have made it work and examine why it has worked for that particular child.

As an example, Stephens’ mother is wonderfully involved with her daughter. She always has been. She isn’t pushy and she leaves the tennis to the professionals and makes parenting her part of the deal. It works. Other youngsters haven’t been so lucky. Too much too soon has sidelined many a talented kid. Instead of just retired tennis players mentoring kids with potential, why not have input from childhood development experts, too?

Sloane Stephens and Simona Halep.

It’s time to step back and look at the disappointing performance of far too many young players who should have had a better and easier time transitioning from Junior play to professional competition. What is happening in America is clearly not working. Here at Roland Garros, Spain and Serbia, countries that are dwarfed by the population of the US have something figured out, why can’t we?

It’s not a matter of coaches saying the youngsters are not trying hard enough. There has to be a reason for them to try. Presently, that doesn’t seem to be on the agenda. It shouldn’t be a test; it should be a system of encouragement and support. After all, don’t we all work better that way?

Topics: Bob Bryan, Bryan Brothers, French Open, Mike Bryan, Roland Garros, Sloane Stephens, Tennis, Usta

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10sBalls_com says:

June 2, 2014 at 3:02 pm

BRYAN BROTHERS LOSE IN PARIS, SO DOES SLOANE STEPHENS, THAT LEAVES THE ONLY AMERICANS LEFT…http://t.co/yWQ6CCQIzl @Bryanbros @sloanetweets
ititennis says:

June 2, 2014 at 3:28 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: BRYAN BROTHERS LOSE IN PARIS, SO DOES SLOANE STEPHENS, THAT LEAVES THE ONLY AMERICANS LEFT…http://t.co/yWQ6CCQIzl @Brya…