@malbaker86
1. Time for training at large. European players are boosted by their country and have way more time to train for more years.
2. Quality/Availability of training. Many coaches here for the vast majority of kids are scraping by financially. They have to fit in adult clinics and random shyt to pay the bills. They cant afford to spend 3 hours a day with one client as they would stand to lose other clients. Almost every pro would rather 3 clients in 3 hours than 1 in 3 hours because it locks in more money long term (provided all 3 clients are paying same rate). For the kids to get 2-4 hours a day they would have to be in a big group which means less attention because pros are hesitant to hire competent assistants and cut the profits.
3. Strategy. The kids fall into a trap of rallying from the baseline for hours on end and pushing. They dont have the athleticism or strength to separate themselves from the pack so this strategy long term fails them. They dont learn how to be crafty..also because the coaching field has been diluted due to the ease of which someone can get a license. Then cheap parents hire the bum for 40 dollars rather than the good guy for 60-80 and don't know the difference when they get shyt advice. Anyone can feed a ball and say good shot. Error detection and correction is another thing altogether. Furthermore these pros arent crafty themselves in match play and thus cant pass along that knowledge.
4. High school programs. High school tennis is shyt. There arent even middle school programs pretty much anywhere.
5. Lack of mental toughness. Kids are coddled across the board in America and dont have the grit and tenacity to put in the hard hours or maintain their top position. They lose a couple of matches and wonder why they are training so hard to never go pro. Whats the point? In a match...which goes back to strategy...they might come to the net once or twice..get passed and feel embarrassed or miss an easy volley and feel embarrassed so they never come to the net again. Additionally as to volleys..many pros when coaching volleys just have the kids stand in one spot and hit easy ones at slow pace. They dont have the kids run in from the baseline split step and volley from a difficult feed. This also goes back to money because they are afraid to challenge the kids in fear they will quit and then lose the income from them.
Thats just a start.
Then you have the fact that kids go into tennis because they arent athletic enough to cut it in other sports. And good kids dont go into it or drop out because they are lonely. One solution would be to promote doubles play more so kids can bring in a friend..but you gotta start early before kids can even serve so you cant promote doubles match play to 4-7 year olds.
