I read Lisa Raymond's "Trouble on the Homefront" on SI.com a few days ago and waited to post it until today, so I could have some time to think about the "trouble", which is basically that the U.S. culture doesn't encourage making a tennis career a life-and-death struggle, while Eastern Europeans, inevititably hungrier given their recent history, have the advantage of disadvantage.
I think it's much more complicated than that, and I will say, for perhaps the fiftieth time on this site, that I believe every champion is an exception. Ana Ivanovic was hitting balls in an empty Serbian swimming pool, Andy Roddick was hitting balls in a club in Boca Raton, but both have turned out to be among the world's best tennis players. If there's an advantage to desperation, there's also one in having resources and opportunity. Do some American juniors squander those? I imagine some do, but most never get them to squander them.
Over at Savannah's World, she discusses Lisa Raymond's piece and has her own perspective on what's missing. I don't think there's an answer to the "trouble" on the home front, but the questions are certainly worth asking.
I think it's much more complicated than that, and I will say, for perhaps the fiftieth time on this site, that I believe every champion is an exception. Ana Ivanovic was hitting balls in an empty Serbian swimming pool, Andy Roddick was hitting balls in a club in Boca Raton, but both have turned out to be among the world's best tennis players. If there's an advantage to desperation, there's also one in having resources and opportunity. Do some American juniors squander those? I imagine some do, but most never get them to squander them.
Over at Savannah's World, she discusses Lisa Raymond's piece and has her own perspective on what's missing. I don't think there's an answer to the "trouble" on the home front, but the questions are certainly worth asking.
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