And that's a good thing, right? After the host of "why aren't Americans any good on clay?" comes the "who do we have to replace Agassi?" columns, one of which I linked to in yesterday's post. This new one, in the Seattle Post Intelligencer, is pretty good actually, because instead of the usual self-satisfied rant, Ted Miller actually: a)does some research; b)talks to someone who actually knows something about the topic--Eliot Teltscher; and c)admits the whole exercise he's engaging in is hardly original: "This frown and disappointed head shake after taking the pulse of U.S. tennis is a semiannual ritual of drive-by sports journalism."
But his crimes, except for the unfortunate error of giving Andy Roddick's meaningless "ATP Race" ranking (no. 15) instead of his actual points ranking (no. 5), don't reveal any real animosity for the sport, and most of what Miller writes is hard to dismiss. (Except for maybe that provincial mention of Matt Hasselbeck as the football quarterback kids most want to emulate.)
The Australians are also in the throes of explaining why they no longer produce champions with the regularity they once did. This recent article neatly describes both the Australian problem, and the British dearth of talent. In Steve Wood and Roger Draper, the recently hired heads of Australian and British tennis, respectively, the countries have CEOs willing to make changes. Whether this will have a significant effect on those countries' tennis fortunes remains to be seen.
But I know things can turn around in a hurry in sports. Hey, I'm watching it happen right now as a Tiger fan. But I agree that "the days of U.S. domination are over."