“If I Had Lebron James at 10years Old I Could Make Him Number 1”: Serena Williams’ Former Coach Reflects on Why American Men’s Tennis Is Suffering

American tennis player Serena Williams has been a unique athlete on the women’s tour. She has been competing for the biggest honors for ages. After all these years, she yet continues to be a real force within the game. 

Recently, Serena Williams’ former coach Rick Macci spoke to us on the issue that has stopped American players from winning the biggest titles.

The coach stated, “First of all another great question. I’ve answered that one. In the last 20 years, I’ve coached Andy Roddick when he was number one in the nation in the 12. He’s the last one to win a Grand Slam. To me it’s pretty simple you know this isn’t that complex as time has gone on. Obviously, the game has become more global that’s number one and even more, I mean the best athletes from other countries gravitate to tennis because if you’re good it can be a very nice lifestyle that’s the biggest thing.”

Serena Williams’ former coach teamed up with Andy Roddick in his prime 

Rick has coached Andy Roddick in the past, the American who won the last Major in the men’s section. The involvement of players from other countries has increased, and thus, increase in the variations of gameplay. Also, the sport has gotten widely diversified.

The 66-year-old added, “The pool is just bigger globally. I tell people all the time there’s no doubt about it if I had LeBron James at 10 years old I could make him number one in the world there’s no doubt about it. They go to basketball, they go to football, they go to baseball, they go to other sports, and with the women, it’s a little different because there is not much on the menu.”

Are Americans drifting away from tennis? 

A majority of the athletes on American soil favor the sport of basketball, baseball, or football way more than they’d prioritize tennis. Amongst the women, athletes incline more towards volleyball, soccer, or swimming. 

He further revealed, “Sure you got volleyball and soccer and maybe swimming but more and the physicality’s not there as much with the female generally speaking so but it’s really that okay because if you think about after rotting let’s just talk about who’s been there and don’t get me wrong Francis is a great player.”

Need to strengthen the mentality 

Macci also spoke on the current crop of players like Tiafoe, Isner, and Opelka. He feels that mentally they have to improvise, as the competition has never been as high as what it is today. He also complimented Isner for being amongst the top players in the game despite being one of the tallest players on the ATP Tour.

The Ohio-born coach mentioned, “There are so many great players but to be there at the top mentally you got to be different and you got to be one of the best athletes movement-wise technically you got to be way above average because you can’t have holes in your game but just think John Isner went to college and he was there for a long time in the top ten. He’s six foot eleven inches tall now you got my good friend Reilly Opelka who’s at the after-party also to talk to him, a great guy.”

Coming to tennis, the United States of America team competed in the Davis Cup Finals 2021 recently. Wistfully, they failed to qualify the group stage and ended up last on the table. Now that the season is over, it will be interesting to see how these players perform in the upcoming season. 

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