Looking at Men’s Game, U.S. Class Is Half Full

Earlier this summer, the U.S. men had their worst showing at Wimbledon since the Open era began in 1968. With stars such as Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi growing older, questions have arisen about the future of men’s tennis in this country.

The legendary Jack Kramer, 81, says that although the junior ranks are replete with talent, there is a sense of urgency about producing a new generation of champions.

After winning Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships in the amateur era, Kramer helped bring order to the fledgling professional tour and later became the first executive director of the ATP. A fixture on the Southern California scene, he serves as patriarch of the local men’s tournament, the Mercedes-Benz Cup.

With the U.S. Open starting Monday in New York, Kramer offered his thoughts on American tennis.

Question: Is the state of the men’s game as discouraging as it appeared during Wimbledon?

Answer: Let’s face it, outside of Andy Roddick and now James Blake, we haven’t had too many players since 1987, when Sampras and Agassi and Todd Martin and Michael Chang all came out at once. We haven’t done anything big time. In the meantime, our girls have come around great. You have to wonder why the girls are in the top five and the boys aren’t.

Q: How do you think the USTA should address this gap?

A: I wish I knew. It’s probably a matter of getting the top kids when they are 12 and 13 and working with them to be sure they don’t have bad grips and bad swings. If you have a bad second serve or some outlandish grips, like Jan-Michael Gambill does, you’re not going to make it. The other thing is, the top kids get an international [junior] ranking and they want to protect that ranking, so they don’t want to play each other. They duck the competition at home.

Q: The association recently announced it would establish a youth training center at the new sports complex under construction in Carson. Might that help?

A: The question is, who’s going to be in charge? And are they going to get the top kids to knock heads? Sampras is rumored to be putting in a tennis camp there and that could be helpful. They could get Vic Braden [noted tennis instructor and researcher]--you give him some good kids to work with and he’ll produce a champion.

Q: Among the new generation of U.S. players, who has the best chance of reaching the top?

A: Roddick has tremendous ability, but he hasn’t quite acquired the knowledge. He wants to hit three or four boomers from the baseline. Tactically, he’s not taking advantage of his serve to get a short ball and come in and have a good volley game. He’s got the strength of serve and the forehand to close the game off at the net. When he learns that, he can make up very quickly what we are losing with Agassi and Sampras.

Q: So, even with the recent success of backcourt players, you believe the serve-and-volley game remains viable?

A: Sure, as long as Wimbledon is the goal. Wimbledon and the hard-court circuit and indoors. We all try to prepare a surface that is fair to the serve-and-volley player but still gives the defensive and backcourt player a chance to run the ball down. If you’re trying to win the French Open, you’ve got to play three or four feet behind the baseline. But if you want to win Wimbledon and indoors, you’ve got to stand on the baseline and be ready to attack.

Q: What do you think of the overall health of the men’s game? Do you agree with critics who say it is lacking a dominant star presence, such as a Bjorn Borg, a John McEnroe or an Ivan Lendl?

A: I think maybe we don’t realize the depth of how many good players we have. That’s why we’re having all these upsets. Guys are playing great from Argentina and you don’t even know their names. Spain and Brazil are producing great players. And I don’t think Agassi or Sampras are over the hill by any means.

Q: Next summer, the ATP schedule has put your Los Angeles event head-to-head against the tournament in Washington. Your defending champion, Agassi, is reportedly leaning toward playing on the East Coast. Is that a problem?

A: Unfortunately, that’s what the schedule looks like. That makes it very difficult because my great friend, Donald Dell, works like the devil making money for the Washington tennis patrons. But the game is strong enough that we’ll have a great field, and it will be mainly European and South American. I think [Marat] Safin wants to come back. [Yevgeny] Kafelnikov has never been out here, but he has expressed interest. There’s room in tennis to have two events.