It’s All a Cover-Up With U.S. Women

It was a perfect moment for a line and Andy Roddick’s timing and delivery were almost impeccable after he’d won the U.S. Open in 2003.

“No more, ‘What’s it feel like to be the future of American tennis [stuff],’ ” he said as he took a seat in the interview room.

The newly crowned champion had a point. Not only had he been asked the question, directly and indirectly, almost daily, but it seemed as though Roddick alone was shouldering the burden of American tennis.

This issue never came up on the women’s side in those days. Not with Venus and Serena Williams having combined for four consecutive U.S. Open titles, and Jennifer Capriati and Lindsay Davenport each having won three singles championships in Grand Slam events.

Maybe it should have come up.

If anything, the continued scrutiny of the U.S. men -- Roddick’s 2003 Open victory remains his only Slam triumph -- helped camouflage the lack of depth in the U.S. women’s game.

The only American female, other than the Williams sisters and Davenport, to win a WTA Tour title in 2004 or 2005 was Amy Frazier, who beat Shinobu Asagoe of Japan in Hobart, Australia, in January 2004.

Frazier will turn 33 Sept. 19.

Those who’ve wondered about American tennis in the post-Davenport, post-Williams era got a sneak preview in Southern California earlier this month. That glimpse into the future was bleak.

With the three stars out because of injuries or illness, there were no American women in the quarterfinals at the Acura Classic in Carlsbad or the JP Morgan Chase Open at the Home Depot Center. In Carson, there wasn’t even an American among the 16 top-seeded players.

Asked if the cupboard was a bit bare, one of the sport’s best-known coaches, Nick Bollettieri, said, “Perhaps more than bare.”

His frankness brought a chuckle from a reporter.

“I thought I was being polite,” he said.

As of Monday, there were four U.S. women ranked in the top 50 -- top-10 players Davenport and the Williamses, and 32-year-old Lisa Raymond, who is 47th. Lurking just outside the top 50 is Capriati, who has not played since late 2004 because of shoulder surgery.

There are eight Russian women in the top 20 and 13 in the top 50. They range from top-ranked 2004 Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova to Maria Kirilenko, No. 49. Each is 18.

As for 18-year-old U.S. prodigies in the top 50, well, there are none. Jamea Jackson (No. 91), who turns 19 on Sept. 7, and Angela Haynes (No. 95), who is 20, are about as good as it gets in the top 100.

The view wasn’t much rosier a few thousand miles away from Bollettieri’s Florida office. Robert Lansdorp, the former mentor of Tracy Austin and Davenport, works with Sharapova when she is in the Southern California area.

“Once Davenport stops and either Venus or Serena says, ‘This is it,’ it’s going to be very difficult to find American females to step up there,” Lansdorp said.

“I think it’s going to be a bad scene and it’s going take a while to get another American to get to the top.”

With the U.S. Open starting Monday, Austin herself addressed the issue on a conference call Thursday. The two-time U.S. Open champion, now a television commentator, was a prodigy in the true sense of the word, winning her first pro title at 14 and becoming No. 1 in 1980 at 17.

Austin was asked why there were no Michelle Wies in tennis, and whether girls were now choosing golf instead of tennis.

“I’m not particularly worried about women’s golf versus tennis,” she said. “But I am worried that I don’t see any top young ones coming up. I think there are plenty that are trying to make it, but it seems like right now the Russians are beating us to the punch.

“We have Davenport who’s 29 and Venus who is all of 25, but she’s played a lot of years on the tour. We have great players at the top, but I don’t see any 18-, 19-year-old Americans. I am definitely [concerned].... Somehow, I just think that right now the Russians are a bit hungrier. Maybe we have too many choices.”

Eliot Teltscher, director of the U.S. Tennis Assn.’s high-performance program, doesn’t necessarily agree that women have too many other options.

“I’d make that argument on the men’s side,” he said. “On the women’s side, I would doubt there is a woman athlete making any more money than Sharapova or Serena Williams.

“If you’re the best [female] athlete in the world, you should still be playing tennis. I’m sure we have lost some people to golf, the X Games, and to volleyball and other sports, but not to the degree that the men are.”

He remembered being at a meeting a few years ago at Indian Wells with a USTA-assembled group of former pro players and coaches.

Then, the primary emphasis was on the men -- who would replace Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras.

“I said, ‘We can keep talking about the men ... but we’re going to be talking about the women shortly,’ ” Teltscher said. “Unfortunately, I think I was right.”

He said the situation isn’t as dire as some believe, though, and that the high-performance program is going in the right direction, shifting its focus to the 8-10 age group, getting an earlier start with promising youngsters.

The USTA is often criticized by those who note the success of the Russian women, as well as achievements of the Spanish and Argentine men.

Spain and Argentina each has seven male players ranked in the top 50.

But what might work in other countries might not translate here.

Florida-based coach Alan Ma works with several leading Chinese females, including teenager Shuai Peng, the only player to defeat Kim Clijsters in the last four tournaments this summer. Ma also coached girls on the U.S. national team in the early 1990s.

“I don’t think the U.S. should look for a formula like any other country,” he said. “People always talked about Sweden, the team approach. Or look at France, they had a training center. Or Spain. That’s not how the U.S. works.

“If you set up a system of centralized control, it would never work. This country is about competition.”

Apparently, there are no quick fixes.

“I don’t think it just happened,” Teltscher said. “I think there’s been kind of a slow deterioration. Sometimes you don’t know the bridge is going to collapse till it collapses.

“We’re changing the direction of that program. It didn’t collapse overnight, and it’s not going to be fixed overnight.”

Days after he spoke, there was a mini-breakthrough of sorts, the kind that USTA officials have been waiting for on the women’s side. Newport Beach’s Alexa Glatch, 15, made a big leap forward, reaching the semifinals of a Tier IV WTA Tour event at Forest Hills before being eliminated.

Earlier this month, Glatch was a finalist at the USTA National girls’ 18s in San Jose. At Forest Hills, she defeated 43rd-ranked Akiko Morigami of Japan, a recent semifinalist at Carlsbad, and in the quarterfinals Martina Sucha of Slovakia, who was once ranked as high as No. 37 in the world.

Glatch received a wild-card entry into the U.S. Open and will face Yuliana Fedak of Ukraine in the first round.

She will be joined by her junior doubles partner, Vania King, 16, of Long Beach, who qualified Friday.

Although Glatch turned pro earlier this year, King said Saturday she does not intend to do so yet.

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U.S. Open preview

Facts and figures for the year’s final Grand Slam tournament:

* When: Monday-Sept. 11.

* Where: USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, N.Y.

* Last year: Roger Federer of Switzerland took his fourth Grand Slam title by defeating 2001 champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, 6-0, 7-6, 6-0. Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia defeated countrywoman Elena Dementieva, 6-3, 7-5.

* TV: USA Network and Channel 2.

* Women’s final: Sept. 10, 5 p.m. PDT, Channel 2.

* Men’s final: Sept. 11, 1 p.m. PDT, Channel 2.

* History: This is the 125th edition of the U.S. championships since the event was first played in Newport, R.I.

* U.S. Open Series: Andy Roddick and Kim Clijsters were the top point finishers in the summer series and are in position to double their U.S. Open earnings. By winning the tournament, either would earn double the $1.1-million first-prize money. A $2.2-million payout would be the largest in tennis history.

* Wild cards: Note: All are Americans except Australia’s Mark Philippoussis. Men, Jan-Michael Gambill, Rajeev Ram, Donald Young, Brian Baker, James Blake, Scoville Jenkins, Bobby Reynolds. Women, Mary Gambale, Shenay Perry, Ashley Harkleroad, Jessica Kirkland, Angela Haynes, Alexa Glatch, Carly Gullickson, Bethanie Mattek.

MEN’S TOP SEEDINGS

1. Roger Federer, Switzerland

2. Rafael Nadal, Spain

3. Lleyton Hewitt, Australia

4. Andy Roddick, United States

5. Marat Safin, Russia

6. Nikolay Davydenko, Russia

7. Andre Agassi, United States

8. Guillermo Coria, Argentina

9. Gaston Gaudio, Argentina

10. Mariano Puerta, Argentina

11. David Nalbandian, Argentina

12. Tim Henman, Britain

13. Richard Gasquet, France

14. Thomas Johansson, Sweden

15. Dominik Hrbaty, Slovakia

16. Radek Stepanek, Czech Republic

WOMEN’S TOP SEEDINGS

1. Maria Sharapova, Russia

2. Lindsay Davenport, United States

3. Amelie Mauresmo, France

4. Kim Clijsters, Belgium

5. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia

6. Elena Dementieva, Russia

7. Justine Henin-Hardenne, Belgium

8. Serena Williams, United States

9. Nadia Petrova, Russia

10. Venus Williams, United States

11. Patty Schnyder, Switzerland

12. Mary Pierce, France

13. Anastasia Myskina, Russia

14. Alicia Molik, Australia

15. Nathalie Dechy, France

16. Elena Bovina, Russia, withdrew

PRIZE MONEY

Prize money is distributed equally between men and women at the Open:

* Winners...$1,100,000

* Runners-Up...$550,000

* Semifinalists...$270,000

* Quarterfinalists...$135,000

* Round of 16...$70,000

* Third round...$40,000

* Second round...$25,000

* First round...$15,000

* Total: $5,690,000

MATCHUPS

* Intriguing first-round matches involving U.S. players: Men, Alex Bogomolov Jr. vs. Nalbandian (11), Argentina; Roddick (4) vs. Gilles Muller, Luxembourg; Agassi (7) vs. Razvan Sabau, Romania; Mardy Fish vs. Ivo Karlovic, Croatia; Paul Goldstein vs. Gustavo Kuerten, Brazil; Blake vs. Greg Rusedski, Britain; Jenkins vs. George Bastl, Switzerland; Bobby Reynolds vs. Nadal (2), Spain. Women, Laura Granville vs. Silvia Farina Elia (22), Italy; Marissa Irvin vs. Aiko Nakamura, Japan; Jill Craybas vs. Jamea Jackson; Venus Williams (10) vs. Rika Fujiwara, Japan; Amy Frazier vs. Gullickson.