Ever since I was a little boy and first got into watching tennis, the USA has had an abundance of talent in the women’s game. The likes of Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert dominated the sport in the ‘70s ands ‘80s while Monica Seles, Jennifer Capriati, Lindsay Davenport and, of course, the Williams sisters took over when their heroes retired.

The States even had consistent top 20 players who gave the country dominance in the sport. Just think of the great American players of the past 20 years who failed to win any majors but were successful in the sport – the likes of Zina Garrison, Mary Joe Fernandez, Chanda Rubin and Amy Frazier and don't forget the brilliant Pam Shriver in the doubles. Competition for places in the US Federation Cup team was very fierce between players all wanting a slice of the glory.

The problem is those glory years are quickly disappearing as the last of the top American players reach their final years in the sport. It will not be long before multiple Grand Slam winners Venus and Serena Williams and the part-time playing mum Lindsay Davenport retire to pursue other things in life. But what will they leave behind? Not much is the answer. US women’s tennis is going through a very bad patch as the European girls are dominating the sport, especially those from the old eastern bloc nations, while China is also an emerging talent in the sport.

‘The USA needs to hope that Venus and Serena will continue to play on into their early 30s to give the country enough time to find their replacements, or else US tennis could be an embarrassment’


Apart from the Williams sisters and Davenport only four other American women are ranked inside the world’s top 100 players and none of these is in the top 50. Compare this with the former USSR countries, who have a brilliant 24 players within the top 100, and you can easily see that talent is certainly lacking in the US tennis department.

What is even more worrying is that the four ladies in the top 100 are hardly spring chickens. Ashley Harkleroad is the youngest, at 23, while Megan Shaughnessy and Julie Ditty are 29 and Jill Craybas is a tour veteran at 33. Harkleroad even feels that posing for Playboy is more important than her tennis.

These four Americans have only one Grand Slam quarter-final place between them in singles play. This year’s French Open quarter-finalists were all from Europe, including two Serbians and four players from the former Soviet Union. Europeans are certainly overpowering their American rivals.

So, does the USA have any players who can stop this slump in fortunes for their country? The answer is clearly no if you look at the rankings. One of the most talented Americans is Vania King, but she has failed to capitalise on a good start to her career, which saw her break into the top 50. Now the youngster has had injury problems and at 19 is probably too late to fully turn into a potential star. One bright note for the USA is junior world No.2 Melanie Oudin. She has had great success on the junior circuit and is still young enough to make an impression on the top WTA tour rankings where she has moved up over a 100 places over the first six months of the year to lay just outside the top 250. Oudin, though, has no competition in the US team and this could set her back against the brilliant Russian revolution that seems to keep producing player after player.

The USA is certainly in meltdown concerning its women’s tennis stars. I cannot believe that a nation that used to dominate is finding it difficult to produce top 100 players, never mind potential stars.

Are the universities and sports clubs not taking the sport seriously over the pond? The USTA really needs to look at the development of its players and nurture the talent better or else even the Brits may have more players in the top 100 soon. OK, OK, maybe I’m just dreaming about that idea!

The USA needs to hope that Venus and Serena will continue to play on into their early 30s to give the country enough time to find their replacements, or else US tennis could be an embarrassment rather than a national treasure.

Maybe Martina Navratilova can make another comeback?