Tennis Development Quotes

I never thought I was going to make a career out of tennis, to be honest, until I was 10 or 11 years old. One of my earliest memories is when I was seven, and I was competing against players that were three, four years older than me. I didn't take it too seriously at the time. I was having a lot of fun.

For players from every age and every ability, the USTA National Campus will raise the bar on how we deliver tennis with the goal of making our great sport more accessible to more people than ever before.

I grew up in the USTA's junior circuit.

Coming from a country that loves tennis, actually, there are a lot of people who play. We definitely face a lot of challenges when it comes to producing tennis players.

It's unfair to expect the USTA, just because they make this pot of money, to just snap their fingers and make champions. It's not simple, and anyone who thinks it is hasn't really looked underneath the hood to see how the engine works.

As far as U.S. tennis, we need new stars coming up in the pipeline, but I don't know if we have it.

Looking back, in comparison, there wasn't that much that you could do with a wooden racket. In my day, the matches were certainly much less demanding physically.

What I like about the USTA is that it's developing systems to help the coaches coach better.

There haven't been that many players, both men and women, from South Africa breaking through on the pro level. It's not easy because you have to really start playing tennis at a young age and be exposed to the right competitions and other players from around the world.

Michelle is 14. Give her a couple of years to get stronger. I mean, she can play on this tour. If she keeps working, keeps doing the right things, there's no reason why she shouldn't be out here.

If we push for the children to know tennis, they have the chance to like it.

I haven't been in tennis for that long, but what I can say is that we have a lot of young guys at the top who are willing to do a lot of good things for tennis in general.

There is no cheap way to achieve the ability to turn pro in tennis; it unfortunately is more expensive than team sports.

It's just nice to see people enthusiastic about their tennis and want to learn and improve - for me that's the most important thing - I still love my tennis.

It is for sure a big part of the coach's job to make sure the tennis does not get neglected.

It doesn't really matter who I turn pro with. What matters is where I take my tennis.

When we introduced 10-and-under tennis - when we shortened the courts and had smaller rackets and low-compression balls for trying to introduce the sport to youth - a lot of people said we weren't going to succeed.

My goal is to help make tennis transition to what's coming next and to be able to continue to grow rather than falling down, because no new fans come to our sport.

Living in Baltimore at age 11, I was still not single-focused on tennis. I still played other sports. It was becoming a bigger part of my life, but it was still mainly my summer hobby.

I love to promote our sport. I love grass-roots tennis. I love coaching. I love all parts of the sport. I love the business side.

I think I will always stay involved in tennis and would like to give back by helping out young players. I have done a little commentary and may one day enjoy doing that again.