Roger Federer's Ex-Coach On Why American Tennis Players "Struggle"

Roger Federer's former coach, Paul Annacone, explained why American tennis players struggle.

Taylor Fritz is the best American men's tennis player in decades, but still cannot compete with the top-tier players. / IMAGO / NurPhoto

Taylor Fritz just finished the best season of his career. The American tennis player finished as the ATP World No. 4 with a record of 52-23 with two singles titles.

Fritz has distanced himself from the other American tennis players in the rankings and helped make his country competitive in the sport again, but he is still a step behind the top players in the world.

The 27-year-old is quick to admit that Grand Slams are what matter most, and he does not have any. The last American men's tennis player to win a Grand Slam was Andy Roddick at the 2023 US Open. Meanwhile, the women's side has been carried by Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka, and Coco Gauff.

So, why is the United States lagging behind the rest of the world in tennis? Roger Federer's former coach, Paul Annacone, explained why American tennis players struggle.

Earlier this week, Annacone used a comparison between America and Italy when discussing the discrepancy in play during an appearance on the Tennis Channel Inside-In podcast. The legendary coached credited Italy for its "amazing" ability to produce great players thanks to its development system.

Conversely, Annacone blamed a lack of transition-level events for the stunted development of American players. "I think Italy's done a great job because they have so many transition-level events in their country."

Annacone continued, "That's one of the things that we struggled with in the U.S. is we're losing all of our transition-level events, so our young players are having to spend a lot more money and travel a lot further to figure out how to get to the big show." Fans can hear the example discussed around the 27-minute mark of the podcast.

While Fritz made his first Grand Slam finals appearance at the US Open in September and Gauff won her line Grand Slam at the same event in 2023, Italy is dominating the world in tennis.

While Fritz made his first Grand Slam finals appearance at the US Open in September and Gauff won her line Grand Slam at the same event in 2023, Italy is dominating the world in tennis.

Jannik Sinner is polishing off a historic year as the World No. 1 with a record of 70-6 and eight singles titles (including two Grand Slams). On the women's side, Jasmine Paolini finished as the WTA World No. 4 with a record of 40-20 with one singles title.

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