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U.S.'s focus on team sports have come at expense of golf and tennis

I've always thought that one of the best things about American sport is that we aren't dominated by one team game, as so much of the rest of the world is
Frank Deford|
U.S.'s focus on team sports have come at expense of golf and tennis
U.S.'s focus on team sports have come at expense of golf and tennis
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I've always thought that one of the best things about American sport is that we aren't dominated by one team game, as so much of the rest of the world is soccer-centric. That's why we can have our own American dream. The dream of most other countries is simply to have their national soccer team do well.

We spread around our devotion to several sports: baseball and softball, football, basketball, ice hockey, soccer -- professional teams, college teams, even high school teams. Yes, Americans are much more serial team fans than those in other nations, who tend to be more monogamous in their sporting affection.

However, the downside of this focus on team sports is becoming apparent. The United States is less and less a power in some individual sports -- especially the old country club games of golf and tennis.

For the first time ever, the four major men's golf titles are held by foreigners, all members of the European tour. Except for the Williams sisters, no American, male or female, has won one of the Grand Slam tennis championships in the last seven years -- and right now, it looks like another biblical seven years of tennis famine lies ahead here. We do somewhat better in women's golf, but still, it's been 17 years since an American woman, Betsy King, was No. 1 on the LPGA tour.

Now, obviously, part of the reason for this depressing situation is that the rest of the world has caught up with us in sports as sure as it has in many other respects.

But I also think that because we concentrate so much on team sports from a very early age, American athletes tend to find a team game that appeals to them. On the other hand, a good young foreign athlete who doesn't much like soccer is more inclined to try an individual sport instead. As a consequence, most of our good tennis players and golfers stumble into those sports because of family influence, not through public programs as they do in foreign countries.

Much is made of the fact that Venus and Serena Williams and Tiger Woods are rare African-American stars in their sports. But the more salient fact is that all three were taught their sports by their fathers. Their race is merely incidental, for their path to the top is American typical.

I'm especially surprised that more of the best American girl athletes don't try tennis, because for females it's such a high-profile sport, with much more potential for fame and fortune. Maria Sharapova is richer and better known than any American woman playing basketball, softball or soccer. Can't anybody but Richard Williams (Venus and Serena's father) figure that out?

The cliché is that there's no "I" in team. But more and more, when it comes to tennis and golf, there's no "U.S." in world champion.

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Frank Deford
FRANK DEFORD

Frank Deford is among the most versatile of American writers. His work has appeared in virtually every medium, including print, where he has written eloquently for Sports Illustrated since 1962. Deford is currently the magazine's Senior Contributing Writer and contributes a weekly column to SI.com. Deford can be heard as a commentator each week on Morning Edition. On television he is a regular correspondent on the HBO show Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel. He is the author of 15 books, and his latest,The Enitled, a novel about celebrity, sex and baseball, was published in 2007 to exceptional reviews. He and Red Smith are the only writers with multiple features in The Best American Sports Writing of the Century. Editor David Halberstam selected Deford's 1981 Sports Illustrated profile on Bobby Knight (The Rabbit Hunter) and his 1985 SI profile of boxer Billy Conn (The Boxer and the Blonde) for that prestigious anthology. For Deford the comparison is meaningful. "Red Smith was the finest columnist, and I mean not just sports columnist," Deford told Powell's Books in 2007. "I've always said that Red is like Vermeer, with those tiny, priceless pieces. Five hundred words, perfectly chosen, crafted. Best literary columnist, in any newspaper, that I've ever seen." Deford was elected to the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame. Six times at Sports Illustrated Deford was voted by his peers as U.S. Sportswriter of The Year. The American Journalism Review has likewise cited him as the nation's finest sportswriter, and twice he was voted Magazine Writer of The Year by the Washington Journalism Review. Deford has also been presented with the National Magazine Award for profiles; a Christopher Award; and journalism honor awards from the University of Missouri and Northeastern University; and he has received many honorary degrees. The Sporting News has described Deford as "the most influential sports voice among members of the print media," and the magazine GQ has called him, simply, "The world's greatest sportswriter." In broadcast, Deford has won a Cable Ace award, an Emmy and a George Foster Peabody Award for his television work. In 2005 ESPN presented a television biography of Deford's life and work, You Write Better Than You Play. Deford has spoken at well over a hundred colleges, as well as at forums, conventions and on cruise ships around the world. He served as the editor-in-chief of The National Sports Daily in its brief but celebrated existence. Deford also wrote Sports Illustrated's first Point After column, in 1986. Two of Deford's books, the novel, Everybody's All-American, and Alex: The Life Of A Child, his memoir about his daughter who died of cystic fibrosis, have been made into movies. Two of his original screenplays have also been filmed. For 16 years Deford served as national chairman of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and he remains chairman emeritus. He resides in Westport, CT, with his wife, Carol. They have two grown children – a son, Christian, and a daughter, Scarlet. A native of Baltimore, Deford is a graduate of Princeton University, where he has taught American Studies.

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