By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
There has been much discussed and written of late about the state of American pro tennis.
Over the past quarter century, American dominance in the world of tennis has diminished as the game has become more global. An American man has not won a major tournament since Andy Roddick won the 2003 U.S. Open – the longest drought for American men in the history of the sport. There are no immediate serious prospects for that to change – No. 105-ranked Denis Kudla was the only American man to reach Wimbledon’s fourth round this year. While Serena Williams is the dominant force in global tennis at the moment (following in the footsteps of her older sister Venus Williams), she has lacked a supporting cast of legitimate American contenders for major titles.
One player who could take over the this mantle as a new threat for Grand Slam tennis glory following Serena is 20-year-old Madison Keys. Coached by former Wimbledon, U.S. and Australian Open champion Lindsay Davenport, Keys has one of the biggest serves in the sport and earlier this year, broke through to reach the semifinals of a major for the first time at the Australian Open.
How did this budding American player get recruited to play the sport of tennis?
Fashion.
Speaking to Mary Carillo during the Tennis Channel broadcast of Wimbledon, Keys spoke of her first motivation to get pick up a racket and start to play tennis.
“I saw Venus Williams play tennis at Wimbledon in a tennis dress and I told my parents I wanted that tennis dress” Keys said. “My parents said ‘We are not going to buy you a tennis dress if you don’t play tennis.’ So I said, ‘OK, I will play tennis.’”
The rest, you can say, is history. So while tennis marketers and organizations use inner-city clinics, sophisticated marketing campaigns, celebrity endorsements and TV commercials, and promoting tennis as fun and good for your fitness as ways to recruit the best young athletic talent into the sport, looking pretty – or cool – and being able to wear nice and fashionable clothes just might be the carrot. So to Nike, Adidas, Lacoste, Fila and all of the other tennis clothing manufacturers out there – it’s your serve.
Look for Keys to continue her move up the rankings where she threatens to break into the top 10 this summer – or perhaps make a huge impact in women’s tennis at Wimbledon this year.
