College Tennis Vs. Turning Pro

KingMonkey · Social player

College Tennis Vs. Turning Pro

nicknack222 · Junior player

I think you are spot on there, going to play for a uni should really help the players develope, physically and mentally, ready for if they do decide to turn pro or not. Its good practise for them as well, because a lot of the universities take them to future events and test out the players. Well most of the decent universities;).

VSandhi20 · Futures qualifying

Well it depends on the young Brits commitment to whether they want to delay playing pro tennis for another year or so. College tennis is good but may i ask how many have succeeded from playing college tennis to playing on the ATP tennis?

nicknack222 · Junior player

Thats a good point as well, there havn't been aload of players who have been very successful. But i think its about taking a risk, if you do go to uni i suppose you have the degree to fall back on if the tennis career goes tits up:)

johnnylad · Tennis legend

Sometimes having a fall-back can work against you mentally. Like Colin Fleming, who rightly for hmi decided he needed a fall back but possibly gave up at the time he had most potential to skyrocket up the rankings!

Also, there's plenty of others who've come back from college and are performing fairly similar to how I think they would have without like Searle and Skupski ( though its early to judge Ken!)

I think the thing with Isner and Querrey (straight from school wasn't it!?) is that their serves can win 75% of their matches.

Having said that college has obviously gave Isner a strong mental approach.

nicknack222 · Junior player

Yeh, i wonder if skupski will decide to hack it as a pro for awhile, hmmm, lol.

andyjmr · Intermediate Club Player

Wasn't Dyce thinking of going via the college route at some point? ( i may be mistaken ).

Salmon · Tennis legend

Depends on where you are when you are 18. If you are inside the ITF 50 and are good enough to win Futures matches, you'll probably make the top 200 someday and get some money from tennis. If you aren't, the road's going to be difficult and it's best that you keep your options open.

I see no reason as to why any of our top Juniors should opt for a college (and Cox won't be allowed to since he is a pro). Mind it, guys like Isner and Becker chose to do uni because they were way below international standard at that time.

Montana Doug · Futures qualifying

Didn't Johnny Mac go to college for a year or two at Stanford? I know that was years ago but still.

One thing you have to understand is college kids don't play in front of big crowds. Here in Bozeman you get thousands of people watching the MSU College American Football team but only a handful of people watch the tennis. It is such a shame as the tennis is fantastic and the coaches great, but tennis is not big over here at all. Even the finals on ESPN dont have the attendance that they deserve. I think is good and bad, you get the coaching, a chance to gain an education, travel, play as one of a team, and very little pressure, but after being catered to like that are you prepared to go on the future tours? I have no idea.

College tennis is great for women players. MSU here has seven full scholarships for women and only three for men? Why? Because all the male scholarships go for the American Football team. I think it is the same for golf.

If you are a late developer yes, I think college tennis could be a good choice, but how do you know if you are a late developer?

Salmon · Tennis legend

Montana Doug wrote:
College tennis is great for women players.

I don't think so, Doug. The women's Tour has far greater depth than the men's one and unless you crack the top 100 early, chances are that you never will. In a sport where some players develop fully by the time they are 16, 21 is almost too late to start a pro career.

There are very few women in the present Tour who have come from the collegiate system.

Who's the highest ranked womand who went to a college, by the way? Jill Craybas, I guess...

gazzpash · Club Coach

andyjmr wrote:

Wasn't Dyce thinking of going via the college route at some point? ( i may be mistaken ).

He did state that at Manchester also saying Corrie is off to Texas.

Might work - but not working for Skupski or Kinsella at mo (although Ken does look a talent)

Montana Doug · Futures qualifying

Arka wrote:

Montana Doug wrote:
College tennis is great for women players.
I don't think so, Doug. The women's Tour has far greater depth than the men's one and unless you crack the top 100 early, chances are that you never will. In a sport where some players develop fully by the time they are 16, 21 is almost too late to start a pro career.

There are very few women in the present Tour who have come from the collegiate system.

Who's the highest ranked womand who went to a college, by the way? Jill Craybas, I guess...

I meant in the context of getting a free education....more female players get full scholarships than male players. I might be mistaken but didn't Lisa Raymond spend a year a college too? But your point is taken.

KingMonkey · Social player

You said earlier Arka "I see no reason as to why any of our top Juniors should opt for a college". I'm not sure I agree. Perhaps the top one or two such as Cox and Evans could make pretty fast strides in the Men's game but others (Milton etc.) will struggle to break the top 500 in the next 5 years. I guarantee it. They just don't have big enough weapons...

Montana Doug · Futures qualifying

King....some said the same about Henman....watching kids grow, develope as I do, you can never tell just how big and strong a kid will be....I would not write Milton off at his age....but having said that, I think College could be seen as a place where a kid who has been written off could go, get a free education and then with the coaching etc, see if he just might be a late developer.

TBarM7 · Intermediate Club Player

I'll speak from personal experience. Now I wasn't at the level of Isner(of course), but I was a top 10 player in Texas and going to play at a University was the best choice I could have ever made. It gave me a better understanding of the game at a higher level and it also made me a more complete person off the court, which I think helped me on it.

Speaking of Sam Querrey. He made a decision right after our challenger two years ago that he was skipping his scholarship at Southern California and going pro. Every person I guess has their own idea of what would be best for them. I think Sam made the right decision not going, while Isner made the correct one staying in school.