"Grassroots Tennis" What Does That Mean?

GRASSROOTS TENNIS

In the tennis world we frequently hear the term "grassroots tennis" but if you pressed people for a definition of what it means you would find a huge disparity of answers--and a whole lot of different concepts.  In the dictionary, there is no such term but we can borrow from the simple term "grassroots" to try and find our meaning.

Literally the term "grassroots" means something primarily political--and that is surely true in tennis.  The term also means that the "creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous."  We know for certain that "natural and spontaneous" are not terms that you can use when referring to the USTA or the ITA or the pro tennis world.  All of these organizations are driven by politics, power, prestige, and profits.

"Grassroots tennis" is something that is hard to define but I think the average tennis person knows what we are talking about.  Its the starting or beginning levels of tennis and is the ground level from which pro and collegiate players emerge.  Basically it lies at the heart of all that we do in tennis.

We frequently hear officials boast that "I only do grassroots tennis" and sport it as a badge.  I would venture to say that nearly every tennis official is currently doing or has done grassroots tennis so its a badge that we all share.  Truly this is nothing more exciting that spending 13 hours on a Saturday doing a ZAT tournament in East Texas on 19 courts in July or officiating a 3.5 mixed doubles match at 1:30 a.m.

What "grassroots" is, or whatever it means, is elusive; but the fact that we need to keep it--and cultivate it--are unquestionable.  Even the greatest of pro tennis players had to start somewhere...  Here are a few observations about grassroots tennis in Texas (and maybe Oklahoma and Arkansas too):

*   Grassroots level tournaments are usually the training ground for new officials.  There's nothing wrong with this but these officials deserve the same level of pay as those doing the more advanced tournaments.  They aren't going to be as proficient as some but then, neither are the players.

*   Grassroots tournaments are those with the newer and less-experienced players so officials need to remember that as they rove from court to court.  If its a ZAT tournament that also means that their parents are newbies too.  If its an adult tournament that means a lot of adults are beginners in the world of tennis competition and unfortunately many of them behave like beginners.  Even if an adult is a 5.5 player they aren't going to be playing professional tennis in the morning.  Thus, they are part of the grassroots movement.

*   Grassroots tennis basically includes all levels of junior and adult tennis.  While some super-champ players and parents think Wimbledon is their next stop that basically ain't gonna happen.  As officials we need to fully implement the rules at this level so the players and parents will learn the basics of tennis competition.

*   Grassroots tennis is a cash cow for some folks.  Noone can deny that there is a lot of money to be made in tournaments with 700 and 800 and more entries.  Some tournament directors rake in thousands of dollars of profits while some barely make it but not all tournaments are at this top tier of profits.

*   What is the solution for this financial struggle?  Basically the Texas Section needs to study and re-restudy their implementation of ranking points.  If a small tournament offers very few points then they subsequently will have fewer and fewer players.  Points are what drive participation in tournaments.  Currently all tournaments pay the same sanctioning fee and player fees.  Maybe its time to do some rethinking and restructuring so we can keep our grassroots healthy and flourishing.

*   If we want the large tournaments to succeed and the smaller ones to fail, then we just need to stay our current course.  The options are up to you as the tennis public and to those of you who pay dues to the USTA and tournament fees and all of that.