Topic: Why is Tennis a White dominated Sport?

[Start da Game]

okay it's been a while since i last fired up a thread........so let's have this discussion........this point struck me a few days ago........

what's wrong with other ethnic groups? is it because the body types are more suited for athletics and other stuff? are whites not as athletic as blacks or the reverse is true?

as far as indians(and i hate the world categorizing india in asia, we are NOT asians) are concerned, we are more skill oriented in our approach to sports in general rather than relying heavily on fitness........as there are also other factors like politics and sports generally not encouraged by parents, we are a different story altogether and it would take a book to describe why we rule in cricket and lag behind in other major sports........

who was the last non-white player to have held the no.1 ranking? i am just wondering, did yannick noah ever touch no.1? 

   

[williamchung7]

So why black people dominate NBA? I don't know why you suddently start this thread and want to disuss it. As far as I concern tennis is not popular sport in many Asia countries. However, China may break through?

[Start da Game]

So why black people dominate NBA? I don't know why you suddently start this thread and want to disuss it. As far as I concern tennis is not popular sport in many Asia countries. However, China may break through?

that should be discussed on a basketball forum........this being a tennis forum, i made this thread........

you raise a good point.........tennis is still not popular in asia but it is catching up fast........tennis has been quite popular in india for some time now but nowhere near as popular as cricket.......

[falcon]

I said it before and I still stand by it.....tennis is more of an elite sport. An ordinary middle class person (at least from where I am) finds it very hard to pay for tennis lessons. Add to that the court facilities. Courts themselves are substandard in most places. A sport like football or cricket can be played in every street with minimum equipment, not tennis. For parents to put their child in tennis, they have to give up almost everything for it if they are poor/low-income people. Look at the Williams, Sharapova, Nole etc....their parents sacrificed way too much for them. Not all parents would risk that.

[mtt]

The other posters already said it, because it's relatively expensive..
Also, in  most cities, there are no or very few public courts, so, in order to play tennis, people have to join a club...
The other thing is, tennis is not played much at the high school level, like other sports, such as football, soccer, baseball, etc.

[Alex]

Falcon is right. It is very expensive. even that I live in Canada and I'm white, when I asked my dad to enroll me in a local tennis club, he said it was too expensive. I could've been better than Djokovic, Nadal and Federer but I never got a proper chance  . my dad said 'go play hockey'.

Historically, look at it, all 4 GS are held in predominantly 'white countries'. If I have to think about one player from Africa it's Anderson and he is white. I love diversity. I wish we could more other ethnic players playing tennis regardless of the fact that I really don't care about the ethnicity or colour.

one funny part, I've never seen a cricket match in my life. I have no clue what that sport is about at all. kinda embarrassing. I think I'm going to go on you tube and check it out.

[falcon]

Falcon is right. It is very expensive. even that I live in Canada and I'm white, when I asked my dad to enroll me in a local tennis club, he said it was too expensive. I could've been better than Djokovic, Nadal and Federer but I never got a proper chance  . my dad said 'go play hockey'.

Historically, look at it, all 4 GS are held in predominantly 'white countries'. If I have to think about one player from Africa it's Anderson and he is white. I love diversity. I wish we could more other ethnic players playing tennis regardless of the fact that I really don't care about the ethnicity or colour.

one funny part, I've never seen a cricket match in my life. I have no clue what that sport is about at all. kinda embarrassing. I think I'm going to go on you tube and check it out.

That's because its not played on ice you dumbo. If cricket were played on ice, I am sure you would know each and everything about it.

[Babblelot]

This really is Economics 101.

Microeconomics:
Barriers to entry. You can start your own auto company, but you won't because you can't pay the entry fee. 

Macroeconomics:
Tennis is a western European sport and has been exported throughout Europe and it's colonies, namely, the United States and Australia. That map looks pretty white to me.

[Alex]

This really is Economics 101.

Microeconomics:
Barriers to entry. You can start your own auto company, but you won't because you can't pay the entry fee. 

Macroeconomics:
Tennis is a western European sport and has been exported throughout Europe and it's colonies, namely, the United States and Australia. That map looks pretty white to me.

apparently Brits invented everything. I just read about cricket and they exported that too  .

Falcon, you are right, no ice, no sport in Canada. well, we still stick with some old British laws. we just can't help it. We still love our Queen who has nothing to do with us really  . we are paying her 'royal representatives' millions of dollars a year (money that can be used to help homeless or people who really need help) to go around and parade, basically doing nothing.

[Start da Game]

This really is Economics 101.

Microeconomics:
Barriers to entry. You can start your own auto company, but you won't because you can't pay the entry fee. 

Macroeconomics:
Tennis is a western European sport and has been exported throughout Europe and it's colonies, namely, the United States and Australia. That map looks pretty white to me.

i agree with the macroeconomics point........

yours and falcon's post still din't answer the question unless you meant to say that only whites can be classified among "rich"........i am not sure that's the case........there are millions of non-whites who can afford tennis and are quite rich........for example middle easterners are the richest people on the planet........chinese are not that conservative about spending on sports either.........otherwise they wouldn't have had so much olympic success........one can make a "cannot afford" case for africans but what about non whites in americas? they are as sound financially as anybody i guess........ 

so there must be other reasons really........

[HarryWild]

If you have a will; you can do it!  But there is all most no chance that one will become a William Sisters or a Tsonga.  You not only have to have great talent but the will to overcome and win!  May tennis players have the talent but very few have the desire to just win!  Richard Williams just did it because he did not know any better.  He saw the $$$$$$ in it by watching TV and that got him started Venus and Serena playing tennis.  You can see that both of them hate loosing a match!

Plus, in the case of black here in America; they are more focus on team sports like baseball, football and basketball.  They usually do not watch tennis nor golf much.  That the way their culture is regarding sports.  As their income goes up to the country club level; then they are expose to both - tennis and golf.  As you notice; many pro athletics in team sports; after they retire - play golf; follow by tennis!  They belong to country clubs during their career and follow from it!

[Dallas]

Well speaking as a minority here - as someone said early - an example. In my high school - which was about 97% black - we had NO tennis team but we won the State championship in basketball that year. So what do you think all the "younger" kids in my neighborhood want to be/do when they "grew" up? A tennis player or basketball player?

Why do you think there are not a lot of black hockey fans in America? How many do you see of us in hockey?

The only reason golf has gotten more popular with blacks is because of Tiger Woods. When he plays  - we watch.

The William sisters have boosted interest in tennis more. I see more black players now than I've seen in a long time - but tennis and/or golf will never compare to basketball where a kid from "the hood" can just pick up a ball and make a goal from anything and play anytime. Or in football where it's tops here.

And lastly - as Babbs or someone else said - tennis is very expensive for the average person - much less the average black person here in America. For the most part - out best athletes are in other sports.




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[Lugburz]

Well I will agree on everyone's opinion that tennis is very expensive. But why is it important for the lack of non-white ppl? 
Are you implying that only white ppl are rich?  Why I'm not rich then!   

I will agree with Dallas and Babble, tennis is simply more spread out to the white countries and its ex colonies.
Its pretty simple actually, here in Serbia and Montenegro you will see more and more kids on tennis court because of the success of Djokovic. But still you will see much more kids playing football or basketball because its much more cheaper.

In America, NBA is #1 or #2 sport league, and most of the black kids go to NBA or NFL. Its simple. Even Isner was a basketball player, Raonic etc... and how's tennis ranked in USA, I'm even wondering if its in top5 sports.

Every black kid born in America wants to be Jordan, James, Bryant, Wade and what not.. When that changes to Donald Young  , you'll have more black players in tennis..

So basically, here's your answer on the subject:

Tennis is a western European sport and has been exported throughout Europe and it's colonies

[Dallas]

Well, Arthur Ashe got me interested in tennis, but once I get into it - I started watching the players for how they played and what I liked rather than their color. That's why after Ashe, my favorites have been Borg, Lendl, Pete, and now Roger!!!  But I do admit I probably wouldn't even be interested in tennis if it had not been for Ashe.


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[Start da Game]

to me it's got more to do with the interest levels in different regions of the world........the only valid argument seems to be what babble made earlier - "Tennis is a western European sport and has been exported throughout Europe and it's colonies".........i am not convinced on rich-poor argument.........there are a lot of rich people among non-whites as well........

[Lugburz]

to me it's got more to do with the interest levels in different regions of the world........the only valid argument seems to be what babble made earlier - "Tennis is a western European sport and has been exported throughout Europe and it's colonies".........i am not convinced on rich-poor argument.........there are a lot of rich people among non-whites as well........

exactly.

[Babblelot]

This really is Economics 101.

Microeconomics:
Barriers to entry. You can start your own auto company, but you won't because you can't pay the entry fee. 

Macroeconomics:
Tennis is a western European sport and has been exported throughout Europe and it's colonies, namely, the United States and Australia. That map looks pretty white to me.

i agree with the macroeconomics point........

yours and falcon's post still din't answer the question unless you meant to say that only whites can be classified among "rich"........i am not sure that's the case........there are millions of non-whites who can afford tennis and are quite rich........for example middle easterners are the richest people on the planet........chinese are not that conservative about spending on sports either.........otherwise they wouldn't have had so much olympic success........one can make a "cannot afford" case for africans but what about non whites in americas? they are as sound financially as anybody i guess........ 

so there must be other reasons really........

With respect to non-white Americans: 1) by and large, they come from lower economic strata, 2) there aren't tennis courts in their neighborhoods and travel is a barrier, 3) they can't afford lessons, and 4) historically, the message to non-whites from country clubs is: "you're not welcome" or "whites only" (or we're going to create an artificial barrier to entry by charging entry fees so high that only wealthy whites can afford to join.)

By contrast, there's a basketball court or field/park everywhere for kids to play basketball, baseball, football, and soccer. Their heroes are non-white because the sports they can follow are dominated by non-whites. They can follow these sports because they are on free TV. Virtually all of tennis is on cable, which isn't free TV.

Now that there aren't top Americans in the sport, the USTA is begging non-whites to play tennis. It's going to take time to overcome history.

[Dallas]

This really is Economics 101.

Microeconomics:
Barriers to entry. You can start your own auto company, but you won't because you can't pay the entry fee. 

Macroeconomics:
Tennis is a western European sport and has been exported throughout Europe and it's colonies, namely, the United States and Australia. That map looks pretty white to me.

i agree with the macroeconomics point........

yours and falcon's post still din't answer the question unless you meant to say that only whites can be classified among "rich"........i am not sure that's the case........there are millions of non-whites who can afford tennis and are quite rich........for example middle easterners are the richest people on the planet........chinese are not that conservative about spending on sports either.........otherwise they wouldn't have had so much olympic success........one can make a "cannot afford" case for africans but what about non whites in americas? they are as sound financially as anybody i guess........ 

so there must be other reasons really........

With respect to non-white Americans: 1) by and large, they come from lower economic strata, 2) there aren't tennis courts in their neighborhoods and travel is a barrier, 3) they can't afford lessons, and 4) historically, the message to non-whites from country clubs is: "you're not welcome" or "whites only" (or we're going to create an artificial barrier to entry by charging entry fees so high that only wealthy whites can afford to join.)

By contrast, there's a basketball court or field/park everywhere for kids to play basketball, baseball, football, and soccer. Their heroes are non-white because the sports they can follow are dominated by non-whites. They can follow these sports because they are on free TV. Virtually all of tennis is on cable, which isn't free TV.

Now that there aren't top Americans in the sport, the USTA is begging non-whites to play tennis. It's going to take time to overcome history.

Very well said!

[Babblelot]

Interesting note: ESPN finally added a black commentator to their team in Mike Tirico, a corporate type, and a black guy with dredlocks, LZ Granderson, to their panel of analysts.

This is part of their effort to sell the sport to blacks.

[Dallas]

Interesting note: ESPN finally added a black commentator to their team in Mike Tirico, a corporate type, and a black guy with dredlocks, LZ Granderson, to their panel of analysts.

This is part of their effort to sell the sport to blacks.

Found out his name, did you!