Patrick McEnroe is a former professional tennis player, current broadcaster, and a member of one of the most iconic U.S. tennis families. He also spent six years as the head of the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) Player Development before becoming executive director of the John McEnroe Tennis Academy, one of the country’s premier training programs.
That extensive resume is why McEnroe made waves when he penned an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal earlier this month titled “Where Are All the Americans in American College Tennis?” In the piece, the Stanford tennis alum recalled watching this year’s Southeastern Conference (SEC) men’s tennis championship in which just two of the 12 players on the court were American.
When he looked at other major conference finals, the numbers didn’t get any better. Across two championships among the highest levels of college tennis, only three of 24 men’s singles players were American.
As McEnroe described in the piece, he came up through the U.S. tennis “system,” first as a “top junior,” then as a “very good college player,” and finally as “a decent professional.” He wrote that his parents saw tennis not simply as a sport, but as a pathway to an education – a pathway that is increasingly blocked by international players, a portion of whom are in their mid-twenties when they arrive after having played on semi-pro circuits in Europe.
While McEnroe admitted he took some flack for the piece, he is standing by his assessment that the “professionalization” of college sports is depriving student athletes of the opportunities he benefited from.
Problem Solving
On Wednesday’s show, McEnroe joined Megyn to discuss the problem as he sees it, why it goes beyond just tennis, and how it can be fixed because, while he said he “loves having international players in all sports,” he “thinks there needs to be a balance.” Watch:
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with McEnroe by tuning in to episode 1,321 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.