Analysis: looking at why some nations struggle to produce tennis stars may help identify strategies for Ireland to nurture talented players
By Garry Cahill and Aine MacNamara, DCU
On June 11th, Serbia's Novak Djokovic won his 23rd Grand Slam defeating Norway's Casper Ruud in the Roland Garros final. In contrast, Ireland has yet to have a player in the final rounds of any Grand Slam events.
Djokovic and Ruud come from countries with less than seven million people so why can't Ireland with a comparable population, produce tennis players with the ability to compete against the best of the world? In our research, we are interested in understanding why some nations struggle to produce tennis stars so that we can identify potential strategies to assist countries like Ireland in nurturing tennis talent.
Does winning young guarantee success?
In the run-up to Wimbledon, videos of 4-year-old Djokovic practicing his forehand have been circulating on social media. This drive for early success in tennis assumes that early ability, which enables progression and selection, is indicative of later success. In some ways, this is a true-ism, at least in terms of how the sport is structured.
Our research shows that selection for national teams in lots of contexts is exclusively based on early national rankings: "we select the best ranked 12 and under". If this is the case, it is no wonder parents, and coaches emphasise early success rather than long-term development as this seems to be the way tennis players get into the system. But this approach falls foul of historically poor thinking in talent development with a robust range of data highlighting the best 10 and under tennis player is not guaranteed to transition to the senior level.
Role models
The presence of role models can significantly impact the confidence and aspirations of young athletes in sport. With the World Cups in soccer and rugby on the horizon, there are plenty of young Irish kids dreaming of being the next Katie McCabe or Johnny Sexton.
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From RTÉ News, Roger Federer announces retirement in 2022
But there are no similar trailblazers for a young Irish kid dreaming of making it to Wimbledon. While aspiring tennis players in Switzerland can look to a prominent figure like Roger Federer, the lack of role models in the Irish tennis system can create doubts among aspiring players, and their parents, about the efficacy of a tennis career. This is especially important as our research shows that parents must make educational decisions to support their child's tennis career with parents facing a dilemma between prioritising tennis training or mainstream education.
Money matters
The idea that success in tennis is a meritocracy where the best player will succeed is, for a range of reasons, a myth. As such, a robust finding in the research, similar to past research, is that parental wealth plays a crucial role in the success of tennis players. While many countries have state-run programs, tennis development in Ireland is largely driven at the individual level with parents as the primary investor.
How then do we support the development of a potential superstar? It might mean that the financial burden for the development of young players needs to move from a parental focus to a more systemic approach. However, sports funding in Ireland is dominated by team sports like rugby, soccer, GAA who receive a large share of the limited national sports budget, impacting minority sports like tennis.
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From RTÉ Archives, RTÉ News reports in 1982 on the growing popularity of tennis with demand for improved facilities and rising fees for club members
So what can help us develop a Wimbledon champion?
The Cheshire cat said if we don’t know where we are going, any road will get us there! In terms of strategy and alignment, our study showed that there was a lack of coherence amongst board directors, national coaches, coach educators regarding the exact purpose of the tennis development systems. Simply, everyone was not on the same page regarding the purpose of the tennis system and how it was operated. Crucially, an effective talent development system works effectively when there is a shared understanding of what the purpose, actions and motives are.
Why not copy a successful nation?
Ireland cannot simply replicate successful systems from other contexts without considering the unique nuances of our own environment. The transferability of ideas requires careful consideration of the challenges and obstacles present in the specific country. Unfortunately, sport is full of examples where 'successful’ sports, clubs and systems have been 'cut, copied, and pasted’ with little success. National and international cultural influences, sporting culture, and the specific sport environment all play significant roles in achieving sporting success. For example, Irish tennis could not copy the Spanish system without the Spanish sunshine and clay courts.
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From RTE Radio 1's Ryan Tubridy Show in 2018, interview with Tennis Ireland coach and talent spotter Edel Clarke
Coaches and parents
No matter what the talent, parents and coaches play vital roles in supporting young tennis players. But parents often lack understanding about elite tennis and require education programs on how to support their children's development so quality coaching is key. However, market forces often lead talented young coaches in countries like Ireland to prioritise commercial or recreational lessons over coaching high-potential players, they need to be incentivised to work at the performance level.
Should less resourced governing bodies rethink their strategy?
High performance tennis players, like other individual sports, need an individualised approach that requires significant financial, time and coaching investment. The key question is, should lower resourced governing bodies maintain a deep talent pool or focus investment more narrowly by specialising on smaller number of athletes and develop expert coaches?
If national governing bodies of sport take the latter approach, they may need to reconsider their overall role in talent development. Rather than attempting to provide an all-inclusive, all-encompassing development pathway without necessary resources, they may need to orchestrate the design and development of a more individualised system focused on the best talents and producing world class coaches. Of course, this is done in parallel with working on the grass roots, but not confusing development with high performance,
Garry Cahill is a Professional Doctorate in Elite Performance (Sport) candidate at DCU. He is a professional tennis coach, former performance director of Tennis Ireland and former Irish Davis Cup and Fed cup captain. Dr Áine MacNamara is an Associate Professor in Elite Performance and Chair of the Professional Doctorate in Elite Performance (Sport) at the School of Health & Human Performance at DCU.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
