Net gains and losses: there is reason why few blacks are playing tennis on the competitive level. (Challenge).

Although Serena and Venus Williams are ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the game of women's tennis and have achieved worldwide visibility, the truth of the matter is that their dominance still hasn't opened the doors for other young black players. If you look at the big picture, they are the only black players of stature in today's tennis world, male or female, and experts guess they will likely remain so for years to come.

"There are few blacks in the pipeline," explains Bob Davis, Arthur Ashe's former doubles partner some 30 years ago. "Until Serena and Venus, and a couple of others reached the finals of events, blacks were invisible in the sport."

Why? When the Williams sisters first appeared on the map, everyone speculated more young, black urban players would be joining the game of tennis. A year turned into two; two years turned into four; and today, as the Williams sisters ascend to the top, there are no other blacks in the wings waiting for an opportunity to prove themselves.

According to Albert Tucker, a board member of the Florida regional United States Tennis Association (USTA) and winner of the 2001 Golf & Tennis Challenge championship (see "2001 Champions," this issue), there are a few factors contributing to the void. The costs involved in training a future tennis pro are perhaps the biggest deterrent.

"It's an economic issue as well as an exposure issue," explains Tucker. "Tennis is simply not financially doable in many cases."

But first consider this: In most urban and suburban communities, most children flock to organized sports such as basketball, baseball, football, or even soccer. They're popular. Tennis has declined in popularity. Today, the sport ranks behind darts. So getting a child who is mesmerized by basketball and baseball stars to become interested in tennis is sometimes difficult.

Programs like First Serve Initiative were implemented by the USTA to provide inner-city children with after-school programs that offered adult mentors, tutors, and recreational tennis, as well as scholarships to the Bolletieri Tennis Academy. And while programs like First Serve Initiative are making a difference, aspiring professional tennis players need more than a few hours of group practice a week.

"Kids taking group lessons don't receive concentrated instruction," explains Tucker. "In most cases, children need to play and practice two to three days a week with a private instructor in order to develop their game. We're talking $30 to $50 per private lesson."

In order to create a future Venus or Serena, parents will either need to obtain corporate sponsorships early in a player's career like the Williamses did or make sacrifices that will affect the entire family. Training a talented child can cost anywhere between $50,000 and $60,000 a year, not including the costs of traveling to tournaments, buying racquets and equipment, and providing clothes and chaperones.

"We need African Americans with money to fund programs to support talented black players," says Patricia Koger, former national chairwoman of the USTA Minority Participation Initiative. "While there are excellent programs that have enabled our young people to attend college on tennis scholarships, we don't have support for those over 18 to go on tour with a chaperone."

Davis agrees, "It takes a village to train an African American tennis champion."

Davis, who came of age in preintegrated America, believes there is currently no training environment for talented African Americans. In the 1950s, when Davis was growing up in Harlem, there was a tight-knit community of affluent African Americans who were committed to providing opportunities for the less fortunate. Davis was one of them. Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe were two others.

Dr. R. Walter Johnson, an African American physician from Lynchburg, Virginia, was a huge fan of tennis. And though very few people are aware of this fact, black professionals have been playing tennis since the turn of the century. Denied access to white-owned courts, these professional doctors and lawyers formed the American Tennis Association in 1916. The ATA created a circuit of African American clubs and tournaments across the country. And by the mid-1930s, there were more than 100 of these clubs.

Johnson took ATA players like Gibson, Ashe, and Davis and provided training for them at his Lynchburg home, all expenses paid during the summers. He also coached these youngsters on how to manage the racism they would face as they integrated the sport. Johnson's financial backing and training was instrumental to the success of these three players careers, who are now legendary in the game of tennis. Today, despite a sharp increase in African American wealth, there are very few people like Johnson, especially at the professional level.

Another problem, Tucker notes, is that there are few people of color on many of the committees that organize programs like First Serve Initiative. "The black community doesn't get involved in the decision-making process," he says. Until there are more blacks in the front offices of the USTA, talented African American players will continue to be ignored or dissuaded from succeeding in tennis.

Koger agrees. She is hopeful that a new generation of men and women like Johnson will begin to challenge the USTA about the lack of African American ownership of professional tennis tournaments and the lack of black sponsorship of its events. Serena and Venus, James Blake, and Alexandra Stevenson cannot change the sport on their own. Perhaps it's time for those of us who possess a commitment to the advancement of talented players to step up and serve an ace in support of today's young players.

U.S. Open Trivia

The U.S. Tennis Association recently announced that 2002 U.S. Open prize money will top $16 million for the first time. The purse includes a six percent increase in singles main draw prize money and provides a record $900,000 for both the men's and women's singles championships. Prize money for doubles competition will continue to be the world's richest, with both the men's and women's doubles champions receiving $350,000. U.S. Open singles qualifying prize money will reach $1 million for the first time, making it also the world's richest qualifying event, and the sixth most lucrative tennis event in the U.S. The 2002 qualifying tournament takes place Aug. 20-24. The U.S. Open takes place Aug. 26 through Sept. 8.

Twin Dynamos

This summer, the tennis world witnessed more Williams sisters history in the making. Serena, 20, beat her sister, Venus, 22, in the first all-sister Wimbledon final in 118 years. Their father, Richard, predicted they would dominate women's tennis. And it's true. Earlier, Venus and Serena competed against each other at the French Open: Serena beat Venus in straight sets (7-5,6-3). This year marks the first time sisters have been the top two players in the world, and the first time two African American women have held the top two spots. A Williams sister has won six of the past 10 grand slams, three of the past four, with combined earnings of $17 million. Look for more tennis action from Venus and Serena Williams.