Oakland2002 wrote:

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I have no idea how academic Victoria is but she would be a good recruit for the SEC, get some tough college tennis and in for 4 years (or in Astras case 5) she could come back and ? Win the mixed doubles! Astra Sharama highest national college rank while at Vandy was No1 with a certain Emily Smith.

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Victoria Allen has committed to Florida State with Sasha Hill
https://www.instagram.com/p/BqP4uK5lM_z/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BqKtZ5Nldwn/

And as mentioned on numerous occasions tennis as a professional sport is non sustainable the world over. Not just the U.K.

The American collegiate tennis system is bank rolled by the enormous income generated by the amazingly talented athletes often from economically deprived backgrounds who create such an impressive spectacle when playing elite college Basketball and American Football. The Colleges are able to generate enormous wealth (tens of millions) particularly in states where there is no NFL (Alabama get gates of 100,000 similarly Auburn upto 87,000!!) on the gate and from wall to wall TV coverage.

There is little or no professional American football or Basketball outside the NBA and NFL for a sports mad country with a population the size of England, France, Italy, Germany and Spain! There is no promotion or relegation, very little local sport to go and watch, many athletes peak in high school still watched by a couple of thousand on occasions close to 20 but non get paid!!

Europes best male athletes play football. Many players participating in the Bundesliga, La Liga, Seria A, Ligue 1 are multi millionaires, in England alone there are 22 clubs in the championship whose players earn what they are due for the spectacle they create, they are very wealthy young men; in the states many of these athletes would earn nothing because of the monopoly on sport for young adults that is the NCAA. That money goes to the colleges. No player draws a cheque in the NFL until they are 20-21. People argue that the players get an education, the irony is those that succeed dont as they drop out early to play professionally and many of the others are shoe horned into college to make up the numbers in the lucrative sports and at best tread water academically. This does not really apply to tennis players necessarily as to get that good normally means a relatively affluent up bringing where education is valued. 

As it stands collegiate tennis is what it is and it offers some fantastic opportunities for some of our very talented young tennis players to continue develping their games, some are on the cusp of having been able to turn pro a proportion of which will make a living.

The expense of engaging in tennis as a child makes it difficult to engage the best athletes and the cost of training those with talent prohibitive limiting opportunity to those with parents who are very committed or who have significant wealth or from tennis families, the majority of indigenous US tennis scholars come from exactly the same background. It isnt a panacea for tennis development and one could argue that for gifted athletes seeking to be rewarded for their talent the U.K. is a much better place to be but they wont be playing tennis. 

-- Edited by Oakland2002 on Wednesday 30th of January 2019 03:38:37 AM