'We've lost the plot': Patrick McEnroe calls out American college tennis system

Patrick McEnroe. (Getty/Roy Rochlin)

Former Grand Slam doubles champion Patrick McEnroe has exposed the lack of American youth in the national college tennis system.

Patrick, the brother of seven-time major singles winner John, was watching an SEC men's tennis championship match when he noticed a worrying sign.

"Just re checked the numbers—ACC + SEC men's team finals: 24 singles players… 3 Americans…HELLO??!!" McEnroe posted on X.

"That's a system that's lost its balance. College sports used to DEVELOP American athletes.

"Now it's short-term wins, global recruiting, and no structure. If American players don't have this pathway anymore, where do they go?"

Listen to The First Serve Live every Monday at 8pm AEDT in its 18th year on the SEN Network/App, Australia's only dedicated weekly tennis program on commercial radio running through till the end of November.

The 59-year-old appeared on Newsmax with Greg Kelly to discuss the problem further.

"I played college tennis, and so did my brother. He played one year at Stanford. I played four years at Stanford," Patrick said. "When I tell you that things have changed in college tennis; boy have they changed.

"It's not just about the international players... but do you know that only 20 years ago, 70 per cent of the incoming freshmen in division one tennis were USA-born? You know what that number is now? It's down to 40 per cent."

He later added: "The larger issue here is college tennis, and not just tennis... is that it's being dominated by foreign players. Generally speaking, there are better tennis players coming from Europe, so they now see the opportunity to come play for a university.

"It's not so much about the money for a tennis player than it is for a basketball player. It's about great training, getting an education. It can be a pathway to develop into a professional player for both American and international players. "But the problem we are facing in this country is that we've sort of lost the plot in that we're not really looking to use college to develop players. So these coaches, you can't blame the college coaches in tennis, because even though it's not a huge revenue sport, in fact most universities lose money... we've professionalised college sports without really building a professional system around it."

The USA are the country with the most professional tennis players in the top 100 on both the ATP and WTA tours (13 men and 15 women).

In February, Craig Tiley, a former tennis coach at the University of Illinois, left his position as Tennis Australia CEO and Australian Open tournament director to become the new United States Tennis Association (USTA) CEO, despite criticism aimed at Tiley for his lack of work in the Australian youth development space.

ML Tennis delivers world-class coaching and structured player pathways for athletes of all ages and levels — from grassroots participation through to aspirational and high-performance players.

Led by Player Development Specialist Coach Michael Logarzo, ML Tennis is recognised as a Tennis Australia Talent Hub and operates across multiple venues throughout Melbourne.

Supported by an expert coaching team, ML Tennis delivers structured programs, a proven record of player progression, and an athlete-driven culture that supports every player to build their own tennis journey.