The impact of international student-athletes in tennis is
unmistakable. Of the top-10 college players, eight were born
outside the United States. Like many other elite programs, such as
Baylor or Mississippi, UCLA jumped on the international bandwagon
and has achieved great success as a result.
But for some critics, the influx of international players is
blurring the line between a professional and an amateur.
There are issues surrounding international athletes that
aren’t found among American-born players. Three areas, in
particular, draw the greatest amount of criticism: prize money,
club teams and age differentials.
In order to maintain amateur status, no player can receive prize
money from a tournament in excess of expenses. Additionally, no
player can participate on a professional team ““ in other
words, on a team that pays its players a salary or has them under
contract ““ or on a team that plays in a league the NCAA deems
as professional. Finally, a new rule that will be implemented Aug.
1, will restrict the age in which players can enter college; a
player will have to forfeit a year of eligibility for every year
they play tennis before enrolling in college beyond age 20.
In every instance, rules are written and re-written in response
to the challenges of the preponderance of international players in
tennis.
GLITTERING PRIZES?
Illinois coach Craig Tiley, a native of South Africa, won the
NCAA championship last year with a roster consisting solely of
Americans, and is an outspoken critic of most international
players.
Tiley believes that most players coming out of Europe cannot be
considered amateurs, and refuses to allow his players to
participate in European club leagues in the off-season. Tiley
coaches in Switzerland during the summer, and seems to know how the
European club circuit operates.
“Players take prize money. They wouldn’t play club
tennis just for the fun of it. They take money, and that’s
the nature of European club tennis,” Tiley said.
Rich Herczog, UCLA’s director of compliance, acknowledged
that policing the club leagues is tennis’s biggest
challenge.
“Tennis is by far the sport, recently, that’s been
the biggest issue,” he said. “Occasionally you get
somebody that either got some prize money that you have to check
out, or they were on a team that you have to check out.
That’s really what it’s all about in tennis.”
Still, Herczog is quick to point out that the problems
surrounding prize money are diminishing as it becomes easier both
to track player’s winnings, and to prove that expenses
exceeded earnings. For example, assuming a player wins $1,000, the
cost of airfare, hotel rooms, and food over the course of a week
would easily outweigh the prize money.
“I think now, we’ve had our growing pains, but it
seems like we’re getting a handle on the prize money issue.
That’s off the table,” Herczog said.
Club leagues, such as the German Bundesliga, are a great deal
trickier to police. UCLA senior Tobias Clemens, a native of
Germany, had his eligibility questioned prior to last
season’s NCAA tournament by a group of coaches, including
Tiley, because he had allegedly played on a team in which a few
players ““ but not Clemens ““ were paid.
“It all started when some athletes in other schools got
into trouble with this and said, “˜Yeah, but UCLA’s got
this guy and they’re playing, what’s that
about?'” Herczog said. “(Clemens) didn’t
know that, and he had no way of knowing.”
Clemens was cleared to play at the last minute, and it became
evident, at least to UCLA coach Billy Martin, that the accusations
were designed more to distract Clemens and the Bruins than to
seriously question his eligibility.
“The timing was impeccable,” Martin said. “To
me, (Tiley) can say whatever he wants, but in my conscience there
was no doubt that the few coaches that were doing that did that in
the optimal time and tried to stick it to us.”
OLDER, BETTER AND UNFAIR
Perhaps the main reason that Clemens’s eligibility was put
into question is a result of his age. Like most other international
players, Clemens is significantly older than his American
counterparts. As a senior, he is 24. Teammate and Polish-born Kris
Kwinta, as a junior, recently turned 24. Though unusual, it is not
impossible to find seniors that are as old as 27. If pitted against
an American freshman, it is entirely possible that Clemens could
face a 17- or 18-year-old, something that most people find
objectionable from the standpoint of competitive equity.
The NCAA does have an age limit that applies to all sports,
stating that if a player competes in a sport prior to enrolling in
college beyond their 21st birthday, he/she will lose a year of
eligibility for every year above 21. But for years, there was
another rule that applied to tennis, stating that the period would
begin only after graduation from high school.
As such, some players simply delayed their graduation from high
school until they felt comfortable in coming to the United States,
without fear of losing years of eligibility.
“It was like this incredible loophole that you could drive
a truck through,” Herczog said.
Clemens has heard all the complaints, but doesn’t assign
them much weight in his own mind.
“Where is the problem?” he asked. “If
you’re older you have the disadvantage that you haven’t
grown up in this system, and you have to get used to college tennis
first and the American hard courts.”
UCLA assistant coach Jason Sher believes that the coaches doing
the most complaining are experiencing a mild case of jealousy at
the fact that UCLA has been so successful at recruiting some of the
top international players.
“There were no rules before that said you couldn’t
do it,” he said. “And then there was a little bit of
sour grapes, because they could’ve recruited the same
players, too.”
Still, most tennis coaches, including Martin, agree that the age
differential presents a major obstacle in achieving fair
competition. The new rule that should go into effect in August is a
major step toward maintaining a level playing field and in reducing
the criticisms of international players.
“We tried to deal with some of the problems with the older
kids, because it’s not right, I really believe that,”
Martin said. “But when you have to go out and play (older
players), hey, you have to fight fire with fire. But that’s
not going to happen anymore after this year.”
Ultimately, competitive fairness is based simply on the
professionalism of responsible actions of the coaches and players
themselves.
“You’re relying on the integrity and honesty of the
coach and the player,” Tiley said. “I have a lot of
respect for Billy (Martin) and Jason (Sher). There is just a lot of
misconception out there.”
With reports from David Regan, Bruin Sports senior
staff.