Tennis great Patrick McEnroe urges Congress to cap foreign recruits, protect American student-athletes

Speaking with OutKick following his testimony before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, the former Davis Cup captain made his mission clear: stop taxpayer-funded universities from shutting out American kids and restore their focus on developing young domestic talent."Football and basketball are essentially professional now, and universities are under increasing pressure to fund them," McEnroe told OutKick."The sports being squeezed are tennis, wrestling and swimming, the Olympic sports that don’t generate revenue."Appearing before the House Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development, ESPN commentator Patrick McEnroe addressed lawmakers on the shrinking presence of American student-athletes in NCAA programs.

(Education and Workforce Committee)The turning point came when McEnroe turned on the SEC Network to watch a college tennis championship and noticed that only two of the 12 players on the court were American.An ACC championship match revealed an even worse ratio, with just one American out of 12.

In Division I tennis, international recruits now occupy nearly 70% of roster spots."This is collegiate tennis, and we’re losing a pathway of dreams and opportunities for American kids," McEnroe said."I think of it as the rungs on a ladder.

If you keep taking away the rungs, the kids will eventually give up."At his academy in New York, McEnroe sees young American athletes grinding every weekend, only to watch collegiate opportunities evaporate as coaches favor older international recruits with professional experience."Many of those kids dream of playing professionally, but by 14 or 15, they realize that probably won’t happen," McEnroe explained."What they want is the opportunity to play college tennis, and they’re starting to see that dream disappear.

I don’t think that’s right.""That’s why I say I’m not worried about the players who are going to make it," he added."They represent roughly 1 percent of the people who pla...