With the return of the US Open – which concludes Monday, Sept. 8 with the winners of Saturday’s Fed-Marin Cilic, Nole-Kei Nishikori matchups – there’s been much bemoaning of the state of American tennis, particularly the men’s game and especially in the aftermath of Patrick McEnroe stepping down as head of player development for the United States Tennis Association.

I won’t comment on the latter as I don’t know anything about coaching or PMac’s accomplishments with the USTA or lack thereof. But I do know a lot about being a journalist, especially one who covered performances of all kind, and since PMac is an analyst for ESPN, I have to ask myself what a commentator is doing working for an organization he might be called on to critique. There’s a reason the framers established a free press. But nowadays everyone’s in bed with everyone else, because as Rafa would say, “It’s all about the money.”

On, though, to American tennis, which consists of Serena, the Bryans and a whole bunch of people no one watches. The arguments for its anemic state don’t necessarily hold water, however. ...