On Wednesday, the United States Tennis Association celebrated the start of USA Tennis Month with a star-studded extravaganza at New York City's Rockefeller Center showcasing dashing young pros Andy Roddick, James Blake and Ashley Harkleroad, TV personality Daisy Fuentes and the rock band Sister Hazel.

But is this really a time to celebrate?

In March, a survey by the Sporting Goods Manufacturing Association revealed that the number of Americans who played tennis at least once last year plummeted by 31 percent between 1990 and 2001. And television ratings at the U.S. Open and Wimbledon have plunged by nearly half from 20 years ago.

Stinging stats like those are precisely why promotional events like Wednesday's USA Tennis Rock and Rally are critical, say tennis insiders.

"Twenty years ago there weren't nearly the amount of activities, the skateboarding, the boogie boarding and all this stuff," said Patrick McEnroe, U.S. Davis Cup captain. "It's more of a challenge for every sport. But we're accepting that challenge and we're trying to do something to make it better."

The USTA has invested tens of millions of dollars to promote tennis at the grassroots level in recent years. But it is fighting against two intertwined cultural trends that are sapping tennis's popularity. With entertainment options increasing, more and more people are opting to spend their free time pursuing less vigorous pursuits than tennis, like surfing the Internet or golf.

"With the popularity of computers, a lot of kids are coming home after school and instead of going out and playing, they hit that keyboard for two or three hours," said Tom Fetzer, chief executive of community tennis for the USTA.

"That's a great concern to us. There's all sort of studies that show that America is more sedentary, less physically active as a culture than we were 10 or 20 years ago. That's going to have a pretty devastating impact."

Added Todd Martin: "If people have the time to enjoy themselves and they don't view physical fitness as a priority, they might enjoy going out with their friends and playing four hours of golf because it could tend to be more social. I still don't think that many sports offer exactly what tennis does."

Most observers agree that the allure of the game at the grass roots level is tied to the popularity at the professional level -- and in particular how American pros are faring. On the women's side, the emergence of Lindsay Davenport and the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, plus the resurgence of Jennifer Capriati has propelled American's women's tennis to unequaled heights. American women have captured 10 of the past 11 Grand Slam tournaments.

"To me, there's absolutely no doubt that if there are stars and charismatic players, and let's face it, they have to be Americans, to really get people in this country interested, then more people play," McEnroe said. "I've seen lots more African Americans playing and they all love the Williamses. Now we have to continue to find more minorities. It's hugely important. We have to continue to make that effort to reach out to places where normally you don't think tennis players are going to come from."

Added Fetzer: "We're increasingly trying to take tennis to demographic audiences that previously have not been exposed to tennis. Tennis is now, according to surveys, the fourth-most popular sport among African-American youngsters. We're trying to take advantage of that."

The men's side is more iffy. Since 1990 Pete Sampras has won 13 Grand Slam singles titles, Andre Agassi seven and the now-retired Jim Courier four. However, no other American man has won a Grand Slam singles championship since Michael Chang won the French Open in 1989. And Sampras and Agassi are both nearing the end of their careers.

"I think the participation will follow the interest," Fetzer said. "Much like the mid- to late '70s with Jimmy Connors and Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe and Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, when interest in tennis peaked and shortly thereafter participation followed. I think we're seeing another interest peak. If we do our job and try to leverage that interest in the game into participation, sooner and later the participation numbers will come around, as well."

Tennis insiders recognize how critical it is for some of the younger American men to emerge as Grand Slam contenders. Martin said it's natural for American fans to be more interested watching Sampras or Agassi, then a talented, but largely unknown foreign player. He feels the same way when he's watching.

"I'm a golf fan, and I like to watch it on TV," Martin said. "And I'm not nearly as interested in watching it if it's not guys who I'm more apt to root for."

Added McEnroe: "It's time to start passing the baton. Obviously Roddick and Blake and (Jan-Michael) Gambill and Taylor Dent and Mardy Fish (are close). Certainly Roddick (currently the world's No.-9 ranked player) has distanced them so far.

"We'd love to see them all get up there -- realizing that tennis is very popular in the rest of the world, more so than in our country. You're getting a lot of great athletes from other countries being more drawn to tennis. That's why we have to do more of a job of finding great athletes to play tennis.

"Tennis is the second or third biggest sport in most of those countries. It's not in this country. But that's OK. We know that the team sports are always going to get on TV more. But tennis has got to do a better job of using what it has. And the powers that be are starting to understand that."