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A Tennis Life: Stories from a Lifetime of Growing the Game The Code, Principle 18: When Can You Call a Let for a Stray Ball? Inflatable Penguins: My New Favorite Tennis Training Targets Tennis Beyond the Headlines: October 19, 2026 Craig Tiley, the USTA, and the Future of Senior Tennis An Offer Refused: Tennis Australia’s Senior Tennis Proposal Craig Tiley and Senior Tennis: Lessons from Australia

Nothing is as Important as it Seems

On By Teresa Merklin

I am suddenly and unexpectedly spending a lot of time in the house of the Umpire Who Gave Birth to me. She took a tumble shortly before Thanksgiving and has been in the hospital until yesterday. There is a whole lot more to the story. The trivial side effect of that development relevant to this blog is that I am finding all sorts of tennis artifacts in her house. In fact, I am probably going to be writing a lot in the future about some of these found objects.

Making a List: Coaching in Tennis

On By Teresa Merklin

Perhaps it is a sign of the season. As I write this final installment on the “Coaching” section of the ITF Rules of Tennis published in the USTA Friend at Court, I have a Christmas carol stuck in my head. More specifically it is the lyric “He’s making a list, and checking it twice…” from Santa Claus is Coming to Town.

Take Two: Captaining Multiple Teams

On By Teresa Merklin

A couple of months ago, I posted a series on “The Ethics of Captaining Multiple USTA League Teams.” That topic was prompted by a spirited discussion in the Facebook group of the Texas Tournament players about a proposed rule change in the Austin CTA to limit people from captaining two teams in the same league. That proposal had already been voted down twice.