An engineer overthinks tennis in a daily journal.
At some point in the near future I will most likely rebrand the Fiend at Court Tuesday content theme to “Tennis Technology & Training.” In the meantime, I am going to lean forward a little bit and talk about a training topic this week.
Earlier this week, USTA Texas published a very helpful video containing information on the new USTA Tournament Structure in 2021. The questions covered in this session focused on NTRP events. As far as organizational communication on this topic, this video is the best I have seen to date in terms of concisely and clearly communicating the impacts of the change.
Last weekend the Fiend at Court posted a series of articles with gift suggestions and considerations for tennis players. Mia Poorman submitted a comment to one of those posts with a reminder that people should also consider their local tennis pro shops as a source of valuable guidance when purchasing tennis equipment. Additionally, Mia’s comment serves as a reminder to us all that tennis pro shops are generally locally owned and operated businesses. She raises a valid point.
It has been a very long time since I have been to a public live ball drill, primarily due to how the situation with COVID-19 has significantly altered my playing logistical patterns. I just had the realization that I am in a rare window of opportunity to rant about player behaviors that drive me nuts at tennis drills. For a limited time, I can comment publicly without anyone I have been around recently recognizing themselves and taking exception.
The USTA recently made some enhancements to the League Registration process that should make it easier for new prospective players to find an appropriate team. Those changes are described in “USTA League Registration Improvements.” Today I am providing a guide for helping prospective players decipher the “Captain’s Note” descriptions that are a part of the new system.
Tennis Hits the Books With all the craziness of 2020, Thanksgiving is the perfect time to remember all the things that we have to beRead More
Some of the case decisions in the ITF Rules of Tennis published in the USTA Friend at Court remind me of conversations with my kids as they desperately searched for loopholes in parental rules and regulations. This was typically an endless barrage of “What if… But what if…”
“Fireball.” That was my absolutely favorite comment I received via Facebook after posting “The 2020 Ultimate Stocking Stuffer List for Tennis Players” last Friday. For inexplicable reasons, that comment reminded me of this clip of Vasek Popisil chugging a brown liquid from a bottle during a change over earlier this year. In that case, the substance being consumed was not his “on-court liquor of choice” — which I recently learned is a widespread phenomenon — but rather Maple Syrup.
Last Thursday the USTA sent out an email addressed to all league captains announcing enhancements that should help league captains find and recruit prospective new players. It is a genuinely useful enhancement to the system that is going to help more teams form. At the same time, it illuminates how some local league rules in my area make it unlikely that many captains will actually have the luxury to use all aspects of the tool.
This weekend, the Fiend at Court has been exploring gift ideas for serious tennis players. Friday led off with the “Ultimate Stocking Stuffer List for Tennis Players.” Yesterday’s topic was the “Ultimate Tennis Equipment Gifts for Players.” Today I am wrapping up (see what I did there?) this three part series by writing about Technology gifts. These items are generally non-tennis specific gifts that are perfect in a tennis context.