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Secrets of Winning Tennis The USTA Encourages Double Dipping The Speed Ladder Tennis Beyond the Headlines: November 18, 2024 A Balanced Diet: Healthy Tennis Engagements A Balanced Diet: Better Nutrition for Better Tennis A Balanced Diet: Quality of Information

Gold Balls: The World of Ultra Senior Tennis

If you ever need evidence that tennis is a sport for a lifetime, look no further than this documentary from 2017 that chronicles the pursuit of “Gold Balls” in the men’s 80 and over division at the USTA Cat 1 National Championships. Kate Keckler Daniel follows the competitors across the National Championships for all four surfaces and captures the essence and spirit of senior competitive tennis. You have to check this one out.

Tennis Tantrums

The ATP is having a bad run of on-court reckless behavior involving multiple players. The men’s professional tour has been criticized by some in the media for not taking more decisive action to penalize the individuals involved. Some are starting to wonder if the ATP actually wants to discourage that behavior.

Simien Tennis Elbow Brace

Over the past few months I had been experiencing tenderness in my elbow when playing tennis. I was extremely resistant to calling it tennis elbow because… I had never experienced tennis elbow before in my life. However, that is what it is. I found that the Simien Tennis Elbow brace provided enough pain mitigation and support to allow me to continue to play.

Culture Club: Tennis vs Pickleball

There are some intractable features of tennis that put the sport at a significant disadvantage to pickleball for attracting and retaining new players. As discussed in yesterdays post, the pickleball learning curve is less daunting and the sport is physically less demanding than tennis. Additionally, the geometry of pickleball supports better socialization and it takes significantly less time to complete a game. It is no wonder why the growth of pickleball participation threatens to completely overtake tennis.

et tu, GiGi?

Racquet Sports Industry (RSi) magazine is one of my favorite tennis news sources. It was previously published as Tennis Industry Magazine and the URL still bears that name. As a sign of the times, the most recent issue of RSi is dominated by news about pickleball, the emergent racquet sport that likely prompted the new moniker. One of the articles this month features tennis great GiGi Fernandez… and her testimony about how much she loves pickleball.

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Wimbledon (Movie)

Another busy week prompted me to reach once again into the list of tennis movies recently recommended by tennis.com. “Wimbledon” is a romantic comedy featuring a budding relationship between two players at very different points in their career. A chance encounter over a mix up in hotel rooms starts a roller-coaster relationship that plays out across the fortnight.

The Court is Lava: Suspending Play

There are provisions interspersed throughout the ITF Rules of Tennis and the USTA Friend at Court for suspending play when demanded by external conditions. In officiated matches, the decision on when to suspend play is at the discretion of the chair umpire or the referee. The rules are somewhat vague in defining the conditions under which a match may be suspended.

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Future Shock: Injury Prediction in Tennis?

The body is a complex system. Reflecting on aches and pains experienced before and after my recent foot injury has brought me to a new realization. It is highly likely that physical indicators were visible in my court movement and stroke mechanics for some time prior to my current injury. It is possible that artificial intelligence video analysis systems might soon be able to identify biomechanical breakdowns and warn of potential significant injury. I think this could happen within the next decade.