An engineer overthinks tennis in a daily journal.
As a lifetime tennis player and fan I have seen a lot of unusual shots. In a league match last Sunday, I successfully played a rare shot myself. For the first time in my life, I hit a winner from the opponents side of the net. In fact it is the only time I have ever been in position to even attempt such a shot. If I didn’t have such poor footwork, it probably wouldn’t have happened.
A couple of weeks ago the Monday tennis news roundup post on this site referenced an article posted by tennis.com on the “best” tennis movies. I filed the titles away for those inevitable times when I don’t have the bandwidth to read a full book. I had to take a business trip this week on very short notice, so it was the perfect time to screen one of those films on my flight out. This movie… should not be viewed in a public setting where someone else can see your screen.
The USTA recently posted a fun quiz on how to correct certain types of errors that can occur during a tennis match. The quiz is a great social media engagement mechanism for educating tennis players on the rules of the game. It is also a potential vector for identification and outreach for prospective officials.
International Women’s Day celebrates women’s rights and inspires people to act in the ongoing fight for gender equality. It is observed on March 8 every year. The theme for 2022 is #BreaktheBias, which highlights the importance of challenging biases and misconceptions in the interest of creating a more inclusive and gender-equal world. Women are encouraged to share photos of themselves this year forming an X with their arms. I used my racquets.
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Headlines this week were dominated by Ukrainian storylines that dwarfed a couple of blockbuster business deals in women’s tennis.
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This first weekend in March we have been examining the “Gift of Relationships” that are bestowed upon us by our chosen sport. Today’s final post in that series is a list of ideas for building your own tennis network.
“Tennis is a healthy sport” is one of the primary talking points when promoting tennis. It is a statement that is backed up by independent research. If you were to ask people why that is the case, it is likely that the reasons listed will center around cardiovascular exercise. The fact that tennis also contributes to health by developing personal relationships tends to be overlooked and underappreciated.
Heading into New Year’s Eve last year, I shared 12 “Gifts” that people can give themselves to jumpstart their tennis life. Each item on that list is essentially a tennis related life hack shamelessly adapted from a cybersecurity career development webinar that I once delivered. In 2022, I am taking an in depth look at each one of those items on first Friday of each month. The “Gift” for March is relationships in tennis.
From time to time I embark on a fruitless quest to find dynamic tennis content targeted at the tennis playing population. That particular effort pre-dates the creation of this blog. Indeed sometimes I characterize this site as the content that I would read if I could get someone else to write it. The simple fact of the matter is that there really aren’t any great tennis blogs targeted at recreational players. It is a hot take that I float out as a desperate plea: Please prove me wrong.
The World Tennis Number (WTN) is a new ITF global rating system for all tennis players, regardless of age, gender or ability. The USTA recently announced the adoption of WTN and has been conducting informational webinars on the forthcoming system. A couple of weeks ago, I attended one of those sessions and gathered some additional information about WTN from both the presentation and the question and answer session that ensued.