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Evaluating the Alternatives of Shortened Formats for USTA League Championships An Unusual Solution for Shortening USTA League Playoffs Extraordinary Tennis for the Ordinary Player A Novel Rule in a USTA League Local Playoff Captain’s Letter The Butterfly Forward Fold Tennis Beyond the Headlines: September 23, 2024 A Tale of Contingency Provisions in the Captain’s Letter

Overruled Line Calls

On By Teresa Merklin

The “Role of Court Officials” section of the ITF Rules of Tennis contained in the USTA Friend at Court describes the roles and authority that various officials have during a USTA officiated match. The rules are clear that questions of fact, such as whether a ball was in or out, can only be ruled on by an official based on direct observation. However, the rules surrounding overrules also reveal that sometimes officials with direct observation disagree on the correct call.

The OOFOS Sandal

On By Teresa Merklin

The tennis community is always quick to share advice and experience when a player is injured. I benefitted from that first hand when I recently attended the National Senior Women’s Clay Court Championships on a knee scooter. One of the best recommendations I received for treating my own condition was from an umpire who implored me to try the OOFOS branded sandals. I wish they had come into my life sooner.

Lew Sherr named as new USTA CEO

On By Teresa Merklin

If I had to guess, most avid tennis players are not aware that the USTA has been searching for a new CEO. Additionally I believe that most couldn’t name his predecessor even if their lives depended on it. Today is a paragraph by paragraph dissection of the USTA press release announcing the selection of Lew Sherr as the new CEO. Specifically I am looking for clues about what the new era might portend for the organization. As a reminder, overthinking such things is the hallmark of this site.

4 responses

More Tennis, Less Points

On By Teresa Merklin

The Women’s 4.5 division at the 2022 USTA 18+ NTRP Doubles National Championships had exactly 12 teams in the final entry list. That number provides a lot of options on how to divide the players into round robin groups. The ultimate decision was to conduct the first round robin stage as two six team pools. The downstream side effects on this one are pretty wild.

Senior Tennis (George Wachtel)

On By Teresa Merklin

George Wachtel was a Senior tennis player who also wrote a blog a blog about Senior tennis and fitness. In fact, Wachtel was still actively posting on his blog right up until his sudden death in 2021. The final two posts on his site were from his son, one announcing his death followed a short time later by his obituary. Sadly, I narrowly missed the opportunity to potentially meet this obviously kindred spirit.

2 responses

(Don’t) Call the Referee

On By Teresa Merklin

Last week a highly regarded junior tennis coach responded to my post on twitter about asking for the referee. Brian Notis of the Austin Tennis Academy observed that at the grassroots level players will encounter roving officials who do not understand subtle aspects of the Rules of Tennis. All players should be aware that they have the right to call for the referee if they disagree with an umpires interpretation of tennis law.

Playing Cards

On By Teresa Merklin

Bobby Reynolds was a standout NCAA tennis player for the Vanderbilt team that reached the NCAA Championship finals in 2003. He also played on the ATP tour for about 11 years where he acheived a career high singles ranking of 63. In 2010, he was featured in a Tennis Channel “Bag Check” infomercial. One of the items that Reynolds pulled out of his bag on that segment was a deck of playing cards.